MODEEN PEOBLEMS 311 



sense just alluded to, it may also be treated from the purely- 

 military point of view. The desire for a dense population so 

 frequently expressed from the sixteenth century onwards, as 

 noted in the first chapter, is largely based on the fact that the 

 larger the population the more potential soldiers there are. 

 Harrison, for instance, wrote as follows : ' Some also do grudge 

 at the great increase of people in these days thinking a necessary 

 brood of cattle far better than a superfluous augmentation of 

 mankind. But if it should come to pass that any foreign invasion 

 should be made, which the Lord God forbid for his mercy's sake, 

 then should these men find that a wall of men is far better than 

 stacks of corn and bags of money, and complain of the want when 

 it is too late to seek the remedy.' ^ This attitude was especially 

 noticeable in Germany before the war. A German author com- 

 ments on the ' mad craze for numbers ', and goes on to add that 

 ' at the back is rather the desire, which I admit is often vague ^ 

 for as many soldiers as possible '.^ It is by no means absent in 

 England. In the second Eeport of the National Birth-Eate Com- 

 mission we read as follows : ' But in the event of a war similar 

 to that which we have just experienced, what would happen to 

 us with a greatly reduced birth-rate ? Surely all we have would 

 be taken, and we must become slaves — as we should be to-day 

 if we had entered on the struggle with Germany without adequate 

 man-power. Moreover what would happen to our Empire ? ' ^ 

 It may be doubted whether there has been produced by such 

 considerations in recent times even in Germany any effect upon 

 numbers ; probably economic forces have overruled such con- 

 siderations altogether. It is possible that they may have had 

 some influence upon military nations in earlier days. It is to be 

 imagined and certainly to be hoped that they will not mould 

 views on this subject in fature. 



4. As has been indicated, such departures as there are among 

 European nations at the present day from the desirable density 

 are of the nature of minor fluctuations. Europe is not from the 

 point of view of productiveness over-populated (or was not in 

 1914 ; it is very difiicult to sum up the position in this respect 

 since the loss of capital owing to the war). There is no ground 



' Harrison, Description of England, Bk. II, ch. x, p. 215. - Nicolai, 



loc. cit., p. 48. ^ Problems of Population and Parenthood, p. 73. A French 



historian says that ' la densitd de la population fait la force des nations ' (de 

 Morgan, Premieres Civilisations, p. 111). 



