INTRODUCTION. 21 



one of the effects of early reproduction is to endow children with 

 intense sexual characteristics, and this results in the children of 

 young parents being much more prolific than children of older 

 parents. A few generations of this process, and the whole popula- 

 tion would either have been children of young parents or descended 

 from the children of young parents. Under these conditions the 

 race would have sunk downward instead of rising upward, and 

 the white man of to-day would have been at the level of the savage. 

 Hence, rum, war, intrigue for power, competition, prostitution, and 

 a large number of other vices considered the curses of civilization 

 have in reality been the unconscious causes of progress. 



REMOVING THE CURSES OF CIVILIZATION. 



While these curses could not heretofore have been dispensed 

 with without causing the destruction of civilization, now that we 

 know the real cause of progress we can eliminate them and still 

 progress faster than before. It being known that it is desirable 

 to eliminate, or at least restrict, the early production of children, 

 it is not necessary that we reach the desired end by first producing 

 them and then laying traps by which they will exterminate them- 

 selves through misery and suffering. If we are determined to 

 continue the production of children from immature parents, it cer- 

 tainly would be more humane to follow the ancient Polynesian 

 custom of infanticide. Think of it ! The youth to whom we would 

 not intrust the training of a dog we intrust the production of human 

 beings, and then wonder at the causes of pauperism and crime. 



REGULATING MARRIAGES. 



The legal age at which marriage may be contracted varies in 

 different parts of the world from the age of ten to the age of 

 twenty. In different parts of the United States these ages range 



