The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

579JAMES A. WEBERTHEPOPULATIONQUESTIONLimited government or·limited people?WE, the people, founded the UnitedStates of America on the principleof limited government.Now, the government is proposingto operate on the basis of anew principle: limited people.The need for this complete inversionin the relationship betweenthe American people and theirgovernment has been heralded bya seemingly endless outpouring ofpopulation-control propaganda andother "popullution" pap. Yet, thecase for population control remainsunmade. Consider thesefacts:1) Population growth in theUnited States is not a problem.The more hysterical proponents ofpopulation control like to draw"runaway" population growthMr. Weber is a Chicago writer-photographerspecializing in public relations. A graduate ofLoyola University with an M.A. in UrbanStudies, he is doing research for a book on U.S.population.curves that go practically straightup. However, in the real world,population growth follows an "S"rather than a HI" curve.We are nearing the end of this"8" curve which represents thedemographic transition. Consequently,our population growth isnow slowing down and in the futurewill begin to level out, causinga number of noted demographersto bail out of their exponentiallyrising projections.The most prominent example todate is Donald J. Bogue, directorof the Community and FamilyStudy Center at the University ofChicago. In 1963, Dr. Bogue wasamong those shouting from therooftops about the perils of overpopulation.At the time, estimatesof U.S. population at the end ofthe century varied from 300 to400 million.Today, Dr. Bogue is predicting