200 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



exceptionally large proportion of married women 

 are engaged in factory work are the ten towns in 



O O * 



all England in which the relative fall in the birth-rate 

 between 1881 and 1901 is most startling. On the 

 other hand, in mining districts, where the employment 

 of women is rare, the birth-rate remains high. 



We see, then, that a direct correlation can be traced 

 between the freedom of women from industrial occu- 

 pations and the number of children they produce. 

 Moreover, other things being equal, the increased 

 maternal care and supervision, secured by the presence 

 of the mother in the home, causes, as one would 

 naturally expect, a decreasing infant mortality. This 

 result was illustrated in a striking manner during the 

 Lancashire cotton famine of 1862. The effect of 

 unemployment, in spite of the fact that the payments 

 made by the relief committees were much below the 

 normal rate of wages, was a distinct fall in the death- 

 rate, especially among infants. The fall was explained 

 by the local registrars as due, partially at any rate, to 

 the presence of the mothers in the homes instead of in 

 the factories. 



For the benefit of the children, the absence of the 

 mother from the home is to be deplored. Employ- 

 ment that takes her away should be discouraged by 

 every means in our power. At present, when a 

 respectable, hard-working woman with several children 

 loses her husband by accident or disease, the Poor 

 Law Guardians usually give relief which is quite in- 

 adequate for support. The widow is forced to neglect 

 her children in order to earn their bread. For the 

 good of the community, even to prevent economic 



