RACE MOVEMENTS 267 



BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EACE MOVEMENTS 



By Chancellor DAVID STARR JORDAN 



STANFORD UNIVERSITY 



THEEE are but three ways in which the force of a race or a nation 

 may be permanently lowered : ( 1 ) Emigration, the transfer of 

 stronger elements to other regions; (2) immigration, filling up the gaps 

 with people of lower native ability or energy; (3) war, the destruction 

 of the virile and soldierly. 



Emigration has played a large part in the depletion of peoples in 

 different districts of Europe and even in older sections of the United 

 States. This may mark a loss to the particular region involved, but 

 none to the world, the value of a man and his posterity, broadly speak- 

 ing, being as great in one place as in another. Moreover, the pioneer 

 gains by travel, picking up something on the road, though he may also 

 lose through separation from the framework of society. In the new 

 freedom he tends to fall out of touch with the achievements of the old 

 social fabric. Much of human effectiveness consists in entering into the 

 work of others. But, on the other hand, the pioneer will escape many 

 hampering traditions, and the sturdiness of racial stock is in no way 

 dependent upon culture, the social values of native strength reasserting 

 themselves when opportunity offers. Meanwhile, the gains in the new 

 world may be traced as losses in the old. For example, from the counties 

 of Devon and Somerset arose, primarily, the colony of Massachusetts 

 Bay. From the loins of Old England, New England arose, and from 

 self-governing New England, the democracy of the United States. 

 From Devon especially came forth the Puritan conscience, most preci- 

 ous political heritage of the republic. Under its influence every public 

 act finds its final test in moral standards. Such standards still rank 

 more highly in America than in any other land. The American people 

 may consent to unrighteous deeds under the impulse of falsehood or 

 greed, but only for a time. They make many mistakes in the rush of 

 events. They may apply standards wrongly, but, if they do, the case 

 comes up again for settlement until at last it is settled rightly. 



By immigration, lands scantily occupied by barbarous races have 

 been replaced by peoples more efficient or more aggressive. Through 

 the same agency strong nations have sucked in weaker groups to fill the 

 vacuum caused by war or to meet the demands of industry. The history 

 of America, North and South, has furnished examples of all these. 

 Through conquest by war as well as out of industrial needs grew up the 



