BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 203 



society, even if it be only to maintain the social advantages that 

 we now enjoy. Of countries which have as yet shown any 

 tendency to successfully grapple with this problem, the only 

 examples known to us are those of Switzerland and Prance, 

 notably the latter. 



The average birth and death i-ates of 14 States of Europe, 

 and seven colonies of Australasia, afford some idea of their 

 relative influence upon population, thus : — 



Per 1,000. Percentage 



Birth Rate. Death Rate. Increase, 

 Average of 13 European 



States 33-8 23-5 1-03 



Seven Colonies of Aus- 

 tralasia 34-4 13 '6 2-08 



Prance ... _ 24-8 22-2 0'26 



The low birth rate of Prance (not her death rate, which is even 

 below the average of Europe) is the special reason why her 

 population remains almost stationary. 



That her birth rate should be 9 per 1,000 below the average 

 of Europe is a remarkable thing. Is it due to a lowered racial 

 vitality, or to moral and providential causes ? If it be due to 

 the latter influence, a study of the conditions of social life in 

 France is of peculiar importance. The Hon. Gr. Shaw Lefevre, 

 M.P., in his work on "English and Irish Land Question," has 

 carefully studied the influence of large and small ownerships of 

 the land, and unhesitatingly concludes that to the large pro- 

 portion of small owners in France, as compared with England, 

 is to be attributed the great superiority of the great mass 

 of its industrial population. He states: — "The prophecies 

 of Arthur Young and McCuUoch that her system of small 

 cultivation would lead to her becoming the pauper warren 

 of Europe, and her sons the hewers of wood and drawers 

 of water for the rest of Europe, have nut been fulfilled. On 

 the contrary, ' Production has been greatly stimulated by 

 the sense and security of ownership ; but the popidation 

 has not increased relatively in the same proportion; the 

 average condition of the people, therefore, is vastly improved. 

 Pauperism is almost unknown in rural districts; the habits of 

 industry and thrift are universal' " The same author wisely 

 observes : — " If the institutions of France have resulted in a 

 self-acting process of adapting the growth of her population to 

 the means of subsistence, it would seem to be not the least 

 merit of a system which is based upon the wide distribution of 

 property, bringing home to the lowest, as well as the highest, the 

 motives of restraint." If only a portion of this be true, the 

 world will owe to France the grandest lesson in social economy. 

 Here we see a possible escape from the terrible Malthusian 

 dilemma. Prance has attained her present state of social 

 welfare in rural districts by legal restriction against family 

 entails, which lead to the agglomeration of big estates in few 



