He ignored her and went on. "Originally, appalled by the job of feeding
over half a billion mouths, they had initiated a birth control plan.
But after a year or two they saw it was the wrong approach. They were
going to succeed, if they succeeded, in their _Great Leaps Forward_ by
utilizing the labor of every man, woman and child in the country. And
that's what they proceeded to do. The lesson was brought home to the
rest of the world in less than ten years, when such other countries as
India and Indonesia failed to do the same."
Johnny leaned back in his chair, and his eyes were thoughtful but
unseeing. "Even we of the west learned the lesson. The most important
factor in our leadership was our wonderful trained labor force. As
far back as 1960 we had more than 65 million Americans working daily
in industry and distribution. Even the Russkies, with their larger
population, didn't begin to equal that number."
"What are you driveling about?" the reporter demanded.
"To sum it up," Johnny said mildly, "the battle for men's minds
continues and each of the world's great powers has discovered that
it can't afford to limit its population--its greatest resource. So
population continues to explode and the world is currently frantically
seeking sources of food for its new billions. The Amazon basin is being
made into a tropical garden; the Japanese, landless, are devising a
hundred methods of farming the sea; Australia is debouching into its
long unpopulated interior, doing much the same things we are here
in the Sahara. The Chinese are over-flowing into Sinkiang, Mongolia
and Tibet; the Russkies into Siberia. We of the west, with the large
underdeveloped areas of the western hemisphere have not been so greatly
pushed as some others. However, there is always tomorrow."
Derek entered with Captain Mohammed Mohmoud. The latter day Rudolph
Valentino had a puzzled expression on his dark face.
"Here's the hired man, Hiram," Derek drawled.
The desert patrol officer nodded questioningly to the men and said,
"_Bonjour_," to Hélène Desage.
Johnny went on. "Yes, there's tomorrow. And by the time we run out
of _Lebensraum_ in Brazil and Alaska, in Central America and the
Argentine, in Texas and Saskatchewan, we're going to need the three
million square miles of the Sahara."
She said in ridicule, "It will take you a century at least to reforest
the desert."
"At least." Johnny nodded agreeably. "And we're willing and able to
look that far ahead. Possibly by that time our opponents will also be
looking for new lands for their expanding peoples. And where will they
find them? The advantage will be ours, Miss Desage."
Mohammed Mohmoud looked from one to the other, frowning. "What are we
discussing?" he said. "I should be getting back to my men."
Derek yawned and said, "Forget about it, pal. You're never going to be
getting back to your men again."
* * * * *
The desert patrol officer's eyes widened. He turned his glare on Johnny
McCord, "What is all this?"