influence, and until the social and industrial crises now bearing down upon us have become actualities instead of threats the public will not wake up.
In addition to the general economic check to the reproduction of the so-called “better classes,” there are positive psychosociological checks which operate selectively against the more beautiful women—precisely the women who ought to be selected for reproduction, not against it.
The more beautiful a woman, other considerations being equal, the greater her chance of making a relatively wealthy match—and her beauty may even overcome serious considerations of negative weight. The wealthier the match, under present conditions, the less the probability of her bearing children. Without wealth, social pretensions may have an even greater deterrent effect, for with wealth, social pretensions and children are not positively incompatible whereas without wealth they are.
It is not worth while to gloss over facts, nor is it decent. Numbers of women of the most beautiful types are bought for a price, and that price is the assurance of being kept for life in a style and indolence which preclude (barring accidents) the satisfaction of the parental instinct. And even when tired of these mistresses, their consorts cannot discard them and take more normal women, for they (or their parents for them) have had the
