Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/892

 876 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Darwin, Spencer, Guillard, Marx, Loria, Dumont, who are selected as types. The author concludes that nothing of value is left of the sys- tem of Malthus. The defenders of Malthus and of the form of his doc- trine now taught will object to the statements of their position. There is an absence of a complete and sharply defined definition of that position.

The first argument of Nitti turns on the experience of Europe. He claims that it contradicts the "law of Malthus" who predicted that population would double itself in twenty -five years. The fact is that population has not increased at any such rate in Europe or in the United States.

The means of subsistence have grown far more rapidly than the population. Unproductive consumption and pauperism are the neces- sary consequences of our vicious form of distribution of wealth and do not arise from the excessive multiplication of the human race. Sta- tistics of wealth and population are given to illustrate this idea.

The chief error of Malthus is that he sought the law of population in the world external to man, whereas he should have sought it in man himself. Population has always an organic tendency to adapt itself to the means of subsistence. This italicized phrase is central in the argument, but it does not seem to add anything to Malthus. It is no great dis- covery that population and subsistence will somehow come to equilib- rium, even if, as in India, it requires the death by famine of 12,000,000 people to secure the balance.

The author shows that there is a relation between the price of grain and the number of marriages and births, which simply shows that the instincts of the people accord with the teaching of Malthus as to " moral restraints." He also shows that when there is a high birth rate there is also a high death rate, which again confirms a teaching of the Malthus school that if man will not voluntarily and intelligently balance births and food there are natural forces which will correct his error at enormous cost of life.

The author very properly shows that many famines in the past were due to a defective organization of transportation and taxation, not to excess of population, and that with international commerce these evils may be greatly diminished.

Taking up the question of "subsistence" he shows that luxury grows with the capitalist class and is copied by the poorer people who are borne on to extravagance by the necessary law of imitation.