96 THE SHADOW OF THE WORLD’S FUTURE 
he has existed on the earth. It is a mystery that 
historically is inexplicable. One can only guess at the 
reasons. To give point to the significance of things as 
they now stand, and to anticipate a future possibility, 
tet us assume that the rate of increase for the whole 
world has fallen as low as one in two hundred per 
annum, that is 0-5 per cent. As we have already seen, 
*his is considerably lower than it has been recently. 
At this rate population takes 138-975 years to double, 
say 139 years. Then, if the rate could be maintained, 
the world’s population would reach the following 
numbers in the date-vears indicated, viz. :— 
Date-year . 1928 2067 2206 2345 Anno Domini 
Millions . 1950 3900 7800 15,600 population. 
The last figure unquestionably can never be reached. 
The 7800 millions is considerably greater than Prof. 
East thought possible for the world. Is it possible— 
we may ask—for anything to be more patent than 
that to escape desperate trouble the whole system of 
relations among human races and between nations 
needs to be reviewed and adjusted? This means that 
world-economics, world-politics, and the whole ques- 
tion of admixture of miscegenation and of migration 
urgently demand study. Or more generally the study 
of economics, from the point of view of international 
=quity and mutual interest, is one of the supreme needs 
of to-day; and, further, we shall have to consider what 
migrations are possible and what are best.