212 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



by a recent Birth-rate Commission, " that the mean 

 size of the Hmited famihes was larger than that of the 

 unhmited famihes. This is important, as it shows that 

 it is not so much the small families which are limited, 

 but the famihes which are getting too large. In other 

 words, it is not that people nowadays do not desire 

 children, but that they do not desire too many." Before 

 full reliance can be placed on such conclusions, it will be 

 necessary to have a larger body of data. 



§ 7. Good and Evil in the Decline of the 

 Birth-rate 



Many wise men to-day regard the decline of the 

 birth-rate with as much alarm as their fathers regarded 

 its continuous rise in the Early Victorian period. Is 

 the modern scare better grounded than its predecessor ? 

 The main reason for foreboding is lest the nation lose 

 its place in the sun, its military and economic stability, 

 and dwindle away. The decline of the birth-rate is 

 regarded as the beginning of a faoilis descensus leading to 

 ruin. 



As we have said before, in reference to the ' Nature 

 and Nurture' controversy, it is very undesirable to 

 ' take sides ' in face of a problem of this sort, especially 

 when we have not the facts fully before us. We have 

 not to choose between two antithetic policies ; the 

 problem is really that of a movable adjustment of the 

 birth-rate in adaptation to definite conditions. Every 

 man and wife have to decide for themselves how many 

 children, if any, they ought to have, and a decision to 



