The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-12-25

ton the greater the amount Of mia.
cry in the world, the harder q,
each one to get = living. He urred
therefore that people should -
train from having 30 many childres
A little later it became the fash
ION to ridicule Nautilus. It 3.
pointed out that modern scienes
could enormously increase the fooS
supply. When India vas Z prini.
tive country It had . small pop.i..
ton and many famines. The H..
lish took hold of it and greatly a
creased its food production i,
building irrigation works, and cths,
modern aids to food production i
now supports . much larger nom.
lation. But it still has famines
Science Can Produce More Fee1
In q word, both Nautilus and ri.
critics were right. Science can n.
crease the food supply enormcusIy
It has not done fraction Of vhst i
can do. The sea alone is q treasn,s
house Of food which has scarc,l,
been tapped. But however srest
the increase in food supply IN
population has a fatal tendency IA
increase just little faster, to prem
upon it always. This is a bioloei.
cal law. applying to all life. n.
earth is always saturated with m.
everywhere, except when the
amount Of life on a given area /,
artificially controlled, that il. con.
trolled by man.
China, the scientists tell nj,
could support several times her
present immense population II N
her resources we're properly a.
veloped. But il this were done. and
nothing done to control the a.
crease Of population by birth and
immigration, China would be just
where she is today. as far a. the
security of the individual is con.
cerned. That is. her population
would again be pressing upon her
food supply and famines would &C.
cur whenever a considerable paft
Of that food supply failed.
The United States, we are told
could easily support four hundred
million people. What will We have
attained when our population has
reached four hundred million? We
will have attained the position Of
China. We will bbe . part of ths
earth which is nearly saturated
with life. Our population will pres,
upon our food supply. When an
Of our food supply fails, few nil.
lion Of us will die. Our scientsty
will be straining every brain cell to
increase the food supply. and 4
fast as they succeed, the popula-
ton will move up to meet it. That
is the history Of every country h,
which the increase Of population u
unchecked.
We cannot easily starve Ia this
country now for the simple re-
son that this continent has not bsan
inhabited by civilized man lag,
enough to reach the saturatoa
point for civilized life. But 4 b
moving toward that point Is fast u
it can.
Population Self.Linitel.
It is true that when the popsla-
ton does catch up with the food
supply, itsstops increasing. 1t has
to. These famines in China are one
Of the means by which population
is self-limited. But the important
point is this: There is NO gain,
either for the state or for the in
dividual, unless the food supply in
crease sfaster than the population,
SO that there is more for each one.
Since the relentless natural law
is that life increases Just as fast Is
the food supply will allow. it fol-
lows that this desirable result Of )
superabundant food supply can b
achieved in the long run only BY
/, limiting the population. That Is
what has been done in France,
where the population is nearly sta
tionary, and small families are the
rule. Every increase in productiy-
ity in France means q real gain tor
French individuals. Every h.
crease in the food supply in Chins
means a few more babies TO dc b
the next famine.
There is no room here to discus
the means Of controlling popullr
ton, and it is q most difficult slb'
tect to discuss anyway, because y
the numerous social and religious
prejudices which hem it about. But
leaving birth control out Of ~
question ,one of the most effective
ways of controlling population. p
a country like this, is to limit -
, migration intelligently. CongfU
is about to pass a law stopping =
migration for two years. In % y
ing It strikes blow for every 90
Of us. 1t puts food in our mostha
,, Let US hope it will follow this y
with permanent system OF rigla
restriction. There are plenty o.
US here already.