sovereign states must accept the responsibilityrnof solving their populationrnproblems in their own territories.”rnLamm points out that such pressing nationalrnproblems as unemployment,rncrime, health care, education, pollution,rnand national unity are all exacerbatedrnby population growth fed by immigration.rnHe urges America to becomernan example to others of how a prosperous,rnstable society can be created.rnMost discussions of population arerncarried on in terms of the maximumrnnumber of people a given area can support.rnRepresentative of this school isrneconomics professor Jacqueline Kasun, arndisciple of Julian Simon who suggestedrnin her book The War Against Populationrnthat the entire population of the worldrncould comfortably live in the state ofrnTexas. Lindsey Grant, former DeputyrnAssistant Secretary of State for Environmentalrnand Population Affairs, askedrna group of experts in the fields of energyrnuse, agriculture, biology, resource management,rnlabor economics, immigrationrnpolicy, sociology, and national defensernthe following questions: “Ideally, givenrnthe issues facing the country, how manyrnAmericans should there be? How manyrnwould be desirable? How can we getrnthere, and how long would it take?”rnThe responses to his challenge are givenrnin Elephants in the Volkswagen, the firstrnbook published in this country to linkrnour population size with a host of pressingrnnational problems.rnGrant and his colleagues refute thernfundamental assumptions of those whornargue that continuing populationrngrowth is desirable, arguing that thernUnited States is already over-populated,rnespecially given the standard of livingrnwe wish future generations to enjoy, andrnthat national policies and social behaviorrnare exacerbating the situation. PaulrnWerbos of the National Science Foundationrncontends that, though we requirerna skilled and productive labor force, currentrnimmigration policy favors the admissionrnof unskilled Third World natives.rnAnd increasingly, “it is the poorestrn[Americans] who are having the mostrnchildren.”rnCrowded societies, the authors pointrnout, do not leave much room for thernkinds of freedom that can be enjoyedrnin uncrowded ones. Had the Americanrnpopulation stabilized at the 1950 markrnof 150 million, today we would requirernno imported oil, pollution would be dramaticallyrnlower, and many other problemsrnwould be less intense or nonexistent.rnBy calling for restrictive immigrationrnpolicies and other measures tornreduce population density in the UnitedrnStates, the contributors to this symposiumrndemonstrate how individual prosperityrnand a quality environment mayrnbe assured for future generations. AsrnGrant explains in his concluding essay,rn”In a world of nation-states, we havernneither the authority nor the patent tornsave the rest of the world. Our responsibilityrnis to our own people, and to ourrndescendants.”rnEleven years ago, Leon Bouvier, a TulanernUniversity demographer long associatedrnwith the Population ReferencernBureau, co-authored The Future RacialrnComposition of the United States, whichrnstated matter-of-faetly that “we are at arncrossroads in the development of thernnation. . . . The United States is on thernverge of being transformed ethnicallyrnand racially.” Given continuing highrnrates of Third World immigration andrnrelatively high birthrates by these newrnentrants and their descendants, sometimernin the early to mid-21st centuryrnnon-Hispanic whites will no longer constituterna majority. Whether this willrnprove to be a blessing or instead lead tornthe sort of strife we now witness in thernformer Soviet Union and the subcontinentrnof India, he would not hazard tornpredict. He emphasized that his workrnwas based on projections of events thatrnneed not come to pass. But for an alternativernfuture to be possible, he added,rnchanges in American population policyrnwould have to be enacted—and soon.rnAt the request of the Genter forrnImmigration Studies, Dr. Bouvier hasrndirected demographic studies of threernstates that are the destination of preferencernfor many immigrants. Readersrnwho are afraid of statistics need not shyrnaway from these volumes, which includernonly the essential figures, accompaniedrnby clear text. Bouvier presents the availablernfacts and notes the prevailingrntrends. He and his coauthors leave it tornthe reader to arrive at his own conclusions.rnBouvier’s Fifty Million Californians?rnfocuses on the nation’s most populousrnstate. Galifornia’s population, nowrnat 31 million, may surpass 50 million byrn2020. Well before that happens, perhapsrnas soon as the year 2000, the state’srnnon-Hispanic whites are expected torncomprise less than half of the population.rnCalifornia already suffers fromrnhigh unemployment, a huge state budgetrndeficit, overcrowded schools, growingrnwelfare rolls, severe air pollution andrnwater shortages, and traffic gridlock, inrnaddition to mounting ethnic conflict.rnOne can only guess at what the politicalrnfuture holds for this multiple-minorityrnstate.rnBouvier and sociologist Bob Weller,rncurrently Scientific Research Administratorrnat the National Institutes ofrnHealth, assess the Sunshine State inrnFlorida in the 21st Century. They pointrnout that Florida’s population increasedrn33 percent during the 1980’s and thatrnby 1990 Florida had become the country’srnfourth-largest state. High levels ofrnlegal and illegal immigration, along withrndomestic migration, pose a serious challengernto maintaining the state’s qualityrnof life, which is today characterized byrnurban sprawl, air and water pollution,rnthreats to wildlife, and strained educationalrnand social services. According tornthe 1990 census, 76 percent of Floridiansrnwere “Anglos,” 13 percent black, andrn12 percent Hispanic. If current fertility,rnmortality, and migration patterns continue,rnthe Anglo proportion will fall torn64 percent by 2020 and 57 percent byrn2050. The proportion of blacks will increasernto 16 percent in 2020 and 19 percentrnin 2050, while the proportionrnof Hispanics will likewise rise to 16 andrn19 percent over those same periods.rnShould these projections become reality,rnthe ethnic and age compositions ofrnFlorida’s future population will increasernthe likelihood for conflict among ethnicrngroups and generations.rnBouvier has also joined with DudleyrnPoston, chairman of the sociology departmentrnat Texas A&M, to producernThirty Million Texans? Here they examinernthe demographic future of the LonernStar State and consider its meaning andrnimplications for the state’s social institutionsrnand infrastructure. As in Californiarnand New York, should currentrntrends continue here, by 2005 non-rnHispanic whites will no longer be thernmajority and by 2020 Latinos will surpassrnAnglos to become the state’s largestrnethnic group. Texas already confrontsrnan educational challenge of crisis proportions;rnthe fastest-growing ethnicrngroups, blacks and Hispanics, have dismalrneducational attainments, nearly 34rnpercent of African-Americans and 55.5rnpercent of Latinos having less than arnhigh school education. A remarkablernJUNE 1993/33rnrnrn