RACE SUICIDE
During the last ten years race suicide has been one of the leading problems of life, and on several occasions I have written my views on this subject. I have not changed my views at all after hearing the many arguments of the old conservative “stand patters” who try to imitate Solomon and the other prolific polygamists of long ago. There is no such a thing as race suicide. When big families are necessary, the big family will be fashionable. There is an ebb and flow to everything. Just now the pendulum of progress is swinging out toward the small, healthy, educated family of two to six children.
In pioneer days in this country, when it was desirable to have many children born to the new soil, and thus populate the wild country with people who knew of no other land, and would more likely live contented in the American wilderness than in the over-populated, lord-laden countries beyond the seas, the big family was a safeguard against the encroachments of the Indian and was desirable.
So, too, when Mormonism was a weak doctrine, and grown men would not accept it as a religion, the pioneers of that faith removed to Utah and built a city on the parched desert by the inland sea known as Salt Lake. From here they sent out missionaries to foreign countries, making converts among the women and families that were prolific in bearing children. It shows the wisdom of Brigham Young.
He preached to the women that every child born to them added a new star to their crown of glory. Those who believed the doctrine were anxious to add to the population of Utah and add a few stars to their future crown. This is one reason why the unmarried women accepted polygamy. The one great desire, fired by religious enthusiasm, was to bear children who would fight for the new doctrine.
It was a matter of wisdom on one side and sheer deception on the other. It was cheaper to rear Mormon recruits than to secure them full grown. And the child Mormon would never renounce the faith imbibed at the mother’s knee.
And thus you will find the situation in all cases where the race was made to believe that God loved the prolific woman better than the barren maid. Women will submit to anything, if made to believe it is their religious duty to do so. But men now realize that there is a psychological problem connected with the rearing of children, and the question is asked: Is it the wisest thing to bring into the world many children who cannot obtain a practical education, and therefore over-populate the nation with ignorant and dependent creatures? Do we not need quality rather than quantity?
Is Germany any better off with its prolific families than France with reduced numbers? Or take your own village or town—who is the best prepared for the battles of life, the child belonging to a family of fifteen members, or the child who is one of three or four offsprings?