France Plans Fund For Big Families.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 12, 1913:
Will Spend $10,000,000 Yearly to Check Decline in the Birth Rate.
GRANTS FOR NEEDY PARENTS
Expenditures to be Divided Between State, Cities, and Departments.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    PARIS, July 11.— A bill providing for an interesting project of social reform, which was amended in the French Senate, passed the Chamber of Deputies to-day. Its purpose is to endow large families in France with a view to checking the decline in the birth rate.
    Next year, when the act comes into operation, needy French parents with more than three children below the age of 13 may receive from a municipal authority an annual grant varying from $12 to $18 for each child beyond that number. In the case of a widower the grant will apply to children less than 13 years of age beyond the number of two. A widow may claim the grant for any children below that age beyond one.
    The law will entail an expenditure of $10,000,000 a year, to be shared by the State, the departments, and the municipalities.