POPULATION AND POOR OF THE WORLD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2005, 5 December 1888, Page 2

POPULATION AND POOR OF THE WORLD

-♦— — — - From many quarters we are hearing the question, will the world ia its preient state last another century ? And he would be a bold maa who replied ia the afflraiativol A we!l-Snown writer whoso valu able . works on statistics have : had ; most important practical effeots both m . England and m India, says, '■ Many thinipr' •: combine to force on thoughtful men the ; solemn conviction that the/present dispensation cannot last long. Apart from propbetio w&rning, the ■tatUtics of population point to an early close of tho present social eoonomy of our world. In . view of the present rate of increase of tbe^ v . population, we may Bay that the economic condition of the whole world mv *t befundamentally changed daring the next century, and long before it nas run ita course. It seems es if the old command " /ncrease and multiply and replenish ■-. the earth " was scon to reach its coneummution, preparatory to aome grand climax In the history of our race. Prophecy and the lawi of population are alike ' ' converging lines pointing to one iesQ* ia ■ » the near future. TheßJ are no mere .- statements of opinion, but are backed up by factß that cannot be gainsaid. . Popq--latioo we must remember increases' ini geometrical ratio. A century doubles it even m crowded India ; half, a centnryia England, and a quarter of a oentury.in 1 America. Already millions iv India never ' know what it is to be free from absolute ; hunger, where millions more exist on one meal a day. What will happen when . In lia's two hundred and fifty millions are, , doubled— when we have to govern five : hundred millions of Hindoos?. By the end of this coniury tho United Stateß will have its hundred milli'lia doubling every twenty-fiveyear*. There is no "new world " remaining now to be discovered and colonised J This is one of the many signs which concur m showing us that '?< " the time is short," and the end of out age at hand. — " Regions, Bpyond;" ■<■ -