Up to the year 1877, the birth-rate in England and Wales conformed to
the law of Malthus, and kept pace with increasing prosperity; but, after
that year, and right up to the present time, the nation's prosperity has
gone on advancing at a phenomenal rate _pari passu_ with an equally
phenomenal decline in the number of births per 1000 of the population.

Now, it is a remarkable coincidence that in this very year, 1877, the
Neo-Malthusians began to make their influence felt, and spread amongst
all classes of the people a knowledge of preventive checks to
conception.

People were encouraged to believe that large families were an evil. A
great many, no doubt, had already come to this conclusion; for there is
no more common belief amongst the working classes, at least, than that
large families are a cause of poverty and hardship. And this is even
more true than it was in the days of the Neo-Malthusians, for then child
and women labour was a source of gain to the family, and a poor man's
earnings were often considerably augmented thereby.

The uniform decrease of the birth-rate is a matter of statistics, and
admits of no dispute. It has been least rapid in the German Empire, and
most rapid in New Zealand.

With the declining birth-rate the marriage-rate must be considered.

Malthus would have expected a declining birth-rate to be the natural
result of a declining marriage-rate, and a declining marriage-rate to be
due to the practice of moral restraint, rendered imperative because of
hard times, and a difficulty in obtaining work, wages, and food.