CONSUMPTION 95 



barley and hops, there would be one-third less population than there 

 was before these habits were formed. 



The principle holds when other articles than wheat are produced. 

 Upon an acre of land only so much rye, corn, or potatoes can be 

 grown. And as the quantities of the crops are fixed by the kind of 

 soil and the means of cultivation at hand, an acre of land under given 

 conditions will support only so many people. In short, population 

 increases with every change to more productive crops and is checked 

 by a growing demand for rarer articles or useless luxuries. 



In the earlier stages of civilization the land problem is usually the 

 only vital question. It is true that even primitive men have wants 

 which the products of the soil cannot gratify; yet these products so 

 nearly satisfy all their desires that there is no conscious opposition 

 between the interests of such men, except for the possession of land. 

 If the population exceeds the number which can be supported upon a 

 given area of land cultivated in a crude primitive fashion, there is no 

 solution of the difficulty except by war, famine, or emigration. 



With every increase of population there must be a modification 

 of the desires of the people, through which their accustomed wants 

 become less intense than some new wants which can be satisfied with 

 a less demand for land. When a hunting tribe occupies a region, each 

 individual must occupy many thousand acres to enable him to secure 

 enough deer, buffalo, or game to supply his family. When the demand 

 for food becomes changed from the wild to domestic animals, a quarter 

 of the former space will afford room for the flocks and herds necessary 

 to supply the same family. A crude cultivation of the soil can accom- 

 pany another modification of the desires, which create a demand for 

 cereal productions; and with this change comes another large reduc- 

 tion of the quantity of land which each family requires. Every sub- 

 sequent change by which population and production have been 

 increased has been following some change in the demand for food. 

 The demand for some well-known article of diet has fallen off, or at 

 least has been relatively reduced, and in its place some new article 

 is substituted which allows a better use to be made of the land. 



There is thus the most intimate relation between the desires of 

 a people and their demand for land. Only as the desire for less expen- 

 sive food grows can the opposition between the individual interests of 

 different men be lessened. As we progress in civilization, we are 

 obliged to adjust ourselves so that in our eating, drinking, and clothing 

 we make less demand on land. Every family must occupy a smaller 



