MODERN PROBLEMS 319 



find satisfaction than among the lower classes. Life is in many 

 ways more varied. This has an influence upon fertility in two 

 ways. When a marriage takes place among the upper social 

 classes it involves to a far more considerable extent than among 

 the lower classes a renunciation of much that has given pleasure 

 hitherto. When a man marries and ' settles down ' he gives up, 

 as a rule, many activities from which he had derived pleasure 

 before. Further, after marriage the possibility of indulging in 

 many of the pleasures which this varied life offers is often incom- 

 patible with the bringing up of a family. Children are often in 

 the way. Again, though children are no longer the economic asset 

 among the lower classes which they were before the passing of the 

 Factory Acts, the possession of children is generally looked upon 

 among those classes as a support in old age when the power of 

 earning has gone. Children, on the other hand, among the upper 

 classes have rather to be provided for, and in any case are seldom 

 regarded as a support .^ 



Very many other factors might be mentioned, but enough has 

 been said to show how in the main the different fertilities may be 

 explained. The insufficient income of many of the less well-paid 

 groups of the higher classes is often alleged as a cause of low 

 fertility. This view is well founded when, as often occurs, social 

 conventions force a so-called higher standard of living upon them 

 — a standard which merely involves the expenditure of more money 

 than among the industrial classes in preserving appearances 

 without adding to welfare. When, however, this is extended to 

 classes in which income has reached, say, between £600 and £1,000 

 a year, it cannot be allowed that income is truly insufficient. 

 It is in such cases only insufficient when more than is reasonable 

 is expended in the way of material satisfaction. A man cannot 

 be heard to say that he cannot afford a large family as otherwise 

 he will not be able to keep a motor-car — so long, that is to say, 

 as the motor-car is not necessary to his profession. 



7. This differential fertility occurs in countries where the 

 population is less homogeneous than in England, and thus assumes 

 importance in another aspect. For whether we assume the 



' Among the industrial classes conception before marriage is not uncommon. 

 It is said that many men are not desirous of legal marriage until it is probable 

 that they will have children. This is not to be regarded as evidence of loose 

 sexual morality so much as evidence of foresight and of thought for old age when, 

 if they have children, they will be more or less secure against extreme poverty. 



