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Page 11
And later on (p. 114) he says "Malthus's law explains nothing just as it
comprehends nothing. Bound by rigid formulas which are belied by history
and demography, it is incapable of explaining not only the mystery of
poverty, but the alternate reverses of human civilization."
Nitti's conclusions are based largely on the fact that while food
supplies have become abundant and cheap, birth-rates have steadily and
persistently declined.
No-one who has studied the economic and vital statistics of the last
half century can fail to be impressed with the change that has come over
the relative ratios of increase in population and food.
Bonar says (Malthus and his Work, p. 165), "The industrial progress of
the country (France) has been very great. Fifty years ago, the
production of wheat was only half of what it is to-day, of meat less
than half. In almost every crop, and every kind of food, France is
richer now than then, in the proportion of 2 to 1. In all the
conveniences of life (if food be the necessaries) the increased supply
is as 4 to 1, while foreign trade has become as 6 to 1."
In a remarkable table prepared by Mr. F.W. Galton, and quoted by Mr.
Sydney Webb in "Industrial Democracy," it is clearly shown, that, while
the birth-rate and food-rate (defined as the amount of wheat in Imperial
quarters, purchased with a full week's wages) gradually increased along
parallel lines between 1846 and 1877, the former suddenly decreased from
36.5 per thousand in 1877 to 30 per thousand in 1895, the latter
increasing from .6 to 1.7 for the same period.
The remarkable thing about the facts that this table so clearly
discloses is that with a gradual increase of the means of subsistence
from 1846 to 1877 there is also a gradual increase in the proportion of
births to population. But at the year 1877 there, is a very sudden and
striking increase in food products, and the purchasing power of the
people coincides exactly with a very sudden and striking decrease in the
birth-rate of the people. The greater the decrease in the birth-rate,
the greater the increase in the people's purchasing power. Now, what has
brought about this change in the ratios of increase in population and in
food respectively?
Some serious factor, inoperative during the thirty years prior to 1877
must have suddenly been introduced into the social system, to work such
a marvellous revolution during the last twenty years.
Some economic writers find it easy here to discover a law, and declare
that the birth-rate is in inverse ratio to the abundance of food.
(Doubleday quoted by Nitti, Population and the Social System, p. 55).
Other economic writers of recent date attribute this great change in
ratio of increase to economic causes. Only a few find the explanation in
biological laws.
Herbert Spencer is the champion of the biological explanation of a
decreasing birth-rate.
With the intellectual progress of the race there is a decadence of
sexual instinct. In proportion as an individual concentrates his
energies and attention on his own mental development, does the instinct
to, and power of, generation decrease.
It may be true, it certainly is true, that if an individual's energies
are concentrated in the direction of development of one system of the
body, the other systems to some extent suffer. A great and constant
devotion to the development of the muscular system will produce very
powerful muscles, and great muscular energy, with a strong tendency to,
and pleasure in exercise. It is true also, that time and energy are
monopolized in this creation of muscle, and that less time and energy
are available for mental pursuits and mental exercise.
Up to a certain point muscular exercise aids mental development, but
beyond that point concentration of effort in the direction of muscular
development starves mental growth.
On the other hand, if the education and exercise of the mind receive
all attention, the muscular system will suffer, and to some extent
remain undeveloped. Or generally, one system of the body can be highly
developed only at the expense of some other system, not immediately
concerned.
It is true that the more an individual concentrates his efforts on his
own intellectual development, the more his sexual system suffers, and
the less vigorous his sexual instincts.
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