been extensively practised in the past the colonisation of the British
Empire would have been a physical impossibility; and to-day, in our
vast overseas dominions, are great empty spaces whose untilled soil and
excellent climate await a population. Is that population to be white, or
yellow? A question which to-day fills the Australian with apprehension.

(c) _A Danger to the Empire_

Many people are honestly perplexed by Neo-Malthusian propaganda, and are
honestly ignorant of the truth concerning the population and the food
supply of the British Empire. They think that _if_ the population is
increasing faster than the food supply, there is at least one argument in
favour of artificial birth control from a practical, although possibly not
from an ethical, point of view. They apply to that propaganda the ordinary
test of the world, namely, 'Will it work?' rather than that other test
which asks, 'Is it right?' The question I would put to people who reason in
that way, and they are many, is a very simple one. If it can be proved that
Neo-Malthusian propaganda is based on an absolute falsehood, will it not
follow that the chief argument in favour of artificial birth control has
been destroyed? Let us put this matter to the proof. Neo-Malthusians state
that the population of the Empire is increasing more rapidly than the
food supply. That is a definite statement. It is either true or false.
To discover the truth, it is necessary to refer to the Memorandum of the
Dominions Royal Commission, and it may be noted that publications of that
sort are not usually read by the general public to whom the Neo-Malthusians
appeal. The public are aware that the staff of life is made from wheat, but
they are not aware of the following facts, which prove that in this matter,
at any rate, Neo-Malthusian statements are absolutely false. In foreign
countries the increase of the wheat area is proceeding at practically the
same rate as the increase of population. Within the British Empire _the