Memoranda presented to the Royal Commission.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Population.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoranda presented to the Royal Commission. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    104/128 (page 98)
    value to the community. It is important that they should not be harried by the movement of public opinion in favour of family responsibilities. Let each do according to his capacities. If those who do love children were relieved from pressure and enabled to have as many as they would ideally wish, it is probable that the population could be maintained without forcing into service those to whom it is temperamentally uncongenial. Our com- munity will only prosper if the fullest toleration is shown to the diversity of types. The solution of our problem is to make parenthood less burdensome, not to dragoon unwilling citizens into parenthood. If the insurance scheme is adequate a man (or woman) will have done his duty to society when he pays his contribution ; the fund will enable child lovers to do their part in grateful willingness. PRESENT STATE OF PUBLIC OPINION 52. I venture to surmise that the attitude of public opinion to eh it for family endowment is as follows : — i. The public is still in some doubt whether the alleged population crisis is real or a scare raised by statistical faddists. i. It is likely to be convinced by an announcement by a Royal Com- mission that the danger is real. jii. When so convinced, it will certainly desire a remedy that is ade- quate in scale and national in scope. iv. The average man is not likely to regard Is. in the £ as a dispropor- tionately large contribution ; on the contrary he would probably regard a smaller sum as indicating unwillingness to face up to the problem. I propose that this insurance scheme should be supplementary to the flat rate of 8s. for every child after the first, as proposed by Sir William Beveridge.