Malthus CooperBlue

Malthus Paragraph

Neil Cooper

Population checks must be implemented in order to sustain a society that cannot outgrow its food supply and issues regarding insufficient amounts of food and poverty is ones own problems. Malthus states, "by law of our nature which makes necessary to the life of man, the effects of these unequal powers must be kept equal."  Since these powers must be kept equal, Malthus believes that the population must stay lower than the food supply so everyone has enough food.  To keep the population balanced, Malthus states that, "This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from the difficulty of subsistence."  This implies that when people have little food to get by the population will be checked to prevent over population and without this the population would exceed the food supply.  Malthus then states that if people suffer from a lack of food then it is their fault.  He believes that it is their fault for having too many children when they cannot afford them.  He says "Man cannot look around him and see the distress which frequently presses upon those who have large families."  What he is saying is that if man could see the hardship people with large families endure because they have too little food, then they would have smaller families, thus keeping the population in check.