New Britain herald., 1918-05-01
Measures Against the Decrease in
 Birth Rate


 The Frankfurer Zeitung, of Febru- ary 17, says, under a Berlin date line:
 The political committee on popu- lation of the house of deputies, formed Tor the purpose of consid derng pr. Porsch's bill on measures to be taken agalnst the decrease in the birth rate, has met. The ministry of the interior has submitted a memorandum on the subject. The government announced through the committee that the Reich stag would consider measures to com bat sexual diseases, and also that the comparative decrease in the mum Der of births in war time is much larger than the number of those fallen. Even after the war the birth rate will not attain it's former figures
 The following have been urged as necessary measures: Pay reforms, housing organizations. providing of inexpensive house furnishings for young married couples, premiums for children. subcommittee has been formed to consider the question of providing furniture''
 The Mainzer Anzeiger tells of a plan the city of Bonn has adopted for encouraging marriages by bounties payable in food supplies
 If one of the newly married couple has resided in Bonn for at least six months the Bonn Food Bu- reau gives them a single supplement tary supply of 30 pounds of potatoes pounds of wheat flour, pounds of grease pounds of sugar, } pounds of malt coffee, pounds of butter or some other fat and 10 eggs"
 Belgian Judges Imprisoned in Ger.
 many.
 A dispatch from the Frankfurter Zeitung shows the determined opposi- ton the Belgians are making to the German propaganda for Flemish in dependence:
 "A short time ago we reported that the Belgian government in Havre had sent a notice to the judicial authori- ties in Brussels to bring charges against and arrest two members of the Flanders council on account of their activities toward Flemish inde- pendence. That could, Of course. only be considered as a demonstra- ton, since it was impossible for Ger man authorities to permit any such interference by an enemy governm ent which had, even according to the laws of the people, nothing more to say with regard to the execution of justice in Belgium.
 According to the Wolff Bureau the , general governn ent has now directed that the persons arrested shah be i'm 1 mediately set free and that all fur ther punishments shall be forbidden Furth ermore, the mem bers of the Court of Appeals who took part in the decision have been forbidden the further discharge of their duties. and three of the four presidents of the Court of Appeals have been taken into custody and sent to Germany. The question of the expediency ot our entire Flemish policy, as carried out by the German authorities in Bel ] gium, will be referred to later" German School in Namur. i The Cologne Zeitung contains this 1 account written in Namur, of the attempt being made to Germanize the l Belgians:
 "On the occasion of the Kaisers l birthday the German school first at trcscted the attention of the general ! public. It gradually developed from | a holiday school with German 1 courses, as it was originally found ed , in August, 1917, into @ German ele- 1 ntentary school. Many difficulties 1 had to be overcome. All German ! children in Namur were finally l brought together in the German , scEool. In the highest grade there arc on the average 16. In most cases they are children of German fathers and Belgian mothers. In these cases , the children almost always speal, ! French as their native tongue ant l if they speak German at all it is witt ] a foreign accent. This makes the es- ] t6 O1i of a German school 2