The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-01-14
FAMILIES
Rapid Growth of the French Can
adian Population.
A Factor in the Development
of a New French Republic.

-O~--~-N>~~~SS
French Canadian population of the
Province of Quebec is illustrated in
official statistics in the public offices
Of the provincial government here,
says the Quebec correspondent of the
New York Sun.
1t is shown, for instance, that up to
the present time no fewer than 3,437
applications have been made for the
state reward Of free grants of land
for fruitfulness in the marriage state.
The rewards were provided for by an
act adopted by the legislature of Que
bee some fifteen years ago, when the
late Count MERCER was prime minister
of the province.
The legislation was promoted by a
desire to enlarge the sphere of French
Canadian influence in North America
by encouraging large families of chill
dren, and was largely based upon the
law passed in the early years of New
France by the great French minister
Of state, Colbert.
AS the law now stands, the govern
ment Of the province records a grant
If 100 acres of land to every father
and mother of twelve or more living
children, and as already stated, more
than 3,4O0 married couples have al
ready applied for the legislative prize
Some interesting experiences are
recorded by the officers to whom these
applications are made. In the coun-
try districts of French Canada, the
cure, or parish priest, is entitled to a
1.-THE of all the farmers products,
which 1.-THE has been fixed at the one
twenty-siXth part of the whole. And
so in some instances he has had Of
fered to him the twenty-sixth child,
whose education has not infrequently
been provided for at his expense.
Owing to the high death rate among
the children Of French Canadian fam
lilies, the figures shown in the public
statistics fail to convey any idea Of
the birth rate in the Province of Que
bee. But for the heavy infantile
mortality in this element of Canada's
population, the number of claimants
for the governments land prize would
probably be three times as many as
it actually is.
In the poorer classes of the COM
munity the mothers active, strong
and industrious, as they almost inva-
riably are-are so overburdened by
maternal cares and the rapidity with
which one child succeeds another that
the little ones are necessarily de-
prived of the closer watchfulness and
attention which wards .off infantile
disease, and which is so much more
readily Forthcoming in the cases of
smaller families and of those who can
afford to pay for proper supply of
nurses and attendants. The French
Canadian mothers responsibilities are
not infrequently added to by the birth
of twins or triplets.
Large as is the number OF appl1-
cants for the state bounty of land, it
falls far short Of that which would
be Forthcoming provided that all who
are entitled thereto duly filed their
claims, for only comparatively small
proportion Of those who rejoice in
family of dozen or more children
take the trouble to make the fact
known to the government, since to
jewellers in cities and towns hun
dred acres of wild land would be
rather an circumference than other
wise.
Not infrequently has the demand
been made for double, or triple al
lowance of land on the ground that
the applicants have over twenty-four
or thirty-six children living, as the
case may be.
So rapid is the increase of the
French Canadian population of the
Dominion that these people have left
their English-speaking fellow country
men in hopeless minority even in
what were few years ago the al
most exclusive English-speaking east
ern townships of this nrovince and