Birth Control, Halliday G. Sutherland [classic books for 11 year olds txt] 📗

CHAPTER IV

HOW RELIGION AFFECTS THE BIRTHRATE

 

Section 1. FRENCH STATISTICS MISINTERPRETED BY MALTHUSIANS

The fact that Malthusians are in the habit of citing the birthrate in certain Catholic countries as a point in favour of their propaganda is only another instance of their maladroit use of figures: because for that argument there is not the slightest justification. The following paragraph from a recent speech [35] in the Anglican Church Congress by Lord Dawson, Physician to the King, is a good example of their methods in controversy:

 

“Despite the influence and condemnations of the Church, it (artificial

birth control) has been practised in France for well over half a

century, and in Belgium and other Catholic countries is extending. And

if the Roman Catholic Church, with its compact organisation, its power

of authority, and its discipline, cannot check this procedure, is it

likely that Protestant Churches will be able to do so? For Protestant

religions depend for their strength on _the conviction and esteem they

establish in the heads and hearts of their people_.”

I have italicised the closing words because it would be interesting to know, in passing, whether anyone denies that these human influences also contribute to the strength of the Catholic Church. Among recent converts to the Faith in this country are many Protestant clergymen who may be presumed to have known what claims “on their conviction and esteem” their communion had. Moreover, in France, amongst recent converts are some of the great intellects of that country. If it be not “conviction and esteem” in their “heads and hearts,” what other motive, I ask, has induced Huysmans, Barr�s, and others to make submission to Rome?

Secondly, it is true that for over half a century the birthrate of France has been falling, and that to some extent this decline is due to the use of contraceptives; but it is also true that during the past fifty years the Government of France has made a determined but unsuccessful effort to overthrow the Catholic Church; and that it is in so far as the Government has weakened Catholic influence and impeded Catholic teaching that the birthrate has fallen. The belief of a nation will not influence its destiny unless that belief is reflected in the actions of the citizens. Father Herbert Thurston, S.J., [36] thus deals with the argument implied:

 

“Catholicism which is merely Catholicism in name, and which amounts to

no more in the supposed believer than a vague purpose of sending for a

priest when he is dying, is not likely to have any restraining effect

upon the decline of the birthrate. Further, it is precisely because a

really practical Catholicism lays such restrictions upon freedom in

this and in other matters, that members of the educated and comfortable

classes, the men especially, are prone to emancipate themselves from

all religious control with an anti-clerical rancour hardly known in

Protestant lands. Had it not been for these defections from her

teaching, the Catholic Church, in most countries of mixed religion,

would soon become predominant by the mere force of natural fertility.

Even as it is, we believe that a country like France owes such small

measure of natural increase as she still retains almost entirely to the

religious principle of the faithful few. Where the Catholic Church

preserves her sway over the hearts of men the maintenance of a vigorous

stock is assured.”

In the first place, it is noteworthy that the birthrate varies with practical Catholicism in France, being much higher in those Departments where the Church is more flourishing. As was shown by Professor Meyrick Booth in 1914, there are certain districts of France where the birthrate is higher than in the usual English country districts. For example, the birthrate in Finist�re was 27.1, in Pas-de-Calais 26.6, and in Morbihan 25.8. On the other hand, in many Departments the birthrate was lower than the death-rate. This occurred, for example, in Lot, Haute Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, and in Gers. In the two last-named Departments the birthrates were 13.6 and 13.0 respectively.

In the following table I have tabulated more recent figures concerning the vital statistics in these two groups of Departments, and rates for the two periods of five years, 1909-1913, and 1915-1919, in each group are compared.

It will be noted that in the three Departments, where practical Catholicism is most flourishing,

TABLE III

 

1909-1913. 1915-1919.

