RELATION OF EUGENICS TO EUTHENICS 481 



again the statistics have shown that this factor alone is not sufficient 

 as a corrective. Is not this a fertile field for eugenic research? And 

 may the eugenist not hope to offer suggestions of value? It may be 

 some time before we can hope to do much directly to stimulate the 

 birth rate among the better classes, but is it not time steps were taken 

 to check it among the worse? 



Economic conditions must be held in considerable part responsible 

 for the decreasing birth rate of the professional and artisan classes. 

 The long period of preparation necessary for a profession and the 

 average comparatively low return, the congestion and complex 

 social relations of our cities, the employment of only unmarried 

 and unencumbered persons in certain positions, such as that of women 

 teachers in many of our schools, the increasing activity of women in 

 affairs which necessitate their continued attention and often take them 

 much from home, laws like the Employers Liability Act, which have 

 " led to discrimination against married persons by large employers of 

 labor with a premium thus put upon non-marriage," and even child 

 labor legislation — these and many other factors of our complicated social 

 conditions have had their effect on the birth rate. It is not my pur- 

 pose at this time to discuss how this trend of affairs may be arrested 

 or changed. It might perhaps even be argued that upon biological 

 analogy, as the race becomes more specialized and its adaptations more 

 complex, a lower birth rate, accompanied by greater care and prepara- 

 tion given to the offspring, may be a necessity. However this may be, 

 it will be an impossibility if this part of the race allows itself to become 

 swamped in the grim struggle for existence which is ruthlessly going 

 on despite the efforts of many well-intentioned people to stop its 

 progress. 



While our survey of the eugenics field has of necessity been very 

 incomplete, I trust I have succeeded in presenting an idea of its 

 diversity and richness. And now let us return for a moment to con- 

 sider again our relations to our euthenist neighbor. We have seen 

 that we can not expect from the betterment of the environment alone the 

 Utopia often figured in his prospectus. Must we then, as some main- 

 tain, abandon all efforts in that line and let " nature " take its course 

 without euthenic interference? It seems to me rather, that with 

 enlightened direction the two methods may work in harmony; with 

 intelligent cooperation the two fields may be tilled for a common crop 

 and to mutual advantage, and we may live at peace. For environment 

 is the lodestone which distinguishes the pure metal from the dross; 

 it is the sieve which, properly used, will enable us to winnow the chaff 

 and the weed seed from the grain. What we as eugenists wish to make 

 plain is that after the bad has been separated from the good they shall 

 not be mixed together again in the sowing, for verily what ye sow, 

 that shall ye reap. 



VOL. LXXXI. — 33. 



