Birth Control | Page 3

progression, and that a woman might bear thirty children in
her lifetime; but it is wrong to assume that because a thing might
happen, it therefore does happen. The population, as a matter of fact,
does not increase in geometrical progression, because Nature [5] places
her own checks on the birth-rate, and no woman bears all the children
she might theoretically bear, apart altogether from artificial birth
control.
(b) Secondly, the food supply does not of necessity increase in
arithmetical progression, because food is produced by human hands,
and is therefore increased in proportion to the increase of workers,
unless the food supply of a country or of the world has reached its limit.

The food supply of the world might reach a limit beyond which it could
not be increased; but as yet this event has not happened, and there is no
indication whatsoever that it is likely to happen.
Human life is immediately sustained by food, clothing, shelter, and fuel.
Food and clothing are principally derived from fish, fowl, sheep, cattle,
and grain, all of which _tend_, more so than man, to increase in
geometrical ratio, although actually their increase in this progression is
checked by man or by Nature. As regards shelter there can be no
increase at all, either arithmetical or geometrical, apart from the work
of human hands. Again, the stock of fuel in or on the earth cannot
increase of itself, and is gradually becoming exhausted. On the other
hand, within living memory, new sources of fuel, such as petroleum,
have been made available, and old varieties of fuel have been used to
better advantage, as witness the internal-combustion engine driven by
smoke from sawdust. Moreover, in the ocean tides is a vast energy that
one day may take the place of fuel.
(c) Thirdly, before anyone can reasonably maintain that overpopulation
is the cause of poverty and disease, it is necessary to prove that
overpopulation actually exists or is likely to occur in the future. By
overpopulation we mean the condition of a country in which there are
so many inhabitants that the production of necessaries of livelihood is
insufficient for the support of all, with the result that many people are
overworked or ill-fed. Under these circumstances the population can be
said to _press on the soil_: and unless their methods of production
could be improved, or resources secured from outside, the only possible
remedy against the principle of diminishing returns would be a
reduction of population; otherwise, the death-rate from want and
starvation would gradually rise until it equalled the birth-rate in order
to maintain an unhappy equilibrium.
Section 3. THE ROOT FALLACY
According to Malthusian doctrine overpopulation is the cause of
poverty, disease, and war: and consequently, unless the growth of
population is artificially restrained, all attempts to remedy social evils
are futile. Malthusians claim that "if only the devastating torrent of

children could be arrested for a few years, it would bring untold relief."
They hold that overpopulation is the root of all social evil, and the truth
or falsehood of that proposition is therefore the basis of all their
teaching. Now, when Malthusians are asked to prove that this their
basic proposition is true, they adopt one of two methods, not of proof,
but of evasion. Their first method of evading the question is by
asserting that the truth of their proposition is self-evident and needs no
proof. To that we reply that the falsity of the proposition can and will
be proved. Their second device is to put up a barrage of facts which
merely show that all countries, and indeed the earth itself, would have
been overpopulated long ago if the increase of population had not been
limited by certain factors, ranging from celibacy and late marriages to
famines, diseases, wars, and infanticide. The truth of these facts is
indisputable, but it is nevertheless a manifest breach of logic to argue
from the fact of poverty, disease, and war having checked an increase
of population, that therefore poverty, disease, and war are due to an
increase of population. It would be as reasonable to argue that, because
an unlimited increase of insects is prevented by birds and by climatic
changes, therefore an increase of insects accounts for the existence of
birds, and for variations of climate. Nor is it of any use for Malthusians
to say that overpopulation might be the cause of poverty. They cannot
prove that it is the cause of poverty, and, as will be shown in the
following chapter, more obvious and probable causes are staring them
in the face. For our present purpose it will suffice if we are able to
prove that overpopulation has not occurred in the past and is unlikely to
occur in the future.
Section 4. WHAT OVERPOPULATION MEANS