The rate of population


to square mile is in




Belgium

England and Wales

Germany

France


•. 461. 389

■ ^25. 181



Mr. Schooling writes in the Pall Mall Magazine : " When
this century opened, France had a population of 27,000,000
to 28,000,000. We, in 1801, were under 11,000,000 in England,
Wales, and Scotland, with say 4,000,000 more in Ireland. In
1891 France's population was 38,250,000, and the population
of the United Kingdom was also over 38,000,000. In 1896,
a census year for France, our population is from 39,000,000
to 40,000,000; and the result of the French census for April,
1896, shows a population of only 38,250,000; so that during
the course of the century, and before its close, this country
has turned the 1801 home population of about one half of
France's 1801 population into an actual majority."

" The population of France amounted in 1881 to 37,672,048 ;
in 189T to 38,343,192, an increase of 671,143 only. In
England, during the same period, the increase amounted to
2,855,435, in addition to those who had emigrated, amounting
to 604,182." (Whi taker.)

On this question of the decrease of population in France,
The Times remarked so long ago as 1883 : " The explanation
of the strange increase of sterility in France is, that the
doctrine of Malthus is put into practice there in a way and to
an extent never contemplated by the author."

In consequence of the alarming depopulation occurring in
France, a very curious phenomenon is taking place there. She
has actually to import foreign labourers to do the work of her
own country, which there is not a sufficient number of French-
men to do. Belgians, Spaniards, Itahans, English, and
Germans are pouring into France, and are receiving her wealth
in return for their labour. Commenting upon this certain fact,
Leroy Beaulieu says that this influx of Europeans, great as
it is, is not sufficient, and that if the French nation continues



hs NEO-MALTHUSIANISM

to practise Neo-Malthusianism as it is now doing, recourse to
the Chinese will have to take place. In this manner that silent
invasion is coming about in France which Mille writes about
and deplores. Marberg says there is constant immigration
taking place from Belgium, Germany, and Italy into France;
and to suit his Neo-Malthusian tenets, he actually regards this
as an excellent thing, provided that the vicious class is kept
out. 