18 THE LAW OF BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



Moreover, we find that, although the poorest classes 

 have the least means available for rearing children and 

 the strongest reasons for avoiding them, it is they, never- 

 theless, who have the largest families ; while the wealthiest 

 classes, who have no lack of means for rearing children, 

 have the fewest, and a large proportion of them with 

 large fortunes and titles to transmit to their heirs are 

 childless. It is attempted to explain these facts by 

 " the theory of social capillarity." As people become 

 more highly educated, it is argued, and advance in life 

 their wants and ambitions expand, while the struggle 

 for social prominence grows ever keener. They display 

 more * prudence and foresight, and this results in the 

 careful limitation of the number of their children. There 

 is an element of truth in this ; but if the decline in the 

 birthrate were due to such causes, we should expect to 

 find the smallest families among the lower middle classes, 

 who have to fight most keenly for a place in the sun, 

 and who are certainly not lacking in prudence or foresight 

 where their worldly interests are concerned. But the 

 lower middle classes have larger families than the very 

 wealthy. Statistics by the most reliable authorities show 

 that the degree of fertility declines steadily from the 

 very poorest classes to the very richest, and that the 

 smallest families are found among the most wealthy 

 people, to whom the theory of social capillarity has no 

 real application. 



A fallacy which can be briefly dealt with and dismissed 

 is the belief that religion powerfully affects the birthrate. 

 It has been asserted that the Roman Catholic Irish are 

 very fertile because their religion forbids the restriction 

 of the family by artificial methods, and that the Jews 

 are fertile for similar reasons. The truth is that Pro- 

 testants, Roman Catholics and Jews are alike infertile 



