INCREASED DISCRIMINATION regarding food and clothing was matched by deepening white anxiety over the even more basic issue of physical intimacy. As the ratio of white men to women became more balanced with time, one motive for sexual relations between freemen and slaves diminished, and as the size of the Negro population grew, the impetus among Europeans for white offspring increased. Note: The SCG made pointed allusions to notable instances of European longevity or fertility and encouraged large families with such notes as the following, from the third issue (1/22/32): "We are told, there are several Weddings upon the Anvil, we therefore take the Freedom to advise the young Sparks that are concern'd, to strike, whilst the Iron’s hot, and we doubt not, but in time, we shall be a numerous, and flourishing People.”