The New York herald., 1922-10-08
World Worries


THE POPULATION PROBLEM By A. Nj
Carr-Saunders Oxford University Press.
FOOD PRODUCTS FROM AFFAIR BY E. Fl
S. Bailey and H. S. Bailey. The Century
Company.
LABOR PROBLEMS BY Gordon S. Wat
kins. Thomas Y. Croweil Company
1,yVER since Malthus promulgated his
IL epochmaking theories the problem
Of population has been more or less
prominent in the eyes of economists.
Though the mechanical multiplication of
the means of production has tended to
dispose of the idea that population neces-
sarily encroaches on the limits Of the food
supply. yet the very increase In population
made possible by mechanical contrivances.
Is responsible for host of problems of
which even Malthus could form no concep-
ton. Such is the conclusion one reaches
from perusal Of A. NJ Carr -Saunders's
carefully reasoned and scholarly treatise,
wherein the population question is treated
comprehensively and from all points of
m.
as well as economic
II is Mr.. Carr-Saunders's opinion that
human fecundity has gradually been in
creasing throughout the ages; that. with
the Improvement in living conditions. the
potential size Of the average family has
grown appreciably, and that, accordingly.
man has become an exception to the gen.
eral rule of nature, which provides that
the fecundity of each species shall be such
as to leave the numbers of succeeding
generations approximately the same I'm
Ike his neighbors of the field and wood
man has become so fecund that his natural
Increase would be sufficient before many
generations to menace the very welfare of
the race. That 1t has not already become
menace is to be ascribed to the various
intelligent limitations that have in all ages
been placed upon human fecundity. Among
primitive or even fairly civilized tribes the
crude custom of infandcide has frequently
been in favor; among more advanced races
what Nautilus terms moral restraint" or
voluntary celibacy, has tended to reduce
the birth rate; and of recent years various
other methods of birth control have re-
suited In the limitation of population. But
despite the seriousness of efforts to prevent
the too rapid increase of the human race,
overpopulation is not the bugaboo that
many have made 1t out to be; such dis
asters as pestilence and war are not neces-
sary to reduce our race numerically; and,
as Mr.. Carr-Saunders points out $50 long
as conditions remain healthy in a country
overpopulation does not arise"
II.
Closely connected with the question of
population is the problem of securing the
food supplies demanded by the ever grow
ing complexity of human wants. In their
interesting volume on Food Products from
Afar" E. H. S. Bailey and H. S. Bailey tell
how the fruits and spices for civilized mar
kets are secured from the furthest outposts
OF the world; how cinnamon is obtained
from Ceylon, dates from Arabia, nuts from
Brazil, sugar from Hawaii, tea from For
mosa, rice from Siam and bananas from
Central America. The book is valuable in
describing the intricacy of the organization
by which the innumerable requirements of
vast population are fulfilled and by
which East and West, tropics and northern
countries arrange for an interchange of
goods.
III.
Prof. Watkinss Introduction to the
Study of Labor Problems" is volume that
has an even closer bearing on the question
of population. since labor problems, in the