ely
controlled by the economic conditions. This is most classically
exemplified in France. There, the allotment system prevails generally in
the country districts. Land, broken up beyond a certain limit, ceases to
nourish a family. The unlimited division of land, legally permissible,
the French peasant counteracts by his rarely giving life to more than
two children,--hence the celebrated and notorious "two child system,"
that has grown into a social institution in France, and that, to the
alarm of her statesmen, keeps the population stationary, in some
provinces even registering considerable retrogression. The number of
births is steadily on the decline in France; but not in France only,
also in most of the civilized lands. Therein is found expressed a
development in our social conditions, that should give the ruling
classes cause to ponder. In 1881 there were 937,057 children born in
France; in 1890, however, only 838,059; accordingly, the births in 1890
fell 98,998 behind the year 1881. Characteristic, however, is the
circumstance that the number of _illegitimate_ births in France was
70,079 for the year 1881; that, during the period between 1881 and 1890,
the number reached high-water mark in 1884, with 75,754; and that the
number was still 71,086 strong in 1890. Accordingly, the whole of the
decline of births fell exclusively upon the legitimate births. This
decline in births, and, we may add, in marriages also, is, as will be
shown, a characteristic feature, noticeable throughout the century. To
every 10,000 French population, there were births in the years:

1801 333
1821 307
1831 303
1841 282
1851 270
1856 261
1868 269
1886 230
1890 219

This amounts to a decline of births in 1890, as against 1801, of 114 to
every 10,000 inhabitants. It is imaginable that such figures cause
serious headaches to the French statesmen and politicians. But France
does not stand alone in this. For a long time Germany has been
presenting a similar phenomenon. In Germany, to every 10,000 population
there were births in the years:

1869 406
1876 403
1880 390
1883 358
1887 369.4
1890 357.6

Accordingly, Germany too reveals, in the space of only 21 years, a
decline of 49 births to every 10,000 inhabitants. Similarly with the
other States of Europe. To every 10,000 population there were live
births:

Fr