Principles of Political Economy Part 41

(P. Ph., I, 60.) According to _Bulau_, Staatswirthschaftslehre, 24, only those immigrants are welcome who are attracted to the country by the whole character of its national inst.i.tutions and circ.u.mstances. It is a different matter when, for instance, the government in New South Wales permits the colonists, by the payment of very moderate contributions, to have their workmen, friends and relations come after them from England in ships owned by the government. Between 1832 and 1858, 1,700,000 were paid out for such transportation. (Novara-Reise, III, 53.)]

[Footnote 256-9: Dutch Remonstrants since 1619 in Schleswig; Huguenots established since 1685, in Prussia, to the number of about 11,000; Waldenses in Prussia since 1686; natives of Salzburg and of the Palatinate in Prussia. For a state which is the representative of a religious or political principle, it may be a matter of honor, and then certainly useful, to afford an asylum to persons, adherents of that principle.]

[Footnote 256-10: On the German colonists whom Olavides settled in Spain, in 1768 etc., see _Schlozer's_ Briefwechsel, 1779, IV, 587 ff. See adv.: Ueber Sitten, Temperament etc., Spaniens von einem reisenden Beobachter in den J., 1777 und 1778, Leipzig, 1781, p. 260, ff.]

[Footnote 256-11: Ca.n.a.le Crimea, III, 346 ff. _Karamsin_, Russ. Geschichte, VIII, 97, 424.]

[Footnote 256-12: Ordinance of 1721. Compare _Wolf's_ Vernunftige Gedanken, -- 483, who at that time highly disapproved of such compulsion. Quite the reverse, the Prussian Landrecht, II, t.i.t. 17, -- 133 ff. On the other hand, in Spires, in 1765 and 1784, persons of good conduct, good workmen and others of sufficient means, were forbidden to emigrate. Prohibition under pain of death, in Spanish Milan; Novae Const.i.tut., 29, 145. The work: Les Interets de la France maletendus (1752), 258, advocates the prohibition of emigration as a species of _les majeste_.]

[Footnote 256-13: _Beccaria_, Dei Delitti e delle Pene, 1765, cap. 52. Similarly, _Mirabeau_, in his congratulatory letter to Fred. Wil. II., and _Benjamin Franklin_, On a proposed Act for preventing Emigration: Works, IV, 458 ff.

The Dutch were very early advocates of freedom of emigration. Compare _U. Huber_, De Jure Civit., 1672, II, 4; _Pufendorff_, Jus. Natur. (1672), VIII, 11. Theorizers otherwise the most opposite in their views are here agreed.

_Jeremy Bentham_ says that properly speaking a prohibition against emigration should begin with the words: We, who do not understand the art of making our subjects happy; in consideration that if we should allow them to take flight, they would all betake themselves to strange and better governed countries, etc. Des Recompenses et des Peines, II, 310. But also _K. L. v. Haller_, Restauration der Staatswissenschaft, I, 429 ff., 508, demands most strenuously that there should be freedom of emigration, for the reason that every man, without prejudice to any one else, might seek the state const.i.tution which he wanted, _J.

Tucker_ entirely approved the English law prohibiting the emigration of workmen. Compare also _J. Bodin_, De Republ., I, 6.]

[Footnote 256-14: English prohibition of emigration under Charles I., 1637. _Rymer_, Fdera XX, 143. The story that Cromwell and Hampden were thus detained in the country may be false, however. (_Bancroft_, History of the United States, I, 445.) Earlier prohibition of emigration of the Norwegian king in relation to Iceland. (_Schlegel_, Gragas, Comment Crit. p. XV.) In ancient Greece, the restriction of emigration by foreign powers contributed very largely to the democratization of the mother country. Something similar is impending over Germany if the present emigration towards North America should be much weakened by a change of circ.u.mstances there.]

[Footnote 256-15: Many governments require proof that the person emigrating will be admitted into his contemplated new home, and that he has the means to cover the expenses of the journey. The threat of not receiving back returning emigrants has very little effect, for the reason that it is the most thoughtless who at the moment of emigration entertain the most rose-colored hopes.]

