Chapter CXX: Section CCLVIII

MEANS OF LIMITING THE INCREASE OF POPULATION.

A. The means which consists in rendering marriage less easy by legislation is surrounded with peculiar difficulties in densely populated countries, which are always highly civilized. The state would have here to swim against the stream, and it would be generally a much less difficult task to enlarge the field of food. If there remained from a former period any inducements held out to promote marriage, it is self evident that they should now be discontinued. A voluntary bachelor must now no longer be considered as a man who permits one more woman to become an old maid, but as one who facilitates marriage to another couple.[258-1] On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that, for men, generally, marriage is not only an occasion of increased outlay, but also an incentive to increased activity and greater economy.[258-2] Many states have endeavored to condition the founding of a family by requiring evidence that the father has a prospect of being able to support one.[258-3] Distinguished theorizers accede to this condition, inasmuch as they deny the right of over-population.[258-4] But, unfortunately, it is impossible, except in a few extreme cases, to assert or deny a prospect of being able to support a family.[258-5] How easily is the most remunerative power of labor destroyed by physical or mental disease. Scarcely less subject to change is the so-called certain opportunity of acquisition afforded by a profession or a trade, when it is not guarantied by the possession of considerable capital or of landed property, or by some legal privilege. The amount of property required by many laws is so small that it alone would suffice to support the family only for a few years.[258-6] And yet it has been generally provided that the proof of such a property gave one an unconditional right to establish a domicile and to marry. It is only where this is wanting that special consent is required. But who shall exercise this right of consent? The parish, perhaps, because on it the impoverished family would fall as a burthen. But it is to be feared that the course of procedure here would be too severe. Local narrow-heartedness might refuse the right of domicile to skillful and industrious candidates, who are in the best situation to maintain a family, but whose competition the older members of the parish might dread.[258-7] Hence, in most countries, the parish is treated as a party, on whose protest against the marriage the state itself decides[258-8] If the state authorities were to give the immediate decisions in such cases, we might expect, in ordinary times, a liberality which would frustrate the object of the law; but sometimes, also, considerable chicanery on grounds of so-called higher police.

Where there still exist classes and corporations with real independence, the members of which still attach a real value to the body, the matter takes care of itself. The journeyman, for instance, voluntarily retards his marriage until he has become a master workman, and once he has attained that degree, he "works the golden mine of his trade."[258-9] But wherever a numerous proletariat exists, the individuals of which have no better future to expect, whatever their present sacrifices and self-denial, and who know nothing of class-wants or class-honor, prohibitions of marriage are severely felt, and are far from being well enforced.[258-10] The rule which excites least opposition is the fixing of a normal age for marriage, under which males should not be allowed to undertake its engagements.[258-11] Of all privileges those attaching to age are viewed with least aversion. Something similar is effected in most countries to-day by military conscription, which, on this account, in young countries, has a very restrictive effect on the increase of population.[258-12] The best means against thoughtless marriages certainly consists in increasing the measure of individual wants (§ 163); assuming, of course, that the added wants are proper and worthy.[258-13] There is always the consideration that all limitation of marriage, even voluntary self-limitation, by decreasing or postponing marriage, may prove disastrous to morals. It should, however, not be forgotten that there are other sins besides impurity, and that complete poverty constitutes one of the worst of temptations. Especially is it not the angel guardian of chastity.[258-14]

In England[258-15] and France, all governmental hinderances to marriage have long since ceased, and in Prussia, at least all general police hinderances; and we can by no means say that the consequences have been evil. On the other hand, no favorable results as to their influence on pauperism can be shown statistically from the restrictive laws of Württemberg. Rather do statistics point here to the unfavorable probable result of an increase of illegitimate births.[258-16] According to the law of the North German Confederation of 1868, the contract of marriage, except in the case of soldiers, officials, clergymen and teachers, is so free, so far as police influence is concerned, that even actual poverty is no impediment.[258-17] [258-18] [258-19]

[Footnote 258-1: In Ireland, the unsalaried condition of the
Catholic clergy who depended entirely on marriage fees (as
high as £20 being paid by poor farmers. Quart. Rev. No.
289), baptismal fees, burial fees, etc., operated as an
artificial stimulus to the increase of population under the
most unfavorable conditions. See § 254.]

[Footnote 258-2: It is very noteworthy in this connection
that married people commit relatively fewer crimes than
single persons. Thus, for instance, in Prussia, in 1861, of
every 1,000 unmarried men over 16 years of age, 1.18 were
sent to the house of correction; of every 1,000 married men,
only 0.59; of every 1,000 divorced, 13.71! (Preuss. Statist.
Zeitschr., 1864, 318 seq.) In Austria, 1858-59, there was one
person under sentence in every 203 unmarried persons, in
every 669 married, and in every 1,053 widows and widowers.
Of the married, there was a larger proportion of criminals
among the childless than among those with children (49.8 per
cent. against 42.6 per cent.). Compare _v. Oettingen_,
Moralstatistik, 759. This evidence is all the stronger
since, circumstances being otherwise the same, fathers of
families are harder pressed by cares for food than single
persons.]

