e will make provision. Either the mother
will be paid so much per child so long as it lives and thrives, as her
wages for important work done for society in bearing and rearing it"
(it should be noted that children will belong no more to their parents
but to "society," that childbearing will be "work" paid for by
"wages," and that the breeding of children will become as much a
business on the part of independent women as is now the breeding of
cats and dogs for profit), "or her absolute independence of her
husband will be secured in some other way. The State doctor (a woman
for this office) will prescribe and care for the child from the moment
of its birth, and State nurses will be in attendance to see that the
mother is in need of nothing for her own and the child's
well-being."[942] "Socialism will simply be the scientific development
of those natural tendencies which augment the happiness or improve the
comfort of the people. It is conceivable that every child shall come
under the care of the administrative assembly. The right of the child
is not interwoven with parental responsibility. They are separate
considerations. Only a madman will hold that in the event of its
parents being unmindful of their duties a helpless little one should
be allowed to suffer. The fact of its being is the child's title to
whatever provision society is able to make for it."[943] "Socialism
therefore teaches men to expect a communal watchfulness over infant
life. If parents refuse, or are unable, to meet the requirements of
the case, the State will supply the deficiency."[944] "A State that
truly represents its members will legislate generously for those who
announce frankly and without cant that they have no desire for the
care of children."[945]

In the Socialist State of the future, people could therefore get rid
of new-born babes far more easily than they now can of puppies and
kittens. The institution round the corner would be the general
foster-mother. Hordes of fatherless and motherless children would
throng the State nurseries. The words "father" and "mother" would lose
their meaning. However, we are told that "Socialism would begin by
making sure that there should not be a single untaught, unloved,
hungry child in the kingdom."[946] Love would evidently also be
"organised" by the authorities.

Some Socialists fear that, under a _regime_ of free love and free
State maintenance for mothers and children, life will become a riot,