480 READINGS IN EVOLUTION, GENETICS, AND EUGENICS 



less than four generations would eliminate nine tenths of the crime, 

 insanity and sickness of the present generation in our land. Asylums, 

 prisons and hospitals would decrease, and the problems of the unem- 

 ployed, the indigent old and the hopelessly degenerate would cease to 

 trouble civilization." 



5. THE CONSERVATION OF DESIRABLE GERMPLASM 



Not only negatively by the restriction of undesirable germplasm, 

 but also positively by the conservation of desirable germplasm, may 

 the eugenic ideal be approached. 



It is possible that if some of the philanthropic endeavor now 

 directed toward alleviating the condition of the unfit should be directed 

 to enlarging the opportunity of the fit, greater good would result in the 

 end. In breeding animals and plants the most notable advances have 

 been made by isolating and developing the best, rather than by 

 attempting to raise the standard of mediocrity through the elimination 

 of the worst. 



One leader is worth a score of followers in any community, and the 

 science of genetics surely gives to educators the hint that it is wiser 

 to cultivate the exceptional pupil who is often left to take care of him- 

 self than to expend all the energies of the instructor in forcing the 

 indifferent or ordinary one up to a passing standard. The campaign 

 for human betterment in the long run must do more than avoid mis- 

 takes. It must become aggressive and take advantage of those human 

 mutations or combinations of traits which appear in the exceptionally 

 endowed. 



There are various ways in which this improvement of society may 

 be brought about. 



a) BY SUBSIDIZING THE FIT 



The following unconfirmed newspaper clipping illustrates the 

 point of what is meant by subsidizing the fit so far as certain physical 

 characteristics are concerned. "Berlin, Dec. n, 1911. The Emperor 

 is reported to be interested in a plan proposed by Professor Otto 

 Hauser for the propagation of a fixed German type of humanity 

 a type which will be as fixed as the Jewish in its characteristics, if the 

 suggestions of the professor can ever be carried out. The fixed type 

 is to be produced as follows : Only ' typical ' couples are to be allowed 

 to mate. The man is to be not more than thirty years old, the woman 

 not over twenty-eight, and each have a perfect health certificate. The 

 man should be at least five feet seven inches tall; the woman not under 



