68 THE SHADOW OF THE WORLD’S FUTURE
in the forms of agriculture necessary for the production
of all forms of food and clothing supplies, would have
to be properly correlated and co-ordinated. It is self-
evident that it is only in this way that the highest
possible measure of efficiency can be reached. Thus
the numbers concerned in mere distributing should
always be the minimum requisite. This, of course,
implies a very highly developed organisation of human
effort, and one which minimises as far as possible the
limiting effects of national egoisms. Industrial and
agricultural production should also be so co-ordinated
that the highest food-producing efficiency can be
attained. For ordinary industrial purposes aggrega-
tion is necessary, the necessities of the case frequently
involving the use of land which otherwise could be of
agricultural service. We thus see that even with a
perfect industrial, distributing and agricultural organ-
isation there is no possibility of using the entire earth’s
available surface for the production of food-stuffs.
The allowance for rocky, for mountainous, desert
and cold regions, for woods and forests, for roads and
railways, for factory and residence purposes, will reduce
the 52-5 million square miles to the order of one-half,
say to 26-25 million square miles or 16,800 million
acres. If it be ultimately possible that only two acres.
will have to be provided per person, which is equivalent
to a square of slightly over 295 feet side, the maximum
population for the earth would be only 8400 millions.
Or yet again, the actual arable land in Japan proper
is, as already said, only 27,155 square miles out of
147,650; say, roughly, 18-4 per cent. Its population is
considerable, and its standard of living so simple that
the possibilities of using the land agriculturally may
be taken as very near to that of the possible maximum
for that country. For the world, as we have seen, it
is somewhat under 10-0 per cent. For the United
States, though by no means for the whole of North