[Footnote 256-16: I shall treat of the so-called after-tax (_Nachsteuer_) in the fourth volume of my System.]

[Footnote 256-17: Compare _Lycurg_., adv., Leocrat. _Caesar_ forbade all persons of senatorial rank to emigrate out of Italy; other persons between 20 and 40 years of age were not to remain absent over three consecutive years at most. For the same reason, the time of military service was shortened.

(_Mommsen_, R. G., III, 491.)]

SECTION CCLVII.

SANITARY POLICE.

D. Hygienic measures and the improvement of the sanitary police of a country are of the utmost importance, not only to increase the number of inhabitants, but also to produce the conditions of population described in -- 246.[257-1]

E. It is the indispensable condition precedent of all the measures which we have examined, if they would attain their end, that the means of subsistence of the people should be increased or at least more equally divided among them. Where this has been done the increase of population will, as a rule, take care of itself; where it has not, the artificially increased procreation of children can only produce new victims for the angel of death. A merely more equable distribution can, however, improve the condition of the people only in exceedingly rare cases. (-- 204). As a rule, the diseases which it is attempted to thus cure grow worse, or they at least increase in extent. (-- 80, ff., 250.) It is quite different, of course, when the more equable distribution coincides with an absolute growth of the nation's economy. We shall see, later, that, for instance, the freedom of land alienation and of industrial pursuits, when not accompanied by an important advance in the corresponding branches of economy may do more harm than good; but that under favorable circ.u.mstances a mult.i.tude of dormant forces are thereby awakened, and that then the national-economical dividend may be increased much more than the divisor. (-- 239. _Roscher_, Nationalokonomik des Ackerbaues, -- 99, 139 ff.)

[Footnote 257-1: _Bacon_ in his History of Life and Death, or of the Prolongation of Life, hopes the better physicians "will not employ their times wholly in the sordidness of cures, neither be honoured for necessities only; but that they will become coadjutors and instruments of the divine omnipotence and clemence in prolonging and renewing the life of man."]

SECTION CCLVIII.

MEANS OF LIMITING THE INCREASE OF POPULATION.

A. The means which consists in rendering marriage less easy by legislation is surrounded with peculiar difficulties in densely populated countries, which are always highly civilized. The state would have here to swim against the stream, and it would be generally a much less difficult task to enlarge the field of food. If there remained from a former period any inducements held out to promote marriage, it is self evident that they should now be discontinued. A voluntary bachelor must now no longer be considered as a man who permits one more woman to become an old maid, but as one who facilitates marriage to another couple.[258-1] On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that, for men, generally, marriage is not only an occasion of increased outlay, but also an incentive to increased activity and greater economy.[258-2]

Many states have endeavored to condition the founding of a family by requiring evidence that the father has a prospect of being able to support one.[258-3] Distinguished theorizers accede to this condition, inasmuch as they deny the right of over-population.[258-4] But, unfortunately, it is impossible, except in a few extreme cases, to a.s.sert or deny a prospect of being able to support a family.[258-5] How easily is the most remunerative power of labor destroyed by physical or mental disease. Scarcely less subject to change is the so-called certain opportunity of acquisition afforded by a profession or a trade, when it is not guarantied by the possession of considerable capital or of landed property, or by some legal privilege. The amount of property required by many laws is so small that it alone would suffice to support the family only for a few years.[258-6] And yet it has been generally provided that the proof of such a property gave one an unconditional right to establish a domicile and to marry. It is only where this is wanting that special consent is required. But who shall exercise this right of consent? The parish, perhaps, because on it the impoverished family would fall as a burthen. But it is to be feared that the course of procedure here would be too severe. Local narrow-heartedness might refuse the right of domicile to skillful and industrious candidates, who are in the best situation to maintain a family, but whose compet.i.tion the older members of the parish might dread.[258-7] Hence, in most countries, the parish is treated as a party, on whose protest against the marriage the state itself decides[258-8] If the state authorities were to give the immediate decisions in such cases, we might expect, in ordinary times, a liberality which would frustrate the object of the law; but sometimes, also, considerable chicanery on grounds of so-called higher police.

