The Falling Birth Rate: Marriage of the Unfit: The fall of the birth-rate in England was commented upon by the Bishop of Ripon and other speakers at one of the sectional meetings of the Church Congress at Cambridge on September 28. … … (continues) … … Mrs. Pinsent (Birmingham), a member of the Royal Commission on the Care of the Feeble minded, traced the striking growth of altruistic feeling during the nineteenth century to the consequent development of the idea of social or corporate responsibility. She pointed out that all legislative efforts resulting from this increase in altruism had aimed at improving the environment of the poorer classes, and in so doing had had the indirect effect of perpetuating the unfit. At the same time the reproduction of the higher types had been neglected, and the average standard of humanity lowered. The Idea of Fittest Heavily Taxed: Mrs. Pinsent illustrated her argument from histories of mentally defective families in which mental defect and criminal propensities could be traced through three or four generations and so the cost of such families to the community was very large. Yet good, efficient citizens were being heavily rated and taxed to provide training and ultimate support for these degenerate families, and the result was that good citizens were led to limit the number of their children, and also the educational opportunities they could afford for them. … (continues) …
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949