STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

Hokitika Guardian, 8 September 1924, Page 1

STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL

A I’I’OFEKKOB'S PREDICTION SYDNEY. Aug. 28

When the world’s population overtakes the capacity ol the earth to produce food, in about •-’Oil years' time, the human race will he reduced to a literal struggle for existence. This is the opinhui of Prolessor l.aiincelot expressed ill tin arresting lecture recently, and while nolle ol us will he on earth then to take part in ugly little scramble for a crust, the Professor’s views are interesting. 11l the struggle. he says those who survive will he the' ruthless, the unscrupulous, and the lower strata of. the moral fabric. The one per cent, of people who are, ill essence, responsible lor coir present condition will he deposed, am! with them will collapse wlmt we knov. as civilisation, according to P roles.sen* Harrison. Another cause operating to bring about our extinction is the possibility of some dread epidemic luring us all low before our bodies have time to generate anti-toxins. 1 hese things, says Professor Harrison, may lead us to wonder why we allow the world to he tilled by an ever greater population, without thought of the consequences, and most of it recruited Irom the h#woc grades of society. "The average of mental capacity,” he says, “as judged by brain development, at the present time is below that of C'romngon man who lived tens of thousands of years ago. Just as C'romngon civilisation disappeared with the race, leaving no descendants, so may our civilisation disappear.”