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TilE STATISTICAL CENTURY
A century ago, however, the corresponding figure to this
500 millions would not have been more than about 170
millions. A French statistician, M. Moreau de Jonnes,
whom 1 quoted in 1885, gave the figure in 1788 for
Europe alone, excluding the United States, as a little
less than 150 millions, and making one or two correc-
tions and allowing for some growth in the interval
from 1788 to 1800, we cannot arrive at more than 170
millions a century ago for comparison with the 500 mil-
lions of the present time. The United States which
now counts for nearly 80 millions was only about 5
millions at the beginning of the century; Russia did.
not count for more than, perhaps, 40 millions at the
outside; the United Kingdom, which had then hardly
any Australia or Canada, lSi Germany, 20; France,
25i Austria-Hungary, 20; Spain and Portugal, 15;
Italy, IS; Scandinavia,s; other European states, 10-
total about 170. In the century, therefore, Europe
and nations of European origin have grown to three·
times their former numbers; and this without counting
the population of Mexico and South America, amount-
ing now to 45 millions, which ought, perhaps. to be in-
cluded as Europeanized, though not whoIly European
in race. W:hen I wrote formerly, dealing with the
figures up to 1880, the populations in question num-
bered less than 400 millions. More than one-fifth of
the 500 millions is an addition of the last twenty years!
Not only is the century interesting, therefore, as a
characteristically statistical century, but the statistics
themselves are in the highest degree surprising. For
generations and centuries the growth of Europe must
have been slow, owing to war and pestilence and the
other checks to population of which Malthus wrote,
and then all at once in a single century we have this
sudden multiplication of numbers. In my former ad-
dresses I discussed some of the causes of this change
-the growth of large states, the profound peace exist-
ing as compared with former times, and the occupation
of new lands in America and elsewhere-but it would