354 Civilization and Decay 



certain that there has been a large absolute, though 

 not relative increase of poverty, and that the very 

 poor tend to huddle in immense masses in the cities. 

 Even though these masses are, relatively to the rest 

 of the population, smaller than they formerly were, 

 they constitute a standing menace, not merely to 

 our prosperity, but to our existence. The improve- 

 ment in the means of communication, moreover, 

 has so far immensely increased the tendency of the 

 urban population to grow at the expense of the ru- 

 ral; and philosophers have usually been inclined to 

 regard the ultimate safety of a nation as resting 

 upon its peasantry. The improvement in machinery, 

 the very perfection of scientific processes, cause 

 great, even though temporary, suffering to unskilled 

 laborers. Moreover, there is a certain softness of 

 fibre in civilized nations which, if it were to prove 

 progressive, might mean the development of a cul- 

 tured and refined people quite unable to hold its 

 own in those conflicts through which alone any 

 great race can ultimately march to victory. There 

 is also a tendency to become fixed, and to lose flexi- 

 bility. Most ominous of all, there has become evi- 

 dent, during the last two generations, a very pro- 

 nounced tendency among the most highly civilized 

 races, and among the most highly civilized portions 

 of all races, to lose the power of multiplying and 

 even to decrease; so much so as to make the fears 

 of the disciples of Malthus a century ago seem 

 rather absurd to the dweller in France or New 

 England to-day. 



