“Exactly. And the disgrace is so great that few persons have ever offended in that way. As a result, we have never at any time exceeded the prescribed population by more than ten or twelve thousands.” “Even so,” I contended, rather vaguely, “it seems to me that such a system would be altogether too arbitrary to succeed.” “Yet it has succeeded splendidly. The experience of nearly three thousand years has vindicated it beyond dispute. Do you think that, at the time of the Submergence our men and women enjoyed such perfection of physical beauty as today? Or do you imagine that the intellectual and artistic types were then predominant? Far from it! Thousands upon thousands were sickly and stunted in body; a myriad were imbecilic, weak-minded or insane. But thanks to the rigidity of the selection, these types have been entirely eliminated; and, owing largely to the same cause, the average human life has been lengthened from the pre-Submergence figure of sixty-five years to a hundred and twenty--which means that the man of ability has a whole century of mature service to render instead of a mere four, or five decades.” I had no choice except to admit that the results were marvelous. But at the same time I remembered a vital oversight in Xanocles’ recitation. “All this tells me nothing of the Party of Emergence,” I pointed out. “In fact, if the Milares Population Law has worked so successfully, I cannot understand why you should oppose it.” “It would not be strictly correct to say that we oppose it,” he explained. “We recognize its beneficent results, but we believe that the time has come to modify it. Not that we would increase the population of Atlantis beyond the half million mark, for that would be to impose an intolerable burden upon us all; but we hold that many deserving persons are being deprived of parenthood, and that many more children of the highest quality might be born. To furnish a simple illustration, the Board seems to believe it unwise to perpetuate the radical strains, and so rules with suspicious frequency against members of the Party of Emergence.” “Then precisely what is it that your party advocates?” I questioned. “Just what our name implies: to let our surplus population emerge into the upper world. That would be easily possible, for the submersible repair ships that range the ocean about the glass wall would be capable of conveying us above seas. Of course, there might be no possibility of a return, but a return would not be desirable: it would be enough to insure life for thousands of our unborn sons and daughters, and to remake the upper world by an infiltration of our superior blood and standards. Besides,”--here Xanocles hesitated perceptibly--“there is another reason.” “What is that?” I felt bound to inquire.