IMPROVEMENT OF THE HUMAN BREED. 227 



(i. 38), which refer to his Class A, who form, as has been said, the 

 lowermost third of our 'v and below.' "Their life is the life of savages, 

 with vicissitudes of extreme hardship and occasional excess. From them 

 come the battered figures who slouch through the streets and play the 

 beggar or the bully. They render no useful service, they create no wealth, 

 more often they destroy it. They degrade whatever they touch, and as 

 individuals are perhaps incapable of improvement . . . but I do not 

 mean to say that there are not individuals of every sort to be found in 

 the mass. Those who are able to wash the mud may find some gems in 

 it. There are at any rate many very piteous cases. Whatever doubt 

 there may be as to the exact numbers of this class, it is certain that they 

 bear a very small proportion to the rest of the population, or even to 

 Class B, with which they are mixed up and from which it is at times 

 difficult to separate them. . . . They are barbarians, but they are a 

 handful. . . ." He says further, "It is much to be desired and to be 

 hoped that this class may become less hereditary in its character ; there 

 appears to be no doubt that it is now hereditary to a very considerable 

 extent." 



Many who are familiar with the habits of these people do not 

 hesitate to say that it would be an economy and a great benefit to the 

 country if all habitual criminals were resolutely segregated imder 

 merciful surveillance and peremptorily denied opportunities for pro- 

 ducing offspring. It would abolish a source of suffering and misery to 

 \ future generation, and would cause no unwarrantable hardship in this. 



Diplomas. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Booth's classification did not help 

 us beyond classes higher than S in civic worth. If a strong and widely 

 felt desire should arise, to discover young men whose position was of 

 the V, W or X order, there would not be much difficulty in doing so. 

 Let us imagine, for a moment, what might be done in any great uni- 

 versity, where the students are in continual competition in studies, 

 in athletics, or in public meetings, and where their characters are pub- 

 licly known to associates and to tutors. Before attempting to make a 

 selection, acceptable definitions of civic worth would have to be made 

 in alternative terms, for there are many forms of civic worth. The 

 number of men of the V, W or X classes whom the university was 

 qualified to contribute annually must also be ascertained. As was said, 

 the proportion in the general population of the V class to the remainder 

 is as 1 to 300, and that of the W class as 1 in 3,000. But students are 

 a somewhat selected body because the cleverest youths, in a scholastic 

 sense, usually find their way to universities. A considerably high 

 level, both intellectually and physically, would be required as a qualifi- 

 cation for candidature. The limited number who had not been auto- 



