CHAPTER VIII.

PRESENT-DAY PROBLEMS: POPULATION AND

PAUPERISM.

In the previous part of this volume, the action of the Church on social life has been regarded from three points. First, from that of its vocation, as interpreted by the Founder of Christianity in His teaching and in His sacrifice, and as reflected in the consciousness of those who take His yoke upon them and learn of Him.1 Second, from that of its history, in its period of struggle with the power of the Roman Empire, and with the ancient heathenisms which the Empire protected, in its period of triumph when the kingdoms of the once hostile world became "the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ," and in the ages during which it gradually established a common type of manners and morals in Europe, and determined the higher elements of European civilisation.2 1 Chapters II. and III. 2 Chapters IV. and V.

Finally, from that of its relation to national developments, and the influence which, through its characteristic institutions and ordinances, it exercised on national temperament and wellbeing. In this last regard, our special survey was limited to Scotland and its National Church.1

Now, we change our venue. The beginning of a new century reminds us of forces that are no longer guided or controlled by the Church, some of which, indeed, either ignore it or express antagonism, more or less overt, to it; of facts and phenomena that challenge attention and raise the question, How, having regard to them and the life-conditions which they connote, is society to be elevated, and are the kingdom of God and His righteousness to be realised? "There is no social problem," it has been said; "there are social problems." These problems-the subjectmatter of the pages that follow-are many and serious.

A connecting-link between the portion of our study on which we enter and that which precedes may be found in the reference, made in the last chapter, to the rapid increase of the population in Great Britain, as constituting one of the difficulties in the way of an efficient discharge of the responChapters VI. and VII.

1

The Increase of the Population.

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sibilities of the National Churches. The prospect suggested by this increase is, to many minds, alarming. From time to time, calculations are presented which, assuming that the ratio of the increase will be in the future what it has been in the last fifty years, set before us such developments as the following-That two centuries and a half hence, Europe alone will contain a population equal to that of the entire globe to-day;1 that a century hence, London will contain not far from forty millions of souls; 2 that other large cities, all the world over, will be proportionally multiplied—and so forth. Now, whilst we set such forecasts aside as merely ingenious speculations, we cannot but feel that increasing densities of population create issues, or must precipitate issues, which no wise man will overlook. Malthus has argued that the tendency is to a multiplication of human beings beyond the means of subsistence; and, in connexion with his argument, we are frequently reminded that the earth's stock of lifesupporting substances is limited, and that some of these are diminishing. Moreover, it is urged that certain influences essential to vigorous vitality -e.g., pure fresh air and wholesome surroundings -must be impaired by a prodigious augmentation 1 North American Review, November 1892. Modern Cities. By S. L. Loomis.

of people to be fed, clothed, and maintained, involving, as this must involve, a prodigious augmentation of industries of all kinds, with all their inevitable concomitants, the effect of which will be to exhaust and foul the atmosphere, and make the land one vast noisy city, under a coverlet of smoke.

There is no call to give too much heed to this kind of prophesying. When the diminution of the earth's resources is emphasised, it may be replied that, probably, many of these resources have not yet been tapped, and that, with more labour, and more scientifically organised and applied labour, the capabilities of the soil may be indefinitely expanded.1 We cannot set any limit to the possibilities of nature and of art, and we may believe that each successive period, developing its special burdens, will develop also the means by which these burdens can be met. New necessities make new ingenuities, new fer

1 Prince Krapotkin (in the Nineteenth Century') writes: "If the population in this country came to be doubled, all that would be required for producing the food for 70,000,000 inhabitants would be to cultivate the soil as it is cultivated in the best farms of this country, in Lombardy, and in Flanders, and to cultivate the meadows which at present lie almost unproductive around the big cities, in the same way as the neighbourhoods of Paris are cultivated by the Paris maraichers. All these are not fancy dreams, but mere realities." There are, besides, the vast spaces of the earth whose potentialities are as yet unknown.