New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-03
Fend7ists of War Office and admiralty
By Arthur Gleason

proportions from the lower and least desira-
bic clements in the population. The hrst
advantage Of separation allowances IS, then,
that il removes inc temptation to undue re-
striction of families from those farseeing
and cautious parents who now practise IT,,
and that it gives to the younger members
of large families q better chance of healthy
maintenance than they have ever had before.
at will be interesting to see how these
women will take it when the war is over and
they arc asked to 60 back TO their old status
of dependency. | confess to hoping that the
seeds Of divine discomfort will have been
implanted in them too deeply to be eradicated
and that we feminists will then find our
opportunity The economic soundness Of the
state endowment Of maternity has always APP
pealed to me- even more strongly, II possible,
than its humanitarian and eugenic advan-
tages Many people do not seem even to have
grasped the elementary truth that the work
of bearing and rearing the rising generation
is the occupation OF all occupations that is
most absolutely essential TO the existence Of
the state. The women who are engaged IN
this occupation have to be maintained, and
so have their children until they are Of an
age to keep themselves. The money that
this costs has to come from somewhere"
These separation allowances are the first
serious attempt made by the government to
deal with the question of population, the
most fundamental question which the nation
faces. If half million of the young men
are killed or hopelessly incapacitated by
this war the resources of the country are
diminished beyond repair unless a method
of replenishment is instituted Our past
method of allowing the slum population 70
multiply and forcing our better class work
ers to restrict their families is national sui
eide English thought is almost silent on
this question of whence the next generation
is to come when the number Of the fathers
is lessened. There is buzz of talk on till
age, cattle raising, fertility of soil, but Of
how to get the human product there is little
said Bertrand Russell says:
"It seems unquestionabe that if our eco
monte system and our moral standards re-
main unchanged there Will be. in the next
two or three generations, a rapid change for
the worse in the character of the population
in all civilized countries and an actual
diminution of numbers in the most civilized.
Science and the Birth Rate
There is reason to fear in the future three
bad results First, an absolute decline in
the numbers of English, French and Ger
mans; secondly, as a consequence Of this de-
cline, their subjugaton By less civilized
racos orJ tho oytinc.ior Of ,heir traditions
thirdly a revival Of their numbers on a much
lower plane of civilization, after generations
of selection Of those who have neither in
telligence nor foresight If this result is TO
be avoided, the present unfortunate selec-
tiveness of the birth rate must be somehow
stopped
"The problem is one which applies to the
whole Western civilization. There is no diff
ficulty in discovering theoretical solution,
but there is great difficulty in persuading
men to adopt a solution in practice. because
the effects TO be feared are not immediate
and the subject is one upon which people
are not in the habit of using their reason.
II A rational solution is ever adopted, the
cause will probably be international rivalry.
1t is obvious that if one state say. Germany
adopted rational means OF dealing with
the matter it would acquire an enormous adj
vantage over other states unless they did
likewise After the war il is possible that
population questions will attract more at
tention than they did before, and It is likely
that they will be studied from the point Of
Wow 81 international rivalry. This motive.