resent,
therefore, in proportion to the demand for men, constituted one of the
life conditions. It is a life condition which is subject to constant
variation, and one in regard to which the sanctions of wise action are
prompt and severe.

+315. The advantages and disadvantages of the aged. Mores of respect
and contempt.+ Those who survive to old age become depositaries of all
the wisdom of the group, and they are generally the possessors of power
and authority, but they lose physical power, skill, and efficiency in
action. In time, they become burdens on the active members of the group.
"As a man grows old and weak he loses the only claim to respect which
savages understand; but superstitious fear then comes to his protection.
He will die soon and then his ghost can take revenge."[901] That is to
say that the mores can interfere to inculcate duties of respect to the
old which will avert from them the conclusion that they ought to die. In
respect to the aged, therefore, we find two different sets of mores:
(_a_) those in which the aged are treated with arbitrary and
conventional respect; and (_b_) those in which the doctrine is that
those who become burdens must be removed, by their own act or that of
their relatives. In abortion, infanticide, and killing the old there is
a large element of judgment as to what societal welfare requires,
although they are executed generally from immediate personal
selfishness. The custom of the group, by which the three classes of acts
are approved as right and proper, must contain a judgment that they are
conducive, and often necessary, to welfare.

+316. Abortion and infanticide.+ Abortion and infanticide are two
customs which have the same character and purpose. The former prevents
child bearing; the latter child rearing. They are folkways which are
aggregates of individual acts under individual motives, for an
individual might so act without a custom in the group. The acts,
however, when practiced by many, and through a long time, change their
character. They are no longer individual acts of resistance to pain.
They bear witness to uniform experiences, and to uniform reactions
against the experiences, in the way of judgments as to what it is
expedient to do, and motives of policy. They also suggest to, and teach,
the rising generation. They react, in the course of time, on the welfare
of the group. They affect its numbers and its quality, as we now
believe, although we cannot find t