selfishness which would keep the good things of this world as the
preserve of certain classes. Therefore it starts its new campaign in
South London. 'We know that the want of restriction among the poorest
grade is enormously due to ignorance,' says its secretary. 'It is
clear, therefore, that if such knowledge is available to them it will
conduce to more restriction in those quarters than at present.' Having
achieved what it did not intend--having silenced the voices of children
in Park Lane and Belgravia--the Malthusian League is now determined to
achieve what it intended--silence the voices of children in Lambeth and
Poplar!

II

When the arguments on which the Malthusian League base their propaganda
{32} are considered, they are at once revealed to be the fruit of false
reasoning and of ignorance. Neo-Malthusianism is based on the
principle that poverty, disease, and premature death can only be
eliminated by restricting the increase of the population. As disease
and premature death are largely due to poverty, the problem is how to
eliminate poverty. It is, however, manifest to any one who considers
the sources of the world's food supply that these sources could provide
food for a population many times greater than that at present
inhabiting this planet. The vast territories of the British Empire are
at present only occupied along their fringes. The most fertile
regions--the vast spaces of Africa watered by noble rivers--cry out for
the spade and the plough. Canada is doubling its wheat supply every
few years. Counties at home, lying derelict, are waiting for intensive
cultivation. The remedy for poverty is a right distribution of the
world's food, and a right direction of the energies of men towards the
production {33} of food. When life is directed to its primary object,
the production of food, then the greater the wealth of life the greater
will be the food supply. The true wealth of a nation is therefore its
life.

But the Neo-Malthusians are incapable of regarding life with anything
but a jaundiced eye. If anywhere life should be desired it should
surely be in Australia, where a population only equal to that of
Scotland inhabit a continent. But even there the Neo-Malthusians will
have nothing but restriction. The birthrate in Australia has descended
to 10 per thousand, but the Neo-Malthusians regard that with
satisfaction. 'What I am absolutely certain of is that no country can,
from year