RACE SUICIDE OR A NATURAL LAW? 25 



These inquiries were conducted mainly among the 

 middle-classes, and that of the Fabian Society was con- 

 fined to its own members, the subjects ranging from 

 skilled artisans to professional men, but " (with few 

 exceptions) the tiny fraction of the population who have 

 incomes from investments exceeding 1,000 a year " 

 were excluded. Thus the individuals selected by the 

 Fabian Society were almost exclusively people of limited 

 means, active intelligence and considerable ambition. 

 Had it been desired to select that section of the earth's 

 population which, above all others, was most likely to 

 be using contraceptives, no better choice could have 

 been made. Yet, in spite of this, only about one-third 

 appear to have been taking real contraceptive measures ; 

 while in the case of two inquiries out of three the number 

 of children per family was actually smaller in those 

 families which were unlimited than in those where it was 

 claimed that contraceptive measures were taken. 



In face of these facts the National Birthrate Com- 

 mission brought in a verdict that there is no evidence 

 of a decline in fertility due to natural causes, and met 

 the fact that the " limited " families were larger than 

 the " unlimited " by declaring that " this divergence 

 could no doubt be explained in many ways." No attempt 

 was made, however, to give even a single explanation. 

 To any one with an unprejudiced mind it must be obvious 

 that these facts, if they can be regarded as trustworthy, 

 provide decisive proof that the use of contraceptives is 

 not on a scale sufficient to account for the decline of the 

 birthrate, and that there has been a decline of natural 

 fertility sufficient to account for the whole phenomenon. 

 The verdict of the National Birthrate Commission is one 

 more striking example of the hypnotic effect of pre- 

 conceived ideas. 



