22 INTRODUCTION. 



from fourteen to eighteen. As a beginning toward a higher stand- 

 ard, all marriages of men at less than twenty-one and of women at 

 less than eighteen should be absolutely prohibited. To this should 

 be added a graded marriage license fee so arranged as to discrim- 

 inate against all marriages of men at less than twenty-five and of 

 women at less than twenty-two. The existence of such a discrim- 

 ination would be the most potent of influences in discouraging early 

 reproduction by calling attention to the causes of mental degen- 

 eracy. The moral influence would be greater than the legal 

 restraint. 



With very early reproduction restricted to a few illegitimacies, 

 two generations would see our pauper and criminal classes practi- 

 cally extinct. The vices of intemperance and prostitution would 

 also disappear much more rapidly than they would as the result 

 of legal enactments, because these vices are practiced more by the 

 children of young parents than by the children of old parents. This 

 is particularly true in cases where early reproduction is continued 

 for two or three generations. 



It may be argued that the restriction of early marriages would 

 cause an increase of prostitution. It is possible, nay probable, that 

 this would be the immediate result of such restriction, but this 

 increase would be quickly followed by a much greater decrease as 

 the children of older parents became more numerous. It may also 

 be argued that the birth rate is now decreasing and that a restric- 

 tion of early marriages would cause a further decrease amounting 

 to a decrease in population. A remedy for such possible decrease 

 is given in the chapter on sterility. 



MODERN CONDITIONS AND REQUIREMENTS. 



According to the census of 1900, each child receives an average 

 of 4.45 years of school education. This is about twice the amount 



