1945: (Lescot Targets Peasant Polygamy — Lescot Clarifying His Position by Declaring He Had Decided to Combat Polygamy Among the Peasants Which He Said Was t…

1945: (Lescot Targets Peasant Polygamy — Lescot Clarifying His Position by Declaring He Had Decided to Combat Polygamy Among the Peasants Which He Said Was the Source of the Astonishing Growth of the Population and What Some Called Overpopulation — His Association of Peasant Familial Unions with Overpopulation and Subsequent Decline of the Urban Centers Being Misplaced, Infant Mortality Among the Poor Class Meaning They Were Not Having Significantly More Children Than Middle or Elite Families in the Urban Centers): Lescot clarified his position by declaring he had decided to combat what he called polygamy among the peasants, which he said was the source of the astonishing growth of the population. His association of peasant familial unions with overpopulation and subsequent decline of the urban centers was misplaced. As a result of poor sanitary conditions and general health, infant mortality among the poor class meant that they were not having significantly more children than middle- or elite-class families in the urban centers. Childbirth outside of marriage, alone, could not have been the cause for rapid urban population growth — Lescot blamed the peasant woman’s womb for a crisis manufactured by the state’s own failure to invest in sanitation, healthcare, or any infrastructure that might have kept the rural districts livable.