emigrants since 1875 reached 2,001,000. If there had been no influx of people from other countries, our population would have risen only 2 millions, but we find that between foreign settlers and returned colonists there was an immigration of 1,317,000 persons; the estimated population in June 1885 being nearly four millions over 1875-viz. : The tide of emigration in recent years has far exceeded anything on record, arising probably in a great measure from agricultural depression. Moreover, the bulk of the emigrants is no longer from Ireland, but from England, as appears from the following table :ANNUAL EMIGRATION. The total of British emigrants in thirty-five years has been 6,710,000, of which number 4,373,000 went to the United States —that is, 65 per cent.—and the remainder to the British Colonies. Whether owing to emigration or other causes, there has been since 1881 a sharp fall in the birth-rate of the United Kingdom-viz. : BIRTHS PER 1,000 INHABITANTS YEARLY. It might naturally be supposed that this decline was caused immediately by a reduced marriage rate; but it appears that while marriages have declined only 1 per cent., births have fallen off 5 per cent. In effect, if we compare the number of births to marriages. we find the following startling result: This is the only unfavourable symptom that one can detect in the statistical tables of the past ten years. It is all the more grave as it seems to have escaped the notice of everybody, and may give ground for apprehension of physical decadence. Not only scientific men, but the whole nation, are interested in a matter in which the bone and sinew of the people are identified. Parliamentary inquiries are in little favour with the general public, and hence I would suggest to the Medical Association to make a report on this subject at its next session. The following table shows the birth and death rates of the three kingdoms during the past ten years :— It will be observed how low is the rate of increase in Ireland, although (as shown in the preceding table) four marriages in that country produce as many children as five do in England. It is no less remarkable that the Irish death-rate is 8 per cent. less than in Great Britain-that is, an Irishman's span of life is three years longer than an Englishman's or Scotchman's. During the years 1878-79-80, when distress prevailed in Donegal and other parts, the Irish death-rate rose; the mortality over and above the ordinary rate amounting to 25,200, which may be therefore assumed as the number of deaths from famine and suffering. The decline of the marriage-rate in the three kingdoms has been, as already stated, equivalent to 1 per cent.-viz. : MARRIAGES PER 1,000 INHABITANTS YEARLY. In bygone years it was customary to say that the marriage-rate rose or fell as the condition of the working classes was satisfactory or the reverse, and that it was much influenced by the price of wheat. But in the present case we know that the prices of food have fallen since 1880, the consumption of tea and sugar has increased per head, the deposits in savings banks have risen, and the condition of the masses has manifestly improved. Hence one is forced to conclude that emigration has been the cause, and this is confirmed when we see the marriage-rate of Ireland, now the lowest in the world. Since 1870 Ireland has sent out 940,000 emigrants, mostly in the prime of life-equal to 20 per cent. of the actual population, which explains the lowness of the marriage-rate. As if in compensation for the diminished fecundity of marriage, and also the decline of marriage-rate in the United Kingdom, the tables before us show on examination that there is also a fall in the death-rate-viz. : DEATHS PER 1,000 INHABITANTS YEARLY. The This improvement in public health is doubtless due in part to sanitary works in our large towns, on which nearly one hundred millions sterling have been expended in the last ten years. decline of death-rate since 1880 is equal to a saving of 41,000 lives annually, but the fall of birth-rate is a loss of 55,000; so that there is a net loss of 14,000 persons yearly to the population, caused by the change of rates. II. MORAL CONDITION. From whatever point of view, the condition of the people appears to have much improved in recent years. In the first place, the number of paupers, compared with population, has declined in the following manner : This decline of pauperism is quite in harmony with the rise in savings-banks deposits and the increased consumption per head of tea, sugar, meat, and grain. Secondly, the criminal records show a wonderful decrease, the annual average of committals in the United Kingdom having been as follows: During the last ten years (1876–85) the annual average of committals per 100,000 inhabitants has been 60 in England, 71 in Scotland, and 77 in Ireland. Thirdly, in the matter of public instruction we find the average number of children attending primary schools rose 68 per cent. in ten years, an advance not only unprecedented in the United Kingdom, but unequalled in any other part of the world. The schools have accommodation for 48 per cent. more children than the number stated above as the average daily attendance in 1885. Parliamentary expenditure for schools last year was £4,600,000, or 21 shillings per scholar. Another favourable sign of the times may be drawn from the Post Office returns, which may be considered in some way a measure of the intellectual activity of our people. Compared with population, the number of letters last year was 43 per head in England, 32 in Scotland, and 18 in Ireland. During the past ten years the number of telegraphic messages has risen from 21 to 39 millions, an increase of 86 per cent. There has been in recent years a notable decline in the number and amount of bankruptcies in Great Britain, the official reports showing: In a word, the losses occasioned by bankruptcy have fallen to 13 millions sterling per annum, whereas in twelve years ending 1882 they averaged 16 millions. The reduction in the consumption of alcoholic drinks is perhaps one of the most flattering circumstances of the day, as appears from the Board of Trade returns-viz. : The consumption was 30 per cent. higher in 1875 than it is at present. It is still higher in England than in the sister kingdoms, the average of alcohol consumed being 190 in England, 167 in Scotland, and 1.23 in Ireland, per inhabitant. We cannot be surprised to find that the masses of the people are better fed, since a good deal of the money formerly spent on drink is now expended for tea, sugar, and meat, the consumption of which per inhabitant has been as follows: The question of food supply will call for more detailed study under a separate heading. Habits of thrift and domestic economy have made great progress among the working classes in the last ten years, as shown by the sums deposited in savings banks and mutual societies—viz. : The accumulations of the working classes under the above two heads have averaged seven millions sterling per annum. The preceding tables, eight in number, include almost every method of gauging the moral and intellectual progress of a nation; they are uniform in pointing to a signal improvement, and confirm one another with an eloquence that no cool-headed person can resist. How far they act and re-act on each other may afford scope for conjecture, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that the spread of education and decrease of drink have been closely related, leading to a great reduction of crime and increase of thrifty habits. If we could steadily pursue the great object of providing suitable houseaccommodation for the working classes in our large towns, we should soon reduce still further the consumption of alcohol, and ameliorate in every way the condition and fibre of our people. III. FOOD SUPPLY. The total value of food, for man and beast, consumed in the United Kingdom during ten years ending December, 1885, was 4,097 millions-that is, an average of 410 millions yearly, of which 38 per cent. was imported, 62 per cent. was home-grown—viz. : Millions pounds sterling. Grain Dairy products Home-grown. 68.2 76.8 39.3 Imported. Total. ... 101.1 |