SIZE OF FAMILIES 289 
‘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 recent 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 .. “e a -. 66 
English deaf-mutes .. oe ia) 2 
London, mentally defective .. -. 70 
¢ ‘ 
Group II. 
English middle class we a &2 
London normal artisan ate aie RI 
English intellectual class 4°7 
19 