[Footnote 258-3: In Würtemberg, the authorities were for the
first time enjoined in 1633, to dissuade people from
untimely marriages; in 1712 the consent of the authorities
to a marriage was made dependent on the evidence of a
religious education and the capacity to support a family.
Between 1807 and 1828, all restrictions on marriage because
of incapacity to support a family were removed. According to
the Bavarian Penal Code of 1751 (I, 11, § 7), persons who
had married without governmental authorization, and who
could not afterwards support themselves except by begging,
were sentenced to at least one year in the workhouse and to
be whipped once a week. Only a short time ago scarcely any
one in Bavaria had a real and unquestionable right to marry.
(_Braun_, Zwangscölibat für Mittellose in _Faucher's_
Vierteljahrsschrift, 1867, IV, 8.) Austrian law relating to
the proof of the certainty of maintaining one's self by
one's trade etc: 12 Jan., 1815; 4 Sept., 1825.]

[Footnote 258-4: _R. Mohl_, in the 3d edition of his
Polizeiwissenschaft, I, 152 ff., requires proof of the
possession of a sufficiency of food, at least of the means
to begin house-keeping. According to _Marlo_, Weltökonomie,
III, 84 ff., and _Schäffle_, Kapitalismus und Socialismus,
689 ff., the compulsory insurance of widow and children
should precede marriage.]

[Footnote 258-5: Thus the Württemberg law of 1833 prohibits
the marriage of those who are under prosecution on account
of repeated thefts, fraud, or carrying on the trade of a
beggar; also all such as have been criminally punished
within the two next preceding years, and all who within the
three next preceding years have received alms from the
public treasury, except in cases of misfortune, of the
causes of which they were innocent. The Bavarian law of
April 16, 1868, gives the parish a right of veto. According
to the royal Saxon ordinance of 1840, male recipients of
alms are permitted to marry only when their marriage makes
an important amelioration of their circumstances probable,
and does away with the necessity of public assistance in the
future.]

[Footnote 258-6: During Iceland's middle age, prohibition of
marriage for all who did not possess at least from 100
ounces of silver or 600 ells _vadhmal_. (_K. Maurer_,
Island, 443 seq.) In Bavaria (July 1, 1831), the right of
domicile is made to depend on a landownership free of debt,
and a _steuersimplum_ of from 1 to 2 florins (in towns more)
in country parishes; on the real (reales) right of carrying
on a trade, or on a personal trade-concession sufficient for
support. A tax of 1 florin in 1852 meant about 1,200 florins
worth of property. In other cases it depended on whether the
parish recognized the existence "complete and permanent of
the means of livelihood." Here good repute and the
possession of a considerable savings bank deposit were to be
particularly considered. In cases of competition, discharged
soldiers who had served out their term, and good servants of
15 years service were to be preferred. In Württemberg (1833)
a sufficient guaranty that a person contemplating marriage
possessed the means of support was: the personal capacity to
exercise a liberal art or to follow a scientific career, to
engage in commerce or agriculture, or some branch of
industry, or follow a trade, with sufficient income
therefrom to support a family; or the possession of a
property, according to locality, of 1,000, 800 or 600
florins. The law of May 5, 1852, was more exacting, and
required, besides personal competency, evidence that one's
calling yielded a sufficient income, as well as of an amount
of property free of debt, of the value of from 150 to 200
florins. In Baden (1831) a property considered sufficient to
insure the means of livelihood amounted in the four largest
cities to 1,000 florins, in 10 smaller ones to 600; in the
remaining communities to 300 florins. In the electorate of
Hesse, the amount (1834) was from 150 thalers (for small
country communities) to 1,000 thalers. (Kassel.) An
irreproachable character is required by many laws (in
Württemburg, since 1832, the good reputation of both
parties), and the community is empowered to dispense with
the other material conditions. Long-continued savings-bank
deposit speaks well for the parties' competency to support a
family, because it bears testimony to an excellent economic
disposition.]

[Footnote 258-7: Remarkable instance in _Rau_, Lehrbuch, II,
§ 15 a., note b.]

[Footnote 258-8: In Bavaria, in 1808, the decision reserved
to the royal boards of police.]

