EUGENICS . 383 



more necessary than the other, however different their material 

 rewards may be. 



Nol3ody would think of urging forcible control of these 

 classes, but education may ultimately succeed in awakening a 

 sense of racial responsibility which will bring about the desired 

 result. Attempts have been made to increase desirable families 

 by subsidizing human reproduction and various laws have been 

 suggested for their preferential treatment. None of these methods 

 have had or can be expected to have an extensive effect, and since 

 the classes with a low birth rate are not financially incompetent 

 it is doubtful that the desired adjustment can be gained in this 

 way. ]\Ioreover parents do not necessarily produce children as 

 capable as themselves, so that application of such measures might 

 well fail of its intended result. 



Perhaps some of the educated people included in the classes 

 with a low birth rate are really ignorant of their responsibility 

 to society. Proper understanding of the prevailing conditions 

 would have a desirable effect in such cases, but the impression 

 that they do not constitute a majority is strong. 



Education of the classes with a high birth rate, on the other 

 hand, might readily bring about the reduction which would be a 

 necessary step, in any case, in securing a satisfactory balance. 



The Effects of Environment. Environmental conditions often 

 have a great deal to do with individual accomplishment, and many 

 agencies are directed toward the maintenance of proper conditions 

 of life. Child labor movements, public health, physical training 

 and other things are designed to offset the unnatural conditions 

 which result from our rapid social metamorphosis before the body 

 can adjust itself thoroughly to the change. They are valuable 

 corollaries of eugenics, although we are not yet in a position to 

 say that they actually contribute to the heritage. Certainly, since 

 they are practicable, they should be emphasized as the nearest 

 approach to the ideals of eugenics. They at least aim at the 

 maximum realization of inherited possibilities. 



Practical Aspects of Eugenics. Education of a considerable 

 portion of any population in an unfamiliar movement is not easy. 

 Human beings respond emotionally with conspicuous readiness, 

 and to a subject like eugenics, demanding rigorous analysis of 

 inalienable personal rights, the response is likely to be emotional 

 opposition. Education must be gradual. Those who are able and 



