Humphrey: The Menace of the Half-Man Daa 
NEED FOR EDUCATION IN THE LAWS 
OF HEREDITY 
The one and only way to clear the 
race of its burden of hereditary unfit- 
ness is to cut off its reproduction at the 
source. The first step toward that 
end is to promote a general understand- 
ing that every ill-favored, shiftless, 
weak-minded delinquent is as unfit for 
perpetuating the race as is a scrubby, 
unintelligent, underbred horse to take 
its place in the breeding stable. Not 
that we shall ever come to methods ap- 
proaching those for perfecting domes- 
tic breeds; that is as unthinkable as it 
is unnecessary. Heaven forbid that 
we should have standardized human 
beings, even if such were possible. 
But we may entertain the worthy 
hope that, sometime, we shall have 
the courage to deny parenthood to 
those who are manifestly unfit to pro- 
duce American citizens. 
A GOOD ENVIRONMENT NECESSARY 
What determines unfitness for par- 
enthood? Eugenists are inclined to 
put the whole stress on heredity, and 
to seek too much exactness in apply- 
ing their scientific knowledge. But 
common experience should tell us that 
unfitness for parenthood is not by any 
means a matter wholly for biological 
determination. Next to being well 
born, a child needs a good environ- 
ment. When we see men and women 
who are perpetually at odds with the 
social order, incapable of all ordinary 
adjustments, we ought to know just as 
well that they will be wholly unfit to 
rear children as if we had studied their 
pedigrees for ten generations back. 
Control of unfit parenthood can never 
be reduced to an exact science. The 
problem demands a copious injection 
of common sense and every-day ex- 
perience into the knowledge which 
biology has given us; it should not be 
left to the faddist adherents of either 
heredity or environment. A good 
quality of both is equally essential. 
EXAMINE CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
But any system for restricting par- 
enthood, to be effective, must not wait 
for demonstrations of parental unfit- 
ness. Bear in mind that irresponsibles, 
incapable of self-restraint, begin their 
sex activities years earlier than normal 
people. The public school is the place 
for the scrutiny of the nation’s future 
mothers and fathers. It is not too 
much to say that in the great majority 
of cases the final determination should 
be made before the child leaves school, 
or as soon thereafter as its actions give 
the further necessary evidence. It is 
also a safe assertion that most mental 
defectives who attain their twentieth 
year unrestrained have added to the 
race’s load of defective children. The 
need for early action cannot be too 
strongly emphasized. 
TO CHECK INCREASE OF THE UNFIT 
How shall we put denial of unfit 
parenthood into effect? Certainly not 
by legal enactment against marriage. 
That would mean nothing to the av- 
erage incompetent. 
Institutional care, perhaps in farm 
communities, might well be put upon 
at least five times as many of the ob- 
viously defective as are now segregated. 
But there would still be as many more, 
of the ‘borderline’ types, for whom 
segregation would be an unnecessary 
deprivation of liberty. Ster:lization is 
the usually proposed expedient for such 
cases. It is something to which the 
public has yet to be educated, but once 
it is understood it undoubtedly will 
have the leading part in any accepted 
scheme of race regeneration. 
Any proposal to suppress unfit par- 
enthood is bound to meet violent op- 
position. But it will meet none more 
blindly stubborn than those who hold 
that proper environment can overcome 
any adverse effects of heredity. They 
admit hereditary defects, but would 
camouflage them with more thorough 
training of the individual and a better- 
ing of social conditions. 
TO MAINTAIN QUALITY OF SPECIES IN 
WELL-ORDERED COUNTRY SHOULD 
BE AIM OF SOCIETY 
But suppose that, for the moment, 
we put aside the claims of heredity, and 
