NOTE AND COMMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3677, 1 March 1899, Page 4

NOTE AND COMMENT.

Editors and women have each the (privilege of “the last word,” the but as both cannot have it hiktii at the same time, we prokate. pose claiming it, with the

proviso tliat, in summing up tho correspondence on the declining birth-rate, we shall say nothing likely to require a retort from any of our fair correspondents. The letters which have appeared in our columns during tho past fortnight have treated of the population problem from every conceivable point of view—tho 'purely sexual, the religious, the moral, the philosophical, the economic, and the political—and if no new light has been thrown upon, the subject, considerable illumination" .has been east upon tho attitude of New Zealanders regarding their duty to society, their pride of race, and their sense of moral obligation. The population problem in New Zealand presents itself in this form: How is it that in a country blessed with a splendid climate; with an ample supply of food, and a soil capable of supporting at least twenty times its present population, there is coincident with a rising marriage-rate a decline in the birth-rate more marked than in any other country ? Tho reply which we tentatively .suggested in our article of February 13, was that the decreasing birth-rate must be due to artificial interference with the law of reproduction—such interference embryonic murder and other unnatural and unlawful practices. The thirty correspondents who have contributed facts and opinions bearing on the question have in general confirmed our view of the matter. Although the utmost freedom was shown in discussing the subject, it has to be noted that there was no descent to sickly cant, such as that shown at the RadalyskiTod trial in Melbourne, in condonation of reckless tampering with human life. No onp suggested, that “ Go and sin no more” should bo society’s verdict upon offenders against natural and statute law; and if anyone had- made the suggestion there would have been no chorus, of “Hallelujah !”

While, however, there was general detestation of criminal pracgist tices expressed, it was with of tub some surprise we observed a letters, number of able and earnest writers defending the practice of limiting the size of families by lawful and natural means. . Various pleas were advanced in justification of the practice—some of them mutually destructive, as, for example, when one writer declared that he objected to breeding workers for the enrichment of a favoured few, while another declined to increase the army of paupers and unemployed. The health of the mother, the pocket of the father, and the future welfare of the children- wev« hi turn advanced as excuses for

T,vafi on all hands admitted to bo a growing habit among Now Zealand parents of the younger generation. One correspondent had the hardihood to maintain that the chief object of matrimony was not procreation; and speaking generally it was' held that the will, convenience and supposed welfare of the individual were the only things to be considered, and that the interests of the nation or of the race had no right to enter into the question. In another form it was—“ Hang posterity; what has posterity done for us ?” Or again—“ Duty to the State, indeed ; lot the State offer a quid pro quo and we may make a compact with it.” And yet again—“ The talk of moral obligation was nil right for our grandfathers and grandmothers, but we know hotter.” Wo freely paraphrase and condense, but these were in substance the positions assumed by the defenders of artificial limitation of tho growth of population. Taken by sexes, tho men were in most cases swayed by economic reasons, the women by considerations of health, comfort and enjoyment. To put it differently, the men were for more treasure, tho women, for more leisure; both for more pleasure ' —thus combining in claiming the Socialistic programme as put forth in the catchy phrase—" More treasure, more leisure, more pleasure !”

Evidence has been adduced by correspon-

UNDivrnuAii VEIiaUS RACE.

dents of the prevalence ,of criminal practices. It is well known to police officers and others that many

chemists in different parts of this country assist silly women to outrage nature and the law; it is equally well known to medical men what physical damage results to the women concerned; and many people besides Divorce Court habitues know of the domestic misery that so often follows upon such attempts at “ regulation.” From otir view-point, wo willingly concede the fullest individual liberty, in such matters as marrying or refraining from marriage, as well as in viewing matrimony as a compact sanctioned by Church and State for a definite end, or otherwise as a means of selfish gratification to tho individuals directly concerned. Wo should oppose any constraining of liberty in these matters, whether by bribery or coercion. All that we contend for is that each should bo thoroughly persuaded that the course adopted is the best for the physical and moral well-being of the individual and in the highest interests of the nation and the race. Little harm may result to society from the wrecking of the reproductive powers in the ignorant and vicious classes who resort to drugs and operations; but when the intelligent and highly developed rn a community also cease to multiply, the nation must dwindle, or :t must, as in the case of America, keep up its population by importing adults, and must probably at the same time face the prospect of inferior races reproducing w rapidly as to swamp the superior. It is immaterial what motives animate the people or whether their methods of limitation he criminal or lawful, the result must be tho same—racial extinct ion, and the giving over of the world to somi-barbarism. If it were possible for tho present inhabitants of Now Zealand to keep the land to themselves and their progeny, there might be an enlightened selfishness in limiting the natural increase ; but it is futile to decree small families while our ports are open ami other countries are overflowing. The foreign population of France is increasing annually as her birth-rate diminishes The country is passing into other hands.

