Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1874 — The French Census. [ARTICLE]

The French Census.

Owing to the destructive, though happily short-lived, rule of the Commune in Paris, the publication of the French census of 1873 has been unavoidably postponed, and is only recently finished. It is full of interesting statements, and, according to La Patrie, shows the prosperity of France in 1873 to have been pretty nearly equal to that of 1868, when France had reached the highest point of her internal development. In 1866 the total population of France amounted to 38,067,064 inhabitants; in 1872, after the war and the loss of two provinces, it was 36,102,921. Of this population 31,865,625 inhabited cities, 18,405,310 lived in the country The number of houses has been reduced from 7,811,549 in 1866 to 7,704,918 in 1872. Of the 86,102,921 inhal> itants only 13,000,000 could neither read nor write, which, considering the relative proportion of infants and young children to the whole population, is a small average; 3,780,000 could only read; aU the rest could both read and write. The Catholic religion claims 35,000,000-of the population, the Reformed Church 580,000, and the Jewish Church 49,000. The 36,102,921 inhabitants are divided into 18,500,000 heads of families, 19,000.000 members of families, and about 2,000,000 servants. Of these 6,000,000 heads of fkmilies practice agriculttire and have 11,000,000 members of families, which shows them to constitute the most prolific class, and employ servants. The number of clergymen in France amounts to 151,000; of vagabonds, 489,000; of insane, 58,000, of which 25,000 aremen and 38,000 are women. France harbors 000 male and 15,000 female idiots; 18,000 male and 13,000 female blind persons; and 13,000 male and 10,000 female dent and dumb. In the way of domestic animals France boasts 3,000,000 horses, 299,000 mulea, 451,000 asses, 11,000.000 pairs o catlK 5,000,000 hogs, 25,000,000 sheep, 2,000,000 some 150,000.000 of animals, or about four to every inhabitant.