CHAPTER IX 
WORLD-POPULATION AND NATIONALISM 
IT has already been mentioned that the existing 
attitude of the people of any nation to the balance of 
the world’s inhabitants is egoistic; and, within the 
nations themselves, the attitude is individualistic. It 
is self-evident that these conditions conflict with the 
possibilities through which the world can carry the 
greatest population possible. The economic pressures 
that must inevitably arise as a consequence, and con- 
flicts between peoples, greatly affect the question of 
what numbers the earth can carry. So long as nations 
are liable to go to war, great freedom of migration 
is hardly possible, and human activities and wealth 
are, moreover, deflected into unprofitable channels. 
Governing authorities rely upon the numbers of their 
citizens both for the drafts for navies and armies 
and for the taxation and loans for the purpose of 
prosecuting war. 
There is a point of view which, while it may not 
obviate the difficulty entirely, tends to do so. If we 
recognise that humanity has moral obligations, then, 
just as in individual relations, it is required that man 
shall maintain goodwill toward his fellow-citizens, and 
that he shall react favourably to his communal and 
social obligations generally, so is it to be regarded as 
normal, and indeed essential, that each people should 
have goodwill to all others, and should recognise its 
obligations to mankind as a totality. 
Should the point of view of, say, a Treitschke or a 
Bernhardi become general, the world would certainly 
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