E,—GEOGRAPHY. 137 
numbers in the Dominions be equalised as the result of special en- 
couragement of female emigration, there will still remain a large excess 
of women in Great Britain who cannot be paired in the Empire unless 
the stream of emigrants who now leave the Empire can be for the most 
part deflected to the Dominions. In Great Britain the total number 
of families is limited by the number of males. In dealing with the 
size of family needed to maintain or increase population I do not reckon 
the present surplus of nearly two million women resulting from the 
joint effect of migration and war. At present our community appears 
to be in a transitional stage between the limitation of the family by 
chance and by choice, but the census shows, from the present age of 
marriage in Great Britain and the number of deaths before this age, 
that a general preference for the family of three children would not quite 
maintain the population, apart from migration. If, therefore, the size 
of family be universally decided by choice the number of the race cannot 
even be maintained, far less increased, under present conditions unless 
those who enter jnto matrimony cherish the ideal of a family of four 
children. 
Unless the British race increase we cannot insure the internal peace 
and external security of the Empire, or the continuance of its beneficent 
work of enlarging commerce and restricting the range of war. There- 
fore the birth-rate in Great Britain should be maintained above the 
death-rate at least until the British population in the Dominions exceeds 
that in the Mother Country. _The maintenance of the race will then 
rest chiefly with our people oversea, and, with their great resources, it 
should be possible for them to keep pace with the other growing nations. 
