Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Darwinism, Human Species, Progress, Population, Nationalism, Cultural Geography

    Responds to an article in The Times calculating the net population growth in the United Kingdom taking into account the rate of emigration. Argues that those who remain in England 'increase the severity of the struggle for existence', but those who emigrate to a country that is warmer, less polluted, and where the struggle for existence is less harsh, are making a 'natural selection'. Ironically suggests that it is wrong to point out that in France, where the population is stationary, the population problem is better managed. Instead, reminds readers that 'gregarious opinion' compels them to 'extol the continued numerical progress, and the railway-paced advancement in manufacturing industry, of this great commercial nation'.