172 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



whose responsibilities it assumes ; for it runs the 

 danger of removing yet another motive for calling into 

 being the individuals whose place it has cheerfully 

 occupied. From whatever source the necessary money 

 be raised, it is clear that those members of the working 

 classes who have abnormally small families, or have 

 produced worthless and undutiful offspring, will now 

 be supported in their old age by funds taken from the 

 strong and capable members of the community. The 

 competent ones can therefore afford, without regard 

 for the future, to restrict still further the number of 

 their children ; while the incompetent, heedless of 

 consequences, can produce a larger number of useless 

 members of society, from whom neither they nor the 

 State expect or receive any return. 



That the strong should support and assist the weak 

 is an excellent maxim, one with which most people can 

 agree cordially in theory ; but, if in practice it should 

 happen to lead to each vigorous and thrifty family in 

 the country reducing its offspring by yet another one, 

 and every pair of weak and casual parents creating 

 two more unsatisfactory children to be supported and 

 assisted in their turn, there is obviously a very dark 

 lining to the silver cloud of altruism. In the ideal 

 state, as we all know, great pains were taken to make 

 the punishment fit the crime ; here, in England, we 

 have lost an excellent opportunity of adjusting the 

 reward to the services rendered to the community. 



The recent report issued by the majority of the 

 Commissioners on the Poor Laws does not at any 

 point deal directly with the problems raised by heredity, 



