Sit,—Marshal Petain's contention that one of the causes of the
French disaster was "too few children" is literally true. On the eve of the Battle of France there were half a million less French soldiers under arms than at a corresponding critical period of 1917, due directly to the declining birth-rate. Again this low birth-rate has led to rural depopulation, and -the taking over of French holdings by foreigners, who number more than 2,000,000 in France. In the north there are many-Poks- and Czechs, in the south thousands of Italians who may well have provided the 'too many traitors" of F. W. Stella BroWne's
letter. The large population of Paris is maintained by extensive immi- gration, the death-rate in the capital being higher than the birth-rate. And yet this same French stock in Canada has a very high birth-rate which, if maintained, will surely oust the English element ; the past years have seen the tide of French Canadians sweeping westwards and gallicising the regions that they occupy.—Truly yours, E. C. BARRINGTON. 4 Alleyn Park, Norwood Green, Southall.
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