F.—RCONOMICS. 161 
material even for a guess at what proportion of the vast regions—in 
Canada, Siberia, South America, Africa, Australia—now used for no 
productive purpose could.-be made productive; 4t what proportion of 
all the ‘ productive ’ but ill-cultivated land could with varying degrees 
of trouble be fitted for corn and pasture.’ Without some estimate on 
such points, discussion of the problem of world population is mere 
groping in the dark, The inquiry itself is one that by an adequate 
combination of experts in geographic, agricultural and economic science 
—not by a commission gathering opinions or an office gathering statistical 
returns—it should not be difficult to make. 
The second is an investigation into the physical, psychological, and 
social effects of that restriction of fertility which has now become a 
leading feature of the problem. This also is a matter neither for one 
person—for its scope covers several sciences—nor for a commission ; 
facts rather than opinions or prejudices are required. 
If the question be asked, not what inquiries should be made but 
what action should now be taken, it is difficult to go beyond the trite 
generalities of reconstruction, of peace and trade abroad, of efficiency 
and education at home. The more completely we can restore the eco- 
nomic system under which our people grew, the sooner shall we absorb 
them again in productive labour. Unless we can make the world again 
a vast co-operative commonwealth of trade, we shall not find it spacious 
enough or rich enough to demand from these islands the special services 
by which alone they can sustain their teeming population. Even if the 
world becomes again large enough to hold us, we shall not keep our 
place in it with the ease of Victorian days; we dare no longer allow, on 
either side of the wage bargain, methods which waste machinery or 
brains or Jabour. Finally, if there be any question of numbers, if there 
be any risk that our people may grow too many, the last folly that we 
can afford is to lower their quality and go back in measures of health or 
education. Recoil from standards once reached is the gesture of a 
community touched by decay. 
w2 
