Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-20

lowest birth rate. BY numerous and IN
controveTtible facts DR.. Bertillon proves
his statements with the inexorabillty of a
scientist and arrives at the amazing con
clusion that the very wealth, the equal
distribution of which throughout all ranks
and classes in France has been so long
the envy of the other less favored nations
of Europe, is the root Of the whole evil.
As the law of primogeniture was abolished
In France at the revolution, a father who
has three or more children must divlde
equally amongst them all his property,
with the exception of one-quarter, of which
he can dispose at his pleasure. Similarly
# he has two children he can only dis
pose u one-third of his properly and il
he has only one child Of half.
Aspirations of Parents.
The consequence of. this apparently eX-
cellent law is that a manufacturer who
owns a mill or a factory, a tradesman who
has laboriously created a thriving store,
or a peasant who, bit by bit, has, at the
price often OF unceasing sacrifice and semi
starvation, added one strip of ground to
another until he owns a little farm, is
haunted by the thought that the business
or factory or firm, OF which he is 80
proud. will be sold al his death and pass,
IN all PROFANITY INTO the HdiiuS VI a NOldl
stranger. He cannot leave enough money
to his eldest son to buy out the interest
of the others. disagreements and bicker.
ings may arise at his death, and, in a
word. a forced sale OF the whole estate
may he inevitable. In this dilemma, whaI
does the manufacturer, farmer or trades
! man do? He prefers simply TO limit his
7 family to one or at most two.
~. tn. ~ may la g1fgbt1r different
A father says: Il want my son to be Z
civil servant. CThe f-onCtionnaire' Is tn
pride Of a French family.) / want hin
to have a better education and to TAX
a higher social position than his fathe
g ~had"-and so. as his means are limited, H.
; limits his family in order to attain hi
3 cherished object. This ill-conceived ambi
ton of the father for his child is, in Dr
e Bertlllon's opinion, the cause Of the de
% creasing birth rate in France.
/ Remedy TO he Applied.
How is the French father to be gal
vanized into a proper sense, not of nj
duty towards his family, but towards hi
. country? French families have, on a
. average. three members, not counting tn
parents. German families have slight
: more than four. Is il impossible to IL
OuCt french ldlneIS anu molhelS TO az
one more child TO the number and thu
"a prevent the final disappearance Of the n;
q ton?
DR.. jacques Bertillon, who is the pres
dent Of the National Alliance for the II
crease Of the French Population, thinl
not and he mas given me some details
the means he proposes to adopt. The
is no one remedy, Dr. Bertillon thinks.
"a is only by a combination Of remedies thi
: the evil can be grappled with. The ma
In proposition is this: That numerous fam
a. lies nave a prior claim on the good W
~ Of the state. Therefore, all the min
state and municipal employ ments shoul
\, other things being equal, be given in pre-
y erence to the fathers Of numerous famill
e. policemen, concierges, office carc-takeI
A. rural policemen, postmen-in proportion
L the number Of their children As the
10 are about 5000 state servants in Franc