Evening star., 1947-09-21

specter that has haunted the mind
erations.
The reason for this recurrent a
fully = century. the population OF
Britain has increasingly outrun its
purely domestic resources. This
growing excess has been able to
live and thrive only because Of spe-
cial circumstances which World War
II and its aftermath have gravely
undermined.
Grew With Prosperity
Even though . catastrophe be
averted. the chances would seem tc
be that the prosperity which Britain
enjoyed during the 10th and early
20th centuries will not be fully re-
stored. II this be so. continuous
large scale emigration would seem
to be the inevitable alternative tc
q sharp lowering Of living standards
for 4 redundant population.
1t Is intruetive to look back ano
see how prosperity multiplied the
British people. During the Middle
Ages, when Britain was q poor and
backward country. largely pastoral
the population Of England and
Wales did not average more thar
2,0O0, 900 while that of Scotland
probably did not exceed 100000. BY
1750, when Britain had acquired
command Of the sea, lucrative
empire, and the beginnings Of In
dustry, its population had risen tc
about 1000, 900, while the first regu.
lar census Of 1901 showed . rapid
growth to almost 100000. This
had risen to fully 1s,o00,oo0 by ls4o
and. that figure probably represents
the number supportable by the full
employment of its own natural re-
sources.
Became Worlds Workshop
A few years thereafter Britain
took a momentous step by repeating
what were known as the corn laws
Those were the tariffs which pro-
tected British agriculture. From
then on Britain frankly relied on
its command of the sea to import
cheap food and raw materials tc
nourish its industrial workers and
their machines. British agriculture
was ruined, but Britain became the
worlds workshop and trading mart
amassing prodigious wealth. much
Of which developed its empire and
other countries, including the Unitec
States, returns from those foreign
investments multiplying British
prosperity. The results 30 stimu'
lated population that by 1910 1t hse
touched 100000.
World War I gravely strainet
Britain's prosperity and consumed
much Of its anassed wealth. Never
theless,, the impetus Of population
growth carried the total upward
Today, despite the catastrophe ef
fects of World War II, it is aroun,
At, ,000, 900. It Is hard to see hov
this figure can be satisfactoril,
maintained. Thus, large-scale emf
grafton is q contingency which
must be faced.
Fortunately for the British peo
pie. the relatively small island o
Britain, with q total area Of JUS
under 10000 square miles, roughly
equivalent to the combined areas o.
New York and Pennsylvania, Is tn,
heart of the vastest and most far
flung empire that history has evel
recorded. Until literally few week
ago. this empire covered approx
mately 13,5O0,000 square miles with
more than 500, 1000 900 inhabitants
roughly one-quarter Of both the lane
area and population Of the globe
To be sure, that empire appears t,
be notably shrinking. The hug
block of India is today only tech
nically within the empire ans
commonwealth" while much th'
same is true Of adjacent areas IL
Asia, such as Burma and Ceylon
Such cesessions, If consummated
would cut away a couple Of milliol
square miles OF territory and NOR
than two-thirds of the King EN-
peror's subjects.
Australia Opens Arms
However, such losses have no ef
feet upon the empires capacity t.
absorb migration from Britain, be
cause those Asiatic territories ar
densely populated by peoples who's
standard of life is so far below tina
u tIlC oliOlSll tILdI GllCy COulQ I1D
possibly compete in the lower eco
nomic grades. Britains Asiati
possessions offered opportunitie
only to officials, traders and inves
tors. They were never colonies o
settlement"
Much the same is true Of Britain
tropical possessions In the West In
dies, West Africa and certain re
naming parts Of Asia not yet af
fected by separatist nationalism.
The real opportunities for large
scale migration from the homelan,
are in the self-governing dominion
Of the British Commonwealth o
Nations. plus the great undevelope,
blocks Of territory in East Africa
Both individually and collectivel,
these offer prospects which ma,
profitably be considered in som
detail.
immigration from Britain Is toda