It is essential that we should first place the problem of population in the right perspective. Where lies the true wealth of a country? In answering this question, we shall have to rid ourselves of much of the mental debris accumulated in the 19th century which still obstructs our thoughts on fundamental problems. We must cut through the fog of tradition and, like the King in Alice in Wonderland, we must “begin at the beginning and go on till the end then stop”. The reality of population is the root of all problems. It is the foundation of all else, the rock on which every social and economic problem is based. To assess sanely the future of man, we must have the right viewpoint; we must look at things in terms of men and women, and not in terms of money. We cannot discuss the problems of population objectively if we persist in using our present standards, which elevate material things above people and treat the national debt as of more consequence than the quantity and quality of our people. The history of all progress has been marked by the success of those who have refused to be obsessed by the fallacies of the past. Let us begin therefore by clearing from our path present-day society’s overriding obsession.

We live in an age dominated and obstructed by the ‘money complex’, an age in which people are ever conscious of the presence of economic problems; an age in which people are forced more and more to regard money as the only means to security and the possession of material things. A hundred years hence, historians may say of us that the all-pervading mark of our generation was our abject servitude to the dictates of money and all that it spells. Such a forecast may bring an immediate protest from many readers. Some will revolt mentally and say that it is not true, and some who find it repugnant will do so because they are honestly trying to live a life in which money is not emphasised; others will find it distasteful because they find it hard to admit that, whatever the cause, money has dominated their conscious thinking. But let us be frank.