POPULATION 3 



is declining, absolutely or relatively, in both 

 respects. Particular questions, such as 

 housing and wages, are secondary and only of 

 importance in so far as they bear on the main 

 point. But there is, as usual, a strong 

 tendency to exalt them into the first place 

 and regard them as objects to be pursued for 

 their own sake. That may be quite legiti- 

 mate, but it is not the land question. 



Population. 



As for the facts in regard to population, 

 we are wont to measure, or try to measure, 

 life as we do everything, by physical stan- 

 dards on the principle pointed out the other 

 day by M. Bergson ; and so far as quantity is 

 concerned the matter is simple enough. We 

 have the Census, which tells us the number of 

 persons who live by agriculture and we can 

 see whether they are increasing or dimi- 

 nishing. Quality is a more difficult matter ; 

 it cannot really be measured, and that is why 

 civilisation is a riddle. Optimists are 

 people who like to think that quality in 

 general is improving and they are quite pre- 

 pared to sacrifice quantity to that assump- 

 tion. Pessimists think the contrary ; but 

 nobody knows. In this state of uncertainty 

 what happens is that people fall back on the 

 physical element, which is more susceptible 

 of measurement than the others, and assume 



