Page:Contraception; 1st ed. (IA in.ernet.dli.2015.94163).pdf/240

commonly supposed. Before relying on statistics we need to know in much greater detail the procedure of the private individuals from whom the statistics are compiled. Crude statistical evidence alone will not satisfy a mind trained to deep scientific inquiry.

In connection with "race suicide" in particular, statistics dealing solely with the birth-rate are of little or no value as evidence although they are often quoted, and there is generally a newspaper outcry of pleasure when our birth-rate is high and tearful wails when our birth-rate is low. A few moments' thought however will make it apparent that the birth-rate itself is no indication whatever of racial prosperity or success. A high birth-rate, even the highest possible, which is coupled with a high death-rate will not increase population, and as has long been apparent in China for instance (where a very high birth-rate prevails) a population with a high birth-rate may be nearly or absolutely stationary owing to the incidence of early deaths.

An interesting paper by Rubin^[1] brings