312 MODEKN PROBLEMS 



for the pessimism of Sir Thomas Holdich, who says that ' Asia 

 affords no asylum for overcrowded Europe '.^ 



It may be observed that the phenomenon of unemployment 

 as generally seen in industrial countries is not evidence of over- 

 population. It has been shown by Beveridge that unemployment, 

 such as now occurs in England, is in no way connected with 

 over-population. It is due to certain maladjustments in the 

 industrial system, such as the decay of industries, the seasonal 

 and cyclical fluctuations of trade, and the position as to the 

 normal reserve of labour. The industrial system so functions that, 

 unless special measures are adopted, there is always a certain 

 amount of unemployment. Unemployment is thus ' a problem 

 of industry ' as Beveridge has called it.^ It may also be observed 

 that the remarkable differences in the return per head as between 

 different countries are in any case very largely due to the amount 

 of skill employed and not to the nearness of approximation to the 

 desirable number.^ 



At any given time in any nation it is desirable either that 

 population should be stable or that there should be a certain 

 ratio of increase. It is clear that increase may be brought about 

 under many different conditions. A high birth-rate and a high 

 death-rate may give the same ratio of increase as a low birth-rate 

 and a low death-rate. These conditions have been much studied ; 

 the consideration of them falls outside this book. But we may 



1 Holdich, Political Frontiers, p. 256. It is interesting to note that the wheat- 

 eating population of the wOrld increased less rapidly in the twenty-five years 

 preceding 1906 than the wheat area of the world. At the beginning of this period 

 there were 283 people (more or less wheat-eaters) for every hundred acres of wheat, 

 whereas in 1906 there were 264 such people for the same area {Agricvltural 

 Statistics, Cd. 3832, vol. xvi, part 4). 



- Beveridge, Unemployment, ch. i. 



^ The average income per head in 1914 is given by .Stamp as follows (./. R. S. S., 

 vol. Ixxxii, p. 491) : 



The figures are only approximate. The most accurate — those for the United 

 Kingdom and for Australia — are not likely to be inaccurate to a greater extent 

 than 10 per cent., while the least accurate — those for Japan — may be inaccurate 

 to a greater extent than 40 per cent. Ro\vntree, commenting ujion the low wages 

 in Belgium as compared with England, attributes them, not to over-population, 

 but to a low standard of education, low degree of efiiciency and productivity, to 

 the fact that only a small proportion of workers are engaged in the production of 

 high-class goods, and to the feebleness of the trade unions [Land and Labour, 

 pp. 75 £f.). 



