THE FALL OF THE BIRTH-RATE 31 



35 per cent. In the case of the special occupational 

 groups the main alteration has been to equalise the 

 figures for miners and agricultural labourers. The 

 miner loses by excessive mortality the initial excess of 

 his number of children over that of the agricultural 

 labourer. It must be remembered that the duration 

 of these later marriages is much less than that of the 

 earlier marriages and so mortality has had less time 

 to operate. But the mortality under age 10 is some 

 two-thirds of all the mortality up to age 40, and the 

 difference is, therefore, not so great as it appears. 



In the light of these tables or rather of the much 

 fuller discussion in the papers from which they have 

 been taken we can, I think, add to our conclusions: 



(8) At the present date there is no doubt that 

 marriage fertility is on the whole, broadly speaking, 

 graduated continuously from a very low figure for the 

 upper and professional classes to a very much higher 

 figure for unskilled labour. 



(9) At the same time there are some very marked 

 occupational differentiations which cut right across 

 the social gradation. 



(10) The social and occupational differentiation is 

 now very much greater than it was half a century ago. 

 There is hardly sufficient evidence to show whether 



again decreasing. 



Now on the broad facts as derived by this analysis 



I do not think there is any disagreement. On the 



interpretation of the facts there is some disagreement. 



The view usually taken is that the decline in fertility 



larried women is "due to increasing practice of 



accptive measures'* (Stevenson, ref. 12). Dr 



Stevenson argues that only this theory is consonant 



\\ith the fact that the decline apparently operated first 



on the more prosperous and educated classes, and 



only this theory can explain the actual date of 



