248 GENETICS 



leaders, that a permament and increasing better- 

 ment of mankind can be expected. 



4. THE RESTRICTION OF UNDESIRABLE GERM- 

 PLASM 



A negative way to bring about better blood in the 

 world is to follow the clarion call of Davenport and 

 "dry up the streams that feed the torrent of de- 

 fective and degenerate protoplasm." This may 

 be partially accomplished, at least in America, by 

 employing the following agencies : control of immi- 

 gration; more discriminating marriage laws; a 

 quickened eugenic sentiment ; sexual segregation of 

 defectives ; and finally, drastic measures of asexuali- 

 zation or sterilization when necessary. 



a. Control of Immigration 



The enforcement of immigration laws tends to 

 debar from the United States not only many unde- 

 sirable individuals, but also incidentally to keep out 

 much potentially bad germplasm that, if admitted, 

 might play havoc with future generations. 



For example, during the year of 1908, 65 idiots, 

 121 feeble-minded, 184 insane, 3741 paupers, 2900 

 individuals having contagious diseases, 53 tuber- 

 culous individuals, 136 criminals, and 124 prostitutes 

 were caught in the sieve at Ellis Island alone and 

 turned back from this country by the immigration 

 officials. These 7000 and more individuals probably 

 were the bearers of very little germplasm that we 

 are nationally not better off without. 



