SIZE OF FAMILIES 291 



' It is known that a considerable part of the huge 

 stream of British charity furthers by indirect and 

 unsuspected ways the production of the Unfit ; it is 

 most desirable that money and other attention be- 

 stowed on harmful forms of charity should be diverted 

 to the production and well-being of the Fit. For 

 clearness of explanation we may divide newly married 

 couples into three classes, with respect to the probable 

 civic worth of their offspring. There would be a small 

 class of " desirables/' a large class of " passables," of 

 whom nothing more will be said here, and a small 

 class of " undesirables." It would clearly be advan- 

 tageous to the country if social and moral support, as 

 well as timely material help, were extended to the 

 " desirables/' and not monopolized, as it is now apt 

 to be, by the " undesirables." 



Let us consider the relative birth-rates of different 

 classes of the community. This is in itself a very large 

 question. We have only space here to record a few 

 figures, taken from a paper by Prof. Karl Pearson 

 than whom no better authority could be quoted. 



Here are a few of the figures, in terms of the average 

 size of family, childless marriages being excluded : 



GROUP I. 



Criminals . . . . . . . . 6'6 



English deaf-mutes . . . . . . 6*2 



London, mentally defective . . . . 7*0 



GROUP II. 



English middle class . . . . 6-3 



London normal artisan .. . . 5' 1 



English intellectual class , . 47 



19 2 



