The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-10

In new little theatre soon to be opened the manager has had a brilliant idea. Spectators are not all of the same size. Why should stalls be? He Is, ac- cordingly, stocking stalls in three sizes, small, medium and large. On buying seat a spectator will be asked which he or she wants, or, in obvious cases, the No. 1 small, or No. large, will be given to him or her merely on a cursory examina- tion of the purchasers bulk.
 The manager calculates that on the whole, he will economise space and be able to put in more seats with his new arrangement, as he has observed that on an average, the spectators who do not i'll their stalls considerably outnumber those who overflll them.
 Thus, size No. 1 stalls will afford greater saving of space than will be lost by those of No. 8 capacity.
 The railway men are again restless. Encouraged by their action which won for them the law sanctioning retiring al lowances, they now consider the time has arrived to induce their employers to grant an increase in wages. The rail- way employees have national union and this body has just drawn up a manifesto, a copy of which is to be sent to every railway worker in the country, from the keeper of the level crossing to the chief of train.
 Four hundred thousand copies of this manifesto have been printed. It sets forth that the present action has been necessitated by the increased cost of 1iv- ing, and suggests a sum for the main tenance of a family of four persons The total arrived at Is a little under s400 a year, and it is asserting that the present rate of pay is 10 per cent below the av- craze minimum.
 "The moment has come," adds the manifesto. Prom one end of the system to the other, there Is only one cry: It is impossible for us to live on what we earn"
 The union does not invite its members to come out on strike. It advises the ex- ercise of that prudence which. it says, has led the railway men to victory. For a start the union suggests that the min imum wage should be fixed at five francs or q day.
 France will always be a rich and fas- cinating country; but its intellectual and artistic genius must necessarily diminish, Judging from some remarks pronounced by M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu this week. That eminent member of the French h. stitute points out that family steri1fty, already so marked, will certainly increase more and more and that in another 200 years Ln6 pOpuldtlOu Ol IT idhNo VIII Dc about 20.000,0O0
 M. Leroy-Beaulieu, of course, refers to French issue, properly so called He quite sees that the number of inhabi- tants will be kept up, but they will be Italians, Poles, Germans, Spanards, and what not. This foreign admixture will no doubt be useful to develop the re- sources of the country and maintain it's commercial and industrial interests; but what will be the national character? Will the foreign admixture become France, or will France become it?
 Modern theorists probably do not much care, and that is why so. many people in France are indifferent as to the fu- ture, and think only of the present M Leroy-Beaulieu says an essential remedy would be found in reforming the present system of education and returning to the old route of Christian morality.
 He says that if France had initiated the department of the Finistere, where religion is respected, the growth of the birth rate since 1871 would now mean a population of 540O0,00O. instead of &, 9,000,- 900. Just as Napoleon l. established re- ligion to ensure his own position, so M. Leroy Beaulieu Is of opinion that the state should respect the Christian moral code. to ensure the national existenoA-