Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-01-21
THE WORLDS POPULATION.
An Increase OF 100000 in the Past
Seven Years.

Seven Years.
New York Sun.
The periodical estimates OF the
earth's population. made by Profs.
wagner and Supan, of Germany. are
always widely accepted as on the
whole the most careful computa lions
relating to this difficult question. 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
gwen by Wagner and Supan in 1891.
who then put the worlds population at
i,4so'OVV'000, were fifty TO a hundred mil
lions out of the way. These careful
statisticians. however. are always able
to assign good reasons for their conclu-
sions, and at least no other estimates
are entitled to higher credence In his
latest text book of geography DR.. SUI
pan estimates the present population
or the earth at fifteen hundred mill
mons. or an increase of twenty mil
Mons In the past seven years There is
no doubt that population is RAPIDLY
increasing almost everywhere on the
inhabited globe. and particularly with
IN the domain OF civilization, where la
por-saving machinery and improved
inethods OF working the soil have vast
~ increased the means OF subsistence
Even IN uncivilized parts of the world
mere Is conclusive evidence that popu
iaton Is increasing. The negro races
vi Airica are among the most prolific
Oh human beings. a district NAV be
wasted and most OF it's inhabitants
Killed. but in ten or fifteen years the
devastated RECON is as thickly popu
iated as ever. Some of the most de-
structtve native wars in this century
nave pcen waged in the region behind
Lagos, on the upper Guinea coast. but
c 1or
state. Is now more densely peopled than
any other part of Africa excent tho
lower Nile Valley. The Chinese have
demonstrated how vast n populo ion
mainly agricultural, may be SUBMERGED
IN comparatively small area: and in
SHi,ia, as IN some other densely peo-
pIeo regions. the population has in
creased with perhaps peculiar rapiditv
oecause or It's enjoyment of compara
ease. VI us
IL is believed that the inhabitants of
me Arctc and cub Arctic regions where
the struggle for existence is intansa
are at least holding their own. and Tho
tskimoS of West Greenland. in recent
years, nave certainly been increasing in
number. In fact. only very limited
parts OF the world are known TO he ac-
IuaaIy decreasing in population, the ISL
ands of the Pacific, where the natives
are dying out. being the executions
Inc aborigncs of the Hawaii group are
about holding their own; and the ma
yves are growing in numbers in the
LOYALTY group. and in Wallis, Guam
Tahiti and Il few other regions. but
among the myriads of other islands in
the Pacific there is as yet no eyidenc,
that the natives may escape the fate
or the TaSmanians, who are now ex-
tinct.
While population is rapidly increas-
irg, 1t is scarcely keeping pace with the
growing ability Of mankind to enlarge
the means of subsistence. The popula-
ton of Europe at the beginning OF the
Christian era, estimated at $4,000 900,
was only n little more than half the
present population of European Russia.
and yet in spite of Europe's enormous
growth, the standard of living has been
greatly improved.
There is no solid basis for pesslmistic
views as to the encroachment of the
race upon the limits Of its capacity to
procure the necessities of life The
president of the British Association last
summer predicted the coming mad
equancy of the worlds wheat produce
ing capacity. The Investigations re-
sulting from this note Of alarm have
abundantly proven that his facts were
inaccurate. his arguments fallacious
and his fears groundless. The predic-
ton of future universal bread famine
has no better basis than had the coal
famine scare in England years ago,
when 1T was demonstrated that within
century or so the wheels of industry
would be stopped for lack of fuel TO
drive them. Tho fact is that Great
Britalns home resources of coal will
not be exhausted for n long time to
come: and the larger part of the vast
sources of supply upon which she may
easily and cheaply draw were I'M
known and undreamed of at the time
that the speedy exhaustion of her fuel
was predicted.