THE EEGULATION OF NUMBERS 199 



produce cannot be increased, has long ago been disproved by- 

 statistics. Such figures as caused Malthus to make his reserva- 

 tions about new countries have been forthcoming for old countries 

 also. In his own lifetime the census showed the falsity of the 

 arithmetical ratio for so ' old ' a country as England. It is not 

 necessary to go into the facts, which are well known and beyond 

 dispute. It is only the result of the proof of the fallacy contained 

 in the arithmetical ratio part of the theory that concerns us. 

 The result was that the whole argument collapsed, founded as it 

 was on the comparative rapidity of the increase of population 

 and of food. As Professor Cannan says : ' The Essay on the 

 Principle of Population falls to the ground as an argument, and 

 remains only a chaos of facts collected to illustrate the effect of 

 laws which do not exist. Beyond the arithmetical ratio theory, 

 there is nothing whatever in the Essay to show why subsistence 

 for man should not increase as fast as an " unchecked popula- 

 tion ". c" With every mouth God sends a pair of hands," so why 

 should not the larger population be able to maintain itself as well 

 as the former ? ' ^ ) 



2. The answer to this question was m process of being dis- 

 covered during the lifetime of Malthus. In the early years of 

 the century attention was drawn to the high price of corn, to the 

 position of agriculture, and especially to the fact that less rich 

 land was being brought under cultivation. From the discussion 

 which ensued, and to which Malthus contributed, there arose the 

 idea of decreasing returns to agriculture. It has been pointed 

 out that it must always have been recognized in practice that it 

 did not ' pay ' to employ more than a certain amount of labour 

 on a given area of land. In these years, however, for the first 

 time the principle which underlay this fact was made clear. 

 West and Ricardo were chiefly responsible for bringing the matter 

 to hght. The development of the theory need not occupy us. 

 It may be formulated shortly here. ' Whether we consider an 

 acre of land or a whole country, after a certain point is reached, 

 the return to a given amount of labour and capital will diminish. 

 It will do so, however, only under the supposition that the arts 

 of agriculture, using the phrase in the broadest sense, remain 

 stationary.' 2 The law is not limited to agriculture. It is applic- 

 able to all industry. Whenever some agent in production, upon 



* Cannan, loc. cit., p. 144. ^ Nicholson, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 163. 



