THE ABOLITION OF THE BABY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15350, 13 January 1912, Page 4

THE ABOLITION OF THE BABY.

FRANCE ONLY LEADS THE WAY. THE CIVILISED WOULD IN I'UKSUIT. It lias boirun to bo realised that llie toilin is gaining 011 I' 1" uu<llo almot< ' a,i| ov ? r the civilised world. iMwrly everywhere in Eurupcan-.si/.akii.g countries W and lifc.6babiw are being born; the birth-rate, in fact, is shrinking so last that llie doctors arc nut able to make tho deallwatc shrink prc|)ortioiiatcly. It is the condition of I l 'ranee that 11113 drawn people's eyes to u slate of thing:: which is spreading through, out' Europe, America, and Australia anyway, and perhaps throughout the whoio world. A couple of )«irs «({<> Hie French birtlnraui fell lo the level of il» dcatn rate j that is, iis many people died every year its woio bom; the popuuttjou of Franco st«od htill. Since ilicn thiufcti have grown even worso; the number of frenchmen has uoguii actually to diminish. At the prerait rate the time- is in tight when France will bo no more a nation Jlalthtisian.', wilio put "quality" before quajitity, may then solaco liieinsolvui witn tho itU-'ti uiat tlvj diminiiilung reiniiunt a-ro more liigiily developed; the childless supermini might inoralu! on that as he dug his own grave. FRANCE ALARMED. Frenchmen bicamo alarmed; a oouimiswon was apixiinled to lind out the uxUmt ami causes of tih'w decline. The cx>uniiiiliion iiuJmled 75 of the greatest luiinos in Franco. lint, liilfwiy tliroutjli, it ceased its work suddenly; ttoo seems to Iwve been an aitiunpt f« hush the whole thing up. Mr 0. C. He-ale, who w:is then prepaiitiK for lib text Look on the subject, "Racial Decay," hud the great est, diflicully in getting sight of tit- cemmitsion's liipurs. Their conclusions were disheartening enough. AtUnnpis wore made lo awaken France in her itangcr. Newspapers were taking tne matter up. For instance, llie Paris Matin, of October, 1009, printed unJoi the headline. "]X'|>opuhil:on.' Our National Scourge," a photograph of seven Gorman soldii-'s in uniform; and in the middle of the group tho father and mother of the seven, the father also in uniform. " A German family," the Matin remarked wii.h pathos—'• All soldiers!" That photograph must have wakened many Jiiemoriiis of Alsace ami Sedan ENGLAND WAKING IT But it is '.-asy to show that Franco las tidy led along u way which even England iinu her toloniisi serin to bo lollowing, Mr Jleale's Iwik makes this clear by diagrain. From the r»crkxl 1876-80, ho filiows how tlm lines standing for Iho impulatioiia of lioth and France dip. stfodiiy il-jwn-hill, t.!w only dilTeroiioc bring Uiat lOngbiKl's line was higher at the jtait, and k higher even yet. Jlut, on pr<vent indiuallons, England aeeius lo be eatehing up to France. Englinlnuen have, howevor, been to some extent waking up lo the fact that to thpjii alto less aaid less oliildren are being born. In November hint an inlluen-tiatly-aUomUd confeivr.e<: on publio inornlti and lace ri-generation wa.s held in Westminster Abiiey. 'llie fnllowJTXf motion, mov<"d by (lie chairman, the Bishop of Durham. wa« unanimously curried:— "That this conference dcuireu jo drtiw the attention of the Church, Parliament, li:<> prc«, and the public to the facta and tendencies of ilw national lite, a.s imli<nt'.xl by the falling birth-irate, *,ho continuous ami widespread sacriliee ol infancy and childhood, the multiplication of mental and moral degenoratw, the loweicd bland.ird tf paivnlltood, ami the disintegration of tho home and family life." LAPDOGOR HAliyj ) The two r.Kits of the evil, mid Sir Victor ilorsloy at this conference, were the woman of tJie sninrt set, who cherished a lap<lui; instca-.l of a baby, and th-2 woman of tho wltuiu?, who found a reluge h, the publi'.lioiiso from the nvi| s of her liriviroiinietit. The clfects of dirty literature were also • '.i«ii-iV<l, and ol the conspiracy of silenee into which many parents enter toward? their children on mutters of life and birth. A month before this conference tho Bishop of London siiolw out s'trongly against, the gigantic evil ihat, it is now almost everywhere admitted, cau.«vo the liirlh decline. "Thi.Te is t:o wealth but life," Iho BLshoo (|Uot«l from and he addexl figure:) to show how the stream of new life is thinning over Britain. The Lambeth Conference, he reminded, had spoken on the matter with no uncertain voice, and, for himself, he otuW only repeat what he hatl »ai<| yours ago: " It is as completely proved as anytiiing csn 1/j that the cauri of all this is th? <'olilHTate prevention of conception ... It is all part of tho miserable tvspel of eemfort which i« tho etiM; of the present day," he eontinuH; and. aftei honouring Roman Cntholicism for ils all.uk upon this evil, he suminoncxl apiitw it all the forces of the Church. 1/JWKST RKCOKDKI) H>m;KXS. 'IT-,0 farther racial decline proceeds Ihe faster it k-cuu U> go. Striking instances of that are the French and British population or. rather, depopulation—figures (or 191!. They have cawed toniething like a sensation. They show that for tho iirnt si>: months of iho year ihe-re worr, in Frtl.ce U.&M fower Dirths tiwl 26,000 more dwiths tlwn dnriiiß the corresponding iierioil of 1910, and a not diminution in tho French population of 13.270. If it n ..-ro not for Brittany, whore the decadence has not iio much sproad, ihe condition of France would Iv worse still. But with Fn-lnml, too. affairs are bn-l enough; the English returns for the third quarter of 1911 show an astonishing d<-elinc. For the tlireo montlu endinr September 30, in 1803, IKB, an.i 1910, tho exec?? of births over draths was al'Kvut tlie sntne-from 123.00 D to 121,000 But for the ccrreapondinir quarter nf 1911 the figures sank to SI.WJ \ decrease for theso three months of 30 |v:r t-inL Li romethin;: to take notice of. The births regisin this ipianer were in the proportion of l\.'i annually p?r tlioiwmd of tlio population; they were, that is, 2.9 per thousand below tho mean birth rato in the preceding third quarton', Tliese roturiiß are tho lowest on record for the jsiii.i period since the establishment of civil registration.

