THE PURPOSIVE IMPROVEMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE 583 



sive and ambitious members of society are most heavily handi- 

 capped in reproduction. The long period of education, 

 intensive application to preparation for a career, luxurious 

 ideals of family life and unwillingness to be burdened with 

 children have greatly reduced the fertility or have completely 

 sterihzed some of the best human stocks. Some silly aspects 

 of modern feminism which put individual freedom and 

 personal pleasure before family and racial duties, which 

 teach that social success is a more worthy aim than mother- 

 hood, and that the devoted mother of a large family is 

 to be pitied or even ostracised are contributing mightily 

 to race deterioration. If the heredity of the race is to be 

 improved such dysgenic social customs must be changed and 

 a premium put upon the reproduction of the most fit. Many 

 suggestions have been made looking to this end but appar- 

 ently the only ones that hold much promise of success are 

 better education regarding eugenics and an awakening of 

 religious fervor in behalf of race betterment. 



While many peoples of the western world are cultivating a 

 spirit of race suicide among the most intelligent and progres- 

 sive elements of society, the peoples of the Orient still regard 

 reproduction as a supreme duty to the family and the race. 

 The ancient cry of Rachel, "Give me children or I die" is 

 still the cry of the great mass of women of the East, where 

 the most honorable salutation to a woman is, "May you be 

 the mother of many sons!" Many eastern and some western 

 countries are already overpopulated and the need of the 

 whole world is not for more people of the mediocre or inferior 

 sorts but rather more of the better and fewer of the worse 

 varieties. To what extent this spirit of the East can be 

 Hmited to the better portion of the population, and whether 

 any similar spirit may be aroused in the western world is 

 doubtful, but upon such a differential between the better 

 and the poorer lines the whole program of eugenics depends. 



In the meantime environment can be and will be greatly 

 improved. There is now much greater opportunity for every 

 person to develop his innate potentialities than ever before in 

 the world's history. Education and social cooperation are 

 more widespread than ever before. Science is discovering 

 means of preventing disease, prolonging life and increasing 



