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family is a thing of the past, but this is a mistake. The family life of
the future will be different from that of the past, but the finest
traits in it will still be the same. Loyalty of each to all and all to
each is one of the greatest assets in this tumultuous, changing world.
In times of distress, whether it is financial or mental, the most
pitiable person is the one without family ties. A family of children may
be a handicap at such times, but often it is the very thing that keeps
people from failure. Moreover, in adversity and old age a family group
of loyal brothers and sisters, even if each has several children, gets
along much better than does the man or woman who fends only for himself.
It pays to be married and to be married into a large family.

Let us turn back again to the question of whether family life is going
to die out. In the old days of unrestricted families children just came
because it couldn't be helped. Today, regardless of race or religion,
intelligent people limit their families. Abundant statistics make it
clear that the size of families has dropped greatly among all except two
groups. One is a large group of less intelligent, isolated, shiftless,
or incompetent people, among whom families of eight to fifteen children
may still be found. The other is a small group of intelligent,
high-minded, well-established, well-to-do families with many relatives
and with a very assured position. Their children usually number from
four to eight. Most of us belong to a huge intervening group in which
the average number of children, including those who die young, is less
than three, instead of seven, as was the case a century or two ago. This
great middle group is the one that will determine what kind of people
live in this country in the future.

Well, then, from what part of this middle group will most of the
children of the future be derived? A little arithmetic will help us.
Suppose we have two sets of parents, numbering a thousand each and
having children old enough to be married. In one set each pair of
parents has two children; in the other five. The children of each set
behave like their parents in this respect. In both sets 15 percent of
the children die before reaching the age of marriage, and 10 percent of
those who grow up fail to marry. These are normal percentages. Among
those who marry, however, 20 percent of the two-child group, and only 10
percent of the other set, fail to have children.