230 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



cated question in a country threatened by a militant 

 enemy of approximately equal efficiency in war. 

 In such a case, the control of reproduction has to be 

 considered not merely from the standpoint of the 

 family, and of the nation, but in its international 

 bearings. It is well known that the population of 

 France has remained nearly stationary during a 

 number of years, while that of Germany, her most 

 dangerous neighbor, has considerably increased. 

 The small families of the French appear to be due to 

 artificial regulation of the reproduction practiced 

 from a desire for the maintenance of a fairly high 

 standard of personal comfort. It seems as if this 

 policy had been carried too far for the good of the 

 country as a whole. For, in this case, the danger of 

 military aggression from adjacent countries is doubt- 

 less somewhat increased by a policy that is relatively 

 weakening. But this is not the sole objection to 

 the French policy with regard to reproduction. It 

 seems as if the limitation of the size of families is 

 influenced much more by the mere desire for comfort 

 largely by selfish motives than by the wish to 

 give better opportunities for the culture and efficiency 

 of the children. If this be true, is it not likely that 

 in time France must lose prestige in many directions 

 by a continuation of a restrictive policy founded too 

 largely on selfish motives ? This example of restric- 

 tion of family thus appears to show that here limi- 

 tation is not necessarily wholly beneficial. It is the 

 combination with the desire for improvement, and 



