| Show f l-d l 9 ii i r Earths Earth's Population Will Soon Reach Li Limit i J I Pt jr DAVID DIETZ By Z N NEA EA Service Writer v z i Dr Raymond Pearl world famous biologist biologist has been creating miniature miniature minia minia- ture universes at the Johns Hopkins t 2 university These uniVerses uni- uni 11 verses verses show why students of the population population problem conclude that the earth will vill reach the saturation point wh when n the population grows to millions unless millions unless science comes to the rescue j Dr Dr Pearl uses pint half milk botties botties bot- bot ties for his universes He populates yh them th with fruit flies files supplied d with yV- yV Ii limited amounts of foodstuffs Then t t- t he hl studies what happens the to popL popI pop- pop I L f A of th these milk bottle urn uni verses I He finds that that the population growth is js slow at first then rapid then slow again Finally a a. saturation tion point is reached where the population population pop pup remains stationary LAW Dr Pearl points out that this Uris is the way in which all individual or organisms organisms organisms or- or both plants and animals grow First the growth is slow then rapid and then slow again agarn lIe He believes therefore that this is the fundamental law of growth It can be represented by a curved line such as the mathematicians call a gr graph ph It is a curve which has the form which would be obtained by rash rash- fash fash- loning a letter S OUt of stiff wire and then pulling the ends until the central portion of the S was Inclined in inclined In- In dined to the right instead of Jo to the left Git Now Dr Pearl points out a simIlarity sim elm between our earth and the mIlk mIlk- milk bottle bottle universes THE LAW OF POPULATION Both possess physical limitations limita he says As yet As yet we have found no way wa to get out into the Ule space surrounding the world we live in And he adds add Six years of reI research research re- re I search have convinced me that this curve e expresses tresses the law of population population population tion and that human populations I tend to grow in exactly the same way that the milk-bottle milk populations populations populations I do Accordingly Dr Pearl has plotted plotted plotted plot plot- ted a curve for the population of the world He believes that It is al already already already al- al ready beginning to slow up and that it will reach the saturation point and become stationary at millions millions mil mil- lions unless science can do something something something some some- thing to change the Ure conditions tinder under un tin tin- der del which men must live I Jn n support of this view Dr learl says Statistics are significant They show that during the last century the population of the world Increased In Increased in increased In- In creased two and a half times time But during the same time the production of coal and pig iron Increased in increased increased In- In creased more than fifty times tIme Cotton production Increased twenty times world commerce twenty times world shipping eight times railroad mileage times and telegraph lines times It is obvious that tins cannot go gO gOon on If for example the rate t of or Increase in coal production were to continue it would necessitate long before the end of the present century an earth composed of solid soUd coal That is why the population growth must slow down and eventually eventually even- even 1 reach a figure beyond which whICh it c cannot go Unless science comes 4 i to the rescue with new processes of food and fuel production production Dr Edward M. M East distin distinguished biologist of Harvard university uni- uni j. j agrees with Dr Pearls Pearl's figure figure fig fig- ure of millions He marshals agricultural figures to support it He points out that the International Institute of Agriculture Agriculture Agriculture Agri Agri- culture at I Rome ome estimates that th-at only 40 per cent of the total area of the most populous countries is land which can be cultivated Applying that figure to the whole earth gives a total of million acres of land available for food production MILLION IN U. U S. S I Dr East says that a reasonable estimate for the future is about one one person for tor each two and a half halt acres of cultivated land This means that thata a population of about million is the maximum for the ear On the same basis Dr East pl places ces the maximum population tire United States will be able to support support support sup sup- port at millions There are 1903 million acres of l land nd in inthe the United States Dr East believes believes- that its ultimate disposal will vill be he as follows Improved cultivated land million million mil mil- lion acres forest and trillion acres range land and unimproved I proved pasture million acres v deserts and land with negligible crazing value million acres cities rOll roads and railways 80 million acres Copyright 1926 NEA Service Inc I |
