78 



Malthusianism and the 



restrained in their increase by all those causes " which 

 tend prematurely to weaken and destroy the human 

 frame." As Paulin remarks : " Even in Europe the 

 checks of Malthus have since his day undergone an 

 elimination, and where not an elimination a loss of 

 energy that consigns the conception of them as 

 nature's ordinance for keeping down and within due 

 limits the population of the globe to the limbo of 

 baseless and mistaken theories." 



We must now deal with Paulin's " Law of Popula- 

 tion " — a universal law, which governs every move- 

 ment of population, whether of retardation or pro- 

 gression. It is neither intricate nor abstruse. To put 

 it briefly, it depends upon the ability of the individuals 

 of the community to marry, and this again depends on 

 the state of the labour market. When there is stagna- 

 tion in the labour market, there are no new posts being 

 created which young men can fill. There are only 

 those rendered vacant by the death of their seniors, so 

 that very few acquire sufficient means to enable them 

 to marry, and in these circumstances we find that the 

 population does not increase, the birth-rate doing no 

 more than keeping pace with the death-rate. 



When industrial activity is at its height things 

 are very different. New posts of employment are 

 being constantly created, which enable young men 

 entering into occupation of these to marry. Soon 

 the birth-rate goes up and keeps well ahead of the 

 death-rate. Thus it is that cycles of trade activity, 1 

 which occur with periodic regularity, and are be- 

 lieved to be the result chiefly of excessive industrial 

 competition — have, as accompaniments, an increased 

 marriage and birth-rate. When the sources of in- 

 dustry are being sapped by permanent causes, the effect 



1 Good and bad harvests would seem to directly affect trade for 

 good and evil respectively. 