Morally, as well as physically, all at-

THE moral' ASPECT.

tempts to tamper with a' natural instinct result in deterioration. In the case of France we see how cause

and effect are intertwined, and how easily “prudence” lapses into immorality open and unashamed. Late and sterile marriages are -at once, the cause and the result of all ' kinds Of vicious indulgence. Nature, dammed back in her healthy course, overflows in all kinds of illicit and unwholesome' channels. The love of offspring by degrees gives place to the love of selfish pleasurethe sacred .character of sexunion is lost and overwhelmed by a flood of .sensuality. Sexual'morality becomes a jest and a by-wo pel; .and a state of things which cannot oven bo mentioned in an, English journal becomes the normal, condition in thousands of French families. One of our correspondents, while combating ‘ our views on the dwindling birth-rate in Now Zealand, boldly advocated the, adoption hero of the system of licensed incitements to vice which prevails in most countries of Continental Europe. lie recognised, as fully as wo do, that the. tendency of artificial limitation of families, even by the most harmless and natural means, is to lower the tone of sexual relations, to weaken the moral fibre generally and to make easy the descent into the deepest Inferno of sensuality. The only difference was that he considered the change to be an ascent to a higher , and better order of things. . Those , wellmeaning people who delude themselves with the notion that they are serving the cause of morality by advocating the limitation of families may well lay to heart the candid admissions of this particular correspondent. .

Tho impressions which wo carry away

A SAD OUTLOOK.

from tiie discussion aro not altogether of a cheerful kind Tho reasons advanced in jsupport of artificial limi-

tation of families we view chiefly as pretexts to cover the real causes. ' The main causo is loss of stamina, which is a symptom of racial decay. There is prevalent in this country what wo have formerly called a nameless dread of the future—an unreasoning fear as silly and superstitious in its way as our rude forefathers’ terror of ghosts or fear of Hades. It is the sign of an ease-loving materialism; it is the outcome of a discontent that cannot be called “divine”; it is the proof of a selfish regard for the presentonly—“ after us the deluge !” Surely it is absurd, in a country so bountifully endowed as this, to apprehend want or hardship for many generations-to come. Surely, in a land where education is free

and the avenues of preferment an everywhere open to merit, large, lanjiliwshould be the desire—of- every healthy father and mother. There is doubtless good reason: why many Women should dread “ tho cross of maternity,” but the reason is to be found in errors of dre s and diet and habit generally, which ..ave produced a sickly condition. A return to healthy ways would rob the “ cross ” of its terrors. The flattering theory that the falling birth-rate is the natural result of high mental culture is ’hardly supported by the correspondence, but it has a grain of truth in it. It is the tendency of, families, of nations, and of races to reach a certain altitude on the hill of evolution, and there to collapse from vice, or luxury, or sheer inanition. Tho craze for “ peace in our time ” is a symptom ■of the dying out of racial vigour; so is the spread of. Socialistic sentiment, which is the effort to assert the gregarious instinct—characteristic of the weak members of the animal king-dom-over the predatory instinct.of the strong animals, which has its, counterpart in the Individualism of human society. ’ ; : ' ■'

Ijiet us close with a forecast and a parallel. The outcome of ini’o recast dividual interference with A .aijd . .the, ~ reproduptiye process Parallel, will inevitably.be State in-

. , : terference. ,Wo shall ill time have taxation of. bachelors, bonuses for large families, compulsory marriage, ami finally universal State parentage. We already have State education; State nurture of the young is being advocated in. England; while in Franco M. Lautier has got tho Chamber of . Deputies to entertain a proposal that women convicted of infanticide should be punished by being’sent to the colonies “and conn pelled to produce- one, two or three children, whether they like it or not, tbps assisting in the' work decolonisation.” . In,Madagascar . General, Gai•lieni has introduced, a bachelor tax, or rather a tax on each male adult who is inot ’ the father of at least ihfee children. , It is easy, to• see .whither ’ New Zealand.is drifting. The people, of this country have: .■ demanded and have received from the State*more than any other modern people; the time is coming when the State will demand reciprocity. Such a condition was reached in the ancient kingdom of Peru, where thd State regulated marriage and every relation of life, and Socialism reached such a perfect development that tho pepple lost all knowledge of warlike arts and became universally, soft and amiable.; .There was not a soldier, nor a lawyer, nor an idler, nor a beggar in thb whole land. It was apparently ah' iddal condition of things,;.,but the, Peruvians, in j their thousands: were conquered by a , handful of Spanish adventurers, and .they onlyexist how in a remnant of jhalf-bloods.' New Zealand, is leading the Anglo-Saxon, . wprid in.: the march towards. Socialism, . which .means State regimentation, and the utter extinction of | individual ' responsibility,, energy and ambition.* ; Tt is ; perhaps vain to .protect against this. “We are afloat on a stream of Tendency,”‘which is stronger than all reason , and defies all human resistance. . But there is no . use in ignoring tho facts, or in protending th|at their causes, and consequences, n;'o not evil. In these languishing. lands tinder the .Southern Cross many people are losing the .virility that characterises the British ’ race ‘in its'iiiitivo habitat'; The declining birth-rate is only, 0110 cf several, signs, 'that prove . this change, blit it is the most alarming .portent, of all, pointing as it does to national eJ;--tipetibn, or to, conquest pud- absorption by some more vigorous ■ people. ■ , Let. iis. hope that.a return to sounder views and practices may avert this doom from Now Zealand. .. ‘ '