The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-02-22
(Copyrightb
RACE SUICIDE IS
SERIOUS IN FRANCE
Involves Dangerous Economical
Consequences

Paris, Feb. 22-In an interesting and
lucid lecture before the Society of
| Friends of the University of Paris, OF
which NJ Raymond Poincare is pres
ident, Doctor jacques Bertilon has
analyzed at length the problem of the
depopulation of France its cause and
remedies.
In 1885. said the doctor the French
amounted To IS per cent of the civil
lied world. They now represent only
! 10 per cent and against 50 million
people who speak French there are
today l2O million who speak German,
and $50 million who speak English.
This condition is becoming more ac-
centuated, since in 1911 the number of
deaths exceeded the number of
births in France, while in other coun-
tries the excess of births over deaths
kept at an average of about II per
thousand. Some people see a remedy
in efforts To decrease mortality. but
the doctor declared this method To be
Of little or no value.
What was wanted, he said. was an
extra 100000 births every year: the
present deficit involved economical
character Nautilus was quite wrong
when he attempted to show that at
life's banquet there was room only for
limited number of guests. The /!
guests, explained DR. Bertillon were
also cooks, contributing their share of |
the banquet. That is why people with |
a high birth-rate show much more |
rapid economic advance than does |
France.
The Consequences.
The consequences of depopulation
are even graver i'm the realm Of in
telligence and culture. Technical and |
scientific works. whose readers are
limited in number. hut which. never
theless, mark the essential condition
of progress, are necessarily published
in languages spoken by the greater
There are many factors responsible
for the voluntary ana dangerous lim-
tation of families i'm France The
growth of individualism among others
plays considerable part The civil
code. which prohibits the free testa-
disposition of property. also
favors small families. This is clearly
demonstrated by little village in the
of Dunkirk. According to
the terms Of foundation dating from
The seventeenth century. every family
living within the village boundaries is
entitled to "a ares (about three
ifths of an acre )of land; the result
IS that births exceed death by a. per
cent.
Instances Of the birth rate being
heightened by judicious legislation are
notably in Bavaria and
Roumania. where by the suppression
If some of the vexatious formalties
lttending marriage thousands of
births were gained every year.
Seeks Change Of Sentiment. /.
The doctor would like To see the
'ublic taught To honor and favor large
antilles instead of subiecting them
o mockery, as is so often the case
owadays. lie recalled that NJ. Pou-
elle, when prefect of the Seine. would
ot employ any ofiiceholder unless he
ad at least three children. He also j
hought that every mother who had O
our children living should be entitled 4
o grant of 800 This would. no il
oubt. involve large sum of money. c
ut IL must not be considered as mon v
y expended. but rather as a displace- $
ient Of capital the beneficial result Of d
lhich would soon make itself felt [
Lawrence Street Congregational @