Evening star., 1898-08-06

| porters, youths adjourned for backward
ness" and university students who figure
/ In the conscription of 1896, were prior to
| 1889. not subject to any military service al
all in time Of peace.
1t was only the grave difficulty Of the
weak PHYSIQUE and scant numbers Of the
| rising generation OF that day that forced
| this body of exempt youths into oven a
one year 5 service AT that time the difil-
Guilty was spoken Of as A Temporary oae
The generation coming OF age around 1890.
1881 and 1892 owed IL weakness in numbers
and physique to the eXcitements and priVa-
| tions of the years that gave IL hirth. 1T
was the generation of the Franco Prusslon
war The physical standard for admission
to the army was to be maintained. and
these young men we're thrown In to fiji a
temporary gap. But the gap proved to De
anything but temporary. Young men COM
ing of age in 1s45. 1896 and 1897 showed
Themselves to be Of no greater average
height, weight or vigor The one cars
service OF the one-time exempts began n
be no Longer spoken of as temporary Mora
than this, the year 1875 saw its conscrip-
ton scraped together with real difficulty.
Physical Standard Lowered.
Here the second embarrassment OF tho
French army at the present moment shows
Itself In 1895 the outside world heard little
| OF the measure then adopted. although. of
course, the military experts OF the other
nanons learned the fact and noted IL sig
hlncanty. The French army simply low
cred Its physical standard. Not only are
young men of less than five feet in height
now gathered into the conseripuons. hut
details OF weight, nutrition, eyesight and
| OBVIOUS deseneracy passed over with
oeEevolence by the boards OF revision 81.
cycle and tobacco heart are scarcely over
heard OF, and when young fellow IL too
utterly backward they stu hope for taa
best and give him an adjournment for n
year or two-and keep him on the army
budgets list,
There is nothing in al
the ever new surprise with which the
French receive the news of their degener-
acy. The French revolution, by its double
process OF wedding out the weaklings OF
the aristocracy and fits amelioration Of the
condition of the middle and lower classes
put at the disposition Of Napoleon a race Of
| men physically magnificent. With them he
made his conquests. They were also HIS
food for cannon" The men of lSl4 were
already not the men of 1909 The year 1870
| saw another downward step in the French
population and physique traced then as an
effect OF the Napoleonic wars But the
pad fact Is that the downward tendency
mas never ceased. In 1852 the physical
standard of the French army had to be
lowered again, and the French soldier be-
gan to be looked on throughout the world
as not robust and small of stature The
war OF 1870 gave the nervous. seif-indul-
gent race another terrible shock from
which, at the time, il supposed IL
would never recover. 1t did recover but
only from the Industrial artistic and dnan-
| cial standpoint. The wars Of the century,
have beaten heavily upon the French hut
| it is not war that will have ruined fheu
when the end comes The truth is that the
race itself is failing. Like the other latin
races, it is old and worn out.
The Race is Failing.
The French race is failing, Figures at
! test it formally. without fattery, woundlng
! the national pride and sappng the national
patriotism. Figures cry out by the voice Of
| their prophet NJ. Bertilon, the calculator
and they will not be denied. He has re-
viewed the populations OF the world. and
| now he warns his countrymen. He Is a
good Frenchman, even what they call
chauvin-or a 'jingo'-and he wears the
rlcolor cockade with pride. II pains him
| to see the falling away of his race. so thai
| his voice is like that of the prcchst Jere-
man lying from r. :, ais =. -. Ninevah
My people are destroyedr' He has been
long time crying, and is just beginning
| TO be heard. At first the warning was lost
in the fracas and rumors of the Intense
contemporary life Of Paris. in The laughter
| Of pleasure-loving population casting
aside all responsibility. Then the thing
became jest ION deperissait, There are
not enough infants. Les couples Sc re-
streignaient"' The comic opera and music
nall stage found matter in It for their wit
ticisms. They put "the deficit into verse
passed, The people now look at the sta
isttcs wonderingly. The thing is only be-
ginning TO come home to them THE
French race is dying OUT"
If the somber retrogression were not spe-
cial TO France; If the old world, worn out
offered as a whole this spectacle of an
equal falling away, 1t would be easier for
Frenchmen to submit TO fatality but all
around, the other nations are Increasing in
their numbers. Germany, Austria and Eng
land have from thirty-eight to thirty-three
births for every 1000 inhabitants At the
beginning of the present century France
had thirty-three for every 900 inhabi-
tants. Each ten years of the century has
seen falling off until France now has
only twenty-five births to each 600 in
habitants. They talk of founding leagues
of offering rewards, of changing laws of
taxing the unmarried. OF enthroning the
hllemere, and many other strange and Gu
rious remedies. 'Ail is in vain" the NOR
alists and philosophers reply, ''the evil is
too deeply rooted in the present-day French
life. &c sont les moers," Avowed or not
neo-malthusianism is and will remain the
| bane of French society,
AT the present rate of falling off the mid
die OF the next century will find France
with birth rate Of eleven per 600 The
end VIII then have come. France will he
for while a smaller Switzerland and then
ii Will be fnis Gallae, The time is short
STERLING HEILIG.