Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-11-21
WHEns WILL EARTH BE OVER
PEOPlEQ2
Startling Calculations Produced At q
Meeting of the British Association. ~


r, PEOPLED? :.
Calculations Produced ut a
= Meeting of the British Association. -
5 Pau Mall Gazette: AT the meeting
recently there was a joint assembly Of
the Biographical and Economic Sec
tions, reconsider the subject, Of the,
lands IT. the globe still available for
european settlement. The audience
consisted Of a proportion of quite seven-
eighths Of ladies. Sir Lambert Play
fair sdwslt upon the Importance Of the
subject Especially after the official in.
quiry rdently held in London upon
the Question of; colonization, which
showed that many old fields of en,igra-
ton were being closed to European
emigra,ts. Mr.. 2. G.. Ravenstein pro-
duced "a elaborate set of statistics to
show tlat the'world will, in the ord;-.
nary course Of things, be fully inhab.
tied IN about 1872 years, which estimate,
considerably extends the period at
which ome learned men believe hui
mainly will be crowded out. Having
previously swept away the arctic and.
antarctos regions as not being essen
tlal TO- his argument, he parceled
the remainder out Of the earth into:
,cultiyalle land, 26, 469, 900 square miles;
steppe, scrub, poor grass, ETC., 13, 9Ol,-
.Oo0 squire miles; barren deserts, $780,
600 squire miles, total Of s46, $50, 900
square niles. The population living
upon tbs he reekons at a little over
], 46T 100000, divided thus: Europe,
360, 100000; Asia. $50, 600, 900; Africa,
la. 0O0DO "a. much lower estimate
thanfma people :compute); Australia,
4,73lOO); North America, SO, $50, 600; !.
South america, IS, 500, 900.
Mr., hyenstsin showed how, suppos-
ing the standard OF life among the vari-
GUS peoples to remain the same, sup
posing the population increases at the
rate OF eight per cent. in every decade,
andsupposing there are. no extraordi-
nary improvements in agriculture, the
pop{latbn in the world in the year
2O79 will be,5 994 millions. In speak
ing # thespopulations that these areas
would bear (mentioning 2O7 individuals
to ttf square mile as fair average) he
sug9isted that the productiveness Of
the Firth might be better utilizedwhen
peopb understood economy. In .ex-
pressing q general opinion that tropical
counties are not fit for Europeans he
granted exceptions to the rule, as, for
example, in certain now well-known
highlands of Africa. One of the the
cries Propounded is that there is a
gEad&l migration Of people south
wardf so that in time race of Euro
peani rigin may arise who will be &C.
elimaized in the tropics. On the
wholdMr. Ravenstein does not despair
that he world will be oyer-populated,
becade as new developments occur new
adapttions will be found to meet
Them The Rev. John Mackenzie ex-
pressed the opinion that the Zambesi
will d in course Of time be suitable
for Nropean residents. Mr.. j. w.
Wellswho has travelled 5000 miles in
Argenina and Brazil, thought that
there ! every prospect of a speedy con-
strufbn Of a vast system Of rail and
fluvih communication all over the
coplsy: The: sppa total l9is ofS the e discus:
slSS larS w. " :s.e.b4 t4at tAeIs
q gs ssr 81 as1h fSf
populfion, all over the world and that
we ned not particularly worry. d, r
selyesks to whether the globe will he
-over-npulated in generations to come.
Mr.. jan Coles, of the. Geographical
SocioS and travel editor of the T.SSeza,
later dded that he. had.shad yellow
fever i Brazil and: seen a,sfeYgr, in, tbs
high ateaux of British Columbia stti@ak
was vH like 1.-THE hid Known malarial
fever reduced BY irrigation in new
countHs; and he warned his ), hearers
that nhy Of the lands in The, Ear West
of Noh America which were repre-
senteds available for emigrants were
made lpelessly unavailable by the ex-
tortione demands Of speculative land
sharks . s, 60.