Where there still exist cla.s.ses and corporations with real independence, the members of which still attach a real value to the body, the matter takes care of itself. The journeyman, for instance, voluntarily r.e.t.a.r.ds his marriage until he has become a master workman, and once he has attained that degree, he "works the golden mine of his trade."[258-9]

But wherever a numerous proletariat exists, the individuals of which have no better future to expect, whatever their present sacrifices and self-denial, and who know nothing of cla.s.s-wants or cla.s.s-honor, prohibitions of marriage are severely felt, and are far from being well enforced.[258-10] The rule which excites least opposition is the fixing of a normal age for marriage, under which males should not be allowed to undertake its engagements.[258-11] Of all privileges those attaching to age are viewed with least aversion. Something similar is effected in most countries to-day by military conscription, which, on this account, in young countries, has a very restrictive effect on the increase of population.[258-12] The best means against thoughtless marriages certainly consists in increasing the measure of individual wants (-- 163); a.s.suming, of course, that the added wants are proper and worthy.[258-13] There is always the consideration that all limitation of marriage, even voluntary self-limitation, by decreasing or postponing marriage, may prove disastrous to morals. It should, however, not be forgotten that there are other sins besides impurity, and that complete poverty const.i.tutes one of the worst of temptations. Especially is it not the angel guardian of chast.i.ty.[258-14]

In England[258-15] and France, all governmental hinderances to marriage have long since ceased, and in Prussia, at least all general police hinderances; and we can by no means say that the consequences have been evil. On the other hand, no favorable results as to their influence on pauperism can be shown statistically from the restrictive laws of Wurttemberg. Rather do statistics point here to the unfavorable probable result of an increase of illegitimate births.[258-16] According to the law of the North German Confederation of 1868, the contract of marriage, except in the case of soldiers, officials, clergymen and teachers, is so free, so far as police influence is concerned, that even actual poverty is no impediment.[258-17] [258-18] [258-19]

[Footnote 258-1: In Ireland, the unsalaried condition of the Catholic clergy who depended entirely on marriage fees (as high as 20 being paid by poor farmers. Quart. Rev. No.

289), baptismal fees, burial fees, etc., operated as an artificial stimulus to the increase of population under the most unfavorable conditions. See -- 254.]

[Footnote 258-2: It is very noteworthy in this connection that married people commit relatively fewer crimes than single persons. Thus, for instance, in Prussia, in 1861, of every 1,000 unmarried men over 16 years of age, 1.18 were sent to the house of correction; of every 1,000 married men, only 0.59; of every 1,000 divorced, 13.71! (Preuss. Statist.

Zeitschr., 1864, 318 seq.) In Austria, 1858-59, there was one person under sentence in every 203 unmarried persons, in every 669 married, and in every 1,053 widows and widowers.

Of the married, there was a larger proportion of criminals among the childless than among those with children (49.8 per cent. against 42.6 per cent.). Compare _v. Oettingen_, Moralstatistik, 759. This evidence is all the stronger since, circ.u.mstances being otherwise the same, fathers of families are harder pressed by cares for food than single persons.]

[Footnote 258-3: In Wurtemberg, the authorities were for the first time enjoined in 1633, to dissuade people from untimely marriages; in 1712 the consent of the authorities to a marriage was made dependent on the evidence of a religious education and the capacity to support a family.

Between 1807 and 1828, all restrictions on marriage because of incapacity to support a family were removed. According to the Bavarian Penal Code of 1751 (I, 11, -- 7), persons who had married without governmental authorization, and who could not afterwards support themselves except by begging, were sentenced to at least one year in the workhouse and to be whipped once a week. Only a short time ago scarcely any one in Bavaria had a real and unquestionable right to marry.

(_Braun_, Zw.a.n.gscolibat fur Mittellose in _Faucher's_ Vierteljahrsschrift, 1867, IV, 8.) Austrian law relating to the proof of the certainty of maintaining one's self by one's trade etc: 12 Jan., 1815; 4 Sept., 1825.]

