Great Construction

A Birth Control Project That Will Destroy the Nation

     Twice I have written essays about birth control for this newspaper, so this effort is a third attempt to express my opinion. I do this because birth control will lead to such frightening results.
     This is why. What most birth control supporters advocate is that two or three children are sufficient. This advocacy, however, is frightening. Of course, for a husband and wife who are two to have two children makes the population level even, and one more child will increase the world’s population, in other words, lead to growth in the world’s population by fifty percent. Two children is an increase of zero percent and three would be fifty percent. So, on the average, the increase would be from twenty to thirty percent. There would be no problem with this way of thinking if children absolutely did not die, but the fact is that at present, judged by the overall health of Japanese children, it is seen as almost certain that twenty to thirty percent of the children today will die. The rate of infant death in Japan particularly is put at number one in the world, and since the rate of Japanese infant death is said to be over thirty times that of the United States, it is truly an astonishing situation. Not only this, since there will probably be a considerable number of families without any children at all if two or three children are taken to be the standard, growth will be negative, and it is as clear as day that the time will come unexpectedly quite soon of a decrease in population.
     Another point not to be taken lightly is the continued advocacy by those who support birth control for resolution through the standpoint of eugenics. What is not understood is that the reality is opposite to what they propose. This is because, in the case of only one or two children, since the parents will overly care for them, it is only natural that the children will turn out to be pampered brats with no sense of personal worth as a result of spoiling. In contrast, in the case of many siblings, it is a fact that the love of the parents is often not able to reach all the children all the time and such children learn to depend on their themselves, so individuals with a strong independent do-it-yourself streak are produced. This is not just argument for argument’s sake; the facts bear this out. Right now with me, I have actual examples and these are statistics from Germany that came to my hands before the end of the war. According to these documents, Beethoven and Bismarck came from families of six siblings. Mozart was the seventh child; Wagner, the ninth; Shubert, the tenth, and Robert Koch was one of thirteen siblings. The ironclad rule that geniuses and great people come from large families is shown in examples that are even recognized in foreign countries.
     Another point is that it is actually a fact that the two or three children who were allowed could all die, so the misfortune and sadness of the family would probably be extreme. If in such a way the population were to decrease and not enough excellent people produced, what will happen to Japan? How alarming the situation would be could not be endured. Thus, if birth control must be carried out, then the number of children allowed should be put at five, and a policy where a limit is placed on families over five children would be appropriate.
     The reason birth control has suddenly become an issue in society is of course due to the rapid rise in population. It is not unreasonable that this topic has caused panic as in 1947, the population was 1.6 million and in 1948, the population increased to 1.7 million, but from where I look, this increase is only temporary and should not last long. After the war, many soldiers returned from overseas, and having been away from their wives and lacking love for a long period, it was a very fertile period. The facts show that when very long periods of separation are inserted into married lives after reuniting, the fertility rate always increases. The families of naval personnel and merchant seamen have high birth rates.
      As previously mentioned, everyone has been shocked by the 1.6 to 1.7 million increase, but several years before the war, there were frequently years of increases in the 1.2 to 1.3 million range. Compared to those times, increases now are twenty to thirty percent. As these are but temporary increases, however, I see it that there is no mistake that the situation will return to what it was before the war in not even several years. If matters are left as they are now, I forecast that the population increase will cease or that an age of declining population may come. I say this because in the years 1947 and 1948 we saw the trend where the population just passed a million. What is most difficult to deal with in this situation, however, is that once the trend in population growth starts to decline, it is not easy to recover an increase. In this regard, let me introduce a suitable example.
     For several decades now, population increase in England has slowed down, and the nation known as the British Empire could produce only around some forty-odd million. About this problem, Churchill issued stern warnings, but the nation could never go over fifty million. Population decrease in France as well is well-known. The true reason England is losing its position as number one in the world to other nations being due to the decrease in population is a fact on which all intellectuals agree. For this reason, India, which was held to be England’s only treasure, had to be let go, as it is said the British Empire did not have enough soldiers to manage the sub-continent.
    Amidst these circumstances, when we look over the situation of Japan together with the abandonment of armaments, the expansion of land through war cannot possibly be imagined in the future. Even attempting to try to contribute to world peace through the economy and culture would probably be impossible unless population levels were maintained to a certain degree. Just think about. Anyone would agree that when population decreases, national strength weakens, the people’s spirit falls, and the whole country meets a gloomy fate.
     The situation has been outlined above, so probably it is all too clear from the facts I have given how mistaken is birth control and what a dangerous policy it is which will lead the nation to a sad fate.

Hikari, Issue 16, July 2, 1949
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