174 THE TREND OF THE RACE 
well-known facts. A sudden accession of wealth may have one 
effect, but its longer possession, with all the customs and tradi- 
tions associated with its enjoyment, may have a quite different 
result. If wealth affords the means of supporting more children 
it calls into operation a number of secondary factors which tempt 
its possessors to enjoy life unencumbered by a numerous progeny. 
It is among the well-to-do who are best able to support and edu- 
cate their children that the gospel of birth control has secured its 
largest following. Many comfort themselves with reflections 
about ‘‘fewer and better children,” and that ‘Quality is better 
than quantity,” without considering that without a certain 
minimum number of children there would soon be neither quan- 
tity nor quality. It is doubtful if one person in ten who employs 
these glib justifications of family restriction has ever seriously 
reflected on the racial consequences which this restriction may 
entail. The possession of means of interfering with the normal 
course of perpetuating life confers a grave responsibility for its 
wise employment. And it is not surprising that the power should 
be generally abused. Limiting the family is a perfectly justifiable 
procedure for a large part of humanity, but it is unfortunate that 
it is practiced most among those whose excuse for so doing is 
least. 
Many people who practice family limitation are actuated by 
the desire to provide better for a few children instead of bringing 
into the world a large family which cannot be adequately sup- 
ported. It would, however, be a serious racial misfortune if the 
great mass of reasonably thrifty and intelligent people should, for 
such a reason, reduce the size of their families below what is 
necessary to perpetuate their stock. To put family interest above 
racial welfare is as bad in its effect as to sacrifice the race to the 
selfish enjoyment of the individual. With most people considera- 
tions of the interests of the race are not kept habitually in mind, if 
they are ever present at all. What is one child more or less in a 
populous country as compared with the sacrifices needed to feed 
an extra mouth? This is the concrete question which occurs 
almost inevitably to every married couple in moderate circum- 
