MORE CHILDREN WANTED.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 52, 25 October 1912, Page 8

MORE CHILDREN WANTED.

NEW MOVEMENT IN FRANCE. SPECIAL HOUSING FOR FAMILIES. Paris, September 18. France is indeed in a bad way if, out of the multitude of - plans that have been proposed during the past few years for checking the falling birthrate, some good does not come to the country. Perhaps it is too much to hope that she will, within the lifetime of living generations, catch up with her prolific northern neighbour, but out of the nation-wide agitation that is now going on is sure to come some increase in population and, incidentally, as the majority of Frenchman see it, some future increase in the gigantic army that guards the land from the foreign invader. Probably the most hopeful of all the schemes which have taken concrete form are the several different provisions that are being made for the housing of families of many children. The ban upon small children which for long was, and even to-day is, almost universal among Parisian landlords, operated as an effective check on child birth, and, amounted to a national scandal. However, if the plans of several practical and enthusiastic souls do not miscarry, the time seems to bo at hand when the fathers and mothers of large families' will be a people blessed throughout the entire country, possessed of houses as nearly as possible rent free, advanced in Civil Service and commerce over the iieads of their childless contemporaries, and all-powerful in politics because of the possession of votes limited only by the number of their children.

The leader of the considerable number of influential people who are fightwig for all these blessings for the downtrodden parents of 'many children is an army captain of the name of Maire, who is himself the father of .no less than eleven children, of whom nine are now living. As he is still a comparatively young man he can lay just claim to having practised, what he preached. He is president and founder of “The League for Large Families,” which has for its immediate purpose the combating of the teachings of a movement known as the NeoMai thusians—followers of Hr. Malthus, the English economist. Young men and women, employed in factories and in shops, flock weekly to meetings, and are active disciples of Malthus. So intense is their interest and enthusiasm that when they quit their work at night, they congregate ati the curb for spirited talks on the subject of Neo-Malthusianism, and, like the Salvation Army, try to gain recruits with voice and trumpet. Their efforts are undoubtedly reflected in the birth statistics, and in the little cities of Roubaix, Tourcoing, and Creusot the births have fallen off two-thirds since the society began its campaign. That the lot of the large family is to bo a happy one in France in the future is evident to all those who take the trouble to visit the splendid block of flats, consecrated to their exclusive uso, just built by the Society of Hygiene, an organisation which, in its own way, is working for much the same ends as “The League for Large Families.’ The writer was shown over them by the founder of the society, Mine. Marguerite Martel, who is an enthusiast if ever there was one. In these buildings there are flats for sixty families at the modest rental of £lO a year, remarkably cheap for the quarters provided. They consist of two very large rooms—a general living room which is divided in two by a thin partition, and a large kitchen which answers the purpose of diningroom as well. Leading out from the kitchen is a long gallery on each floor of the house. This gallery, which is like a covered verandah, is a roomy affair and was constructed for the use of little children—a playground within sight of a busy mother, a protection from the dangers of traffic on a crowded street.

Another bait for the encouragement of large families will ho tire new buildings which have been put up at Vincennes, a> suburb of Paris, by Charles do Stern. Babies will be a necessity if one wants these flats, for the landlord insists on, instead of rejects, these much-maligned disturbers of nightly peace. The childless couple seeking quarters in this attractive up-to-date apartment house will be received with scorn by the agent, who, in France, is invariably the “concierge.” The only way to define “concierge” is janitor, proprietor and judge rolled into one. Hie word is law, and the luckless tenant has no redress, not even from the proprietor himself. Consequently, when the applicants for these flats are questioned and have confessed their shortcomings in not having taken upon themselves the responsibilities or parenthood, they will ho almost petrified by the freezing manner of the “concierge.” The buildings contain 109 two, three, and four-room flats, at £lO, £ls, and £lB a year. The profit remaining after the cost of the building and the working expenses have Ibeen deducted, will go to the maternal canteen, where mothers nursing babies will be supplied with nourishing lunches and dinners free of charge. These flats are a little more pretentious than those constructed by the Society of Hygiene, for, in addition to Washhouses in the basement, there is, on the main floor, a library, well stocked with books for the mutual ben-

eflt of the tenants. There is also a dispensary for new-born children. Yet another concession to the tenants provides that those who have babies born in this house will be exempt from the payment of rent for three months following the event.-—Evening News.