The result of this work, as indicated by the vital statistics, is clearly seen in Fig. 11. The birth-rate has fallen from 37 in 1876 to 28 in 1912, and with especial regularity and rapidity during the last few years. The death-rate has fallen more regularly and rapidly than in any other country in the world (from a value averaging about 25 per 1,000 to only just over 12 per 1,000 in 1912), and the infantile mortality has similarly shown the most rapid fall on record. It will be observed that, far from this decline in the birth-rate having checked the increase of population, the rate of “natural increase” is now higher than at any previous period, and the highest in Western Europe. This indicates not only that social conditions are rapidly improving, but that the productive efficiency of the population is increasing, instead of diminishing, as in our own country, where the “natural increase” has fallen from 12 to 10 per 1,000. This is explainable on the eugenic ground that in Holland family restriction has taken place among the poor, and has thus tended to eliminate unfitness; while in this and other countries the poor are almost entirely ignorant of restrictive methods. And this view is strikingly confirmed by the paper read by Dr. Soren Hansen at the Eugenics Congress of 1912, in which he stated that the average stature of the Dutch people had increased by four inches within the last fifty years. An examination of the heights of the young men drawn for military service shows that since 1865 the proportion under 5 ft. 2½ in. in height has fallen from 25 per cent. to under 8 per cent., while that of those above 5 ft. 7 in. has increased from 24.5 per cent. to 47.5 per cent. This is a most decided evidence of increased well-being and elimination of unfitness. On the many occasions that I have been in Holland, I have never yet seen any cases of that terrible physical deterioration and economic misery which are so conspicuous in this country. Further, the emigration of the Dutch population is almost infinitesimal. As regards wages and cost of living, Dutch statistics do not give weighted index numbers to compare with the other figures. But the unweighted mean of money wages of workers in the different government services show the most rapid increase recorded, being about 25 per cent. in Holland between 1894 and 1908, as against 18 per cent. in France and 10 per cent. in England and Wales. (Fig. 12).