DENSITY OF POPULATION 13 



It appears therefore that these various systems of land 

 tenure differ ultimately only in the maximum density of 

 the rural population which they permit for a given soil 

 and climate. There is indeed much to be said in favor of 

 the landlord system on grounds which 1 shall presently 

 explain. In passing it is worth noting that relief to the 

 growth of population, which would enable peasant proprie- 

 tors, or others with fixed tenure rights, really to profit by 

 improvements they might make, could only result from 

 an active emigration of nearly half the number of the 

 younger people of each generation either to newly opened 

 agricultural tracts or to cities of growing industrial im- 

 portance. 



It is obvious at the very commencement of our enquiry 

 that, in a country whose economic condition " is stationary, 

 or in which the economic development is slow, the cl iracter 

 of the land tenure makes practically no difference as regards 

 the welfare of the cultivating population, and that the only 

 difference is in the ultimate density of the population. It 

 may possibly be a question of controversy as to whether a 

 large population is in itself a desirable object of statesmanship. 

 There have been periods in the histories of many countries, if 

 they appeared to be threatened with invasion by a foreign 

 power, when the increase of population seemed to be of para- 

 mount importance. Yet even here it has to be remembered 

 that a small population with a high standard of living may 

 bo more efficient in the defence of the country than a vast 

 population existing merely at the subsistence level. For 

 my own part, I would unhesitatingly say that a large 

 population is not a desirable end ; and I shall assume 

 throughout the rest of this course of lectures that the 

 aim of the economic reformer should rather be to restrict 

 the growth of population and to raise as large a proportion 

 of the people as possible to a high standard of living. 



