TRANSACTIONS 01' THE SECTIONS. 171 



be pursued. It is not that the aggregate amount of exertion is more than the 

 whole body can well put forth, it is the unequal distribution among its various 

 members. There is scarcely a family or neighbourhood — certainly not a town or 

 county — in which we do not see quite sufficient available power for the relief of 

 those who are unduly pressed. The time which is devoted to pleasure, or spent in 

 frivolity and idleness, and the strength which is wasted unnecessarily or ex- 

 hausted by dissipation, is amply sufficient for lessening the strain put upon the 

 overworked members of the community ; nay more, it needs no argument, for it 

 is self-evident to the most ordinary observer, that a just appropriation of time and 

 a wise administration of power would produce far more than at present without at 

 all limiting the hours which may rightly be devoted to rest, improvement, and 

 enjoyment. Excepting for our follies and our pleasures, it cannot be said as a 

 nation we are on tlie whole overworked, or that we need to restrict the total time 

 devoted to labour. 



But granting, for argument's sake, that these evils do exist, are they to be 

 removed or lessened by [restraint upon marriage or increase ? Is the disease one 

 which may be cured by the prescriptions of either Malthus or Bradlaugh ? Do we 

 find that deferred matrimony or life-long celibacy really add to the productive 

 power which the abstainers put forth ? Is it not a fact that, as a rule, the larger 

 families thrive the best, and that a large number of those who have none de- 

 pendent upon them, themselves become dependent upon others? Let a young 

 man feel that he has no home to make or keep, and he too often loses the stimulus 

 to putting forth his productive power, and fails to preserve it by healthy exercise. 

 He is tempted to expend his earnings in unprofitable or hurtful enjoyments, if even 

 he does not exhaust his energies by dissipation and self-indulgence. Let a young 

 woman feel that she is debarred from having a home of her own with those for 

 whom she may expend her powers and cultivate the best feelings of her nature, 

 and let her know that instead of being provided for by the husband or sons, on 

 whom she may lavish her affections and her cares, she must earn her own liveli- 

 hood, and she is too often forced into uncongenial pursuits and exhausting labours, 

 which go far to repress her vital powers, and ultimately extinguish her capacity, 

 not so much for being herself a producer as a real helper to those who are such. 

 When, on the contrary, the young of both sexes feel that they may possess a 

 united heme, in which the obligations of parental love may be an incentive to the 

 preservation and development of their powers, they are supplied with the strongest 

 inducement to the right use of the health and strength which makes them an 

 addition to the nation's productiveness. There is nothing in this to enforce matri- 

 mony and its consequent multiplication of life upon those who are unfitted or 

 unwilling to enter upon it, nor yet to encourage premature, imprudent, or ill- 

 assorted unions ; on the contrary, the steady contemplation of the married state 

 as a legitimate object to be attained will be the best encouragement to prudent 

 preparation. A knowledge of the duties it entails, and the noble self-sacrifice it 

 v quires, will be the most effectual restraint upon those to whom it has no attrac- 

 tions ; whilst those who realize the fulfilment of their desires will be far more 

 likely to have healthy offspring, and in adding to the numbers of the population 

 to jrive those who will be an increase of its productive powers. 



VI. Thus far it has been assumed that an increase of productive power is a 

 source of strength and prosperity ; but here the former of the two objections 

 which were suggested requires to be met, and we need to be satisfied that with 

 possession of increased power we have a sufficient field for its employment. 



Malthus thought that the prudential limits of population for our island was 

 bed, and trembled for the time when the world might have more 

 inhabitants than it could possibly feed. The only possible justification for 

 Bradlaugh's philosophy is, that we are already full enough, and that an addi- 

 tion to our numbers can but add to our misery. 



Political economists, social reformers, and practical philanf hropista of the highest 

 si imp have thought thai the growth of population is unduly pressing upon the 

 nation's means, and there can be no doubt that the problem is 03 imewhat 



difficult solution. For a series of years the national expenditure for food lias gone 

 on increasing simultaneously with a diminishing receipt from the salo of the 



