Evening star., 1936-09-13
.HUMAN|TYDOOMED|
BY BIRTH CONTROL
Liverpool Professor Says
t, Trend Against White
Population in Danger.
BY A. G. GARDINER.

Hnrland's Greatest Liberal Editor.
LONDON, September l2.-n Euro
pean civilization can escape being ex-
tinruished by war, which Is our imme-
diate anxiety, it is pretty certain that
1t will not escape extinction by birth
control. That Is the conclusion OF
Prof. Carr Saunders Of Liverpool Uni
versity, whose book on World Popu-
lation" has set all the press discussing
the doom of the white race. His pre-
diction follows upon the similar
gloomy verdict of Dr. Enid Charles OF
London University. and. since the days
Of Nautilus. there has been no such
alarm about the future.
Then 1t was feared that there were
going to be too many babies born into
the world for the world to feed. Now
it is the imminent famine Of babies
that is the cause of panic. We are
oeasing to reproduce ourselves.
f.. Fifty years ago, the birth rate was
"a per 1000 of the population. 1t has
fallen to IS per 1000, and though in
the interval the death rate has de-
clined from 20 to ia, this only masks |
Che fact that depopulation has set in |
and will proceed with gathering mo-
mentum. Carr Saunders shows that |
the average woman in England and
Wales Is now only producing three
quarters Of daughter-in other words
100 women Of this generation provide
only IS women for the next.
In Six Generations.
This process, continued for six gen.
erations, will reduce the population Of
England and Wales from 10000 900 to
100000. That Is, If the rate of de-
: crease Is stable. But Carr Saunders
anticipates that it will be accelerated,
and in this he Is supported by DR..
Charles, who leans to the view that,
. century hence. the population may
have fallen to the region of 5000 900.
This foreboding is based on the
fact that the fall in fertility is due
to the widespread practice of birth
control. which has swept this coun-
try in common with all other coun-
tries of the white civilization. For
the first time in human history, meth
eds of limiting the size of families
without suffering or criminal offense
are universally available and in Carr
Saunders words, The parental in
stinct is now satisfied when the av-
erage size Of the family is not suffi-
eient for the purpose of replacement"
The tendency to race suicide Is in
eensified by the circumstances of mod
ern life. The moral code that for
bade interference with the processes
ftyr 1ar
spect. 1t is replaced by the doctrine
that no one should have more chill
dren than his means permit. and a
large family has become almost mat
ter Of shame. The demand for a
higher standard of life is Unsuitable
and the perambulator has been abol-
ished by the motor car. The whole
social structure is being revolution
lied on the basis of mo room for chill
dren." 1t Is, as Carr Saunders says,
the unmarried and the childless for
whom the inventors and the builders
cater. Housing exhibitions show us
model fats upon which every care
has been lavished and in which no
child could ever, find q home"
Senile Decay Problem.
1t is not merely the ultimate ex-
tinction of the race that is threat
ened. Before extinction comes senile
decay. AS babies cease to be born,
We shall become more and more a
nation of old people. Thus, at the
beginning of this century, there were
seven children Of under Is years of
age to one person over IS: at the end |
of the century, there will be as many
people over IS as there are children
under IS.
This process OF suicide is not, of
course, confined to England. 1t is pres
ent throughout the whole civilization.
Our net reproduction is about OTIS. |
In France the rate is 0.82; in Ger
many, o.7o. In a word, we are all |
dying of together.
Under the reign of birth control
the white man is surrendering the |
earth to the colored races. Thus,
Australia, with its population of two |
persons to the square mile, obviously |
needs more babies. Japan, with its |
S21 persons to the square mile, as
plainly needs fewer. Yet while Aus
tralias population remains stagnant.
Japan adds the equivalent Of that
population to its crowded cities every
f1ve years.
What Is to be the end Of fantastic
disparity like this? Who can esti-
mate the menace Of those Japanese
babies to the Pacific world, not q
hundred years hence, but within the
lifetime Of this generation?