92 THE SHADOW OF THE WORLD'S FUTURE 
realise that in the nature of the case effective occupa- 
tion is the only safeguard ultimately of their rights. 
Dense and expanding populations will be compelled, 
whether they will or no, to challenge cases of ineffective 
occupation, and that will be one of the great problems 
of the very near future. It is a problem that certainly 
deeply concerns peoples whose countries exhibit very 
small population-density, more especially when they 
are countries capable of carrying much greater numbers. 
A refusal to face a question of this kind is not only 
fatuous; it is also morally reprehensible in the last 
degree. And it is not too much to say that such 
refusal may be the presage of doom. 
We do well, of course, to bear in mind that people 
of our own race and nationality not only have a first 
claim to consideration because their language is the 
same, and their ideals, traditions, social habits are 
akin, but also for the reason that those who wish to 
emigrate from their own lands, if adults, are often 
not the most eminently desirable. This, however, 
hardly applies to the younger folk, and for this reason 
they constitute usually the most desirable among 
those who wish to migrate. Hence the importance 
of such a migration as has been called the “little 
brother ” movement. We are not, however, here 
dealing with the grounds for preferences for par- 
ticular classes of migrants. We revert to the general 
Juestion. 
What has been said above reminds us that behind 
any serious study of the population problem lies a 
question of ethics. It is this: — When sensible differ- 
ences exist between the actual and the possible popula- 
tions of given countries, what principle is to guide 
world-politics in regard to the situation thus existing? »’ 
There are, it would appear, at least four fundamental 
elements in this question, and they call for solutions. 
These elements are as follow, viz. :—