PRESSING PROBLEMS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2647, 18 December 1915, Page 4

PRESSING PROBLEMS

J Although the first and most press- ' ing business of tho British Empire | 3 is to win this war, and win it tho- | roughly, something must also be done j to prepare for the new age which 3 will commence after tho struggle is over. The war is creating a number i of entirely new problems. It is also altering our point of viow regarding many old ones—moral, social, indusf trial, and commercial. .The falling birth-rato and the prevention of in- .. fant mortality are questions that will have to Ijo grappled, with more seriously than ever before, and the surplus of women, which is being great- : ly augmented by tho war, is bound to cause a revision of traditional ideas as to woman's place in the world. Steps are already being taken in' Germany to devise mea'sures for the renewal of the male 1 population. The churches and schools arc to be asked to take part | 3 in this work. It is suggested that " assistance should be given to those 1 who cannot afford to marry; that a " system of State premiums for large " families be established; and that i bachelors, old maid 3, and childless 1 couples shall be heavily taxed. In • England increased attention is being ' paid to the necessity of safeguarding ~ child life. At a recent meeting in 3 London Mn. Hbbbekt ' ed to the urgent need of making tho " people realise that the security : of 1 our own civilisation depends not only on the quality and efficiency of " our population, but also on numbers. s He went on to say that at this moment tho nations of Europe are en- ; gaged in the destruction of lifo on a ' colossal scale, and it is our duty to I do our utmost to make good tho loss an far a? our own country is conccrns cd. Sin J. Omohtoh-Bkojvnb ro--1 minded the meeting that Britain had irreparably lost at least 150,000 of. " the flower of her manhood, and ho > said th'isi loss imposed on the nation . the obligation of practising tho q strictest ccononiy in human life. In -irder to show that tho infant mortality rate might be vory materially c reduced, he mentioned that doctors e babies die at the rate of only 40 per e thousand in the first year, because a doctors k»pw b'liv Inpw .' J a thenv wliwafl miners' babies die ai

the rato of 160 per thousand. This 1 population problem is of vital im- 1 portancc to the whole Empire. Tho British Overseas Dominions are hot being peopled aa rapidly as they should be. Thoy have been depending too largely upon tho ovorllow from the Mother Country. This oversow is now rapidly diminishing, and may Boon cease. The Empire cannot be properly, developed nor successfully defended from its enomies unless something is done to arrest tho falling birth-rate. A writer in an American journal, in supporting his contention that Europe will have to grapple very energetically with "the problem of too many women," states that before the war Great Britain had a surplus of over 1,900,000 women and girls. Germany' had a surplus of over 845,000, and I 1 rancc 645,000. Beforo peace is restored these surpluses will be enormously increased. It is quite clear that a very large number of those who are now young women can never marry, simply because there will be no husbands for them. They will have to provide for themselves all their lives. Employment must bs found for them. This will involve important social changes, and some rearrangements in our industrial system. The future of tho woman worker is discussed by Mrs. S. _A. Burstall in an instructive article in the London Gtuirdian. She points out that many parents will _be so hardly hit by tho increased income tax that some of their daughters will have to earn their own living, and that there will bo a tendency among women of the middle-class to continue their profession, whenever possible, after marriage, as French women have done. Young people will probably marry sooner than in the old days of luxury and ostentation, and the husband's income will be added to by the wife's professional work. Miss Burstall describes the various kinds of employment which she considers to bo suitable for women. Rural industries for women are already, she says, attracting greater attention, and efforts aro being made to train women for life on-the land. She has no sympathy with the suggestion made at this year's meeting of the British Association that we may see in the future woman as privates in tho industrial army, while tho men act as officers. She contends with good reason that such a state of affairs would degrade both womanhood and the whole nation. Miss Burstall deals with the question almost entirely from 'the woman's standpoint. But tho man's point of view must also be considered. How would the widening of woman's sphere of work and a largo increase in the number of fe.malo workers affect the wages of the men and their chances of employment?- If the young men cannot secure steady work- and good_ wages they will riot be in a position to marry. The problem is to find employment for tho women who cannot marry, without ousting men from their proper work or lowering the rate of wages. The ideal occupation for a woman is, of course, to preside over a home; but we cannot close our eyes to tho fact that in thousands of cases this ideal cannot be realised.