The Dominion. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1918. WAR AND POPULATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 211, 25 May 1918, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1918. WAR AND POPULATION

' German politicians and professors have been.giving much anxious consideration to the population problem. Many suggestions have been made' with the object of -making good- the , ; ravages oi war arid arresting'the 1 decline in tho birth'-rate. According to a recent cablegram a commission has recommended' that a system of compulsory marriage be adopted, and .'that, penalties be provided for childless unions. It is 6tated that the fall in the birth-rate represents a decrease of 2,000,000 babies in three years.' The infant death-rate has been kept fairly low, but.is high .when compared with that of England. Some very interesting facts and figures dealing with these matters are given by Siu Beknard Mallet in a paper entitled Vital Statistics as Affected by the IFw, which has recently been published in the Journal of the lloyal Statistical Society. The "war marriages" in England reached their maximum .in 1915. They • totalled 294,401 in 1914; they rose to 360,885 in 1915, and went back to 279,846 in 1916. Similar movements are shown in the figures for Scotland and Ireland. Complete statistics are not Qvailable-.for other belligerent countries, with the exception" of Hungary, and the Hungarian figures disclose a much less, satisfactory state of -affairs than that indicated by tho British statistics. In the year ending.May 31, 1914, ' thcro were 206,900 marriages in Hungary. In 1914-15 there was an alarming drop, the total marriages, beinir 85,859.. The total again fell in 191516, when it reached only 66,778. Iherc was a small increase in 191617, to 69,005. In Prussia and five other btates whose combined populations form 80 per cent, of the German Empire, the marriages were (according to a Danish authority) 434,103 in 1913, and only 392,053 in. 1914, notwithstanding tho rush which took place during the first month of-the war. The fibres available for 1915 show a considerable fall when, compared with those for 191.4. •

As regards the birth-rates, ' the German and Hungarian figures arc very incomplete. They relate only to towns of 15,000 or more inhabitants. _ Tho German statistics show a serious decline, falling from (333 - 235 in 1913 to 487,533 in 1014. and 371,888 in'lOlG. The figures for the first half of 1917 mark a continuance of tho falling off. After taking all the available information into consideration, Sir Beunaiid Mallet roaches the conclusion that while Britain will have lost during three years up to June 30, 1918, about 500,000 "potential lives," or about 10,000 per million of the population, Germany will have lost 2,600,000, or about -10,000 per million of population, and Hungary will have lost 1,500,000, or about 70,000 per million. The information availableregarding.the Austrian birth-rate is scanty, but so far as it goes it indicates a great decline. The infant mortality statistics show that, both in Britain and Germany, tho rate during tho war has been lower than at any previous period of like duration. The rate rose - in Germany ac tlis beginning of the war, but it was brought bad . to the normal rate by the special measures which were taken. It must bo remembered, however, that tho normal deathrate in Germany has always been much higher than the normal rate in Britain. The net result seems to be this: taking account of losses in the field of battle on both sides there has been some addition to the population of the United Kingdom,

while the Central Empires have suffered a loss of at least four millions. Commenting on the facts sot out i;i Sin Beiinakd Mallet's paper, the tipectator says:

Slimming up the whole position it mtiy safely lie said that wo can dismiss from our minds, for the present at any rate, all idea of u failure in reproductiveness so far as the UnitedKiiHom is concerned. The only important point oil which to lay stress is the "rowing t xcess of females over males, especially in Kngland and AViiles. That is a problem for which apparently there is no solution except female emigration. AJore generally it may be said that we continue to look to the overseas Dominions as on outlet for the still growing nonulalioii of the British Isles. The fact that a Gorman Commission should conic to the conclusion that a system of compulsory marriage, with penalties for childless unions, should be established proves that thc > authorities feel that the outlook is so grave that drastic ineasures are required to prevent a serious decrease in the population. There arc indications that the Government is indirectly encouraging bigamy and polygamy. Pamphlets approving of these methods of keeping up the nation's man-power are .being widely distributed among the soldiers. One writer (Hehr Torges) puts in a plea for "the secondary marriage as the only means for the rapid creation of a powerful army and the purification of morality.' . He declares that "the bachelorism of to-day is a cancer ■ which must be extirpated." He holds that the conception of immorality is relative, fgood morals being merely what the upper classes of society approve. The existing position, ■ in his opinion,' justifies Germany, in putting "the stamp of morality on what today seems immoral." * He goes on to advocate that women who: have reached .1 certain age should notonly bo authorised but also called upon to enter into : a secondary marriage with married men with the consent of the latter's wives. Tho offspring of these' secondary marriages would bear the name 6f the mother, and would He handed over to the care of the State unless the mother is prepared to assume responsibility for them. The mothers would wear a narrow'wedding ring as a sign of their patriotism, and the marriage could be dissolved as soon as.its object has been attained. Herr Toroes admits that ' ethical scruples may militate against the acceptance of his proposals, and these scruples will continue to operate until conscience has disposed of them.- He therefore calls upon the clergy to help the State "to determine whether Germany shall- be able not only to maintain herself on her present pinnacle of morality, but by her own strength to stand' up in the future as in the present to the pressure of enemies .who arc increasing numerically)" Another - leaflet calls upon soldiers to remember that the empty cradles of-Germany must be filled. ; "You married men and your wives," eays the leaflet, should put jealousy from your minds and consider whether you have not also ,1 duty to the Fatherland. You should consider whether you may not honourably contract with one of the million of bachelor women. See if your wife- will not sanction the relation." A Catholic newspaper published in Switzerland describes the distribution of these pamphlets as a piece of official propaganda "against which tho. whole civilised world must rise up in indignation." -It--declares that this scheme for "breeding soldiers" is a peculiar insult to Catholicism , , and denounces it as utterly immoral, utterly anti-Christian, and as a brutal insult to the dignity, of women. A strong protest., is made by this ■•Swiss journal against "this -filthy propaganda- on the-part, of a State which is utterly materialised and has fallen away from every kind of Christiali civilisation." It is stated that this disgusting concubinagescheme is being vigorously resisted by the legal wives in Germany., Austria will ha-vo nothing to do with it, and the circulation of the secondary marriage pamphlets in . that country iia s been forbidden. But tho Germans- have no more regard for the Christian moral law than they .have for the law of nations. They will without scruple trample under foot every law of God and man-that blocks their path to world dominion.