The Times of Thursday publishes a careful analysis of the
German Census taken on June 14th, 1895, from which it appears that the population amounted on that day to 51,770,000, of whom 25,400,000 were males and 26,360,000 females, the excess of females being, therefore, nearly a million. This population increases at the rate of a little more than a million a year, for which new means of maintenance, education, and housing must be provided. The rush is, of course, to the towns, the general urban population having in- creased since 1882 by 36 per cent., while the populations of towns with more than 100,000 persons had more than doubled. Of the total, 8,292,000 are occupied in agriculture, 8,281,000 in industry, 2,238,000 in trade, 794,000 in the professions, 631,000 as soldiers or sailors, and 1,339,000 as servants. The proportion of servants is the lowest in the census-taking world, not half the proportion in Great Britain. (The number given for the United States in the Times' tables must be wrong, or whole classes of agricultural labourers must be registered as ser- vants.) The Catholics are about a third of the population, while of the whole commercial class 5.71 per cent. are Jews. Politically, the most important of these figures are those which show the increase of the population. Germany must spill over, or by the middle of next century her people will be as thick as the Chinese.
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