The chronicle=news., 1913-02-22
NEWS NOTES FROM
FOREIGN CAPITALS

Paris. Feb. a,.4Thc yehicular
| 'one.silon ON the streets oi Paris Is
greater than in any other city OF the
world, and In spite OF th. efforts OF
the municipal authorities. no way
has Vet been found to effect any
peimnncn, Improvement In street
conditions. The problem is an ever
present one. and II grows WORSE every
year. for Paris. s,ranRled by tn.
stone belt Of the now useless fortiIi-
cations, cannot expand. but must
grow upwards.
No such congestion OF traffic cN-
is's In New York. London. Chicago.
Berlin or Philadelphia. The munic-
ipali,y has sent agents TO nli these
elites TO study traffic conditions, and
TO count the, number OF yehiclese
passing u given point on an import
an, stree, In each city. between the
hours OF q. m. and p. m. This
comparison shows that 1888 We
hici's passed down the Rue de Rivo-
| II in Paris. lG.:0s passed down the
Strand. In London: li.y.i were
counted on the Fots,lancr Piutz. Bcr-
lin: S.G.5 at Fifth Avenue and
Fif,y-clsh,h street, New York. 6.I7G
on Broad street. Philadelphia. and
i.1aG on Sheridan road, Chicago.
Add to tho large lumber for Paris
III. fact that this city has ON" hilly
and many tortuous streets. II would
appear that the regulation Of raff!c
In Paris prcs.us difficulties unknown
| elsewhere. Eventually til. ronHcs-
| ton VIII become so great that new
streets viii have to be cut TO relieve
It. this seems to h. the only solution.
Tn" French government. upon til"
| OF til" Minister Of
Commerce. has decorated with the
Legion Of Honor on" oil the leading
women drcssmukcrs OF Paris. II Ip'
pears that I l.. per cent. or tn. pop
u!a'ion "f fran"" is employed IN gar
mcnt making. aud this Industry Is
| '""""ni,ch ns Il treat source OF ma
| tlonu1 wealth. The woman In d,icx-
tiou comes under tho class o3 "cap-
tains Of Industry" and II 10 In rec
Z, lion oI nc' creative work IN or
ranixing her business that the gov
rrnmcni has thus honorcd her.
TIL" creative drcssn,akcr In France
! " now protected legally II her Ideas
are stolen. She must. however. prove
! that her general idea. and not alone
details OF design. have been appro-
pr!a'cd by rival. To insure such
| protection copy OF all dress models.
together with adcduat" descriptions
must be posted In the French pat.n,
office. When this has done she may
bring suit for infringement, OF her
patented" dress.
In an int.rcscticng and lucid lee
,urc before the Society OF Friends Of
the University of Paris. OF which N.
1 VI II nj r., IL lam
Dr. jacques bcr'illon has anniyzcd
u, length 'hc problem or the drpopu-
Ini'on of France. Its causes and rem
.dics.
In 1919. said the doctor. the
French amounted to is per cent OF
the civilized people of the world.
/ They now represent only 10 per cent
and against 80 million people who
speak French ihci arc today l"o
million who speak =. man and 80
| million who speak English. This
| condition Is becoming more acccn-
'ua'ed. since in 1911 til. number OF
deaths exceeded the number OF births
in France. while In other countries
| the excess of births over deaths. kept
ut an average of about ~ per thou
| sand. Some people see u demedy In
efforts to dccrcas mortality. but the
doctor declared this method to be OF
'ittle or no value.
What WAS wanted. he said. was an
extra ij0.0Oo births every year: the
present deficit involved. economical
| consequences of the most dangerous
character. Nautilus was quite wrong
when he attempted to show that at
lifc's banquet there was room only
for u limited number OF guests. The
| nj ,t,tr Nr
also cooks. contributing their share
Of the banquet. That is why people
with Il high birth-ratc show a much
mcro' rapid economic advance than
does France.
| TIL" consequences Of depDpulation
are even gravcr in the realm of in
tclligcncc and culture. Technical
nni scientific works. whose readers
nre limited in number. bu, which.
nevertheless. mark the css.ntiol con-
ditiou Of progress. are necessarily
published In languages spoken by
the greater number.
| There ar" many factors respon-
sibla Tor the voluntary and danger
ons Limitation of families in France.
The growth Of iniividualism amony
others plays - considerable part. The
Civil Code. which prohibits the free
tcstamcntary disposition of property
also fa,ors sm1i1 families. This is
clearly demonstrated by II little vii
lngc in the outskirts of Dnrkirk Ac
rordiug TO the terms of n foundation
dating from tho seventeenth cell
tury every family living within the
village boundaries is entitled to -
ares tabout thrCo-rirths Of an acre)
OF land: the result is that births cX-
coed deaths by III per cent.
| Instances OF the birth ra:e being
heightened by judicious legislation
are numerous. notably in Bavaria
and Roumania. where by the sup
preston OF some of the veXatious for
malitics attending marriage thous-
ands of births were gained every
year,
The doctor would like to see the
public taught to honor and favor