New Britain herald., 1924-08-16
POPULATION aNp fuon,

. th ar AuufNss ai Ahf NNllshslnN
 Institute fes iass ago, liraFrAd
 miral Rodgers apined that in ahen
 lhh years when he fgurrd the nitss
 states would have spu,nop,0ap Ponu
 laiion, it would beenme necessary lt
 conquer other lands in ardeT 10 ''gel
 what We want" li was not a pleas
 ant picture io paint before an assem-
 hlF af leadiRg thinkers, hut the adr
 miral was sincere in his views, which
 received courteous attention,
 The prime reason the admiral gave for his deduction was that in q een-
 lury we would have greater popula'
 tion than il would be possible 10 pros
 vide with food, and that we would
 have an oyerplus of population that
 would need i0 go elsewhere. under
 other flags, or We would have 10 ans
 mex territory for them to live ini also
 annex territory providing raw mate
 rials and food-raising prospects, !
 The admiral seems to believe the
 Malthusisn theory Is certain 10 be
 proved accurate. This theory Is that the population of the earth is increas- Ing far out Of proportion 10 the in- crease in food. and that the time is inevitable when 1t will be impossible to raise enough food on this planet 10 feed all the human creatures living thereon.
 If this were to become an actuality, 1t Is difficult 10 see where warfare upon other well.populated nations would solve the problem. If the United States were to double its population in a century, other nations without doubt will not be standing still. Within century all habitsble parts of the globe may be pretty well occupied, and this conauering bus mess unless 1t included the annihil- ation of entire populations, doesn't appear to be reasonable. not to say humane.
 When we examine the possibilities of the Malthusian theory. however grave doubts arise as to its practical It is possible, of course, for the human race to multiply so rapidly that the food supplies will bo But the probability is that as the human race raises it's standard of living its reproduction will decline. This we see all around Is even now. Reproduction is high ,st among those classes of the popu- ation where the standard of living is lowest; and reproduction is highest among such nations where the stand ards are even lower than the lowest ,n the American continent
 It was no uncommon thing, in the ,arly history of our own nations, for parents to have a dozen children, and , most of our early men of prominence were well provided with brothers and isters. But the native population to- ay is far less productive; the fami- !, les for the most part are two or three hildren. When it is remembered hat two children to family means landing still, 1t is evident that the ,crease among native Americans is |, ot swift. 2 Our foreign population increases |, aster; but there is no reason to think :, lat as its members become affluent ., nd their standard of living becomes {, ore and more American" that they |, Ill continue to increase so readily. r. slowing up in the second and third A ,neration Is already noticeable. Iii With immigration lessened by law, Id the standards of living of the en- e human race constantly being ised 1t is probable that in cen- ry from now the Malthusian theory II be far from being proven.
 Some parts of the world today off, F striking contrasts as to popula- m. Japan is overpopulated, and its fiuclties from this source tincture
 national policy Italy also has rplus of population, and 1t is the licy of the government to send the rplus elsewhere. The standard of ing in both these nations are lower an in America, but in both it Is adily approaching higher levels. The population of one of the great
 of modern states - France - has ,n standing still for decades There y be others before the century ses. The native population or ,erica at present cannot be said to increasing much faster than in ' ,nce. Most of our population in- ma sse has been from immigration ''w the children of immigrants. Tn