BIETH CONTROL 35 



increase in numbers as would take place in the absence of 

 all these checks. If over-population is permitted in the 

 future, it will inevitably result at first in much unemploy- 

 ment, then in increasing poverty and disease, and finally in 

 actual starvation. If this is not sooner or later to be our 

 fate, some means of checking the growth of the population 

 must always be kept actively at work. 



Moreover, if we consider each family separately, we shall 

 see that it is often highly desirable that it should not be 

 too large. In the first place, the probable effects on the 

 mother's health must be held in consideration. For this 

 reason, and also for the sake of the children, births should 

 at all events never follow each other too rapidly. Lastly, 

 parents ought not to bring more children into the world 

 than they can reasonably hope to bring up in accordance 

 with a certain standard of living; and this standard as 

 regards all higher things should not in any case be below 

 that which they themselves have been accustomed to. 

 The misery, pauperism, and even crime, resulting from over- 

 crowded houses could certainly be lessened or obviated by 

 forethought as to the size of the family. In fact, others 

 besides those of bad stock ought often to refrain from 

 parenthood. 



Thus, whether we are looking to each family considered 

 separately or to the nation taken as a whole, we see that 

 some means of keeping a check on the population will always 

 be necessary. Putting aside all the harmful methods above 

 mentioned, there remain only two alternatives which have 

 to be considered — namely, continence and birth control. 

 It is true that both have been criticized on the ground that 

 they are injurious to health. Neither of them is, however, 

 necessarily injurious. Moreover, even if slightly injurious, 

 this would certainly not be a conclusive argument against 

 either of them. We often have to make a choice between 

 two evils, and the harm done by over-population would 

 far outweigh any minor evils which might attend whatever 

 way was selected of keeping the number of the people 

 within bounds. Details of the methods of birth control 



