Mohave County miner., 1916-11-11
AUTHORITY EXPLAINS
 LOW BIRTHRATE IN
 REPUBLIC OF FRANCE

could be as large as those of any country, not excepting Germany" said Prof. A. Pinard of the French Acad- emy of Medicine in an interview with the Associated Press.
 Prof. Pinard, who has devoted the past two years to the care of "War Babies" is one of Frances eminent physicians, and perhaps the best au- thority on the physiology of repopu- lation. He declares that the trouble with the birthrate of France is vol untary resistance with economic req sons at the bottom of it.
 The state must get at those reasons he says, and overcome them by ap- propriate legislation while the individ- ual must learn more concerning what makes numerous and physically su- perior population. Eugenics he re- gards as certain to have an enormous influence on the future of the human race, while a theory of his own that he has named Eugennetique, will fa- cilitate the practical application of eu- genics. He is now appealing to par lament to enforce the application of his doctrine by obligatory education of the future mother while she is still a schoolgirl. Puericulture, as he calls it-or moral and physical education combined-he wants taught as cur rently as reading, writing and arith- metic.
 "BGnd reproduction must disap- pear," was the professors comment on eugenics. "In our country the future mother is not from any point of view placed on an equal footing with thor oughbred brood-mare.
 "We have laws for the protection of both animals and children after birth the child alone lacks protection be- fore birth, and the result is such as shown by the statistics of the Baude- locque clinic; out of 10000 children that left the clinic alive, 5S97 were prematurely born"
 Legislators look upon my proposi- tion as revolutionary-even immoral. .I I am not afraid of their expectations for I am a Frenchman first, then a 'puericulteur.' To render the father land more powerful, to preserve and improve the human species and tight en family ties are ambitions that are moral enough for me, even if they are revolutionary.
 "'Never before were there born in Paris such strong and handsome babies as during this war;" Prof. Pin ard declared. 'They are striking ex- ample of what may be accomplished by better care of mothers and their offspring-the result of spontaneous effort from every direction to do some thing for France, for the defenders of France, and for the wives and chil- dren of the soldiers left at home with out protection. At the bureau of vital statistics, upon the declaration of the birth of a child, every mother was sought out and, if she needed assist ance, she got it, while mothers were prevailed upon more than ever before to nurse their own children; in con- sequence the war generation" will be rugged one.
 Large families are not found among the thoughtful and prudent" " Professor Pinard points out as proof that restriction of births is the result of reflection. "They are only. among those whose circumstances permit them to neglect prudence, or among those who do not think, who live from day to day, from hand to mouth, and never worry about the future. Pru embracing economy-a native quality in the French character, car ried to excess is, if not the only cause, the most potent influence in the re- striction of births.
 France of late years has been oc- cupied in saving and spending; new social laws have continually increased public expenditures and added to the family mans taxes, until just before the war the budget amounted to 125 francs ($25) a head for every in habitant.
 ''The man with a large family is more heavily taxed under our system than the childless couple or the bach -elor, many of whom escape taxation altogether. The cost of raising a fam fly went up continually, while the heads of families did not derive from these social laws the profit that was promised to offset the disadvantages.
 "The possibility of remedying the situation by legislation has already been proven" said Dr. Pinard, who