Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1877-03-29
Mr.. IIawksly ON Population.

|
published some valuable statistics of the
population of that country, which furnish
MIR. Hawksley an opportunity for comments
and differences of the most startling and vital
| order. England and Wales have a popula-
tion of a, ,00O,0 600, while their total number
of acres of land is 6O,OC0,OO0, affording to
each person one acre and a quarter. On the
earth's surface it is eight acres to each man.
Thus England is eight times as densely
crowded as the rest of the entire world. Be-
fore many generations have elapsed, at the
increase the figures show, taking forty-two
as a generation, a startling array is disclosed.
At the eId of the first generation, according
to the present ratio of increase, 44,80S, 900; /;
at the end of the second, SO, 656, 900; at the
end of the third, 1856, ,O0O,O ,OOO at the end of
the fourth, 291 900, 900; at the end of the
fifth, 544, 600, 900. Proceeding at this rate of
increase for period of time equal to that
from the Norman conquest, A. u. 1855, it
will need the discovery Of some twenty new
worlds as large as our own to afford standing
room for these people. These figures open
vast field for invention which necessitate
communication for emigrating purposes by
means of some aerial route with the moon,
sun, Jupiter or other planets. To some they
will suggest another deluge, a storm of fire,
W -
to the spirit of civilization and the teachings
of Christianity adoption by governments
Of odious laws in reference to the marital
relations and other social questions.
Nearly eighty years have elapsed since the
world was startled by the production OF Il
most original and criticism-proyoking work.
1t was ''Malthus Oh Population. No work
was ever more bitterly attacked in high quar-
.ers, none the less understood or Wiltuly mis-
represented. The popular theory nau ever
been, ''Proyidence never sends mouths into
the world without sending meet to feed them"
The Scriptures say, Increase and multiply"
The cornerstone Of Malthus' theory is the
ceaseless pressure of population on subsis-
tence. People. he says, increase by multipi-
cation and subsistence by addition; or, in
other words, that when population goes on
unchecked, it doubles itself every twenty-five
years, or insreases in an arithmetical one.
The inference would follow that the time
must some day come in the worlds history
when the land will not raise food enough for
consumption. Such theory soon received
u broadside of abuse. Bishop Hungerford,
DR.. Southey and Coleridge formed a holy
horror of it. Weyland denied the evidences
of experience. Goodwin, the author of Poll
tical Justice, argued the Intervention of
special providence; DR.. Brice, dickson and
NJ. Muret argued OF the laws of fecundity of
the human species at particular seasons,
while others claimed that Malthus was the
friend Of the smallpox, plague, and every
misery for the poor. Small shot and cannon
AIDES of abuse poured in on the work on all
sides, and yet the work, as a whole, is correct
in its theories, corroborated by each succeed
ing census in the United States, and the late
figures and speech of Mr.. Hawksley. The
old Romans acted on the Biblical in junction,
for they passed laws encouraging matrimony.
The father of family was preferred by
voters as candidate for Office. and the sire
of three children exempted from taxation.
Louis XIV. followed in these footsteps, for
he would have stipend paid out of the pub
lie funds to those who had ten or more chill |
dren.
The problem OF population and food is a
great one for the socialist, scientist and
The statistics may be alarm
ing, are certainly suggestive to England and
the world. For the laborer they have no
pleasing visage Or winning voice. Taken in
with the low price of labor there,
the cheapne,s of their iron exports, the i'm
possibl. suppression of the strikes, and the |
recent visit of the Chinese mission and offer |
to furnish even cheaper labor, if guaranteed |
governmental protection, holds an outlook
gloomy and sad for the poor.