RACE SUICIDE 83 



of the death rate. In London the death rate from 1680 to 1728 was 80 

 per 1,000 of population; in 1905 it was 15; 250 years thus witnessed 

 a decrease of more than 80 per cent. The same fact is shown by the 

 increasing length of life of the population of Geneva, Switzerland. 



In the sixteenth century the length of life was 21.2 



In the seventeenth " " " " " " 25.7 



In the eighteenth " " " " " " 33.6 



In the nineteenth " " " " " " 39.7 



The gradual checking of the death rate worked a gradual increase 

 in the length of life, and hence, unless the birth rate was proportion- 

 ately checked, a corresponding increase in the population. 



Thus, during the last part of the eighteenth and the early part of 

 the nineteenth centuries, the birth rate (which remained almost un- 

 checked) greatly exceeded the death rate (which was being effectually 

 checked). The result of the great excess of births over deaths is shown 

 in the tremendous increase of population after 1750 — an increase which 

 could never have been supported but for the increased production of 

 wealth due to the development of the factory system. 



The western world, at the opening of the nineteenth century, pre- 

 sented this signijScant picture — a high birth rate, a low and decreasing 

 death rate; a phenomenal increase in population made possible by the 

 wealth-producing power of the factory system ; and big families tread- 

 ing close on the heels of subsistence. Here was ample justification for 

 the pessimistic gloom of Malthus. Catastrophe seemed inevitable, 

 when democracy entered the field, telling the men at the margin 

 whose families were either unregulated in size or else regulated only by 

 subsistence, that they were free and equal to every other man and had a 

 like right to "rise." The thought was new. "How can I rise?" 

 asked the laborer. " Stop having children," replied the economist. 

 The advice was followed. The family of eight is replaced by the family 

 of two and thus disencumbered of an onerous burden, the laborer is en- 

 abled to raise his standard of life. 



Until 1750 any great increase in population was prevented by a 

 high death rate. In the succeeding century, as a result of science and 

 sanitation, the death rate was gradually reduced, and an overwhelming 

 increase in population was prevented in only one way — ^by decreasing 

 the birth rate. The decline in the birth rate therefore saved the modem 

 civilized world from over population and economic disaster. 



Conditions from 1750 to 1850 were not in stable equilibrium. The 

 death rate had decreased; the birth rate remained high. Population, 

 supported by the wealth of the factory system, was increasing abnor- 

 mally. Malthus drew his inferences from these facts, which, if they had 

 remained unchanged would undoubtedly have caused overpopulation. 

 This stage was, however, merely transitory. An equilibrium of popula- 

 tion has been reestablished through the saving grace of the decrease in 

 the birth rate, commonly called " race suicide." 



