of individuals in
any locality would, sooner or later, result in scarcity and bring
them into conflict with nature, and, therefore, into conflict with
one another. That human populations are physiologically capable of
indefinite increase, if time be allotted, is admitted, and must be
admitted by any one who has given the slightest attention to the
subject. Among the non-economizing animals and plants, it is not the
limits of their procreative power but the limits of subsistence which
determine their numbers. Neither is it lack of procreative power which
limits numbers in the case of man, the economic animal. With him also
it is a question of subsistence, but of subsistence according to some
standard. Being gifted with economic foresight he will not multiply
beyond the point where he can maintain that standard which he considers
decent. But--and this is especially to be noted--so powerful are his
procreative and domestic instincts that he will multiply up to the
point where it is difficult to maintain whatever standard he has.

Instinct early taught society everywhere protection against the irksome
condition of too many people and too little food. The old were killed
or deserted in wanderings or migrations, and infanticide and abortion
practised, as they are commonly in Africa to-day. Six-sevenths of India
have for ages practised female infanticide, yet India increases two
millions annually, and famine stalks year in and year out. Fifteen
million Chinese are doomed to die of starvation in 1921, according
to official statements.

Able-bodied adults in their prime bear the burdens of society
everywhere. The elders and their children are a burden on them,
especially in primitive society, where capital is not amassed, and
food must be procured by some labor, either of the chase, fishing,
or gathering fruits and herbs. Only advance in economic power has
arrested infanticide. The Greeks thought it proper; the Romans,
too. The early Teutons exposed babes. The Chinese have always done so.

Procreation, if not a dominant passion, would probably have ceased
long ago, and the race perished. Individual and even national "race
suicide" in France and New England indicated the possibilities of
this tendency. The teachings of asceticism which had such power
among Christians until the sixteenth century are again heard under a
different guise in at least one of the modern cults most successful
in the United States. Neo-Malthusianism i