The sun., 1896-10-05
The Growth of the French Canadian
Race.

1t is we'll known that the population of
France is now nearly stationary. 1t is
equally we'll known that formerly the
French people were exceptionally prolific.
and that even the tremendous drain caused
by the almost incessant wars of the republic
and the empire was speedily repaired. The
inference is that the present state of things
Is due, not to any lack of fertility in the
stock, but to the checks and restraints of
the existing social and economic conditions,
including the operation of the law of in
heritance imbedded in the Code Napoleon
This inference is supported by the expert
ence of the French Canadians during the
last century and half, for their numbers,
notwithstanding the extraordinary infant
mortality which prevails among them, have
doubled every twenty-six years. Some in
teresting facts have been lately submitted
to the American Academy of Political and
Social Science by Mr.. JOHN DAVIDSON Of the
University of New Brunswick.
For several reasons the data bearing on
the growth Of the French Canadian popula-
tion are especially trustworthy. Not only
have official censuses been periodically
taken since Canada passed into the posses
sion OF England, but there were sixteen
enumerations before that event. Moreover,
these returns are verifiable by the accurate
vital statistics contained in the parish regis
ters kept by the priests for almost three
centuries; registers which were made
accessible by their publication in connection
with the census of 1871, Then, again. the
French Canadian population is homogeneous
and isolated, the emigration from France
since 1759 having been insignificant. On the
other hand, great losses have been incurred
through the emigration of French
Canadians to the United States, but the
American census OF 1890 has rendered pos
sible an exact computation of those losses
The outcome of the data drawn from all
these sources is that from 1865, the year OF
the first enumeration after the British con-
quest, up to 1S9O91 the French Canadians
increased from 69,Sl0 to ,SO4, ,074.
Let us glance at the process by which
these figures are reached. The French
speaking population of the Dominion of
Canada was shown by the census of 1891 to
be 1,4O4, 974; but of these 10000 were
French Acadians, so that the total number
of French Canadians resident in Canada was
1,304,074. The American census of 1890
lO ulSllIlCllOl ucINtcH ACduluu
French and Canadian French, but Mr.
DAVIDSON thinks it safe to assume that at
least as large n proportion of the former as
of the latter have taken part in what is
known as the exodus. Consequently of the
537 ,29S French Canadians returned by the
census of 1890 as resident in the United
States, 81, ,29S are credited to the Acadan
French, and thus the number of French
Canadians dwelling on this side OF the
border is reduced to 100000. BY adding
these to the figures given for the Dominion
in 1891 we obtain l,SO4,974 for the total
French Canadian population. If this aggre-
gate be compared with that of G9,SlO re-
turned in 1865. we shall find that normally
the number of French Canadians is doubled
in little less than twenty-sIx years.
The length Of time required for duplica-
tion will seem paradoxical to those who
know how amazingly prolific are the French
Canadians. A law was carried by the late
HoNoRE MERCIER through the Legislature
of Quebec providing that every father or
mother Of IL family in that province who
had twelve children living, born In lawful
wedlock, should be entitled TO one hundred
acres of public land There is, too, signi-
fcant tradition among the French Canadians
that the twentieth or twenty fourth child in
family belongs to the parish priest and
must be educated for the Church Never
theless official statistics show that the aver
age family in Quebec is only fraction larger
than the average family in Ontario, and ls
actually smaller by as large fraction than
the average family in Prince Edward Island.
The explanation of this paradox is to be
found, as we have intimated, in the unpar-
al!eled mortality among French Canadian
children under three years Of age, The very
superabundance of children renders parents
less watchful; especially fatal Is the lack of
care in regard to diet. The abnormal pro-
portion of deaths from diarrhna during
the summer months is attributed, not to
poor or insufficient food, but to the custom