Will the French nation live to the twenty-first or twenty-second
century or will they by that time have committed suicide? asks Pierre
Leroy-Beaulieu, French deputy, professor in the Free School of
Political Science, and assistant editor of the important _Économiste
Français_ (Paris), in which he writes with patriotic passion in the
following strain, apropos of the recently published Government Census
returns:
There is no doubt whatever that the French people are rushing
to suicide. If they continue on this course, the French nation,
those of French stock, will have lost a fifth of their number
before the expiration of the present century and will absolutely
have vanished from Europe by the end of the twenty-second
century; that is, in two hundred years. It is now twenty years
ago that we first stated this frightful fact. So far we have
been a voice in the wilderness. While people are eternally
discussing the advantages of secular education and the beauty
of the income tax, and all the grand democratic reforms that
are to come, amid all the fine speeches of sophistical cranks,
the French people are gradually committing suicide. They are
tightening the cord about the national neck; the breath of life
is becoming feebler and now is but a gasp which must soon end in
silence.
This writer says that marriage still exists in France, but it is no
longer an institution “intended,” according to the language of the Book
of Common Prayer, “for the procreation of children.” On this aspect of
the question he remarks:
People still marry in France almost as frequently as in other
countries. But this does not result in the multiplication
of children. In 1909 marriages to the number of 307,954
were celebrated, which amounted to 7.85 for every thousand
inhabitants, a slightly less proportion than during the years
immediately preceding.
But divorce with all its consequences is on the increase in France, and
we read:
If the marriage-rate remains normal in France, divorces are
becoming more and more common. There were 12,847 divorces in
1909, against 11,515 in 1908; 10,938 in 1907; 10,573 in 1906,
and 7,157 in 1900. Thus in eight years divorces have increased
at the rate of 80 per cent. Taking into consideration the
facility with which a divorce may be obtained from the courts,
the number of those who ask for and gain this release is sure
to increase rapidly. After a short time divorce will be common
in rural districts, which so far have rebelled against it, and
doubtless the number will grow to 20,000 or 30,000, if not more,
per annum.