Evening star., 1939-12-29
France Will Pay
Bonuses for Babies
After January
Inducement Also Offered
To Peasants to Stoy
On Their Forms
BY JOHN T. WHITAKER,

by JOhN Il. WdIlAhEh,
Chicago Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
PARIS, Dec. 20 (by Radio).-
France is starting the new year
right with something more than
good resolutions to solve two of
this countrys gravest fundamental
problems. Far-reaching social legis-
lation to correct the falling birth
rate and the tendency of the peas
ants to leave their farms comes into
force on New Year Day in spite
of the war.
Beginning January l a bonus of
from $50 to $50 will be paid for
every child born in the first two
years of a marriage, and beginning
April ! a monthly allowance of from
10 to 20 per cent of the average
talary of the district will be paid
Tor every new baby born to French
couples.
simultaneously, farmers who
promise to remain for 10 years on
the land will be able to borrow $500,
with reductions in principal for each
child, graded so that the birth OF
llNC Gil NAtAlAlA thAS Az iva
period will wipe out their loan.
No country has ever attempted
similar social legislation in wartime
when productive industries are
halted and the country's resources
are drained as millions of men stand
under arms to protect the father
land from aggression. France is at
tempting it because, faced with war,
the usually complacent Frenchman
has decided that it is time to make
France strong and healthy for peace
as we'll as for war.
Net Loss in Population Recently.
Fifty years ago France had 1,000,-
900 births year: now they have
dropped to half that rate and by
1865 should be only 125,000 a year
unless something is done. Since
1885 the death rate has exceeded the
birth rate by $4,000 yearly, so that
for the past five years, while Ger
many has increased her population
by 100000 and Italy by 775,000,
France shows net loss.
Birth control reflects better eco
nomic conditions, it is thought by
most experts, and if the Frenchman
has had something to do beyond
reproducing his kind, so, too, an ad-
vanced social legislation improving
the status of city workers has
brought many peasant boys from the
farms. Experts estimate that 10000
farm workers were brought to the
cities alone by the passage of the
50-hour week for railway workers.
Thus, when the Blum government
brought better conditions for work.
ers, nothing comparable was done
for the peasants, who are the back
bone of this country in peace as III
war The legislation with which
France starts the new year right is
designed also to remedy this balance
A large part of the revenue re-
quired for these measures will come
out of increased taxation on bach
elors. In totalitarian states like
Italy bachelors are penalized by
losing governmental jobs and right
to promotion in the army if they
do not take wives. The French
spirit would exclude such measures,
but the government believes they
can bear heavier taxes since, in face
OF the totalitarian enemies on the
frontiers, Frenchmen must con-
tribute to stronger, more powerful
France. The rearing of children is
such contribution, even in coun-
try where a high standard of living
makes that a costly penalty.
Can Match Totalitarians.
The men who designed this new
legislation suggest one significant
aspect. They say that there is a
lot of nonsense being talked about
the democracies coming out of this
war little different from the totali-
tarians. This new social legislation
gives the lie to that, they argue.
France shows that, without modify
ing her democratic conventions, she
can match the totalitarianS in prob
lens like increasing the birth rate
and that even in wartime the gov
eminent can intervene with social
assistance.
An equally important aspect is
that costs to the government of
this program are being borne by
special taxes, such as those on bach
elors. Finance Minister Paul Rey-
naud's financial policy is quite cate
goric on this point-France will bor-
row for extraordinary military ex-
penditures during the war, but all in
creases in civil expenditure must be
met by increased taxation.
During the last war France bor-
rowed, assuming that when the vic
tory was won Germany could be
made to pay. Germany could not
pay, and the result in France was
imitation, with the franc devalued
to one-f1fth of its pre-war value.
This M. Reynaud is determined to
avoid, and yesterday before the
Senate, as in the past, he ham,
mered home to the French that they
must pay for this war and that
neither reparations nor the mort
gaging of the future is anything
but an illusion leading once again
to imitation.
(Copyrisht, 1939 by Chicago Daily News,
Inc)
Liechtenstein Students
po.o:,,o D.:.-oIe ca.