NATIONAL NURSERY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3049, 10 April 1917, Page 5

NATIONAL NURSERY

" THE INHERITOR OF THE

EARTH"

MAN WHO EARNS LITTLE AND

SPENDS LESS

. ["It would be criminal folly not .to people our Dominions with our stock while yet there is time. -The next 60 years will decide for all time whether ■. thoso magnificent and still .empty: countries aro to be the homo of great nations speaking our language, carrying on our .institutions, and .valuing our traditions."] .

So says Dean .Inge in a powerful . b-rticle on "The' Birth llate" in the '"Edinburgh BevieWj" in which lio insists on the . urgent importance of the fliscussion of this great problem. • "For Bome time to come ive are likely to, see, in all the leading nations, a restricted birth-rate, prompted by deBire foi 1 social betterment, combined, however, with concessions to the rival policy' of commercial expansion, grow- , ing numbers and military preparation;"■ • nays Dean Inge. "A low birth-rate may indicate a jtendency -to withdraw from the struggle - for existence, ajid;'to : sacrifice iie fu-' Jure to the present. There have been signs that many of our countrymen no •longer think the strenuous life worth while; part of our'resentment against Germany resembles the annoyance of lan old-fashionetTfirm, ..disturbed. in its Comfortable security by the competition of a • young and more vigorous rival. It is even suggested that after . ithe _ war we should ■ .'protect "ourselves tegainst German competition by tariff Vails. _ This abandonment qf the policy* on which our prosperity is built would soon bring; our over-populated island , to. ruin. ' ,

Room for 200, Millions. !• '"What should, be' our policy" with 'regard to population for the nest fifty ■years? I am led to an opinion which may seem to run counter to the general purport of this article. For though the British Isles are even dangerously full, so that we are liable to be starved out if we loss the command of . the sea, the British ..Empire is,, very far frombeing over-populated. In Canada aild 'Australasia, there is probably room for nearly. 200,000,000 people. . These .countries are remarkably healthy for' North-ern-Europeans; there is no jeason why ithey should not be as rich and powerful as the United States are now. We hope that we have saved tho Empire from Gentian cupidity—for the time; but we cannot tell how long we may be undisturbed. '■ It would, be criminal folly not to make tho most of the respite granted us, to people our Dominions with our own' stock, while yet there is time. This;- however, cannot pe done by casual and undirected emigration of the old kind. We need an Imperial Board of Emigration, the- officials of whioh.will.work in co-operation, with tho Governments of our Dominions. * These Governments, it may be presumed, will be anxious, after the war, to strengthen, the colonies by increasing their population and developing their resources. ' ' "We know now that our young people who emigrate are by no . means lost to the Empire. The; Dominions have shown that in time of need they aje able and willing to defend the Mother Country with, their full strength. Indeed, a young couple who emigrate are likely to be of more value to the Empire than if they had stayed at home; and their) chances of happiness are much increased if. they .-find ,a. home .in a. the world' where more human beings are wanted.-, ". . .

The Real Issue. • v"Tho -real issue-of this war is wheir® r - colonies are to continue British; and the question will be de- • cided not only on t.ho field of battle, but by the action-of l our Government and people after peace is declared. ■ !^ e nest 50 years will decide for -.'alptime whether, those magnificent and still empty countries are to be .the Eomo of great nations speaking our language, carrying on ' our institutions, and vahling our traditions- ; ,r When the future of our Dominions 3s .secure,, tlae part, of England as a World-Powerwill have been, played to /■a successful issue, and we may fie content with a position more consonant with the small area of these islands."

The Inheritor of the Earth. "The man who earns little : and spends less is the ultimate inheritor ,of the earth," adds DeniMnge., "The lament of the eugenist resounds in all countries alike. Tho German complains that - the Poles, whom .he considers an inferior race, breed like rabbits, while the gifted exponents of Kultur only breed like hares. The is nervous* about the numbers of the' negro.; he has more reason to be nervous about, the' fecuridity ;of the Slav and, Soiith Italian immigrant. •Everywhere the tendency is for the superior stock to dwindle till if "Becomes a small aristocracy- The Americans of British descent are threatened with this_fate. Pride and a high standard of -living _are not biological virtues. "W& did not lose America 'fir. fho eighteenth century;: we are losing it now. 'As for. South: Africa, the Kaffir can live liko a gentleman (according to his own' ideas) on six months' illpaid work every year ; the Englishman finds an income of £200 too small. There' is only one end to this kind of' colonisation. The. danger at home is that-the larger part of the population is now beginning to. insist upon a scale of remuneration and a standard 'of comfort which aro incompatible with any survival value. We all wish to be privileged aristocrats, with no serfs to work for us. ; "It is well known that'a decline in the birth-rato set in about forty years ago and lias gone on steadily ever since, till the fall now amounts to . about one-third of the total births. It thus corresponds very nearly to the fall in the deathrate during the same period. It is also .well known tljat this. decline is not evenly distributed among different classes.of the people. .Until the de- . cline began, large families were the rule in all classes, and the slightly larger families of the poor wero compensated by their somewhat higher mortality. "But since 1877 large families have become increasingly rare in. the upper and middle classes and among the skilled artisans. They are frequent 'in tho thriftless ranks of unskilled labour, and in one section of well-paid workmen—the- miners. The highest birth-rates at present are in the mining districts and in the slums. The , lowest are in some of the learned pro- : fessions. In the Rhondda Valley the birth-rate is still about forty, which is ■ double the rate in the prosperous resir dential suburbs of London.

Effect of Women's Work.' "In the seats of the textile industry ' the deoliSe has been very severe, although wages, are fairly good; among the agricultural labourers the rate is also low. It will be found that in all trades where the, women, work for wages the birth-rat© has fallen sharply; the miner's wife does not earn money,' and' has therefore less inducement to restrict Ker family. In agricultural districts the housing difficulty is mainly responsible; in tho tapper aiwl middle classes the heavy ex-

rates and taxes are probably the main reasons why larger families'are not desired. "The enormous multiplication of the European races since the middle of the eighteenth century is a phenomenon quite unique in history, and never likely to be repeated. The population of England and Wales is said to have ; been 4,800,000 in 1600, .6,000,000 in-1700, and 6,500,000 in 1760. It was 8,890,000 in 1801, 32,530,000 in 1901, and approximately 37,000,000 in 1914. What, then, are the birth-Tates today? In England and Wales, Dean Inge says, the pre-war figure was 24 per 1000; in 1876 it was a little over 80; in the German Empire 27.5 in 1913. . ' ' "The deoline lias been of late slightly more rapid in Germany, falling from a hig hbirth-rate, than in England, where the maximum was never bo high." . Dean Inge also points out that since 1865 the average duration .of life. in England and. Wales has been raised by 'a; little more than one-third. Other European countries show the same ratio of improvement. '