Laws instituting an inquiry as to parentage have so far had little effect in checking illegiti macy. The following table will serve to illustrate this feature of the ease: As is seen by the table, the difference is scarcely worth considering. It certainly does not cor roborate the view that the southern cities arc less moral than the northern.
That the degree of illiteracy must exert some influence on the rate of illegitimate births can, perhaps, not be wholly denied. That its influ ence has been much overestimated 44eems equally certain. Along with any such general cause must he placed many other factors which complicate the problem. The table in the next column will illustrate this point.
It has long been believed that the moral condi tions of the cities are lower than those of rural districts. Increased knowledge of rural condi tions has tended to qualify this view. In general, it may be said that the rate of illegitimacy is higher in cities than in the country. This is The presence in society of illegitimate chil dren might be expected to involve serious eco nomic and moral evils, since they are frequently deserted by their natural protectors, and since by heredity and environment they would natu rally tend toward pauperism and crime. The greater death-rate among this class of children diminishes these social and economic effects, The following table shows the death-rate among infants under one year in each class, in the coun tries named: Will be seen that the average rate of infant mortality is •5 per cent. higher among illegiti wales than among legitimates. Even more dif ference is shown by the tables of Francois. Ac cording to these tables the death-rate is twice as high in Spain, Hungary, Sweden, and Denmark. Investigations undertaken to show the physical and moral development of illegitimates are in conclusive in results. This question has been studied in Germany, and more experiments seem to show that illegitimates do not differ greatly from the normal. For example, of 277 illegiti mates examined for military service in Berlin in 1s70, there were 90 accepted; of the same num ber of legitimates, 95 were accepted. Among criminals investigations have shown that the ille gitimates furnish a large number of those ar rested for theft and for begging.
An important question from the standpoint of the economist and public financier is the burden imposed by illegitimacy upon the public. It may
work against the welfare of the State by unduly increasing the population, because it removes the feeling of responsibility felt by those who know they must. support those whom they bring into the world. The more practical -and immediate aspect of the problem, however, is the expense the State must meet in caring for the illegal mates. The importance of this item depends on three conditions: First, the actual number of those thrown on the public; second, the share of this burden borne by private charity; third, the degree of responsibility placed on the reputed parents as to the support of the illegitimate chil dren. This leads to a detailed study of charity work. however, for which reference must be made to that head.
As to the support of illegitimates, the common law rule is that the putative father of a bastard child is not liable for its support, this obligation falling legally on the mother.
By statute law, both in England and most of the United States, upon complaint of the mother or of certain designated public officers, an in quiry may be had as to the identity of the puta tive father, and upon sufficient proof an order of affiliation made whereby the father is adjudged to pay for the support of the child. Consult Lap pingwell, Illegitimacy (Ne• York and London, 1892).
Under common law, an illegitimate child can neither inherit nor transmit property. The ex ception to this rule is that to his own offspring he may will property of his own accumulation. Laws of the United States have modified this con dition, and as a rule, allow inheritance and trans mission of property through the mother.
The legitimation of children horn out of wed lock by statute law in most of the States follows upon the intermarriage of the parents and ac knowledgment of the children. The legitimation of illegitimates secures theta, in general, all the privileges of children horn in wedlock. It there fore carries with it the right of property and inheritance and the name of the father. In Eng land the intermarriage of the parents at any time la-fore the birth of the child legitimates the child. English law recognizes the status of the child in the place where the parents were domiciled. In the civil and canon hiw, the intermarriage of parents has always made the child legitimate. This is the law of Scotland, 'Holland, Germany, and France.