"MORE COFFINS THAN CRADLES."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11892, 29 December 1916, Page 7

"MORE COFFINS THAN CRADLES."

In a little book bearing the title "More Coffins than Cradles 1" Pastor Edmund Kreusch, of Karlsruhe, mournfully laments: " Will the great Death make solemn entry into Germany ? Are we one of the dying nations, perishing from loss of vitality? A bkish of shame comes over our faces at having to ask such questions while our armies are gallantly fighting against overwhelming hostile forces 1 These questions ought not to bo necessary at a moment when hundreds of thousands of our sons are dying the hero's death in the bloom of their youth for the sake of the Fatherland 1 And _ just at a moment when we are taking our place as a world-power of the first magnitude! But it is statistics which force these questions upon our unwilling ears, and the answer must run: ' Our ; f doom is approaching; the danger lurks at our door and shame is already within our gates." Jvreusch gives some interesting figures to show that Germany really is in danger of having more coffins than cradles per ann'um. Her most- fruitful decade was that ending in 1880. when the average birthrate per thousand was 39. By 1910 this had fallen to 29.8. For the decade ending 1900 there were 8.5 marriages for every thousand of the population, but in 'l9lO it was a fraction over 7, so that before the war there had been a decrease of marriages and of births. The question of replacing the fathers of tlie future who have fallen in this war is a veritable nightmare to the reverend gentleman.