Show BABSON'S tJ AUTHENTIC ST STATEMENT A TEl Roger noer w blo Special to THE EXPRESS I I POPULATION AND THE PILL Babson Park Mass Septem her ber 16 A few days ago the num ber of people in the United Sta States tes crossed the million mark Contrasted with the 4 million reo re corded in our first census in 1790 that sounds like an awful lot of people But the population tion of the world now exceeds 33 billion And if we include all of North America and Europe except Russia we Westerners make up barely 20 per cent of the worlds world's humans SHADES OF MALTHUS Thomas Tobert Malthus was ordained in the Church of Eng land late in the eighteenth cen century tury But his fame came from his Essay On The Principles Of Population launched in 1798 In this he held that the worlds world's population expands at a geometrical ratio whereas the means of sustaining life increases es at an arithmetical rate The The- Therefore he concluded poverty and famine would eventually be bethe bethe the lot of man unless disease or war intervened For a century and a half after Malthus famous Doctrine his his his- history tory contradicted his theories To be sure famines and wars took their toll but advances in agriculture and a slowdown in inthe inthe the birth rate seemed to mute his dire prediction Today how ever population experts are un the Malthusian Doe Doc trine They point out that the po explosion if continued foreshadows in the next two cen cen- centuries a world on which there will be standing standing room only for teeming billions of humans THE LEAST LEAST FOR THE MOST Such a picture of course is impossible of realization Long before only standing room only would become the rule famine and disease would take over But the facts of the worlds world's grow grow- growing growing ing population crisis cannot be ignored And the most frighten frighten- frightening frightening ing of these is that those peoples are increasing the most whose food supply is already the most meager Famine today would bt be more of a killer in overpopulated In In- In India dia China etc if it were were not for big food imports from Can Can- Canada ada the US and Europe Yet these hungry countries are pre pre- precisely the nations that will ex ex- ex experience the greatest population tion increase by the year 2000 For their birth rate right now Is twice as rapid as the birth rate of the west Even as early as 1980 the United Nations that Latin American peoples les will exceed those of North Ames by over million Yet the two areas today have a population that is almost equal equall IN DANGER OF BEING Before the tremendous bulge in world population it was com com- commonly assumed that Improved farm methods and aid by the haves to the have nots would be able to meet the world food needs But aid to under under-de nations was ed on hothouse industrialization tion Now It is realized that the main effort should have been to to- to toward ward building up their farming potential While that is still im the stark fact is that ago ag- agriculture alone cannot do the job For the world It boils down simply to fewer babies or or famine Birth control and contraceptives tives were not polite words a afew afew few years ago Now almost ev- ev everyone ev is talking about them President Johnson has stated that he will seek new ways to todeal todeal deal with the explosion in world population and the growing sea scarcity in world resources Heal Heal- Health th and welfare agencies in the US are developing family family- planning projects foreign aid funds are being used abroad Even the Catholic Church is less hostile and is the whole problem WILL THE PILL DO THE JOB 10 B Since 1957 the num number ber of births per 1000 women of child bear ing age has been falling In the US Some see the decline aced aced- as a result of widening use of oral contraceptives the anti ovulation drugs popularly known as the pill To many contraceptives by mouth are less offensive than mechanical methods But they are expensive and require repeated attention to detail to be effective the price will continue to fall but population experts are convinced that in the teeming countries where birth reduction is most important the pill is the least likely method for success The simpler less costly mech anical means known as the 10 lo- lo loop op is given the best chance for success In any case the fight against the worlds world's being swam swam- swamped ped by starving humans has barely begun If it is to win over the predictions of Malthus a much greater effort than any yet undertaken will have to be made and soon |