The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-11-25
FRANCES

~
"Blessed is the man that hath his
culver full of them," is not a maxim
that commends itself highly to the
modern French spirit. 1t is not, how.
ever, too much to assert that recent
statistics on the population question
have positively startled the French ma
ton. As long as it was felt and be-
lieved that the proportion OF births and
deaths per annum was pretty nearly
equal, the French world, as Walter
Besant would put it, went very we'll
then. The country had a population
sufficient for the ample development OF
its varied pursuits and industries, and
for its maintenance II the position of
one of the tirst-rate powers of Europe.
Any undue increase in the number of
it's population would simply have meant
an increasingly bitter struggle among
the working classes for their daily
bread. Well enough, it seemed, might
very we'll be left alone.
But the census statistics of 1890
prove that we'll enough was {. fond de-
fusion. Official figures for the year
prove c~onolusively that not only are
births and marriages decidedly decreas-
ing in number, but that the nation is
face to face with an actual decrease in
population.
Such a thing has happened be-
fore in the history OF France, but
never except under extraordinary cir
cumstances which readily, and SO far
satisfactorily accounted for the deficit.
For instance, during the Crimean war
and the war with Germany in 70, the
deaths exceeded the births, but that this
should happen in a time of peace is
naturally a subject Of apprehension. It
is possible, OF course, that the dispro-
p%ortionate number of deaths for the
year may have been in some measure
due to the prevalence of la grippe, but
there are other indications that would
seem to show that decrease threatens
to be the normal condition of affairs.
We have always believed that the
practice of Malthusian doctrines has
had much to do with the paucity Of the
French family. In the whole world there
IS perhaps no thriftier class than the
French peasantry, and recent legisla-
ton has induced them to draw the
purse-strings tighter than ever. Nota-
bly,, the compulsory education law
comes in as a diminishing factor. With
every child school attendance is a thing
compulsory, and the poorest parents
cannot look forward to the benefit Of
children's earnings, until the official
school curriculum has been satisfactorily
completed.
The recent bill passed by the senate
at the instance Of Jules Simon, serves
to indicate another and powerful factor
in the diminution question. The %necessi-
ties for its passage, as urged by the
veteran refsrmer, disclose a terrible
pressure in the female labor market.
According to his perfervid asseverations,
amongst the poorer classes in France
the family is almost ceasing to exist. In
the struggle for the necessities of life,
women are forced to work outrageously
long hours, to the detriment of their
household and their children. The
fathers seek in taverns the comfort
which the home does not afford them,
and the children are thrown pom the
cruelty and the destruction OF the
streets. If Simon's bill, enforcing some
little leisure time for women wage
earners should result in an improve
ment Of this sad and debasing state of
affairs, he will have earned q worthy
title to the gratitude OF the French
people.