THE BIRTH-RATE 131 



let them turn first to the sociologist and ask, How 

 quickly have the different strains which make up our 

 people been reproducing themselves relatively to each 

 other ? What is the average character of the generation 

 on whom the work of the country now rests ? What of 

 the future generations now in childhood or yet unborn ? 



Nowadays, the opinion is freely and often expressed 

 that German trade is growing at a rate which threatens 

 the predominant position so long held by British com- 

 merce. The idea that increasing wealth in a nation 

 with which we interchange many commodities is other 

 than an advantage to the business of this country need 

 not be answered here. Nor need we stop to point out 

 the familiar arithmetical fact that, on comparatively 

 small totals, a moderate absolute increase bulks large 

 when expressed as a percentage. 



But, while it is clear that much ignorant or interested 

 exaggeration is prevalent about the trade returns, the 

 fact remains that Germany has shown a power of 

 development, industrial and military, a faculty for 

 organization and a sense of national confidence, which 

 must awake admiration in all beholders. 



That she has been able to take advantage of the 

 opportunities of the past twenty years is, we believe, 

 ultimately owing to the fact that her birth-rate did not 

 begin to fall systematically till twenty years later than 

 that of Great Britain, and even now has only sunk 

 to the comparatively high figure of 33 per thousand, 

 as against our 26 per thousand. Thus in Germany 

 restriction of parentage has not yet affected appreciably 

 the composition of adult life, and even if, as in our 

 case, it is found chiefly among the better stocks, it has 



