that Argentina with its high birth-rate and low death-rate stands even
above Norway, and Australia still higher, while the climax for the world
is attained by New Zealand, which has attained "the nearest approach to
immortality yet on record."[105] The order of descending well-being in
Europe is thus represented (at the year 1900) by Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, Holland, England, Scotland, Finland, Belgium, Switzerland,
Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Austria, France, and Spain.

On the other hand, in all the countries, probably without exception, in
which a large natural increase is effected by the efforts of an immense
birth-rate to overcome an enormous death-rate the end is only effected
with much friction and misery, and the process is accompanied by a
general retardation of civilization.

"The greater the number of children," as Hamburger puts it, "the greater
the cost of each survivor to the family and to the State."

Russia presents not only the most typical but the most stupendous and
appalling example of this process. Thirty years ago the mortality of
infants under one year was three times that of Norway, nearly double
that of England. More recently (1896-1900) the infantile mortality in
Russia has fallen from 313 to 261, but as that of the other countries
has also fallen it still preserves nearly the same relative position,
remaining the highest in Europe, while if we compare it with countries
outside Europe we find it is considerably more than four times greater
than that of South Australia. In one town in the government of Perm,
some years ago if not still, the mortality of infants under one year
regularly reached 45 per cent, and the deaths of children under five
years constituted half the total mortality. This is abnormally high even
for Russia, but for all Russia it was found that of the boys born in a
single year during the second half of the last century only 50 per cent
reached their twenty-first year, and even of these only 37.6 per cent
were fit for military service. It is estimated that there die in Russia
15 per thousand more individuals than among the same number in England;
this excess mortality represents a loss of 1,650,000 lives to the State
every year.[106]

Thus Russia has the highest birth-rate and at the same time the highest
death-rate. The large countries which, after Russia, have the highest
infantile mortality are Austria, Hungary, Prussia, Spain, Italy, and
Japan; all these, as we