DECLINE IN THE BIRTH-RATE 185 



by them, involve as large an economic loss to the 

 community as the money wasted by those who have 

 means to live without a profession. 



The consideration and honourable regard shown to 

 the men who have so worthily occupied the unpaid and 

 underpaid posts of the country, have led many people 

 to assume that these attributes belong to the posts 

 themselves, rather than to the holders of them and 

 their personal qualifications. They have reasoned either 

 that the posts in question should be sufficiently highly 

 paid to enable any one to fill them and to live in the 

 same style, or they have felt that no one should be in 

 possession of wealth which enables him to do work 

 without accepting pay. Their attitude of mind recalls 

 the childish tale of Rosamund and her Purple Jar ; it 

 was not the jar but the substance with which it was 

 filled that produced the attractive glamour, as the poor 

 child found to her cost. In either train of argument, 

 they ignore entirely the immense moral gain to the 

 nation in the example of admirable public service, 

 seeking nothing for itself, and the inestimable advan- 

 tage of a body of tried and talented men who can 

 afford to choose or alter their sphere of service accord- 

 ing to the needs of the day. Throughout our history, 

 England has always had this great reserve of local 

 public servants, on whom she could draw in normal 

 times and in emergencies. For the most part they 

 have worthily and proudly adopted as their motto that 

 of the first subject of the Crown, " Ich dien." 



The overcrowding of certain professions and careers, 

 which without doubt has occurred in recent years, may 