[Footnote 258-4: _R. Mohl_, in the 3d edition of his Polizeiwissenschaft, I, 152 ff., requires proof of the possession of a sufficiency of food, at least of the means to begin house-keeping. According to _Marlo_, Weltokonomie, III, 84 ff., and _Schaffle_, Kapitalismus und Socialismus, 689 ff., the compulsory insurance of widow and children should precede marriage.]

[Footnote 258-5: Thus the Wurttemberg law of 1833 prohibits the marriage of those who are under prosecution on account of repeated thefts, fraud, or carrying on the trade of a beggar; also all such as have been criminally punished within the two next preceding years, and all who within the three next preceding years have received alms from the public treasury, except in cases of misfortune, of the causes of which they were innocent. The Bavarian law of April 16, 1868, gives the parish a right of veto. According to the royal Saxon ordinance of 1840, male recipients of alms are permitted to marry only when their marriage makes an important amelioration of their circ.u.mstances probable, and does away with the necessity of public a.s.sistance in the future.]

[Footnote 258-6: During Iceland's middle age, prohibition of marriage for all who did not possess at least from 100 ounces of silver or 600 ells _vadhmal_. (_K. Maurer_, Island, 443 seq.) In Bavaria (July 1, 1831), the right of domicile is made to depend on a landownership free of debt, and a _steuersimplum_ of from 1 to 2 florins (in towns more) in country parishes; on the real (reales) right of carrying on a trade, or on a personal trade-concession sufficient for support. A tax of 1 florin in 1852 meant about 1,200 florins worth of property. In other cases it depended on whether the parish recognized the existence "complete and permanent of the means of livelihood." Here good repute and the possession of a considerable savings bank deposit were to be particularly considered. In cases of compet.i.tion, discharged soldiers who had served out their term, and good servants of 15 years service were to be preferred. In Wurttemberg (1833) a sufficient guaranty that a person contemplating marriage possessed the means of support was: the personal capacity to exercise a liberal art or to follow a scientific career, to engage in commerce or agriculture, or some branch of industry, or follow a trade, with sufficient income therefrom to support a family; or the possession of a property, according to locality, of 1,000, 800 or 600 florins. The law of May 5, 1852, was more exacting, and required, besides personal competency, evidence that one's calling yielded a sufficient income, as well as of an amount of property free of debt, of the value of from 150 to 200 florins. In Baden (1831) a property considered sufficient to insure the means of livelihood amounted in the four largest cities to 1,000 florins, in 10 smaller ones to 600; in the remaining communities to 300 florins. In the electorate of Hesse, the amount (1834) was from 150 thalers (for small country communities) to 1,000 thalers. (Ka.s.sel.) An irreproachable character is required by many laws (in Wurttemburg, since 1832, the good reputation of both parties), and the community is empowered to dispense with the other material conditions. Long-continued savings-bank deposit speaks well for the parties' competency to support a family, because it bears testimony to an excellent economic disposition.]

[Footnote 258-7: Remarkable instance in _Rau_, Lehrbuch, II, -- 15 a., note b.]

[Footnote 258-8: In Bavaria, in 1808, the decision reserved to the royal boards of police.]

[Footnote 258-9: Those callings in which a certain _esprit de corps_ prevails such as that, for instance, of officials and officers, submit willingly to restrictions on marriage authoritatively imposed. The Catholic clergy submit even to a full prohibition of marriage. Such measures uniformly strengthen the isolation of the cla.s.s from the nation as a whole. It is well known that, during the middle ages, theological views on the meritoriousness of all self-denial made voluntary celibacy very common. The Franciscan order counted at one time 150,000 monks and 28,000 nuns, the so-called members of the third order, or penitents, not included. (_Helyot_, Gesch. der Kloster und Ritterorden, V, 33.) The severity of the laws relating to fasting might also, according to _Villerme_, be regarded as a "preventive check." Compare _supra_, -- 240, note I.]

[Footnote 258-10: The Prussian law authorizing parents and guardians to put an interdict on marriages, because of a want of the necessary means, of vicious habits, disease, etc., may const.i.tute a check in very good families and families of the middle cla.s.s, but scarcely so in proletarian circles.]