 

Departments. Rates per 1000 Still-Deaths Rates per 1000

population Births under population

per 1 year

Living Deaths National 1000 per Births Deaths

Births Increase Births 1000

living

births

Finist�re. 27.2 18.1 +9.1 4.0 116.7 15.9 18.2 Pas-de-Calais 26.8 17.4 +9.4 4.2 135.3 — — Morbihan. 25.7 17.8 +7.9 4.4 113.7 15.0 19.0

Total Averages. 26.5 17.7 +8.8 4.2 121.9 15.4 18.6

Lot. 15.0 21.0 -6.0 4.5 148.0 7.5 20.6 Haute Garonne. 15.1 20.4 -5.3 4.0 121.3 9.0 22.5 Tarn-et-Garonne 14.9 20.1 -5.1 4.7 134.7 7.9 20.7 Lot-et-Garonne. 13.7 19.1 -5.4 4.4 112.0 7.4 20.1 Gers. 13.2 19.2 -6.0 4.1 102.4 6.8 19.8

Total Averages. 14.3 19.9 -5.5 4.3 123.6 7.7 20.7

 

there is a high birthrate, and moreover that in these Departments both the death-rate and the infant mortality rate is lower than in the five Departments with the lowest birthrate.

Professor Meyrick Booth’s comments are as follows:

 

“The above five departments (in which the decline of population has

been most marked) are adjacent to one another in the fertile valley of

the Garonne, one of the wealthiest parts of France; and we may well

ask: Why should the birthrate under such favourable conditions be less

than half that which is noted for the bleak district of Finist�re? The

noted statistician, M. Leroy-Beaulieu, has some interesting

observations to offer upon this paradoxical state of things.

Considering the country in general, and these districts in particular,

he notes that the most prolific parts of France are those in which the

people have retained their allegiance to the traditional Church (in the

case of the Pas-de-Calais we have a certain degree of adherence to the

orthodox faith combined with the presence of a large mining

population). M. Leroy-Beaulieu expresses the opinion that the Catholic

Church tends, by means of its whole atmosphere, to promote a general

increase of population; for, more than other types of Christianity, it

condemns egoism, materialism, and inordinate ambition for self or

family; and, moreover, it works in the same direction through its

uncompromising condemnation of modern Malthusian practices. He draws

our attention, further, to the new wave of religious life which has

swept over the haute-bourgeoisie of France during the last few

decades; and he does not hesitate to connect this with the fact that

this class is now one of the most prolific (perhaps the most prolific)

in the nation. Space forbids my taking up this subject in detail, but

it appears from a considerable body of figures which have been

collected that, while the average number of children born to each

marriage in the English Protestant upper middle class is not more than

about 2.0 to 2.5, the number born to each marriage in the corresponding

class in France is between 3.0 and 4.0. Taking the foregoing facts into

consideration, it would appear that Roman Catholicism—even in

France—is very considerably more prolific (where the belief of the

people is at all deep) than English Protestantism. This applies both to

the upper and lower classes.” [37]

In all probability Lord Dawson was unaware of the foregoing, but there is one fact which, as a Neo-Malthusian, he ought to have known, because the omission of this fact in his address is a serious matter. When referring to France as a country where birth control had come to stay, Lord Dawson did not tell his audience that the Government of France has now suppressed the only Malthusian periodical in that country, and has proposed a law, whereby those who engage in birth control propaganda shall be imprisoned.

 

Section 2. EVIDENCE FROM HOLLAND

As regards other countries, Holland is usually described as the Mecca of Malthusians, being “the only country where Neo-Malthusianism has been given the opportunity of diminishing the excessive birthrate on eugenic lines, i.e. in the reduction of the fertility of the poorest classes,” [38] and where a “considerable rise in the wages and general prosperity appears to have taken place side by side with an unprecedented increase of population.” When we come to investigate this claim we find that, of the eleven provinces of Holland, two are almost entirely Catholic, these being North Brabant, with 649,000 inhabitants, and Limburg, with 358,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, in Friesland, with 366,000 inhabitants, not more than 8 per cent, are Catholics. The vital statistics for 1913 are quoted by Father Thurston, S.J.:

 

“… We find that in Limburg the crude birthrate is 33.4, in North

Brabant it is 32.5, but in Friesland it is 24.3. Of course, this is not

the beginning and end of the matter. In North Brabant the death-rate is

16.36, in Limburg it is 15.28, in Friesland it is only 11.21, but the

fact remains that in the two Catholic provinces the natural increase is

16.17 and 18.15, while in the non-Catholic province of Friesland it