Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1884 — The Check in the Growth of France. [ARTICLE]

The Check in the Growth of France.

The attention of French economy ta has been drawn for several years to the fact that the population of their country is not increasing, but shows rather a tendency in many parts of the country to diminish. The tendency is steadily manifested in several departments to a greater degree than in others, Mid has been maintained with considerable uniformity in those departments where it is most marked. The departments m which the decrease is most observable are . the group in Languedoc and the group in Normandy. Of the live Norman departments only one—that of the Lower Seine—shows an increase, and the increase there is solely due to the attraction of the large towns of Havre and Konen. The tendency of population to gravitate toward the cities at the expense of the rural districts is as marked in France as in other countries, and contributes its quota toward retarding the growth of-the country as a whole; for mankind are less prolific in towns than in the country. A few departments show an increase in population, and these, curiously, are about evenly divided between the richest and tho poorest departments in the nation. The cause of the stationary condition of the population is found, by those who endeavor to account for it, in the evenly comfortable situation of the people. They are contented with things as they are, and avoid having large families, in order to avoid extra exertion and prevent the diminution of their estates that would follow if there were many heirs to divide them among. Every one aims to live and save, so as to leave his children as well off as himself, and a little better off if possible. Hence very few. have more than three children. All the large towns have increased enormously during the present century, at such a rate that, if the population of the whole country had increased at the same rate, France would have 75,000,000 inhabitants, or would have been as densely populated as England. Had it not been, in fact, for the augmentation of the populations of Paris. Lyons, and Marseilles, the population of all France would have actually diminished during the past years. This augmentative population, except as it is of foreign origin, contributes, as we have seen, to the tendency to depletion of the aggregate.