[Footnote 258-11: Besides Wurttemberg, Baden also prescribed 25 years; in Saxony and Hessen-Darmstadt, 21 sufficed; in Prussia even 18. _Schaffle_ advocates a minimum age of 25 years for males and 22 years for women (loc. cit.).

Similarly, _Mohl_, loc. cit.]

[Footnote 258-12: Why, hitherto, in Sweden, by way of exception, military service promoted early marriage, see _Wappaus_, Bevolkerungsstatistik, II, 357. In France, on the other hand, the increase of population since 1815 has been almost exactly in the inverse ratio of the strength of the military levy. Acad. des Sc. Morales et Polit., 1867, II, 159.]

[Footnote 258-13: _Malthus_, Principle of Population, 10, ch. 13.]

[Footnote 258-14: _Malthus_, Principle of Population, IV, ch. 4, 5. It is a great error to suppose that the number of immoral acts increases and decreases with the frequency of temptation. In Ireland, farmers very frequently keep their men servants and maid servants even after the latter have married. But the very facility with which a fall is legalized, increases very largely the number of reckless marriages. (_Meidinger_, Reise, II, 187 seq.) In the country about Gottingen also, where the people marry much earlier on an average than in that about Calenberg, illegitimate births are much more frequent.]

[Footnote 258-15: Even no other legal obstacle which could make marriage more difficult occurred to _Malthus_, except that which consists in the refusal of public a.s.sistance after the expiration of a fixed period of time. (Principle of Population, IV, ch. 8; V, ch. 2.)]

[Footnote 258-16: See the tables in the Tubinger Zeitschrift, 1868, 624 ff. Thus, formerly, in Rhenish Bavaria, where there was complete liberty allowed in this matter, the poor rates compared with the population, were only 34.6 per cent. of the average in the rest of Bavaria; and the number of illegitimate births was not so unfavorable by one-half. (_Rivet_, in the Archiv der polit. Oekonomie, N.

F., I, 39.) The Bavarian law of the 16th of April, 1868, which provides that the community or parish can object to a person's marriage only on account of unpaid parish taxes or poor rates (art. 36) largely increased the number of marriages and diminished the illegitimate births; in the first year to 22.2 per cent., in the second to 17, and in 1873 to 13.2 per cent. (Allg. luth Kirchenztg., 12 Marz, 1875.) According to official statement, this law did more to improve the condition of workmen in the towns than any other cause. Compare _Thudichum_, Ueber unzula.s.sige Beschrankungen des Rechts der Verehelichung, 1868. Per contra, _E.

Schubler_, Ueber Niederla.s.sung und Verehelichung in den verschiedenen deutschen Staaten, 1855.]

[Footnote 258-17: _Reinhold_ has recommended the direct limitation of the procreation of children by the process of _infibulation_ practiced on boys fourteen years of age and continued until they arrive at a marriageable age or are able to support illegitimate children. An der Uebervolkerung in Mitteleuropa, 1827. Ueber die Population und Industrie, oder Beweis da.s.s die Bevolkerung in hoch kultivieren Landern stets den Gewerbfleiss ubereile, 1828. Ueber das menschliche Elend, welches durch Missbrauch der Zeugung herbeigefuhrt wird, 1828. Das Gleichgewicht der Bevolkerung als Grundlage der Wohlfahrt, 1829. The ancients proceeded sometimes in a similar way in the case of slave actors: _Juvenal_, VI, 73.

Compare _Winckelmann_, Antichi inediti, Tav. 188.]

[Footnote 258-18: The obstacles formerly placed in many countries in the way of the marriage of Jews of allowing only the first-born to marry, and this only when a vacancy occurred in the number of families by death (Austria), was not based on a solicitude about population, but on religio-national intolerance, in part also on commercial police grounds.]

[Footnote 258-19: _Fisher_, Gesch. des deutschen Handels (1785 ff.), still considers war as a remedy for over-population, but _M. Wirth_, Grundzuge der N. Oek., rightly remarks that war destroys not so much children, women and the infirm as the most productive of the male population, and immense amounts of capital.]

SECTION CCLIX.

EFFECTS OF EMIGRATION.