BERLIN'S DECLINING BIRTHRATE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1602, 20 November 1912, Page 5

BERLIN'S DECLINING BIRTHRATE.

The question of population is being discussed in Germany almost as keenly as in Trance, for 'the latest statistics from Berlin , show that .'to birth-rate of the capital is steadily falling. The number of children, born for every 1000 women of an age to have children is now only 74, as compared with 200 forty years ago, and, if it were not for" immigration, the population of Berlin would_ decrease at an alarming- rate, for there are 20 peT cent, less children, born there than is necessary to maintain the population. - . At the samo time, it is. not desirable that ■ the . country population should be attracted to Berlin ,or other large cities, where the number of recruits who are rejected for military service is very largo. The standard of fitness in the German Empire m a whole is only 55 per cent., but in the big cities it falls to 28 or 30 per cent, That is to say, that less than one man in three in Berlin reaches the physical standard considered necessary for service in the army. In towns of half a million, tlia percentage U 40 per cent., and in towns .of . 000,000 to , 200,000 tho figura is nearly '50 pet Mnt. In th« #ountrv districts it is' 00 jser. uont. aiid over. In Vieff.of Cjjesß fiajjeesj U cAj Vs. h* uhderitoed why German spoial reformers arg questioning the value of the big tenement dwellings, and are taua&ff to the of tjip garden suburb.™ Westminster Gazette." ■ .

i "I' have neVer regarded nswipagess as places for people to agrae in: if ever.they completely become so ;(as tUty show signs of doing) I shall taJio is hoardings or pamphlets or paTinj-stouea of some-other surfaces on which to inscribe, my views," says Mr.-05. K. Chesterton in the "Daily News."