in almost all these countries
steadily on the decline. Experience tells that high prices for corn in
one single year have an unfavorable effect both upon the number of
marriages and that of births. Long industrial crises, and increasing
deterioration of the general economic condition must, accordingly, have
a lasting evil effect. This is confirmed by the statistics of marriages
for almost all countries in civilization.

In France, marriages between 1881-1890 cast the following picture on the
canvas. Marriages were contracted in--

1881 282,079 1886 283,208
1882 281,060 1887 277,060
1883 284,519 1888 276,848
1884 289,555 1889 272,934
1885 283,170 1890 269,332

There is, accordingly, a considerable decrease of marriages.

In the German Empire, the number of marriages was highest after the
close of the war between Germany and France, during which they had stood
still. In 1872 there were 423,900 marriages contracted, but in 1876 they
numbered only 366,912, and during the worst year of the crisis, the year
1879, they dropped to 335,113. They have since risen again slowly, and
numbered in

1882 350,457 1889 389,339
1886 372,326 1892 398,775

Although in the year 1892 the population of Germany was larger by
8,000,000 heads than in 1872, the number of marriages was not even as
large as in 1874 when it amounted to 400,282. In the period between
1871-1880, there were, to an average of 1,000 inhabitants in Germany,
8.6 marriages; in the period between 1881-1888, only 7.8.

In Prussia, to the average 10,000 inhabitants, there married--

Between 1831-35 1,849
Between 1866-70 1,605
Between 1871-75 1,896
Between 1881-85 1,529
And in 1888 1,624

A similar, partly even more unfavorable picture than in Germany, is
furnished by the statistical tables for other European countries.

Out of every 10,000 persons, there married--

Year Holland Switzerland Austria France Italy Belgium England
1873 171 152 188 178 159 156 176
1874 168 166 181 167 153 152 170
1875 167 179 171 164 168 145 167
1876 165 162 165 158 163 142 166
1877 162 157 150 150 154 149 157
1878 155 147 152 151 142 135 152
1879 15