Quantitatively, it has been pointed out that in the last hundred years, the increase in the population of this country has been excessive. Because England was the pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, she enjoyed initially an unprecedented national prosperity, unharassed by competitors and with the world as her market. Though the conditions of many of the early factory-workers were unquestionably appalling, the wealth and economic importance of this country increased so rapidly that she was enabled to support immensely greater numbers than at any previous period of her history. Thus in 1821 the population of England and Wales was just over 12 millions; in 1921 it had risen to nearly 38 millions. That is to say that in a hundred years our population had more than trebled. When, however, at the beginning of this century other countries began to enter into competition with us, and to produce manufactured goods on a large scale often underselling British goods, our hitherto unchallenged industrial supremacy gradually commenced to suffer eclipse. But our numbers have not adapted themselves to our diminished power of employing labour thus created. On the contrary, the population has continued steadily to increase, with the result that by slow degrees the unemployment problem which, at present, looms so large on our political horizon began insidiously to disclose itself. The present formidable figure of nearly a million and a quarter of unemployed, together with a large number of workers on short hours, testifies to the fact that at the present time in relation to existing economic conditions, this country seems to be over-populated. * * * * * From the point of view of quality it has been pointed out that there are two factors which now tend to impoverish the race. They might be distinguished and arbitrarily named as ‘Dysgenic’ and ‘Economic’ respectively. The dysgenic factor may be propounded as follows: Though the Birth-rate in England has fallen from 36 per 1000 in 1877 to 20 per 1000 or less to-day, this decrease has not been accompanied by a decrease in the population, since the Death-rate has dropped correspondingly. This has taken place by reason of the complete suspension, if not the actual reversal, in civilized countries to-day of the principle of Natural Selection, operative amongst animals and primitive peoples. There are three outstanding reasons to which this suspension is attributable. They are the advances in sanitation and medical science, the increase in humanitarianism, and the method of obtaining votes which prevails in democratic countries.