The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-03-01


Tho Whole world 10 beginning 20 ~.
fleet upon the fact that Tuberculosis
is ATTAINING The proportions ~ a true
plague. ana u trying ~ devise means
10 CHECK DC but very few people stop
10 reflect that N "a cure 10 found lot
all the dreadful fuaiadles that Keep
down the tendency 90 over population,
our descendants " a few generations
beyond viii be- plunged into the ferceHt
Kind II struggle for existence,
Not very long ago at the Academy OF
Sciences IN brussels, Lieutenant Gem
cral Brialmont " the Belgian army
delivered a lecture upon the Increase or
the wOrlu population. Many statisu.
clans. h. said. had studied this prob
lem. and according To the average Of
their calculations he found that Rus
sla doubles her population IN hfty
years. England In hfty-hve, Belgium Ia
seventy nine Italy in eighty four, and
France In 1888 The growth OF the
American population was not mention
ed. "a time viii come" said General
| Brialmont, when there VIII be too
many men on the globe, and the equi-
! ibrium between population and pro-
duction viii be re-established by the
disappearance of those TOR whom there
will he no place at the banquet or life.
According To statistics most worthy Of
confidence, the population Of the world
/ in 1852 vas / 1872 100000, and In 1880 II
vas iS0 900, 900. That Is 10 say in
eight years ii increased by sS,000,000, or
more than six per cent, If. calculating
upon this basis. We seek the date
when the population of the earth viii
reach twenty seven milliards of in
habitantS, or double the number Of
hectares that the land OF our planet
measures, We come to the year ESQ
Consequently, according to the General
who simply made himself the interpre-
ter of the economists. In 3S6 years the
world will no longer be able TO feed
its inhabitants.
ITO deny the eXuctness of my cal
culation," said General Brialmont, lit
will be necessary to prove that the
population will not continue to grow AZ
rapidly as l have supposed"
The statistics show that the popula-
ton of Europe, during the century just
past, increased l44 per cent; and the
president of the Congress of Vienna
declares that the European population
has doubled in seventy years, not
withstandIng numerous wars and
constant stream OF immigration. AT
this rate considering the fact that
the earth does not perceptiby in
crease in size, and that the area or
arabic land is vastly smaller than the
total surface area of the earth, il will
not be long before the demand for sub
sistence must encroach upon the capt
tai stock From the ten milliards and
half hectares that the land of the
earth measures. We must deduct the
polar regions, the steppes, the deserts,
the mountains that are covered with
snow. the lands which are rendered
unproductive by industries. and the
surfaces occupied by houses. After
that deduction we find, according to
the French tables, scarcely two mil
lizards of hectares of arabic land, from
which we must also deduct half mil
lard hectares for the support of ami
mails. Therefore, as the English geo
grapher, Ravenstein, estimates it, the
world will be short of rations In 175
years.
But these estimates of the growth Of
population do not go far enough. The
doctors with their serums are giving
plaques no chance; famines are reliev-
ed by wold-wide charity; the new sur
gerry is reducing the mortality of wars
and wars themselves are becoming OF
shorter duration and may BE-, through
the agency of peace commissions, sup
pressed altogether; preachers, doctors
and athletic instructors Conspire
against mortality: now consumption Is
threatened. If this kind of thing
goes on it will not take anything like
l76 years to turn man into starry
ing, fighting animal.
And yet we hail every measure for
the eradication of diseases which kind
iy nature provides 30 that the human
race may continue to find footing on
the earth.