Bell: Is Race Suicide Possible? 
population have had children, and of 
course the numbers in the next genera- 
tion will be so seriously reduced that 
immigration from outside would speed- 
ily swamp them—but we have agreed 
to protect them from this competition 
with other races, and leave them alone 
to work out their destiny to the bitter 
end. 
Well, let us revisit the island after 
the original population has passed 
away. We find the population now 
only a fraction of what it was before; 
and the question naturally arises: will 
the population continue to diminish at 
each successive generation until actual 
race suicide results? 
It is not to be supposed that the 
sentiment against maternity will dis- 
appear in one generation. The second 
generation will therefore undoubtedly 
continue to be divided upon the ques- 
tion of maternity; some wishing to have 
children, others not; but the propor- 
tion desiring children will necessarily be 
greater, on account of heredity, than 
in the original population; for the whole 
of this second generation are descended 
from the one per cent who desired off- 
spring, whereas the ninety-nine per 
cent who did not desire them left no 
descendants. 
There seems to be no escape from the 
conclusion that in this second genera- 
tion more than one per cent of the 
people will desire children, and less 
than ninety-nine per cent will abstain 
from their production. Therefore the 
proportion of the second generation 
341 
who will have children will be greater 
than in the first, and the proportion 
opposed to maternity will be less. 
Thus in each succeeding generation 
the proportion who desire children and 
have them will increase, and the pro- 
portion avoiding maternity diminish, 
with the net result that each succeed- 
ing generation will be more fertile than 
the last. The desire to avoid maternity 
will die out to a great extent on account 
of the lack of offspring to inherit it. 
The spirit of race suicide will itself com- 
mit suicide, and leave a more fertile race 
than before. 
The only thing that could prevent 
such a result would be: the admission 
of immigrants during the period of 
declining birthrate. 
This indeed is the critical period in 
the history not only of our hypo- 
thetical islanders, but of every nation 
similarly situated. When therefore a 
nation reaches a stage where it finds its 
own birthrate declining, and immi- 
grants with a much larger birthrate 
flocking into the country, the time has 
come for very serious consideration as 
to the means to be taken for self- 
preservation. 
The United States is today in this 
critical position. The birthrate of 
America is declining; the spirit of 
avoiding maternity is on the increase; 
and the immigrant races are increasing 
at a much greater rate than our own. 
The only hope for a truly American 
race lies in the restriction of immigra- 
tion. 
EUGENICS AND PATRIOTISM 
“Race has played a far larger part 
than either language or nationality in 
moulding the destinies of men; race 
implies heredity, and heredity implies 
all the moral, social and intellectual 
characteristics and traits which are the 
springs of politics and government. . . 
“The moral tendency of the heredity 
interpretation of history is for our day 
and generation, and is in strong accord 
with the true spirit of the modern 
eugenics movement in relation to 
patriotism, namely, the conservation 
and multiplication for our country of 
the best spiritual, moral, intellectual 
and physical forces of heredity; 
thus only will the integrity of our 
institutions be maintained in the 
future.” 
—RHenry Fairfield Osborn. 
