Miscellaneous' 



166 



[February, 1912. 



towns and the decreased birthrate. In 

 an article, the statements of which are 

 amply supported by reference to author- 

 ities, in i the Bulletin of Economic and 

 Social Intelligence (December, 1911) pub- 

 lished by the International Institute of 

 Agriculture, these two demographic 

 movements, as observed in France in 

 the 20th century, are very clearly dis- 

 tinguished from each other, and their 

 respective responsibility for the present 

 scarcity of agricultural manual labour 

 is pointed out. 



The exodus from the country began 

 fairly long ago, as Jean Jacques Rous- 

 seau deplored it already in his time ; 

 but the constantly increased facilities 

 of communication, together with the in- 

 creasing development of manufactures, 

 has rendered it quite specially acute in 

 our days. 



Its causes are of a strictly economic 

 character. 



The article we are dealing with attri- 

 butes most importance to the depreci- 

 ation of land property, which in certain 

 regions of France assumes alarming 

 proportions. Compulsory military ser- 

 vice is also not without its effect ; young 

 soldiers richer in illusions than in ex- 

 perience, being too ready to consider 

 the country life inferior to town life. 

 The part played by machinery is per- 

 haps not so definite, for while certain 

 machines brought into use in agricul- 

 ture have certainly led to unemployment, 

 others have only been introduced in 

 consequence of the decreased number of 

 the labourers, and others again have 

 been without any influence upon labour. 

 Finally, we must not forget various 

 temporary reasons for the desertion of 

 the country, such as phylloxera and the 

 various diseases of the vine. 



The study of these causes suggests the 

 remedies. Any measure guaranteeing 

 the security of agricultural life is in 

 itself a power for the preservation of 

 che country population. Such measures 



are the recent French laws on the pro- 

 tection of peasant property and the 

 homestead, upon workmen's and labou- 

 rers' old age pensions. Such are the 

 proposals now before Parliament for 

 che organization of popular agricultural 

 education. Such are the efforts made 

 by private individuals for the restor- 

 ation of local industries. 



More delicate is the problem presented 

 by the decreased birth rate, that all 

 observers agree in considering alarming. 

 This phenomenon is happily not general, 

 and it is with keen interest that a mono- 

 graph will be read, on the Canton of 

 Fouesnant, reproduced by the Bulletin 

 of Economic and Social Intelligence from 

 a very recent publication by Doctor 

 Jacques Bertillon, director of Statistics 

 for the city of Paris. This monograph 

 dealing with a period of nearly a hun- 

 dred years, shows how in one region of 

 Bretagne the birthrate has been con- 

 stantly increasing at the same time as 

 the death rate diminished. 



Such examples, however, are not 

 sufficient for a satisfied optimism and 

 the Bulletin of Economic and Social 

 Intelligence gives the suggestive enu- 

 meration of the measures proposed by 

 M. Bertillon with a view to contending 

 against depopulation. 



These are not at all original ideas of 

 the writer, and many of them, as those 

 for testamentary liberty and assistance 

 to families with many children, have 

 been already presented to the French 

 Parliament. The others will be also 

 sooner or later, for it seems the Mem- 

 bers of Parliament share the anxieties 

 that induced Jules Simon to say some 

 time ago, when speaking of the proposed 

 remedies against depopulation : " They 

 must all be adopted lest the one that 

 would be effectual be overlooked." 



(Summarised from the Bulletin of 

 Economic and Social Intelligence, of the 

 International Institute of Agriculture. 

 Year II., No. 11 and 12, 31st Decem- 

 ber, 1911.) 



Correspondence. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR 

 THE PROTECTION OF INDIAN 

 CATTLE. 



45, Courthope Road, 

 Hampstead, N. W. 

 London, 18th January, 1912, 



Dear Sir,— I shall feel obliged by your 

 publishing the enclosed aims and objects 



of the British Association for the Pro- 

 tection of Indian Cattle in an early issue 

 of your paper. 



The advantages that would result tc 

 Great Britain from better agriculture 

 in India, particularly the increased 

 produce of better-stapled cotton, which 

 giyes employment to thousands of 

 operatives in the Lancashire and York- 

 shire factories) are too apparent to nee4 



