210 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



parasitic on the rest of the community shows signs of 

 growth. An increasing share of each competent man's 

 labour goes to support even to create those who 

 cannot support themselves. 



It is impossible to resist the conclusion that, as the 

 dearth of competent men to fill the higher professional 

 posts is the result of the restricted birth-rate of the 

 better sections of the people, so the threatened growth 

 of lunacy and pauperism is the result of unchecked 

 reproduction and diminished mortality among unsound 

 and incompetent families. 



In considering the causes which have impelled the 

 successful classes to wish to restrict the number of 

 their offspring, we were impressed at once by the 

 complication of the problem. A mistaken sense of 

 individual responsibility, which tends to prevent the 

 birth of children for whom lavish pecuniary provision 

 cannot be made by their parents, seems to be the 

 worthiest of the motives at work. The economic 

 factor in all its aspects is probably the most widespread 

 of the causes. The expense of rearing, educating, and 

 starting children in life is heavy in all classes, save 

 among the very wealthy, and in that section of the 

 very poor who are ready to allow the community to 

 support their offspring. Unwillingness to face the 

 discomfort and discipline of life which a large family 

 entails on the parents, and especially on the mother, is 

 a potent factor among those people who take advantage 

 of modern facilities for a restless life, unceasing social 

 activity, and an excessive devotion to sport and games. 

 The extension of the activities of women in spheres 

 social, political, and economic, has probably much to 



