The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-06-17
GRAVE DANGER
IN DECLINING
BIRTH RATES
France Particularly Hard Hit
Blacks, Browns and Yel-
lows Are Increasing in Num-
bers as Whites Decrease.
WAR EFFECT LASTING
Nv MARK SULLIVAN

way from American poliucs-from
primaries in North Dakota, from tariff
debates in Washington, and from pres
ent American affairs altogether But
to anyone who views 1t with an eye
on the future, the somber truth is
otherwise.
One day last week there appeared in
the same issue of the New York Her
aid two dispatches. They came from
points considerably separated in dis
tance. In the flow of the days news,
they were merely two separate items.
But they belong together, and the con-
siderations arising out of them go TO
the heart of future history.
The first came from Paris 1t was
headed, French Birth Rate Falls"
and the essential portion of 1t read:
AT the present rate of depopulation,
1t Is only question Of one generation
before the population of France will
diminish at the rate Of 100000 year,
statisticians declare, after study Of
partial birth and death statistics In
the first quarter of 1922"
German Rate "Terrific"
The other despatch came from Lon
don. The part of it that is pertinent
to the present article read: The
Times announces that Lord Northcliffe
has just finished an incognito tour OF
the Rhineland, using pseudonym be-
cause OF German animosity towards
him owing to his work as director of
propaganda during the war. Lord
Northcliffe describes the birth rate as
terrific" Lord Northcliffe gives no
actual statistics about the German
birth rate, but the word terrific" con-
veys with sufficient force a fact that
is we'll known to observers generally
To complete the picture suggested
by these two dispatches, l quote now
part of an article written by one of
the genuinely great journalists of the
world, Mr.. ]. L. Garvin, of the Lon
don Observer, a man in whom schol-
arship combines with his other tai
ents to put him in a very small class
among those who try to provide the
world with enlightenment. Mr. Gar
vim attended the recent Genoa confer
ence as a correspondent for his own
paper and for the New York Times.
Those who read his dispatches will re-
call their clearly outstanding quality.
The following sentences are taken
from narrative which Mr.. Garvin
wrote of his return trip from Genoa
TO London. He said: Leaving Ge-
noa l travelled from the Mediterran-
can to the Channel through France
in the freshest beauty of May. AT
Toulon, in all the sunshine of the
Midi, the high ramparts were lined by
black troops in red feZzes. They were
unconscious of that long-armed law
which DEGREES that a declining birth
rate in France shall be made good In
case of war by a CHASTITY death rate
amongst the militarized negroes OF
tropical Africa There are over three
hundred thousand of them on peace
footing in France and on the Rhine
there are plans for over a million in
war.
Ultimate Outcome
'T feflected. l though of Lenine IN
the Kremlin and his Chinese guards
If there is to be a million of black
mercenaries on the French side, &C
cording to the mechanical twocamr
logic of NJ. Poincare and all the fatal
Chauvinistic schools, why not ulti
mately millions of yellow mercenaries
on the side of Russia and Germany
The logic of French reaction would be
a sort of super-Armageddon, with
hordes of blacks and yellows launched
against each other until the larger
forces of the East slowly conquered
and the dwindling life of France was
trodden out forever. No power in tht
world so much needs a genuine peace
system of reconciliation and disarm
ament as France, whose population
declines with every victory no less
than with every defeat"
Either the Genoa policy will live
and grow, and triumph on the basis Of
settled peace for Europe and Asia
alike, or the civilization Of modern
Europe will perish like that of ancien
Rome. Russia would have least t
risk. Germany might be the cockpi
of a continent-a devastated battle
ground as in the Thirty Years war
France, whose initial ascendancy IL
military equipment would enable hel
to advance at the beginning of such {
struggle, would be its surest victim
at the end"
Mr.. Gavin puts this situation partly
in the form of regret for the 100000
black troops who now compose 40 pc
cent of the standing French army
and the additional 100000 who would
be drawn into any future war. Othe1
observers speak of it as intolerablt
that France should maintain thest
100000 Africans as part of the in
strumentality through which sh,
threatens to impose her will on tht
rest of Europe France is charged
with attempting to maintain her posi-
tion by piecing out her own increas
ing sterility with the abounding fe
cundity of Africa.
Rate is Decreasing
This whole matter of declinin.
French birth rate has been observed
and studied by thoughtful persons
who look beneath the surface. eve
since the beginning of the war TIL
number of babies born in France ha
long been small-barely enough t
keep her population stationary. Bu
since the war began 1t has not evel
been large enough for that.
When Germany and France Tough
in 1870, each of them had about 40
, 100000 But when they fought agail
A years later, France still had onl
40oo0,o00. while Germany had gone u
TO 100000 1t was Frances static
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