Reading Response to "the Cause of War"

Reading Response to "The Cause of War"

"The Cause of War" by Margaret Sanger is about the high birth rate in Germany during World War I. Sanger also states that "behind all war has been the pressure of population. (533)"

Sanger wrote this essay to inform the public that "the great crime of imperialistic Germany was its high birth rate (533.)" The audience to the essay is essentially anyone who is against war and overcrowding families, nations, and the earth (533.) The author offers three different policies for a solution in the text: abandon our science and leave the weak and diseased to die, kill them, or continue to overpopulate the earth and allow famines and wars while the earth exists. (533)"

Sanger refers to many other famous names throughout her essay to help cement her point. She notes that both Darwin and John Stuart Mill recognized that "natural" checks", including war, will operate if some sort of limitation to the species is not employed (533). She also uses Darwin's Origin of Species as support, where she cites, "There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate, if not destroyed, that the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair (533)." Her effective uses of references helps drive her point home that overpopulation is in fact an issue, and was predicted as the cause of war by such important figures as Darwin and Mill.

I found this essay interesting. I never viewed overpopulation as the cause of war. However, thanks to Sanger, my views have changed somewhat. I'll only have one kid now instead of seven.

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