Pagina 538 van 1391

Still, while condemning Plato, we must acknowledge that neither

Christianity, nor any other form of religion and society, has

hitherto been able to cope with this most difficult of social

problems, and that the side from which Plato regarded it is that

from which we turn away. Population is the most untameable force

in the political and social world. Do we not find, especially in

large cities, that the greatest hindrance to the amelioration of

the poor is their improvidence in marriage?-a small fault truly,

if not involving endless consequences. There are whole countries

too, such as India, or, nearer home, Ireland, in which a right

solution of the marriage question seems to lie at the foundation

of the happiness of the community. There are too many people on a

given space, or they marry too early and bring into the world a

sickly and half-developed offspring; or owing to the very

conditions of their existence, they become emaciated and hand on

a similar life to their descendants.