The race is now being carried on mainly by the poorest classes of the population. But, when the Neo-Malthusians have carried out to the full that campaign on which they have now entered; when the faith in life which the poor have not yet lost, shall at last be undermined; when it will be true of Poplar as of Belgravia, and of the Canongate as of the West End, that having a family is no longer a British ideal--what then is to become of the race and the Empire? What we must realise is that this process of racial destruction will steadily go on working down the social {40} scale until the race is doomed--unless the conscience of the race be roused and the forces of degeneration routed. Nobody has studied the whole problem with more thoroughness than Dr. J. W. Ballantyne of Edinburgh. 'If this voluntary restriction has begun in one group of society,' says Dr. Ballantyne, 'it has not expended itself yet upon the other groups ... it is working its way, one might almost say, as a leaven, it has not yet reached the larger groups of people, and therefore I expect the fall in the birthrate to go on.' In the present miasma which has fallen on the race, when women have become 'less scrupulous,' and doctors advise with greater and greater frequency the restriction of birth, Dr. Ballantyne can only summon us to 'bring up the reserves and strengthen the recruits.' Life has ceased to be desired; its continuance is no longer 'convenient.' It is inevitable that, unless a change comes in the spirit of our day, the process of decay will go steadily on. {41} IV It is a repulsive picture this which grows before our eyes; but there are blacker shades still--so black that one can only indicate them and pass on. So far we have only considered the restricted birthrate as the result of the teaching of Neo-Malthusianism; but there is a further restriction which even the Neo-Malthusian condemns--the destruction of the unborn life. The best way to indicate this, the blackest of all the signs of moral decay, is to quote here and there from the Report. _Witness_--The LORD BISHOP OF SOUTHWARK. _Question_--It is your general experience, my lord, that there is among the working-classes, so far as you can judge, a larger amount of abortion than the use of anti-conceptions? _Answer_.--That is what I should say. _Dr. Scharlieb_.--They say that there are five abortions to every one live birth. {42} The Lord Bishop of Southwark did not hesitate to declare that the destruction of unborn life in South London 'betrays instincts which are worse than the savage.' _Witness_--Sir THOMAS OLIVER, M.D., LL.D., B.Sc., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. _Witness_.--The waste of infant life was enormous owing to the expectant mother miscarrying.... For twopence a woman might purchase sufficient ... to cause her to miscarry, while she at the same time might imperil her own life.... _Witness_--Dr. AMAND ROUTH, M.D.