844 TEXTBOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



What Can Be Done? 



It must be admitted that the present racial situation has been 

 brought about through the advance of humanitarianism and science. 

 The cure for the situation must come through the application of 

 greater humanitarian and scientific measures. The many corrective 

 panaceas that have been suggested must be tested carefully and ap- 

 plied cautiously. Some reforms can be applied at once and are being 

 applied today to some degree ; others must wait until the time for their 

 application is more opportune. 



Some Eugenic Measures 



The step that would be most fruitful of racial betterment is general 

 education along eugenic lines. If a sufficient number of thoughtful 

 citizens were informed about racial trends, a eugenic consciousness 

 would be developed that would cause every proposed social or eco- 

 nomic change to be considered from the standpoint of its genetic 

 significance. 



The marriage and divorce laws of the various states should be uni- 

 fied and rewritten along eugenic lines. They should provide for ad- 

 vance notification of applications for marriage licences as is provided 

 for by the California laws, and sliould contain provision for health 

 examinations as already enforced in a number of states. The latter 

 practice should be extended to include the examination of family 

 histories. 



Many positive measures have been proposed for granting aid of 

 various kinds to large families of good eugenic stock. At the present 

 time most of these proposals are impractical, but we might look for- 

 ward to wage adjustment to family size starting with government 

 employees, and rental rates of government-owned houses based on a 

 fixed percentage of the family income regardless of the size of the 

 house required. 



It has been proposed that those who are clearly unworthy of parent- 

 hood should be segregated in colonies of their own sex. The expense of 

 this as well as the probability of many social and other problems that 

 would arise in such a situation challenges the wisdom of such a meas- 

 ure beyond the degree it is now being practiced in our eleemosynary 

 and punitive institutions. 



Twenty-nine of our states have adopted laws providing for the 

 eugenic sterilization of such persons as those wlio have been committed 



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