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NEW MALTHUSIANISM 113
future of the human race should be safeguarded
3 the mischief that such people perpetuate.
sardonic and disinterested observer of the issues
the earth might well smile at the interest taken
‘he breeding of its animal and bird stocks, colla-
lly with the neglect of human progeny. ‘ Why
orientation of genetics?” he might well ask. Is
1anity to take its chances without guidance, or are
accumulations of a knowledge of heredity to be
| in the interests of its difficult future? To what
rankind to be devoted? Is it to be to ruthless
romic aggrandisements with their frightful con-
lences ; or is it to be to economic adjustments with
ormal, steadier, and more friendly life? This is
problem, and Malthus was one of the very few
» had a clear vision of the great controlling factor.
Tan can be for ever the victim of blind impulse and
:goistic greed, or he can witness ameliorative action
ed on true eugenics and a finer sense of the claims
those who are to be. Is this all a fatuous and
“ile dream, or is it a guiding aspiration? The last
hundred and twenty-five years have seen the
elopment of the great locomotive, of the enormous
or, of the airship and aeroplane, of telegraphy, of
»phony, and wireless communication. It has wit-
sed a wonderful reduction of the menaces to the
«innings of human life. It has been characterised
an enormous increase in the average length of life
all born, the expectation of life at birth. In
stralia in one-third of a century the death-rate for
first year of life fell to 46 per cent. of what it
5. At the age of minimum mortality, 11 years and
months, it fell to 59 per cent. of its original value ;
every age up to 86 it has witnessed improvement.
ese are amazing advances. But they mean that Man
ries new responsibilities, and that there are certain
sequences which involve international adjustments.
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