June 18.
Ar the close of the eighteenth century, when the population of England and Wales was less than nine millions, an English clergyman named Malthus wrote an essay on the "Principle of Population as it affects the future Improvement of Society" in which he warned social optimists that the natural tendency of population is to increase faster than the means of subsistence, and when thi happens it necessarily means poverty and misery for a very large lumber. Since his day the problem has become more acute. At the time of the Norman Conquest the population of England and Wales was about two millions, In 1801 it was §,892,536, having multiplied fourfold during this long period. But in 1851 it was 17,927,609; in 1901, $2,527,843, and in 1911 it was 36,070,492, In other words, the increase between 1801-1911 was as great relatively as during the preceding eight centuries. So with other Western nations, The population of Burope in 1801 was 150,000,000; in 1914 it was 450,000,000. The 3,000,000 colonists in America who revolted against Great Britain in 1776 are now represented by a nation of 110 millions, This portentous increase has taken place in spite of many checks, both positive and preventive. The positive checks are, as stated by Malthus, "unwholesome occupations, severe labour and exposure to the seasons, extreme poverty, bad nursing of children, large towns, excesses of all kinds, the whole train of common diseases and epidemics, wars, plague, and famine." The principal _preventive check mentioned by him is the prudential one of not marrying until ample provision has been made for the children likely to be born. Since his time a far more effective check has been found in the voluntary limitation of births. Nowadays, people marry and do not have children unless they want them. The consequence is that the birt in England and Wales, which in 1881 was 34.7 per thousand, has been reduced by voluntary limitation to 19.7 in 1928, the lowest recorded except daring the war years 1917-1919, Nevertheless, the white peoples are still increasing steadily though at a diminished rate. In the Orient, however, there is no voluntary restriction and the increase is much more rapid. Consider China for instance, with i immense population of 400 millions, and with the men all desiring numerous offspring for religious reasons. The causes which were formerly operative in: checking increase of population are being removed or weakened. the epidemic of pneumonic plague in 1921 which might easily have swept over the land and destroyed half the population, was stayed bby means of medical science with a loss of only 8,000 lives. The knowledge of public health and hygiene, now being spread everywhere, is reducing the incidence of disease, and the instruction in the proper care of babies is lower ing the frightful infant mortality. Famine sufferers are re-Heved instead of perishing as formerly. Other nations are protecting China from decimation by war. As to internal strife it is not very restrictive; the political change from the monarchy to a republic was accomplished with loss of life insignificant compared with the loss during the Taiping rebellion. Unchecked, it looks as though the Chinese may so increase as to swamp the world.
Fortunately or' unfortunately, choose to view it, the Chins ese are acquiring from the West, but not from missionaries, the' Yrowledge that if used will pre-" ent an inordinate increase, In a recent article in the ""Chinese'
Social and Political Science'
Review," the Chinese writer,' atter discussing the religious and' political and social changes now, taking place in China and remarking that "the old commandment making the childless a sinner is no longer taken serfous-Jy," goes on to say; "Strange as it may seem, the tall on birth control, unwelcome even in many Western countries, is having large audience in China, where the Chinese socialistic conception of th family might be expected to furniss the strongest opposition to it. The truth is that the opposition has been great, but not great enough to stop the talk, The talk has been going on unmolested; starting with a handful of radicals, it is now enlisting the leaders of Society. "It is in the present month that. the "Woman Journal,' similar in its influence to "the Ladies' Home Journal" in America, issued a special number birth control. The issue contains 24 articles discussing birth control from the standpoints of ethics, religion, biology, physiology, medicine, education, sociology, socialism, ete, suggesting actual solution of the problem, and voicing uniform un= conditional approval of birth control in China, Tt would be tedious to mention the special numbers on the some topic of smaller magazin Suffice it to say, birth control is, rapidly gaining ground in China, That even as individualistic an idea 4s birth control could have prevailed in China indicates a complete destruction of the Chinese socialistic conception of the family."
This is a subject involving tremendous issues. For the present we can only ask the question: Is it likely that the ancient. faith of the Chinese in the solidty and interdependence of the living and the dead with the accompanying rites and ceremonies of ancestral worship, which has held the nation together for thousand of years, is going to be vanquished easily by foreign influences? We think not. The Chinese women who hold advanced views will simply find their place in the home taken by, those who do not object to motherhood. Therefore it seems at pro sent as if China is going to increase and multiply without serious check, Likewise the populations of Japan and India, As over-population without a corresponding increase in the means of subsistence leads to. grim economic struggles, wars of exter= mination, poverty, unemployment, and a high death-rate, the outlook is not very promising.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.