IN Till', COLONIES. Of coun-o, however wise doctors may W<)K, tlii'y can wily |iott|:oiu! tlio uga of utsilli. Tlio liirthruto may dedino until no more bnbita nro born, but you can't make |it'(ipli> live for ever. So that tho [act thai in hnglnii'l, mid Hill morn in AnstruJiii, nu havo a low death rato cannot avni! us much. A liillc look ("Tlio Declining liinh l,_ v a, Now«hi>hw, MM, A1.11.C.5, give* a comparison ol iatm of natural increase, in u Mimbor of countries, imimiinj; fnmi. Anitrnliim Stales, between 19C1 uiid 19K, us computed with their ruU) of increase between 1881 ni.,!, ISSS. Tlio coiiipmisoii i s rather akiriiiiiig. Tho greatest dccliiM' is in the caso of South Australia, whoso ratu of natural inenxmn was only 13.7 in tlio second iioriod, as against U5.8 in tile liru. In live mnut Ijiiio it is shown tluu New South Wale* ha» sm* from 22.0 to 15.5, and Queensland Irun 17.5 to 15.3. while tlio licnium Kmliiro Ins increased from 11.7 to 14.4. Knuand and Wall's have punk from 14.1 to 12.1, and Scotland from 13.7 to 12. Another tulilii in Iho uuno Wk give* a companson |)ot W co n n number 0 f countries' I'irtli rates in 1831 mid in 1901, making almwatici! for the ace distribution and piw>ort:oii of married and unmarried women 100, , Wdations cornered. Taking tlio 1801 . •jirliirato fl>r tile countries in the table us ion, I hit corrects birth rates would work i'"'i ,ll J o } !w lrcJa " ll ,lJl ° *»>Kl««*l on tho list), 99 for Austria, 91 for Italy, SO for nixsia, and 87 for |.ho whole Gorman KmjMrc, 86 for I'Wc. 85 for Scotland, ?? ,">•" England and Walw, 81 for Nov /.twlw.l ; 75 for Victoria, atid 63 for Now V . Waktt! Tl,is tMo - rf «""«•. i* I'soflll only |o skw how the birtli-ralo m tiioso countries has fallen (or, in tho «Vso of Ireland, riwn): it te not show tlio pcnitKwti hI which these countries stand iitiir. Corrected " data cannot Iv obtained lor tho years I£ol. l)„t it does show Ww trend of things. CAUSE AN!) BBMBDY. And tin. < aum j What tl k -, J); s | l( ,,, 0 f I/)n . don said luis Uv.ii repeated in other words •y many tnquirrr.s: The dwluic i.;, the btrlli-wto is oaiwd, m \ |, v i, miK)ra ]j (v j„ tlio more- ordinary sjnse of the wofd,' but ».V Utt> limitation of child-lwirintr among uurriod women." IV shsctv of'friendly Kcicty lymg-in IraefiU" lira bcc-.n oftci. ■|iu>„hl in WHS™, of (his, hut there arc Hln'm'T iT', 1 ™ 0 ??' Just K »" instance, t to 1 lllladelphla Kccord quotes a Haltimoro clorvymwi, who paid that of 272 couple.) wlk-.iii ho married, 128 remained without liBlt?. 85 fend onn eliild oach. 51 lad t«o children |, vo lia<l lliroe, two.liad four, ami ono ha<l six. Can racial drcav he sioptwl. onoo it hocms. u , s a |i a lr op o to Ixwmo Hiissian, and Hie rest cf tho world to lx, spread oyer with brown and black and y.-Jlow? Many s,ay thorn tan Im> only ©no 'flnawor to that quwilion. But, aflcr all, certain ovil? may mark or,!y parl.icnbr stages in a nation s lmtnry, and. at tlio worst, Uiciro is always the chaw* that tho selfish (he race-nviml-iiwi. may ]„, hre( | wit.-S>ycr:oy Daily Tclcgrapli.