In order to achieve higher objects of civilization in Europe, we have, for a long time to come, not a superabundance of human beings, but rather a dearth of same, and under such circumstances it is absurd to entertain any fears in regard to over-population.[280] At the same time we must always keep in mind that the utilization of existing sources of nourishment by the application of science and labor is practically unlimited, and that every day brings us new discoveries and inventions whereby the sources of nourishment are increased.
If we turn from Europe to other parts of the earth, we find that the lack of human beings and the abundance of food is still more pronounced. The richest and most fertile lands of the earth still lie entirely, or almost entirely, unused, because their cultivation and utilization cannot be undertaken by a few thousand persons; here colonies of many millions would be needed only partly to master the over-abundant nature. Such countries are, among others, Central and South America, an area of hundreds of thousands of square miles. In Argentine Republic, for instance, only about 5 million hectares were cultivated in 1892, but the country has 96 million hectares of fertile soil at its disposal. That soil of South America that is fit for the cultivation of wheat, but still lies fallow, is estimated at 200 million hectares at least, while the United States, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain and Ireland, Germany and France altogether have cultivated only about 105 million hectares for the raising of grain. About 40 years ago, Carey asserted that the valley of the Orinoco alone, having a length of 360 miles, might produce sufficient nourishment to feed the entire human race. If we accept but half of this statement, an abundance still remains. At any rate, both Americas alone, could feed many times the number of persons living on the earth at present. The nutritive value of a territory planted with banana trees yield 12 to 20 times its seed; rice, in its native soil, yields 80 to 100 times and corn 250 to 300 times its seed. In some regions, for instance in the Philippine Islands, the productivity of rice is estimated at 400 times its seed. With all these articles of food it is, moreover, a matter of importance, to make them as nourishing as possible by the manner in which they are prepared. In matters of nutrition chemistry has an inexhaustible field for development.
Central America and South America, especially Brazil, abound with a luxuriance and fertility that cause the marvel and admiration of travellers. These countries also possess a boundless wealth of ores and metals. Brazil itself is almost as large as all of Europe, having 8,524,000 square miles, with about 22 million inhabitants, as against Europe’s 9,887,010 square miles, with about 430 million inhabitants. But to the world these countries are barely disclosed, because their population is indolent, too few in numbers and on too low a level of civilization to master the grandeur of nature. The discoveries of recent decades have enlightened us in regard to matters in Africa. Altho a great portion of Central Africa will never be available for European agriculture, there are other territories of a wide range that can be utilized to a marked degree as soon as rational principles of colonization are applied. In Asia, too, there are wide stretches of fertile land that could provide food for countless numbers. The past has shown us how, in regions that are unfertile and almost desert at present, the climate can produce a wealth of nourishment if man will but provide the soil with water. The destruction of grand water-works and contrivances for irrigation in Asia Minor, along the Tigris, Euphrates, etc., by cruel wars of conquest and by insane oppression of the people, have transformed thousands of square miles of fertile land into a desert.[281] The same is true of northern Asia, Mexico and Peru. Give us millions of civilized human beings and inexhaustible sources of nourishment will be disclosed. The date palm thrives in Asia and Africa in marvelous abundance, and requires so little room that 200 of these trees can be grown on one acre of land. In Egypt the durria bears fruit three thousand fold, and yet this country is poor. It is poor, not owing to an excessive population, but owing to a system of robbery that causes the desert to widen and expand with each decade. What marvelous results European agriculture and horticulture might obtain in these countries is incalculable.
The United States, measured by the standard of their present agricultural production, could easily maintain a population 15 or 20 times as large as the present one; that is, 1250 to 1700 million, instead of 90 million. At the same rate, Canada could provide food for several hundred millions, instead of for its six millions. Then there is Australia, the numerous and to some extent exceedingly fertile islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean, etc. In the name of civilization man should be exhorted to multiply, not to decrease.
Everywhere it is the social institutions—the existing methods of production and distribution of the products—that cause misery and want, not a too great number of people. A number of rich crops in succession lower the prices of food to such an extent, that many a farmer is ruined thereby. The lot of the producers grows worse instead of being improved. At the present time a great many farmers regard a good harvest as a misfortune, because it lowers the prices. And such conditions are supposed to be rational? To keep out the rich crops of other countries, high duties are imposed on grain, to make the importation of grain more difficult and to raise the price of the domestic product. There is not a lack of food, but a superabundance of food, just as there is a superabundance of the products of industry. Just as millions of persons are in need of all kinds of industrial products, but cannot satisfy their needs under the existing conditions of property and production, so millions are in need of the most essential articles of food, because they cannot pay for them, altho there is food in abundance. The madness of such conditions is obvious. When the crops are good, our speculators in grain often intentionally allow a part of it to go to waste and ruin, because they know that the price increases at the same rate at which the supply diminishes. And with all this, we should be in fear of over-population? In Russia, southern Europe and elsewhere, hundreds of thousands of hundredweights of grain are destroyed, because there is a lack of appropriate store-houses and means of transportation. Many million hundred-weights of food are wasted annually, because the provisions for gathering in the crops are imperfect and insufficient, or because there is a lack of hands at the decisive time. Many a granary, many a replenished barn, indeed, entire farms are burned down, because the insurance premiums heighten the profits. Food is destroyed for the same reasons that cause people to sink ships with their entire crews.[282] Our military drills cause the destruction of large crops each year. The cost of a single manoeuvre, lasting a few days only, amounts to hundreds of thousands of marks, altho the estimates are very moderate, and there are a number of such manoeuvres annually. For the same purpose entire villages have been razed and large areas are withdrawn from agriculture.
We must not forget that to all the sources we have enumerated, the ocean must be added, whose surface is to the area of the earth as 18 to 7. The surface of the water is, accordingly, two and a half times as large as that of the land, and is still awaiting a rational utilization of its enormous wealth of food. The future, then, opens up a vista very different from the sombre picture drawn for us by our Malthusians.
Who can say when our chemical, physical and physiological knowledge will have reached their limit? Who could venture to predict what gigantic undertakings future mankind will carry out to bring about marked changes in the climates of various countries and the utilization of their soil?
Even to-day, under the capitalistic system of society, we see undertakings executed that would have appeared impossible and insane a century ago. Broad isthmuses are cut thru and oceans connected; tunnels, many miles long, connect countries that are separated by the highest mountains; others are dug under the bottom of the sea to shorten distances, and to avoid disturbances and dangers that occur where countries are separated by the sea. Where, then, might one say: “thus far and no further?” Not only must the “law of decrease of the productivity of the soil” be answered in the negative, it must be reasserted that there is an abundance of cultivatable soil, that will require millions of human beings for its cultivation.
If all these tasks of civilization were to be undertaken at the same time, we would not have too many people, but too few. Humanity must still multiply considerably to do justice to all the tasks that are awaiting it. The soil is far from being cultivated as it might be, and almost three-quarters of the surface of the earth are still uncultivated, because there are not enough people to undertake its cultivation. The relative excess of population that to-day is continually produced by the capitalistic system to the detriment of the working class and of society, will prove a blessing on a higher level of civilization. A numerous population is not a hindrance to progress. It is, on the contrary, a means to advance progress, just like the present over-production of commodities and food, the disruption of marriage by the employment of women, children in industry and the expropriation of the middle class by the large capitalists, are the preliminary conditions of a higher stage of civilization.