Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-06
POSSIBILITIES OF POPULATION.


writer ON the amount Of population that
the world will sustain is attracting atten-
ton. The writer figures the productive
ness of the known arabic lands of the
earth, the capacity of steppes and desert
lands to sustain life, and by bringing all
the factors together concludes that, while
the danger OF the earth's becoming over
populated is not imminent, it may not be
so remote from future generations.
Such estimates, while they may be inter-
estlng mathematical exercises, have little
practical value for three reasons. First,
the world is SO far from being overtaxed
in the work of producing sustenance for
the human race that the only problem is
to reach the undeveloped portions with
intelligent industry and skill. There is
enough undeveIoped productiveness in the
two Americas and Africa to supply the
whole present population of the globe and
let the present populative region lie fal-
low for few centuries. The United
States does not work its productive powers
so thriftily as Holland or China, for the
simple reason tnat it is not obliged to;
while in other continents there are i'm
mense productive areas going to waste.
When necessity compels the development
of these lands as closely as in some of the
older countries it will be shown that there
is capacity to sustain an almost indefinite
ly increased population by present meth
ods.
Next, the weakness of such calculations
is that they are unable to calculate the
effect of future as well as coeem porary
discoveries for increasing the capacity of
the earth to sustain population. Nearly
every invention in tine line of science or
commerce adds to the possible population
of the globe Thus the discovery of phos-
pilates as a fertilizer doubles the pro-
duetiveness Of immense wheat areas. The
discovery of a steel making process which
at once cheapens the cost of manufacture
and turns out phosphates as by-product
has the double effect of aiding the use Of
ma chinery and the means Of communica-
ton while furnishing fertilizer TO in
crease food production. Here we see how
the man who caused two blades of grass
to grow where one grew before; the man
who cheapens by cent the cost of taking
wheat from Dakota to London; or de-
creases by 25 cents the cost of ton of coke
or steel, has rendered it possible for more
lives TO live than could have existed with
out these devices. The whole effort of le-
gitimate commerce and industry is to in
crease the possibilities of life. The inven-
tions of Stevenson, Fulton, Ariwright,
Whitney and Bessemer have added hum
dreds of millions to the possible popula-
ton of the globe. There is no reason why
the same work should not go on inf
nitely.
Finally. the calculation as to the dam
ger of becoming over-populated is idle, be-
cause nature is certain to regulate that
matter. When the capacity of country
to sustain human life is fully taxed the in
crease of population will cease as certain
ly as water finds its own level When its
capacity to sustain life is enlarged popula-
ton will increase with the same certainty.
The full consumption of all possible pro-
duction means that the weak, the vitiated
and the poorly fed or clothed will suffer a
greater mortality, largely in infancy. 1t
would be horrible thing to put such
function in human hands, but when exer-
cised by nature it is necessary and even
legitimate. 1t is this certainty that gives
the criminal character to any artificial en-
hancement of the necessarieS of life.
When capitalists combine to increase the
cost of coal or the price of food or
any other staple, they condemn thou
sands OF frail lives to extinction by being
insuficiently fed, clothed or warmed.
The men who do such things may not
realize it, but the result of their acts is
wholesale homicide more inevitably than
if they pulled the triggers of guns leveled
directly at their victims.
The world may be trusted to support its
population SO long as the people who are
living on it do the work they are put there
to DO honestly and faithfully. A more
pertinent calculation would be that which
would show how much the business vices
of the day Obstruct and hinder the ability
of the globe to sustain its population.