Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-12-29
IRREPRESSIBLE EXPANSION
BY Frederic J. Haskin

Washington, Dec. 2s.-The doctrine
that n prolific people living In
crowded country must have some place
10 which it's surplus population can
go. is one which has been put Tor
ward repeatedly by aggressive ana
growing nations and which has always
attracted certain amount Of popular
sympathy.
This doctrine OF irrepressible ex-
pansion was put forward by Germany
before the great war and IT was sym
pathetically received, especially in this
country. The same claim 20 a need
for more room is now put forward con-
siantly by the Japanese as reason
why they should be given either more
land in Asia or immigration rights IN
America and Oceania.
That this doctrine is wholly unsound
seems TO be agreed by all serious stu
dents Of the matter. In fact, it's un-
soundness probably Is generally
recognized by those who put it for
ward. as well. It's value is simply that
/ it Is a plausible sophistry which al
ways has its effect with the ignorant
public.
The fact with regard to population
10 that Il tends to increase az fast as
the food supply allows. When the food
supply no longer permits Of much in
crease in given country. the increase
automatically stops. On the other hand
in sparsely populated regions the in
crease is always rapid. In other words
any people viii expand indefinitely Il
given enough land in a suitable eli
mate, but II is hard TO gee why one
nation should have more right TO such
indefinite expansion than another
Thus Holland and Belgium have lonl
been the most thicily settled coun
tries in Europe and among the mos
thickly settled in the world. But w
do not hear from those nations a de
mand that they be given another con
tinent or two to populate. They ar
not strong enough to make such
. demand. Instead, these people hav
stayed within their boundaries, an
their populations, having reached tn
saturatlon point, have ceased to in
crease.
Japan's Population.
In point Of fact. the very sam
, phenomenon has been observed &
, Japan. In whose behalf the irrepressl
! BILE expansion doctrine is now gener
ally put forward. In the past 25 year
p Japan has expanded her territor
. about 20 per cent by the annexatio
8 Of Korea, Formosa and souther
% saghaIin. During the first 90 Of thes
% 25 years the Japanese population ir
creased rapidly. For the past yeai
2 the increase has been very small. ]
g 920 It was only about 6ne-half Of or
}. per cent. What does this mean? Sin
Q ply that the Japanese population il
= creased as much az its increased lar
I area justified. and then automatical
ceased to increase.
As a matter Of fact. Japan has muc
n land within her present BOUNDARY
= which is not used. All OF northei
r Japan is thinly populated. The reas'
: for this is that the Japanese do n
o like cold climate.
: Japan annexed Korea under d
N pretext that her irrepressible expa
n sion Of population made IL necessar
. As a matter Of fact, Korea alreai
n produces barely enough food for
y native population.
\ Japan has gained a powerful hold {
Manchuria for the same alleg.
reason. There is land to spare
Manchuria, but the Japanese are n
making much use OF II. Since 19o
% when Japan first gained her prese
!, position in Manchuria. about 200,0
y Japanese have gone there, but on
- about 10000 remained in 1920.
~ word. the Japanese population h
:. refused to expand irrepressibly in tn
o direction. The reason is again tn
= the climate is too cold TO suit {
mr. japanese. and in addition. the IA