MANIFESTED IN HUMAN SOCIETY 127 



large proportion of the men away from their wives and 

 led to a general postponement of marriage. With the 

 return of the men there is naturally an increase of both 

 the marriage and birthrates. Europe is witnessing such 

 a temporary rise at present, but its duration will probably 

 be only a matter of months. 



At the beginning of last century there occurred in 

 England an enormous dislocation of the old home industries, 

 owing to the introduction of the factory system. The 

 effect was disastrous to the working classes, and led to a 

 serious lowering of the standard of comfort among them. 

 It also led to the employment of women in the factories 

 on a large scale. The resulting effect on the birthrate is 

 described by Nitti. " In England, as in every industrial 

 country, the wages of the women and children supplemented 

 the insufficient wages of the adult. Then the labouring 

 class, impelled by necessity, abandoned that prudent 

 foresight which it had maintained for centuries and 

 multiplied itself without bounds and without order." l 

 No evidence can be produced as to the exercise of a 

 " prudent foresight " in previous centuries ; but it seems 

 certain that there was an immense increase in the birth- 

 rate. Much of the apparent increase may have been 

 statistical, and due to improved registration ; but the 

 rapid increase of population seems to show that much 

 of it was real. 



Like causes produce like effects, and a similar result is 

 making itself apparent in Japan to-day. The rapid 

 introduction of European and American machinery is 

 breaking up the old home industries, and leading to the 

 employment of a large number of the people in the fac- 

 tories, including, of course, a disproportionate number 

 of women and children. This has inevitably led to a 



1 Population and the Social System, Nitti. 



