The evening times., 1898-12-31
THE WORLDS POPULATION.
Now Estimated at Fifteen Hundred
Millions.
(From the New York SUM-

1 FROM tue New pIh sun
| The periodical estimates of the earth S
! population, made by Profs. Wagner and
Supan OF Germany, are always widely ac-
! cepted as on the whole the most careful
! computations relating to this difficult ques-
| tion. No one can tell, OF course, how far
| the best estimates may vary from the
truth, and II would not be surprising if the
| figures given by Wagner and Supan in
! 1891, who then put the worlds population
at 1,4S0, o00,0 were so 600 900 TO 100, ,00O,-
| 600 out of the way. These careful statisti-
| clans, however, are always able TO assign
| good reasons for their conclusions. and at
least no other estimates are entitled TO
higher credence. In his latest text book
| of geography DR.. Supan estimates the pres
ent population of the earth at 1.500 600 900,
or an increase of 20 000, 600 in the past
seven years. There is no doubt that popu-
| lation is rapidly increasing almost every
where on the inhabited globe, and particu-
! larly within the domain of civilization
| where labor saving machinery and i'm
| proved methods OF working the soil have
vastly increased Jne means of subsistence.
Even in unciviliZed parts of the world
| there is conclusive evidence that popula-
| ton is increasing. The negro races OF
Africa are among the most prolific of hu-
| man beings a district may be waste d
and most OF its inha abitants killed but in
| ten or fifteen Years the devastated region
| is as thickly populated as ever. Some of
| the most destructive native wars in this
| century have been waged in the region
| behind Lagos, on the Upper Guinea coast
but this district as large New York
| State, is now more densely peopled than
| any other part of Africa expect the lower
| Nile Valley. The Chinese have demon
| strated how vast population, mainly az
| ricnifnraI ma ho ad in
| atively small area; and in China, as in
| some other densely peopled regions, the
| population has increased with perhaps pc
! culiar rapidity because of its enjoyment
| OF comparative immunity from epidemics
| of disease.
| 1t is believed that the inhabitants of the
| Arctic and sub bArctic regions, where the
| struggle for existence is intense are at
| least holding their own; and the Eskimos
| of West Greenland, in recent years, have
| centainly been increasing in number In
| fact, only very limited parts OF the world
are known to be actually decreasing in
| population, the islands of the Pacific,
| where the natives are dying out being
| the exceptions. The aborigines of the Ha-
| wall group are about holding their own
| and the natives are growing in numbers
| in the Loyalty group, and in Wallis, Guam,
! Tahiti and a few other regions; but
| among the myriadS OF other islands in the
| Pacific there is as yet no evidence that
| the natives may escape the fate of the
Tasmanians, who are now extinct
While population is rapidly increasing it
is scarcely keeping pace with the growing
ability of mankind to enlarge the means Of
subsistence. The population of Europe at
the beginning of the Christian era esti-
| mated at $4,000, 600, was only little more
| than half the. present population of Euro
pean Russia; and yet, in spite of Europe's
enormous growth, the standard of living
has been greatly improved. There is no
solid basis for pessimistic views as to the
encroachment OF the race upon the limits
of its capacity to procure the necessaries
Of life. The President of the British As
sociation last Summer predicted the coming
| inadequacy of the worlds wheat producing
capacity. The Investigations resulting
from his note of alarm have abundantly
proven that his facts were Inaccurate his
arguments fallacious and his fears grCrnd-
less. The prediction of a future universal
bread famine has no better basis Than had
the coal famine scare in England years
ago, when it was demonstrated that within
century or so the wheels of industry
would be stopped for lack of fuel TO drive
| them. The fact is that Great Britain s
home resources of coal will not be ex-
hausted for long time to come; and the
| larger part Of the vast sources of supply
| upon which she may easily and cheaply
draw were unknown and undreamed of at
| the time that the speedy exhaustion uf her
| fuel was predicted.