'Phe census returns just published show that the population of France has increased since 1896 by about 330,000, but even this insignificant gain is largely due to imjon. If the causes now at work remain in' operation, France will become one of Lord Salisbury's dying nations" in the course of a decade or two. At present the population of France is below 39 millions," or 16 millions less than it would be if the number of inhabitants per square mile were equal to that which exists in Germany and Italy, The cities and towns are gaining at the expense of the districts. Paris, for instance, has 150,000 more inhabitants then it" had five years ayo, and only one in three is a Parisian by birth, One of the worst features of the situation is the failure agree upon a remedy. All sorts of quack nostrums have been proposed, such as taxes on bachelors and childless couples, premiums for parents of large families, and so on, but nothing has been done. The most practical proposal seems to hethe exemption of fathers of at least three children from all military service after the first period of three years. Another idea is to modify the law of bequests in such a way as to give parents more liberty of action in distributing their property amongst their children. To interfere with the steed Napoleonic Code would be a heroic measure, but nothing else will meet the situation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.