The sun., 1894-05-06
,owr wJsr.Kss or MALaHUS
gh.r. viii the I.srs.s,ns Aannons Get
Foodt

life. the tendency Of man IL to multiply In
the ratio stated by Malthus; but food. at least
In its primary form. has no tendency what
aver TO increase. and auRmentations OF the
means Of subsistence result from another In
etInct quite as universal and quite as constant
as the tendency 20 increase. and which
pron pts man to make all possible effort to
prolonR life.
That population tends TO increase in
ssop,etrical ratio while the food ofthe civilized
races has no tendency TO increase ls proven By
the conditions surrounding any given popu-
Istion. Belgium affords an instructive ex-
ample: There the soil has long been
com pletely occupied. and no material In
crease OF the quantity oia food pro-
duced obtains. or Is possible. as II
II impossible TO multiply the locally
contributory acres; yet the Belgian popu-
lation has long continued to multiply In
q very constant geometrical ratio. and but Tor
the food procured from abroad starvation
would result Still, Belgium Is held up as
bright example OF the power OF the earth to
maintain q dense population, although more
than so per cent. OF the food consumed is I'm
ported, aud but for such extraneous supplies
the population would speedily diminish to a
parity with the home product.
In India, where the standard OF living Is al
most indescribably lower than In Belgium. an
enormous population increases at a rate nearly
Q third greater. and this tendency to multiply
..,n.d dosni,a tho increasinr poverty OF the
=, ,ha noonio and daspIts tho fact that
-, -. 80 ,ondnrov v-hotsvar to increase
All I...oaso =, tod IN India M elsovbere re.
lie. 80, orror,s to nrolono O an existonce that
10 as miserable as 10 possible with much the
rsrt ~ the noopIe vet retaining nnv
power to labor.
80. .nd Ir.,.rd furnisb eoncIusive eyi-
49, ,h.t en-. ,andonov ~ man IA 10 multlnlv
a.. n-,s,.,o r.,io zoo, rd,o.s ~ tho nresence
~ sSsaas -, ,ho r,asns =, cor,or,obls eYIst-
=. "ns .no,. tho sravs srror N MaI.hns In
..snr,,nr ,h.t ,ry state NJ des,itution abort Of
-...,n, ,-o,,Ia ,n.tort.Iiv io.aon The rate ~
... Tho o,o,yaraa "a tru. Of tho racsa
"s,sS - a,,orood from, hsrb,r,sm tbose
-. .hor, tba moss live constantly unon
an s s. =, .,.r,a,,on ar. thosa vhsrs tbs
.,..s.. a, h,rth. A.. oraatost mat n.
a. th. ,ovar .trs,a ~ nonulationa enioyino tb,
,t.hs., .,.ndards a, iixino tha ratio a, bIrtbs
a. rs.,..t .I,honch h,t a ANAL nronortion
49, r.acn :, .tnritv
psnn,.,,on doas t.rd IN ,,,rssso and does
,.s.sy ~ a ,.oratric r.,io, pr,marv forms
:, go A. not ,.nd 20 incraa,a In .nv ro,io
" h,,t AZ ,,.r..s. h.o.n.o =, r.n
,,ror,,,,ino .fyor,a 10 an.tain and nrolonu
,,s.-nsr.. :, - ,or ,ha arr, % ,na ~. h..
80 IA ,,,oro a ord,o,s hv raoson a, tb.
.s.,...v =, hnu.ri.v 90 r,,itinJv In tho noa..
- :, n,ooras.,ya,v oroatar voor,v aooro.
80. Thn. nn.NhaI, the MoItbnsi,n formnIa
3. ,or,d 20 ho h.s.,es. and tho prob,em in
-.,.ss 4, ,,..,,,o tn food r.nniroman,a n, .
ronrI.tion tba incrs, .es in a oeom AZ rio ratio
trnn, : .unnlv IN AZ onIv incrsoses ma Tho result
-, ,-a.,ar ma oraat.r raIativa o,nendI,ura
=, hnr,.n aryor, "a far mora .orious th,n
.t,taJ tha casa correctIv IN both its
-. ,n.,a.d ~ ona N,,tbrs uos ,vhoIIv
rtr,h, In h,a oeometric noatuI,,s. MaJ,bua v.a
-ho,,v vroro In hia a ritt ,eticaI nostulate "a
he v.s wholly wrong in believing that when
.iv.n nonu,,tion shonId reacb the varre of
.t.rv.tion the rate of incro,as would so di.
r.,n,sb a. IN aouiIibrats nonulation and avail.
AM. food
Thara A.. a. 4. trua certain forma n, ,ood
-.l,sd unon bv man when in A stnte OF barbar.
t.r thar t.nd to increase In a. sraat a rotIo n.
NOMINATION and nom tha sams cnuso. Fish
snd aoma farms NJ pamo afrord notabIs ar
!. N nlss q, this tendencv 70 muItinlv IN a geo.
,,.t,I, ratio Rut ,vban man so muItinIa. os
10 ,r.to n-oorsssjvelv incroasing drafta uno,
such forms OF Iood. those decrease m ore rapidly
than they ever increased. and ultimately dis
Appear
Animal food. In its relative abundance or
scarcity texcept upon the plains OF Austria
lssia and South America whence the supplies
are OF little moment relatively to the sum Of
tho worlds requirements) depends entirely
upon the relative scarcity or abundance OF the
primary food staples. and this depends wholly
upon human agency and effort-eIorts that
are often baked and rendered Intellectual by
adverse climatic condltions-and not upon any
hypothetical tendency OF food to Increase In
any ratio whatever. Reducing the area under
corn and reducing thereby the relative sup
ply OF corn has recently greatly reduced the
absolute as well as the relative supply OF swine
and All forms OF pork products although pigs
tend to increase In a far greater geometric ratio
than does man. That Is. the supply OF even
the secondary food products. despite the ten
iency OF animals to increase Is wholly depsnd-
ent upon the supply OF primary food products.
and those are entirely dependent upon the
efforts OF man. and. II left for q few years to
the unaided efforts OF nature, would show
that che tendency was In the opposite direc-
.NNE NAh AlIE -s-l.