GERMAN PROBLEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22200, 29 August 1935, Page 11

GERMAN PROBLEM

CONDITIONS IN CITIES

PEOPLE'S LIVING STANDARD BIGGER BIRTH-RATE NEEDED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright BERLIN, Aug. 27 A gloomy picture of the position in Germany in regard to the population and the evils of overcrowded cities was painted by Dr. Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior, at the opening of the International Congress for Scientific Investigation of the Problems of Population. . Dr. Frick said the gradual decay of the German nation, at present concealed by the sinking death-rate, must arouse concern. The people who represented the slight remaining excess of births over deaths were either grey-beards or persons for whose maintenance the workers had to provide. Uncontrolled growth of great cities was encouraged without a realisation that they were mass graves of the best blood, while cheap labour, often foreign, filled the gaps. The country population, moreover, could not be overlooked. The standard of living of large families on the basis of equal wages had lagged behind that of unmarried people and childless or small families. It was the task of the State to make the adjustment. The desire to found a family must be kept alive. Sterilisation laws, marriage loans, the adjustment of agrarian debt and tax remissions for large families all contributed to stimulate the birth-rate from sound stock. The State mint concentrate more on those whose children were more likely to become xiseful members of the community. Thus marriage loans were dependent on medical examinations so that the marriage of persons with hereditary diseases was not encouraged. It must not be forgotten that the healthiest men and boys of the nations gave up their lives on the battlefields before reproduction, leaving the unhealthy and the weak with increased possibilities for reproduction. This realisation made the Nazis opponents of war, though the nation must be able and willing to defend itself. The Nazis regarded the incorporation of foreign peoples as weakening to their own national power.