The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-08
GIVES FRANCE EIGHTY YEARS
 MORE OF LIFE
Falling Birth Rate to Blame Says Dr. Bertillon, Fla
 nous Physician.

The statement that inside of eighty years there will be no France, if the
 birth-rate continues to fall at it's
 present rate, is attributed to the fa-
 nous French physician, Dr. Bertillon,
 by Herbert Adams Gibbons, who
 writes of What Confronts France.''
 in the January Century. MT. Glib
 bons believes that the prospects are
 excellent for increasing the birth-rate
 by means of the program of remedial l
 measures now before the Chamber of |
 Deputies, but he quotes many emin. l
 ent Frenchmen who are of the con- 1
 trary opinion.
 ''The famous Dr. Bertillon,' ac- cordfng to Dr. Gibbons, 'who has worked for twenty years to arouse i the French to the breakers ahead, in sists that the crisis is of recent origin. We are falling behind now about 50o,000 births per year in pro- portion to other countries,' says Dr. Bertil1on. Our death-rate is increas- ing: each year 300,0o0 above fifty i years are dying. If the birth-rate l continues to fall in the same degree, i in eighty years there will be no France. Reducing infant mortality is i drop in the bucket. The only l remedy for France is to have as 1 many births other nations
 l "One of the prophets whose voice and pen have warned France of the i danger ahead summed up the prob l lem in single sentence. Said Emile l Bicard: At this rate (seven tenths ot
 i one per cent. increase per year) 1t 1 would require 370 years for our pop
 1 ulation to double while Germany in
 I century has almost tripled her popu-
 l lation.' A Japanese correspondent Il writing from Paris put the situation
 l more bruta1ly in the sweeping state
 ment Each year the population of !I France is dimishing: one can there
 fore reasonably predict that at the
 end of this century France will, be-
 cause of this fact, disappear from the Il list of nations
 "Dr. Richet said frankly in a re- cent address to the Academic de Medecine The one and only cause of depopulation in France Is econo- my. We do not want to have ehil- dren because that entails spending money. It costs to lodge and feed and clothe child, and we do not consent to go that expense. The number of births can be what the State wishes. Decide upon the amount of the aid given to parents
 and you will at the same time be sure or the nulIlUeT oI T ISiC1i MI lAAS. There are now 700,000 births: there will be 100000 when you wish. If 6 child, instead of causing the family a expense, brings money to the family a the number of births will be enor- mous.'
 a "Dr Richets reason for the de a creasing birth-rate is accepted by hi: compatriots. This is shown by the a1 nature of the religious appeal put ! 1 forth in the pastoral letters of the clergy, and the remedies, social ant 2 legislative, suggested by economist a and publicists. The Chamber of Depu s5 ties and the Senate are considering bills to give state aid to parents b. Es means of premiums, lessening o: a taxation, freedom from military ser M vice for the father after the birtl 2 of the third child, and bills to modif, % the Civil Code in such way to al g low the parents the right to make sa will 50 that property and bushes B may be saved from arbitrary division A and dissolution.
 N "In 1917 for two prizes of 1000 A francs each there were 400 applica E tions Thirty of the families hal A more than fifteen children. It is s mistake to think that patriarcha1 Tiff A has entirely disappeared fror E France. The problem of depopu1a k ton is not hopeless of solution an 2 intelligent efforts are being made t E check the decreasing birth-rate.''