The San Francisco call., 1909-11-21

ing to bring il down from the rank
of great power. to which centuries Of
fruitfulness and glory had raised #.
there is but one answer-the one given
by zola: France is depopulating be-
cause she wishes TO, The increase
And multiply" Of scripture has ceased
70 have its natural and divine value,
because eEoism and luxury are Staying
The children before their birth.
Voluntary sterility OF their mar
F5s zes has now entered so deeply into
the habits OF the people that French
psrents are inclined 10 be ashamed Of
fhe birth OF q second or third child
There are 1880 prosperous communes
in France which have each less than 20
school going children.
An average OF four births to fam
- IS considered essential TO the
NresIthv growth Of a nation: but nearly
GOO 900 French families have no chill
dren. while the average is but slightly
over two Were italian. Belgian. Swiss
s-d German immigrants eliminated
even this average would be reduced,
and the increase for 1908 blotted out
The abominable vice OF neo-Malthu-
F.snfsrn produces, besides depopdla ton,
other losses and ruins, which render 1t
q perfect scOurge, a fatal principle OF
OF national and social decadence. A
society reduced 10 this state can not
be sound. either morally or physically
Yet. in unhappy France. evil prac-
tices and the methods Of procuring
race suicide 50 fely are taught by cir
cuIars and brochures. and are even eX-
pounded in the government schools
Tr~elfEion would seem 10 be po-
teEt II not the chief factor behind
these dark statistics. A committee, ap-
pointed bv the French government TO
fndusre into the decrease Of population,
found that IAN intimate connection eX-
listed between the steadily declining
birth rate and the campaign OF de-
christianiza ton. that births were
highest where religious traditions were
preserved, and lowest where indiner-
ence prevailed, etc. But TINS commit
tee and its report were prompts sup
pressed bv the anti-religious govern
ment which had appointed IL.
similarly. II. Rene Dumic Of the Acad-
en1ie Francaise, in his speech before
the congress Of the Unione de la PAX
cociaie. organized in Paris, recognized
that one Of the most powerful causes
which threaten the family Is the war
which is being waged against religious
belief or its ma agnitude there can be
no doubt And NJ Henri Jolly OF the
institute. comparing this race suicide
WITH drunkenness. and casting about
q the remedy for both evils, has no
n estation in asserting that the run
y c1ice OF Catholicism undoubtedly
offers the means OF victory.
In 80 years France has been sur
naseed bv Germany by a third OF its
populatiou. and IL is calculated that in
another 80 years at least the popuia-
tfon Of Germany viii be twice s great
as rnar OF France.
The lower the birth rate, the lower
the conscription list H Gervais'
radical deputy. reported on the budget
for 1903 that the army's efectiNe
siren gtn which is now 49t'oVo. Wouio'
according 10 the present rate OF decline
fn population. be reduced in 1925 TO
$4,000.
some months ago the Vorwserts. the
ofscisl organ Of German socialism, Herr
Rebers organ. noted that the wonder
fu7 Increase of the population In Ger
MANY is attributed especially 70 the
Catholics. among whom the fruitful
ness Of marriage is % per cent higher
than among Protestants. And he con-
Guided. with the authority OF the cele-
brsted economist. Steinman-Ba Bacher,
that ia 20 years Germany will have
$4,000. .O00 inhabitants and national
fortune Of 500 milliards (of francs),
when France viii have but 40,eeO,ee0
inhabitants and national fortune OF
500 millisrds.
1ta1v also confirms by its example
not only the painful phenomenon OF
progressive depopulation owing 10 the
decreasing nataIity. but reveals the
cause Of this in the practice Of peo-
Malthusianisn. a vice far more common
snonz we'll TO do dwellers in cities
than among the agricultural classes
and the poor
n has been calculated that in Eng
land the diminution in the natality
now neans.a loss TO that country OF
200 600 children every year. The elo-
orence Of the English statistics has
made such an impression on public
opinion that efforts have been made
TO trace the phenomenon 10 Its causes.
The researches Of the Fabian society
and OF the Royal statistical society
have shown conclUsively that neo-
=, althusianism is far more common
psmong the richer classes than among
the middle and poorer.
The disastrous phenomenon Of vol
untsrv sterility, total or partial is
not ia direct but rather in inverse pro-
portion TO the poverty Of the families.
Thik has been shown mathematically
bv Rertfllon for the cities OF Paris,
London. Berlin and Vienna, in a study
published in the Bulletin de rInstitute
Internationale de Statistique (lsss,
&I p. l6s)-
What" pointedly asks one writer.
''wiu happen TO a culpably exhausted
and decrepit Europe in the face of
general war and an Asiatic invasion2"
According 10 our census office the
United States is following the tend
dency OF western and southern Europe
fn a decreasing birth rate and a, less
rapid increase Of population.
We have been made painfully aware
that the families of rural New Eng
land are as sterile as in the paganized
districts Of France, although we have
not here the open propagation OF i'm
moral and unnatural practices that is
reported from France. But the same
deadly. unnatural evil. due to the same
deliberate violation OF the laws of ma
ture and the decalogue. is spreading in
town and country. and IL is only a
vast immigration that has so far pre-
vented II from making itself felt more
deeply In the census.
There are signs of moral awakening
IN departments IN France where all
seemed lost: but. whether in France or
The United States. there is only one
law FOR the restoration OF individual
or nation 10 healthy and fruitful life
hack TO the laws Of nature and the
decalogue.