[Footnote 258-9: Those callings in which a certain _esprit
de corps_ prevails such as that, for instance, of officials
and officers, submit willingly to restrictions on marriage
authoritatively imposed. The Catholic clergy submit even to
a full prohibition of marriage. Such measures uniformly
strengthen the isolation of the class from the nation as a
whole. It is well known that, during the middle ages,
theological views on the meritoriousness of all self-denial
made voluntary celibacy very common. The Franciscan order
counted at one time 150,000 monks and 28,000 nuns, the
so-called members of the third order, or penitents, not
included. (_Helyot_, Gesch. der Kloster und Ritterorden, V,
33.) The severity of the laws relating to fasting might
also, according to _Villermé_, be regarded as a "preventive
check." Compare _supra_, § 240, note I.]

[Footnote 258-10: The Prussian law authorizing parents and
guardians to put an interdict on marriages, because of a
want of the necessary means, of vicious habits, disease,
etc., may constitute a check in very good families and
families of the middle class, but scarcely so in proletarian
circles.]

[Footnote 258-11: Besides Württemberg, Baden also prescribed
25 years; in Saxony and Hessen-Darmstadt, 21 sufficed; in
Prussia even 18. _Schäffle_ advocates a minimum age of 25
years for males and 22 years for women (loc. cit.).
Similarly, _Mohl_, loc. cit.]

[Footnote 258-12: Why, hitherto, in Sweden, by way of
exception, military service promoted early marriage, see
_Wappäus_, Bevölkerungsstatistik, II, 357. In France, on the
other hand, the increase of population since 1815 has been
almost exactly in the inverse ratio of the strength of the
military levy. Acad. des Sc. Morales et Polit., 1867, II,
159.]

[Footnote 258-13: _Malthus_, Principle of Population, 10,
ch. 13.]

[Footnote 258-14: _Malthus_, Principle of Population, IV,
ch. 4, 5. It is a great error to suppose that the number of
immoral acts increases and decreases with the frequency of
temptation. In Ireland, farmers very frequently keep their
men servants and maid servants even after the latter have
married. But the very facility with which a fall is
legalized, increases very largely the number of reckless
marriages. (_Meidinger_, Reise, II, 187 seq.) In the country
about Göttingen also, where the people marry much earlier on
an average than in that about Calenberg, illegitimate births
are much more frequent.]

[Footnote 258-15: Even no other legal obstacle which could
make marriage more difficult occurred to _Malthus_, except
that which consists in the refusal of public assistance
after the expiration of a fixed period of time. (Principle
of Population, IV, ch. 8; V, ch. 2.)]

[Footnote 258-16: See the tables in the Tübinger
Zeitschrift, 1868, 624 ff. Thus, formerly, in Rhenish
Bavaria, where there was complete liberty allowed in this
matter, the poor rates compared with the population, were
only 34.6 per cent. of the average in the rest of Bavaria;
and the number of illegitimate births was not so unfavorable
by one-half. (_Rivet_, in the Archiv der polit. Oekonomie, N.
F., I, 39.) The Bavarian law of the 16th of April, 1868,
which provides that the community or parish can object to a
person's marriage only on account of unpaid parish taxes or
poor rates (art. 36) largely increased the number of
marriages and diminished the illegitimate births; in the
first year to 22.2 per cent., in the second to 17, and in
1873 to 13.2 per cent. (Allg. luth Kirchenztg., 12 März,
1875.) According to official statement, this law did more to
improve the condition of workmen in the towns than any other
cause. Compare _Thudichum_, Ueber unzulässige Beschränkungen
des Rechts der Verehelichung, 1868. Per contra, _E.
Schübler_, Ueber Niederlassung und Verehelichung in den
verschiedenen deutschen Staaten, 1855.]

[Footnote 258-17: _Reinhold_ has recommended the direct
limitation of the procreation of children by the process of
_infibulation_ practiced on boys fourteen years of age and
continued until they arrive at a marriageable age or are
able to support illegitimate children. An der Uebervolkerung
in Mitteleuropa, 1827. Ueber die Population und Industrié,
oder Beweis dass die Bevölkerung in hoch kultivieren Landern
stets den Gewerbfleiss übereile, 1828. Ueber das menschliche
Elend, welches durch Missbrauch der Zeugung herbeigeführt
wird, 1828. Das Gleichgewicht der Bevölkerung als Grundlage
der Wohlfahrt, 1829. The ancients proceeded sometimes in a
similar way in the case of slave actors: _Juvenal_, VI, 73.
Compare _Winckelmann_, Antichi inediti, Tav. 188.]

[Footnote 258-18: The obstacles formerly placed in many
countries in the way of the marriage of Jews of allowing
only the first-born to marry, and this only when a vacancy
occurred in the number of families by death (Austria), was
not based on a solicitude about population, but on
religio-national intolerance, in part also on commercial
police grounds.]

[Footnote 258-19: _Fisher_, Gesch. des deutschen Handels
(1785 ff.), still considers war as a remedy for
over-population, but _M. Wirth_, Grundzüge der N. Oek.,
rightly remarks that war destroys not so much children,
women and the infirm as the most productive of the male
population, and immense amounts of capital.]