It is a crisis that distresses the leaders of the Third Republic. Not only are we having fewer and fewer babies in France, but we are also having fewer babies than our neighbors. Assimilated to a form of “moral decadence”, this depopulation is very sensitive throughout the 19the centurysince the demographic growth was only 23% in France between 1820 and 1870, compared to 48% in Great Britain and 57% in Germany.
Result: France only has 39 million inhabitants in 1900, which is far from competing with Germany (56 million) and Russia (126 million). Why this shortness of breath? Several hypotheses are put forward: high infant mortality, epidemics and unsanitary conditions linked to recent industrialization, alcoholism, malnutrition, impact of the war of 1870, etc.
We even manage to convince ourselves that this crisis testifies to moral superiority: “the French race, more intellectual, more artistic, more cerebral, is, in general, less subject than any other to this reflex spontaneity which leads all species to reproduce”, says the philosopher and scientist Clémence Royer before the Anthropological Society of Paris in 1890.
Ovaries and against all
But politicians are not so much interested in the causes of the demographic crisis as in its consequences: a lower birth rate than that of its European neighbors could have serious repercussions. It would penalize population growth in the medium term and therefore halt the growth of industrial and agricultural production.
In addition, it would weaken the strength of the army – a dangerous prospect in a context of Franco-German rivalry sharpened by the war of 1870. “Our armies no longer bring together the soldiers essential to the security of the country”, alarmed a journalist in 1913. “We are threatened with permanent submersion in the flood of neighboring nations, which are too prolific.”
If the proposal finds a welcome echo in pronatalist circles, it also provokes the indignation of part of the population – including the “old boys” who sit in the Assembly.
How to solve this problem? Several bills and petitions landed periodically in the Chamber of Deputies between 1871 and 1914. Their common point: they concern a tax on single people, a measure which would make it possible to replenish the state coffers while condemning celibacy considered selfish and assimilated. to a shameful illness.
It is important to understand that at the time, celibacy was strongly stigmatized. “Celibacy is an individual evil”, notes the magazine Le Français in 1875. “Statistics prove that single people (…) live less; that they commit suicide in larger proportions; that they commit more crimes and provide a stronger contingent for mental insanity.”
Worse, it is a crime that removes children from the State, threatening the integrity of the family structure and, by extension, the survival of the “French race.” Moreover, before the word “single” became established in dictionaries in the 18the century, we were talking instead of “selfish” and “libertine” behavior – proof that celibacy has always been considered pejoratively.
We must therefore punish him or – better – derive some benefit from it. Why not tax it? After all, tax has often been used as a coercive or incentive policy. As early as 403 BC. BC, a series of “marital taxes on singles” appear in Roman law. Building on this pioneering example, several French deputies propose levy a 20% tax on all French singles aged 30 or over.
The family legacy
If the proposal finds a welcome echo in pronatalist circles, it also provokes the indignation of part of the population – including the “old boys” who sit in the Assembly. “Should we, by the mere fact that we are deprived of the care and affection of a tender and pure wife, be struck with a sort of social disapproval?”, asked a deputy in 1871. For some commentators, this discriminatory tax would only be a means of inflating tax revenues under the guise of social utility.
Too controversial, the tax on singles will never be imposed in France (unlike what will happen in Mussolini’s Italy or the Soviet Union). Nevertheless, its legacy will manifest itself in a roundabout way in French social policy, rich in rebates and pronatalist allowances. From 1913, the law on assistance to large families Then the generalization of the family allowance system encourage household fertility. These measures were supplemented, in 1945, by the introduction of income tax taking into account the family quotient.
Miracle, after decades of sterility, the long-awaited baby boom occurred: in 1946, we find the number of births observed in the 1900s. But the socio-economic marginalization of singles, unfortunately, continues unabated. Until today.
Source: www.slate.fr
