Their hair was dressed with wavy small curls in front from ear to ear. In the back it fell in beautiful waves.
The older woman wore an inch wide gold fillet band encircling her head.
They welcomed us in a most friendly manner. Introducing his wife to me as Lady Sylvia Banard and the young lady as Miss Xora Savona, he took hold of his wife's arm, indicating that I do the same with Miss Savona. We followed them into their sumptuous dining room for dinner.
The conversation centered on his adventure to Earth and back again, while all the members of the party kept watching me. I especially noticed the friendly, slightly curious side glances of Xora. Evidently these girls on Mars had some of the nice traits of our girls. At least they were feminine enough to be curious. I had difficulty keeping my mind on the conversation but I remembered my manners and tried to join in. After dinner we went into their library, and I remained until I was left alone with Sun-Rank Banard.
One thought was in my mind, which he knew, but he let me question him. "May I ask an important, but perhaps a personal question without offending?"
"I know your question. There is no offense. Ask it."
"You told me that Miss Xora Savona is your grandchild of the fourth generation, so I presume you are over one hundred Earth years old. You and Lady Banard and other Martians of your age look so youthful that, no doubt, you are still virile. How do you people control the overpopulation of Mars?"
He answered, "We limit, and control our birth rate, preventing its overpopulation. Our method of control is very simple. Whereas in many parts of your Earth, with all your preventives, aborti-facients, and your criminal dangerous abortion operations, your population is increasing to a dangerous point of saturation, creating scarcity, undernourishment, famine, and starvation. Chaos will soon overtake you, unless you control these over-birth rates. By our process we control not only the number of coming children, but their sex as well. We can maintain an even balance in sex and also prevent the unfortunates who are not fit to have children from having them. Even with our large population, our planet is as yet hardly half populated. If it were fully populated, our production of all necessities of life would still be more than ample for our needs. In one year, we can produce enough for three years. We always have a generous surplus of everything, because our storage facilities are perfect, and we have no waste.
"We protect our lands against dust storms and other causes of erosion. We do not allow their abandonment; we do not allow any waste. All our soils are constantly analyzed and suitably fertilized to prevent a lack of necessary elements. This treatment results in plants of above-average food value, and of a balanced mineral nutrition, a combination promoting good health.
"The drying up of marshlands and other wastelands plus the perfect irrigation of our deserts has helped us considerably to increase our production, and to almost exterminate pestilent insects.