om From
States. 1865-1867. 1886-1888. Decrease. Increase.
Ireland 262 231 31 ..
Scotland 353 313 40 ..
England and Wales 353 314 39 ..
Holland 388 344 44 ..
Belgium 320 293 27 ..
Switzerland 320 278 42 ..
Austria 374 380 .. 6
Hungary 399 445 .. 46
Italy 378 371 7 ..
Sweden 320 297 23 ..
Norway 344 308 36 ..

The decline in births is, accordingly, pretty general, only that, of all
European States, it is strongest in France. Between 1886 and 1888,
France had, to every 1,000 inhabitants, an average of 23.9 births,
England 32.9, Prussia 41.27, and Russia 48.8.

These facts show that the birth of a human being, the "image of God," as
religious people express it, ranks generally much cheaper than new-born
domestic animals. What this fact does reveal is the _unworthy_ condition
that we find ourselves in,--and it is mainly the female sex which
suffers thereunder. In many respects, modern views distinguish
themselves but little from those of barbarous nations. Among the latter,
new-born babes were frequently killed, and such a fate fell to the lot
of girls mainly; many a half-wild race does so to this day. We no longer
kill the girls; we are too civilized for that; but they are only too
often treated like pariahs by society and the family. The stronger man
crowds them everywhere back in the struggle for existence; and if,
driven by the love for life, they still take up the battle, they are
visited with hatred by the stronger sex, as unwelcome competitors. It is
especially the men in the higher ranks of society who are bitterest
against female competition, and oppose it most fiercely. That workingmen
demand the exclusion of female labor on principle happens but rarely. A
motion to that effect being made in 1877, at a French Labor Convention,
the large majority declared against it. Since then, it is just with the
class-conscious workingmen of all countries, that the principle, that
working-women are beings with equal rights with themselves makes immense
progress. This was shown especially by the resolutions of the
Internationa