Birth Control | Page 9

prevalence of famines is quoted as a proof of reckless
overpopulation. Now a famine may occur from several different causes,
some within and others beyond the control of man, but a failure of
crops has never yet been caused by pressure on the soil. On the
contrary, famine is less likely to arise in a country whose soil is
intensively cultivated, because intensive cultivation means a variety of
crops, and therefore less risk of all the crops failing. Moreover, during
the past century famine has occurred in Bengal, where population is
dense; in Ireland, where population is moderate, and in Eastern Russia,
where population is scanty. The existence of famine is therefore no
proof that a country is overpopulated, although it may indicate that a
country is badly governed or under-developed.
(b) Abundance Malthusians also claim that by means of artificial birth
control we could live in a land of abundance. They point out that, as the
population of a new colony increases, the colonists, by applying the
methods of civilisation to the rich soil, become more and more
prosperous. Eventually there comes a time when capital or labour
applied to the soil gives a maximum return per head of population.
Once that point has been reached any further capital or labour applied
to the soil will produce a smaller return per head of population. This
"law of diminishing returns" may be illustrated by a simpler example.
Let us suppose that during one year a market garden worked by one
man has produced vegetables to the value of £10. During the second
year the garden is worked by ten men and produces vegetables to the
value of £200. It is obvious that the work of ten men has produced
twice as much per head as the work of one man, because each man has
produced not £10 but £20. During the third year the garden is worked

by twenty men and yields vegetables to the value of £300. The total
yield is greater, but the yield per head is less, because each man has
produced not £20 but £15. The point of maximum production per head
has been passed, and the law of diminishing returns is operating.
By restricting the birth-rate Malthusians would limit the population to
the number necessary for maximum production per head. Now, in the
first place, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, in the case of a
country with various industries, to decide when the line of maximum
production had been passed at any given time. Moreover, it would be
utterly impossible to fix this line permanently. In the case of our market
garden the introduction of intensive horticulture might mean that
maximum production per head required the work of forty men. Again,
the very phrase "maximum production per head" implies sterling moral
qualities in the workers, and an absence of drones; and sterling moral
qualities have never been prominent in any nation, once the practice of
artificial birth control has been adopted. Lastly, the Christian ideal
requires for its realisation, not a maximum, but an adequate supply of
food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. Christianity teaches that to seek after
the maximum enjoyment of material things is not the chief end of man,
because the life of a man in this world is very short compared with his
life in eternity.
(c) Wages The Wages Fund Theory is an economic reflection of the
Malthusian myth. This theory assumes that a definite fixed sum is
available every year for distribution as wages amongst labourers, so
that the more numerous the labourers the less wages will each one
receive. From this theory Malthusians argue that the only remedy for
low wages is artificial birth control. They carefully refrain from telling
the working classes the other aspect of this Wages Fund
theory--namely, that if the workers in one trade receive a rise in wages,
a corresponding reduction must be made in the wages of others, so that
a rise in wages here and there confers no real benefit on the labouring
classes as a whole. That is merely one illustration of capitalist bias in
the Malthusian propaganda. In any case, economic science has
discarded the Wages Fund Theory as a pure fiction. No fixed or definite
sum is available for wages, because the wages of a labourer are derived

from the produce of his work. Even in the case of making a railway,
where wages are paid before the work is completed, the money is
advanced by shareholders on the security of the proceeds that will
eventually accrue from the produce of the labourers.
Section 2. POVERTY IN GREAT BRITAIN DUE TO OTHER
CAUSES
(a) _Under-development_
Even if the theory of birth controllers, that a high birth-rate increases
poverty, were as true as it is false, it could not