FINAJSrCIAL AIDS TO PARENTHOOD 81 



adopted vary greatly in detail. Sometimes all the employees 

 similarly employed in a district form one association. Out 

 of the common fmid of this association, allowances are paid 

 to married couples, the amounts varjdng with the number 

 of children in the family. Sometimes the fund is replenished 

 by payments being made by the employers alone. Some- 

 times the employees also contribute. The Government 

 may add a contribution, or may take entire charge, dealing 

 with all alike, and covering the whole cost from the public 

 funds. 



The advantages which would result from family allow- 

 ances are obvious. Without such a system, fathers with 

 many children get the same wage as bachelors. When 

 allowances are given the incomes of families vary more or 

 less in proportion to their needs. Difficult questions about 

 equal pay for men and women would also thus be more easily 

 settled. Above all, the welfare of children in large families 

 would often be greatly increased. 



The effects likely to be produced on the nation in the 

 future by family allowances must, however, be considered. 

 The knowledge that such allowances would be forthcoming 

 would- make marriage seem less formidable in advance, and 

 when received they would make married couples feel less 

 poor. They would, therefore, increase the number of 

 marriages. They would make marriages take place at an 

 earlier age. They would make family limitation less often 

 practised. They would reduce the number of deaths of 

 little children. And for all these four reasons the rate of 

 multiplication of any group of persons in the receipt of 

 family allowances would thus be increased. 



We have seen that to increase the size of families when 

 parents are in distress is not only immediately harmful 

 to the nation, but also injurious to the race. If these evil 

 effects are to be avoided, family allowances, if applied to aU, 

 must be accompanied by some really effective check on the 

 size of families. This raises nearly the same grave and 

 difficult questions as those which were discussed in Chapter 

 XIV, when considering the ways of diminishing the numbers 



