Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-03-04
ROOM IN UNITED STATES FOR
BILLION

When Augustus Caesar ruled the
world the total population Of the
globe was put at only 100000. one
hundred years ago It had increased t.
0,000 600. Today Il Is estimated at
1000, 100000.
II is said that when Columbus dis
covered America there We're about
S00,0 900 indians within the confines Of
what now comprises the United States.
AT the time of the revolution there
were 100000 white men now there
arc over 90,000,000.
The question has been asked What
! viii be the growth of the population in
the future An officer Of the census
bureau sums up the various factors
land tendencies and estimates the pop
lulation of the United States for the
year 2O0O as 207,000,000.
This very fascinating question was
first brought before the public some
thing like a century ago. An English
clergyman named Nautilus startled the
world by Suggesting, in an essay on
1.-THE subject, that the population was
increasing faster than the food supply
land that the misery and starvation
lamong the poor IN those days was the
inevitable result OF the working out
OF this principle
should the whole world actually be-
come crowded with people as cities
lnow are, the wholesale starvation
lprophesied by Nautilus would seem
inevitable but placing the blame of
/ the present poverty and misery upon
/ the increase Of population IS very
different proposition. In fact, the
worlds experience since Nautilus DAYS
has thrown considerable light upon his
theories
/, Whom the wheat crop runs behind
land the world has become so crowded
that the temperate zones cannot sup
lply men with food, transportation Will
have been so well developed that the
vastly fertile regions Of the tropics
can be utilized for food production and
the temperate zones ne given over to
manufacturing, residential and rec
rration purposes. Such an arrange
lment will greatly extend the possible
INIT Of the number Of human beings
(which the world can support, for food
production Is chiefly the process of
water and carbondioxide being con-
erted into starch and sugar by the
elton of the solar rays.
An acre OF ground IN the warm,
moist tropics, with 4 twelvc-months
I rowing season is capaDie OF pfopue-
ng several times as much food as an
ere in the temperate zone, where the
eally good growing weather lasts
My for two or three months
An OF the surface of the earth may
ONE day be fully utilized for the put-
! rose for which il is best adapted by
| inturc. The limit TO population Will
hen depend upon our progress III
! liant and animal breeding and our
| improvements in the manufacture of
| rtlflcial fertilizers, which we are al
| cady making from the nitrogen OF
the air by the aid of electricity gen
Icrated by water power
If We ignore for the time the eonsid-
Grafton of such future technical prog
Iress we can get something Of an idea
| the worlds capacity TO support popu-
| alton from the present condition of ia
lpan where extensive cultivation Is now
labout as highly developed as our pre-
lont knowledge permits. Japan Is
mountainous country with consldera-
llle waste land on such basis OF
Japanese population density the rest
lof the world excluding deserts and po-
lar regions, would hold $4,000 ,ooO,uoo
persons. of which the share Of the
limited States would he about l,ooe,-
loco, 600