Evening star., 1943-06-04
Population Increase
Retords Prosperity
Correspondent Argues Thot
Roisine STANDARD Of Living
Will Be 'on Arduous Job

NuiSIH9 SlunuuTo OF LIVING
Will Be on Arduous Job
To the Editor Of The Star:
have read with interest in The Star,
May 20, the news item headed: Food
Experts Predict Long Wait for World to
Become Well Fed" 1t could have been
predicted that, when the experts got
down to the business of adding up all
the people in the world and figuring out
the food available, some OF the glowing
statements Of the past would have to be
modified. This Is all for the best be-
cause it would be a dangerous policy for
the United Nations to have led the un-
fortunate peoples of the world to imag
inc that they could be freed from serious
want soon after this war.
For an example of the earlier policy
that has been modified, and should have
been modified we need but turn to some
of the passages in the Office of War In
formations pamphlet, "The United Ma
tions Fight for the Four Freedoms" In
any doubt, men now possess the tech
nical ability to produce in great abun-
dance the necessities of daily life
enough for every one. In the short
space OF few decades we have changed
scarcity to abundance and are now en-
gagged in the experiment of trying to live
with our new and as yet unmanageable
riches. The problem becomes one not
Of production but of distribution and
consumption
1t is my contention that the above are
statements which can lead only to dis
illusionment OF the unfortunate peoples
OF the world. Such disillusionment
would result in a reaction against the
United Nations, and especially toward
the United States. The unfortunate
peoples quite logically might have con-
the United Nations just to gain their
support during time of peril Fortunate
ly the findings at the food conference
are Strengthening these problems out.
There is no doubt that men now pos
sess the technical ability to produce in
great abundance the necessities of daily
life, but producing enough for every one
is another question. We must take into
consideration how many people there are
in the world who now are living below
the standard requirements of health
and efficiency and how fast these people
are increasing In numbers. Roughly
speaking, three-quarters of the earths
people are living below the minimum re-
quirements for health and efficiency.
This is shown by the extremely high
death rates and low average length of
life OF the great masses of peoples in
Asia, particularly in China and India.
For example, the average length of life
Of the 400. 100000 people of India is only
u years compared with more than so
years in such countries as the United
States and England. The average length
of life of the Chinese people is even
lower
Another important item to be con-
sidered Is the increase of the earths
people. AS the birth rates Of many
countries Of the world 20 decreasing
and were reschine new lows just before
this var. many have been led to imagine
that the increase Of the earths people
will be no problem in the postwar world.
This is foolhardy assumption, because
even though the birth rate is decreasing
the actual number of people can in
crease tremendously.
To give an example Of this we might
point to the fact that during the 10
years just before this war, l93l-1940,
the population of India increased so OOO.-
600 and the population of the entire
world increased 100000 900. Fifty mil
lion people are more than the entire
population of Great Britain and 200 O,OOO,-
600 people are more that the entire popu-
lations of Great Britain and the United
States combined, and the population OF
Canada may be thrown in for good meas
ure. incidentally, 1t need not be point
ed out that Great Britain and the United
States are having difficulty freeing their
own peoples from want, although their
populations are less than the increase
Of the earth's people during the 10
years before this war.
1t may be seen that it will be an
arduous job, If not an impossible job,
to raise the standard of living of three
quarters of the earths people to the
level Of health and efficiency and at the
same time properly feed an additional
200 900 900 every 10 years. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that men now possess the
technical ability to produce in great
abundance the necessities of daily life,
this fact will not decide the question:
Can the peoples of the world adequately
be fed? That question will be decided
IN large part by how fast and how far
the population of the earth increases.
If mere ability to produce food decided
the question, the masses OF China
would now be adequately fed, because
they produce much more food per acre
of land than we do in the United States.
To get back to the news item from the
food conference, just how long the
world will have to wait to become we'll
fed? No one can answer that question,
but even If We make the optimistic as
sumption that the people in the re-
production age will have just enough
children to replace themselves in fu-
ture generations, the population of the
earth would increase about 80 per cent
during the coming so years. In other
words even with the most efficient
democratic population program we can
expect the population of the earth to
increase about 7O0,000,o0 people during
the next so years. In any program to
free all the peoples of the world from,