The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-12-28
The Worlds Population.


The Worlds Population.
Mr.. Hawksley, c. E., says the Man.
chester Examiner, has been stirring up
the thoughts and infaming the fears of
a good many members of the Social
Science Congress. He put forward a
view which, although not altogether
novel-for Nautilus anticipated many
OF his statements nevertheless, well
calculated to startle a steady-going
people to whom danger is none the
less real because it is inconceivably re-
mote. He has been dealing with the
enormous increase of the population of
England, and his idea is that this in
crease is a matter of great and immedi-
ate concern. In the year 1901 the pop
ulation of this country was only $780,
$50, while in 1871, it had become 22,-
712,267; thus exhibiting mean annual
increase of nearly 1876 per cent. In
the seventy years between these dates
he computes that the loss by war and
emigration only amounted to Is persons
in every 10000 of the population. As
Stunning that this amount ofspontane-
Gus loss will remain unaltered over a pro-
longed course of years, he proceeds to
calculate what the growth of popula-
ton will amount to in the future; and
he gives US result which, taken in its
nakedness, is astounding. At the end
of the first generation, the pop
ulation of England will become
% 0tll 000. of NJ
generation, 100000; at the end of
the third generation, 130,O00,OOO; at
the end of the fourth generation, 230,
100000; at the end of the fifth genera
ton, 1000, 900; at the end of the sew
enth generation, more than the world
now contains, and at the end of the
twentieth generation, more than fifteen
such worlds would contain, each as
densely populated as our globe is at
present. From this calculation Mr..
Hawksley drew, or rather suggested, a
number of differences with reference to
the food supply of the countless mil
lions yet UNBORN" and other matters
affecting their welfare, and thus led the
way to a conclusion that might be ex-
pected, if it were accepted, to cause a
good deal of alarm and disquiet, not
only among English people, but in the
world at large. For if the English peo-
pie increase and multiply at this rapid
rate, it must be assumed that other ma
tions in which there is a steady increase
of population will proceed in the same
ratio. America, for instance, and Ger
many, to take no other examples, must,
like ourselves, go on doubling their
population at periods varying from
so to 60 years; and in that
case, by the time the twentieth
generation is reached, three nations
alone will require, not Is more worlds,
but the greater part of the planetary
system. But Mr.. Hawksley admits
that, as regards the latter part of the
calculation-i. e., that relating to A.
d. 2676-taking a generation of 40
years, it must fail of fulfillment because
of its essentia. impossibility. We are,
therefore, necessarily limited in the
practical discussion of the figures to
seven generations, by which time our
own people will be equal in number to
the present population of the globe;
but that is sufficiently long look ahead
to enable US, on the strength of Mr..
Hawksley's figures, to anticipate an
unpleasant degree of overcrowding.
A question, however, of more imme-
date importance than the struggle of
our remote descendants for standing
room, relates to the trustworthiness of
these apparently portentous statistics.
Are our country people increasing and
likely to go on increasing at the rate
Mr.. Hawksley predicts? Twenty gem
erations have passed away since the
Norman conquest, and they have only
seen the population increase from about
four millions to nearly twenty-three
millions, Plus, of course, the enigrants
who have gone out from among us DUR
ing the last three centuries. What
ground have we for believing that in
another twenty generations the growth
OF population would, if it were possible.
need fifteen more worlds to live in. or
that in three, four, or five generations
the numbers will reach the enormous
proportions Mr.. Hawksley sets DOWN
The only ground for the belief il that
the normal increase is to continue. and
the amount of loss from war and emf
grafton is to remain unaltered, both Of
which are assumptions we have no
right to make, and no foundation to
rest upon in making them. But the in
tegral defect Of the calculation is that
it ignores the fundamental law that ma
ture corrects her own excuses, and, on
this principle, we may be sure that ma
ture will effectually check such prog
ress as Mr.. Hawksiey's figures fore
shadow.
WEALTHY ladies now have models OF
their figures made by French artists.
and leave their medals ,r,;t L ~