| OCR Text |
Show EMIGRATION AND GOOD GOVERNMENT. At a time when the question of finding a remedy for the exodus of the population is so earnestly discussed in Ireland, it is well to note the relationship relation-ship between good government and emigration. In spite of its small extent of surface and the densest population in Europe, Belgium, as a writer in the Catholic American Quarterly points out. is able practically to feed its people from the fruits of its well-tilled soil. Only a small number of Belgians find it desirable to leave their country for the pur-purpose pur-purpose of making a living elsewhere. Though Belgium Bel-gium has a population of seven millions, there are not more than 30,000 Belgians settled in the United States. The fifty millions of Gcrmnay have sent two millions across the Atlantic, and the proportion from Ireland is still greater. The emigration from 1'he kaiser's empire is just ten times that from the Belgian kingdom. Low taxation, littfe military conscription, equitable equit-able laws fairly carried out, and an intelligent and honest administration of the public funds arc matters mat-ters upon which Belgium can invite comparison with any other nation. Belgium, in a word, is an exceptionally well-governed country, and that is the secret of the lowness of its emigration. |
