causes of the present war. As long as the modern nations are such fools
as to conduct their industrial affairs in the existing way they will not
only be full of strife, disease, and discord in themselves, but they
will inevitably quarrel with their neighbours.

All this, however, does not prove that a genuine over-population
difficulty may not occur even now in localities, and possibly in some
far future time over the whole earth. And it may be just as well to
consider these possibilities.

Dismissing War and Disease as solutions--as belonging to barbarous and
ignorant ages of human evolution--there remain, perhaps, three rational
methods of dealing with the question: (1) the organization and
improvement of industrial production on existing lands so far as to
allow the support of a larger population; (2) the transport of excess
populations to new and undeveloped lands (colonization); (3) the
limitation of families.

The first method hardly needs discussion here. Its importance is too
obvious. It needs, however, more public discussion in England than it
has hitherto received. The second method--operating at present only in a
very casual and unsystematic way--ought, one would say, to be very
systematically considered and dealt with by the modern States. For a
nation to plant out large bodies of colonists on comparatively
unoccupied lands, as in Africa or Australia or Canada, in a deliberate
and organized fashion, with every facility towards co-operation and
success, and yet on the principle of leaving, each colonial unit plenty
of freedom and autonomy, would not be a very difficult task, nor a very
expensive one, considering the end in view. And in such a case there
would really be no adequate reason for jealousy between States having