The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-12-26
MUST HUMANITY sTARvEs
How Shall the Tncre asing Population OF
tho World Be Fede-An Illustration.

tho World Be Fede-An Illustration.
The troubles ct the leading centers Of
population, the agitation of questions
which are closely connected with wage
earning, are all baromeric indications OF
storms ahead. What shall be done with
the rapidly increasing population Of the
world and how it shall be provided for so
as to reduce the friction of bread winning
to the minimum, are grave problems
which may enlist with profit the leading
minds of civilized countries.
Mr.. Edward Atkinson, in The Forum,
enters into consideration of the doc
rines of Nautilus and Ricardo. If their
concepts are to be received as demonstra-
;tions Of science, what good, he asks, will
result from, the efforts to anaelorate the
condition of mankind, to prevent war, to
stop famine and to save life from diseases!
If human passions and human nature
lead to dispropor6on of population IN
ratio to the means Of subsistence, or II
.she mind of man applied IS factor to
production cannot provide for this ten
.dency of population to increase, without
resort either to violent or to purely arti-
fetal methods of checking it, We might
IS we'll s'eat, drink and be me,ry, for to-
morrow we die" without taking any
Thought for the future Of the race.
With these pessimistic doctrines Mr..
Atkinson takes issue. He thinks they
are based upon very narrow observation.
If Malthus or Ricardo had conceived that
within q short period, says Mr.. Atkln-
son, iroostone would be converted into
food for man and beast, by grinding into
powder the phosphoric Stag, which Is the
waste product of the iron furnace,
neither would have ventured to present
such hypotheses. Malthus held that the
population of the world would increase
Easter than means Of subsistence could be
found for the additional number. Ri
cardo's theory was that given area OF
land Of high fertility when cultivated for
q series Of years IN certain manner
would yield diminishing returns in pro
portion to tho amount OF labor and capl-
tai expended upon it.
Mr.. Atkinson reviews these hypctheses
very elaborately, and finally concludes
as follows: 1.-THE mind Of man when ap-
piled to the direction Of natural forces is
The principal agent in material produc-
ton; in fact, the controlling element
Those who claim that labor is the source
of ali production are utterly misled, be-
cause they do not admit this fundanaen-
tai principle. Mayi it not, therefore, be
more consistent with the concepts OF an
enlightened faith Of any type in which
order is recognized In the universe to
present an hypothesis that as the mental
faculties Of man are more developed
and more intelligently applied to the
material products, the general struggle
for Life viii become less and not greaterY
Mr.. Atkinson takes the right view. It
IS optimistic, but at the same time Is based
on the experience of oriental nations.
The soil is the great reservoir Of mans
subsistence. It is the foundation upon
which all other industries are based. II
the earth were rocky, and so sterile as to
be absolutely unproductve, man himself
could not exist. He lives virtually on
the soil. There could be no animal life
without the soil For even the carnlvor-
GUS animals indirectly draw their sus-
tenance from mother earth. The soil
SUPPORTS those animals on which the meat
eaters live.
Granting that the soil is the basis Of all
Life, what is the proportion Of danger that
the theories of Malthus and Ricardo Will
ever be realizeda It seems to be very
small. Man isyet in the adolescent period
of his intellectually. HewiD in the fut-
oh tho fNrNoc NJ
nature and how to govern and to prac-
tcally apply them than he does now. Al
this knowledge will be turned into useful
channels. We will understand how to
fertilize and cultivate the soil so that it
can never be exhausted and will produce
the maximum. So long as the soil IS
productive so long VIII there be no fear
that humanity cannot be supported.
Tske, as an illustration, the case Of
China The area is not more than one
third she size Of the United States. 1t
supports, however, six times as many
people as we have in this couatry. It
takes care Of the increase without any
difficulty The most careful system of
fertilization IS observed, and the farmer
there bestows as much care on his farm,
which is more in the nature Of garden
than farm, as the flower gardener in
the United States bessows on his e1oncs.
Even Germany, as sterile as it is in many
parts, can supply millions more people
than it does now. The director Of the
German statistical bureau has recently
submitted some very interesting figures
on this subject. His conclusions, which
are based on the statistics gathered, are
that without any effort Germany will be
able to care for its increase in population
for time so long in the future that it is
removed from the realm Of human spec
ulation.
Think Of the uroccupied lands in Asia,
in North and South America, in Africa.
It will be centuries and centuries before
these lands are even all partially titled.
When it is TILED there can be no limit to
the industries which will be supported by
it and the people which will find in these
industries their employment and happi-
ness.-DeUoit Free Press.
The Canadian ''Sea Cucumber"
In the waters surrounding the Atlantic
provinces a holothurian, pentacta from
dosa, Jaeger, very similar to the trepang
of the Malay and Chinese coasts, i. found