Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-10-31
A GLOOMY OUTLOOK.
avpvAxY 70 ABSORB oAuL-P oPuLA
TON STATISTICS.
or,.,ae Help the Remedy-French Dislike
Of Foreigners Morality Figures
and Blue Stockings.


~ Foreigners Morality Figures
and Blue Stockings.
A Paris letter says: Taking as text
the /" movement" Of the Parisian popu-
l.,ion during the year 1885, ID. Leroy
de Besulieu, q great authority IN Po-
li,icsl economy, breaches mostrdoie-
ful sermon on the situation, showing
nv the rule Of three and otherwise
ma.hemstically, that Germany must
eventually swallow up or absorb uaui'
which is IN danger Of eventual depopu-
ls,ion. While 10 1884 the excess here
of births over deaths WAS only 1914
and in 1885 S5,464 souls, across the
Rhine this excess was 522, O63, result
in no way exceptional, but, on the con-
trsry, slightly inferior to the average oil
the six preceding years. In Germany
official statistics for 1884 give tho total
number of births Of living infants as
l.725.5s3, whereas in France Tor the
same twelve months we find but 95I,-
1853; that is to say, for every lOo
children born in France 1874 arc born
in Germany, very nearly double ln
general terms, or, to be absolutely pre-
else, 81 per cent. more. " Anyone can
appreciate" says NJ. L. dc Beaulieu,
"what must be the inevitable conse-
ouences within q few years of situa-
tons so dissimilar." The eminent po-
litical economist, though he feels that
his will be treated as were treated the
warnings of Casssndra, then goes on to
quote from the "German Statistical
Almanack the figures representing
the population Of the present Empire
at the expiration of each quinquennial
period since 1916, and shows from
these how up to 1860 the population OF
France was greater than that OF the
territory composing the Empire OF
Germany, and in 1870 about equal to
the latter, whereas at present, and sup
posipg a continuance of the actual con.
ditions, Germany in the year 1900 will
have nearly 100000 and France less
than 40, 600, 900 inhabitants.
NJ. Leroy de Beaulieu, repeat, IS
awe.struck at the prospect; in future
wars, as more than ever victory will
side with big battalions, France must
be always vanquished, as Germany can
put into the field greater number OF
soldiers than her rival. NJ. de Beau
lieu, however, thinks that remedy
exists for this evil, and recommends
the encouragement Of A" foreign immi-
grafton" or, it would be more correct
to say, Of " foreign influx" by which
those elements now lacking to the coun-
try might be obtained. Unlike the
pure" French journalists who look
with distrust and aversion upon
strangers-for them mere outside bar
barians, or, as they term them, rdSfa'
coueres-he thinks that the more enter
prising tradesmen and skilled work
men who take up their domicile il
France the better it would he for the
nations prosperity. lie advises the
imitation Of young countries which OF
fer inducements to immigrants and dc
not care whether the newcomers b'
Germans, Italians, or Belgians, so tha'
fresh blood can BIO indltered into the
veins of a people that begins to be II
It's decadency. Unfortunately the po
litico.economis editor Of the JOurad
des Debdts is much in the situation o.
st. John the Baptist preaching in tn:
desert; the French belong to that cate
CORY of deaf people who prefer to re-
main deaf rather than break with
traditional prejudice; nothing worthy
of imitation ever, in their opinion, origi
mated beyond the limits Of their natiy'
land. AS, after the disaster Of Sedan
they danced around and crowned witt
flowers the statue Of Strasburg, cryin.
with 10Y, " The country is saved
because the Emperor was a captive, in
stead Of preparing to meet the enemy
on his march to their capital. so nov
they would prefer the contingency 0
utter depopulation 10 the yielding o
one iota Of their national dictum
Every foreigner taking up a permanen
residence among US is either a spy o
an adventurer if he were an homes
man be would not travel, for does an.
Frenchman ever 60 abroad if he Car
possibly earn a living at homer )
thought NJ. Joseph Prudhomme whei
invited by Henri Monnier in 1913; s.
thinks his son in 1886, and so vii
think his grandson aud great-great
great.grandson a century hence, if, ii
the interval, as is possible, France b
not annexed by her neighbors.
NJ. Leroy de Beauleu might have in
stanced other evidence Of French de;a
dency if he had consulted the las
years criminal record, whence it ap
pears that in the Department Of tn
Seine alone l,l52 arrests were mad
in 1885, Of which 1886 we're in tn
city of Paris and 5.33G in its suburbs
3S, 307 Of these being natives and , 81
foreigners. Among these were 3
hommes de leitreS who were conyicte
Of swindliDg or forgery; of the other
we have for offences against the Pre-
sident of the Republic, 80 for usiu
seditious language, l for concealin
arms, S,267 for burglary, petty LARGO
ny, and pocket-picking, 4,l3S bogsars
l4,GS3 tramps-diyided into " inteI
esting" trsmps, Of whom there wer
1850, and 1853 tramps "unworth
Of interest 80 cases Of murder, Ii
of manslaughter, sc nocturnal assault
on belated pedestrians, | Of poisoning
Is of arson, SO Of adultery, and sin
gularly enough, % for usurpation
nobiliary titles. The others wer
placed in limbo for "pstty misdemeau
ors," such as card-sharping, drunken
ness, fights, swindling, and abuse Q
confidence 1924 individuals arreste
nnder false names were identified b
the police and prison officials as old o.
tenders aud released jail-birds who ha
assumed a pseudonym to escape tia
increase Of severity which is the inev
table consequence of an unfavorabl
judicial record. These figures are ne
encouraging to Chauvinists and philar
thropists, but they cannot be gotte
over, although another big-medicin
man, land, in this instance, this term
! very apposite.o DR., Butillon, has III