THE DEPOPULATION OF FRANCE. 679 



sufficient for it. For such a measure to be effective its application 

 should be severe enough to touch sensibly the fortunes of families 

 which have given the country only one or two children. The state, 

 for instance, might reserve to itself the disposable part of the in- 

 heritance half, for instance, in the case of families having only 

 one child; a third, of families where there are two children; and 

 waiver of the extra tax where there are three children. The prin- 

 ciple might be approximately expressed as that of treating single 

 children as to their inheritance portions as if they had brothers. 

 But as a proposition so worded would have but little chance of im- 

 mediate adoption, we should have to be satisfied with a less radical 

 reform. If it is objected that such measures would be too revolu- 

 tionary and too much opposed to existing ideas and habits, the an- 

 swer is that anodynes would be without effect upon so profound 

 and inveterate an evil. French families must cease to have an evi- 

 dent interest in limiting the number of their children, and some- 

 thing more than half measures will be needed to achieve such a 

 result. 



Our principle is equality of burdens. "We say to the French: 

 "You have three chief duties toward your country: to contribute 

 to its perpetuity, to its defense, and to its pecuniary burdens. "We 

 affirm that you have failed in the first of these duties. This being 

 true, you must accept the other two with a supplement. With this 

 principle severely applied, and with some other reforms, we hope 

 to bring back to the country the idea of the respect that is due to 

 numerous families and of aversion against the detestable habits 

 that are destroying France." 



The sums derived from the increased succession taxes which we 

 have proposed to assess upon families that have given the country 

 only one or two children might be reserved for the education of 

 poor children or for the realization of some such plan as has been 

 proposed by M. Eaoul de la Grasserie for the pensioning of a re- 

 treat in old age for the parents of large families. 



Another means of encouraging parentage may be found in in- 

 stituting special honors and marks of esteem for the fathers and 

 mothers of numerous children. Thus the General Council of the 

 Drome gives a gold medal on the 14th of July to each of the two 

 women in the department who excel in this respect. A fund has 

 been created at Nantes for providing rewards to those who have 

 the most children under fifteen years of age. A system of rewards 

 also exists at Meaux for those who have contributed most to the 

 population. 



The French law requiring the equal division of estates among 

 all the children operates as a deterrent to parentage. A father 



