The Declining Population
A good purpose will have been served by the Lords debate on the threatened decrease in the population, initiated by Earl de la Warr, last Tuesday, if it leads the Government to set- up an expert committee of inquiry. The birth-rate in this country fell from 35.1 per 1,000 in 1865 to 15.3 in 1935, and if the present trend continues the population will have fallen to 34,000,000 in 1980, with 221 per cent. of the people over 6o years of age. There are few who dopbt that the desire of persons in all classes to maintain a high standard of living for themselves and their families h'as led them to limit the number of their children, and the use of contraceptives has made this easier. So far as the problem is economic, family allow- ances, the feeding of school-children, nursery-schools, more income- tax relief for children, better housing and (for the more well-to-do) cheaper education, are among the measures which will help to restore the balance. But the problem is not wholly, perhaps not even mainly, economic. So far as there has been a weakening in the sense of responsibility in having children, that is a matte' which demands a spiritual or psychological approach. That, however, only covers part of the ground. In a matter so vitally affecting the nation's future we must have a searching inquiry as to the facts, and a reasoned policy based on them. It is a problem not for this country alone, but for all of the white races except (at present) Russia. White civilisation may stand or fall by what is done now.
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