Why They Don't Marry

Thousands of old men and old women in England have proposed to their government that it grant them large pensions, on which they could give up work altogether — a thing that would help to increase the birth rate.

For then the field would open before the young men, and they would work, marry, and beget children. As it is now, many young men are afraid to marry, because they support their incapacitated parents, and it is not in their power to add new burdens on top of that.

(From the Mahjar press, freely adapted)