Jordan: War and Genetic Values 



225 



ancestry. . . . There are no 'self- 

 made men." for each man has within 

 him, derived from his intertangled 

 ancestry, the potentiality of whatever 

 he becomes." 



REPAIR OF HUMAN WASTAGE AFTER WAR 



We do not yet know how many men, 

 women, and children have been killed, 

 maimed, or ruined in the great war. 

 The number runs very high, far into the 

 millions already — thirty, forty or more — 

 according to the completeness of our 

 statistics. To replace these incalcul- 

 able losses is a problem for future states- 

 manship. Restoration of numbers, how- 

 ever slow, is a matter relatively simple; 

 renewal in quality a difficult process. 



As has been abundantly pointed out, 

 war first devours the young, selected for 

 strength and endurance, "the best that 

 the nation can bring." But the devas- 

 tation, immeasurable as it is, by no 

 means stops there. For with each man 

 who falls perishes also the great widen- 

 ing wedge, reaching forward through 

 time, of those who by rights should be his 

 descendants. "Giving his life for his 

 country," a man gives far more than 

 that — he yields up his proportion of 

 the "slain unnumbered " who are never 

 to be. 



Again, in addition to themilHons fallen 

 in battle, war takes its quota of civilians. 

 Refugees of every description, men and 

 women, children often lost or aban- 

 doned, trampled or starved in the rush, 

 perish along the road, or are slain 

 through ' ' military necessity. ' ' Further- 

 more, everywhere behind the lines, war 

 takes a corresponding toll, high-minded 

 men and women breaking under the 

 strain of a topsy-turvy world, the 



feeble and aged dying from want and 

 neglect. It is often estimated that for 

 each soldier who falls, two or three non- 

 combatants also perish. 



As an accompaniment of all this, the 

 shadow of enforced celibacy is spreading 

 over the womanhood of Europe. A 

 world in which women hopelessly out- 

 number the men is sadly unnatural. It 

 means that millions fitted for love and 

 motherhood are to be debarred from 

 the richest joys of life. 



The best will accept the situation with 

 no lowering of moral standards. But for 

 the mass, indications point directly to 

 some form of semi -legalized polygamy. 

 The common run look to the state to 

 formulate the moral law and ask no 

 higher sanction than tacit official ap- 

 proval. In Germany, apian for "lat- 

 eral" or "secondary " marriages, another 

 name for the semi-slavery of con- 

 cubinage, has been repeatedly under 

 discussion. But polygamy, in whatever 

 form, brings disaster to social purity. 

 Conventions guarding the most pre- 

 cious jewel of society cannot be dis- 

 carded without a far-reaching heritage 

 of evil. 



To recapitulate, restoration in quan- 

 tity is a matter of time. Restoration in 

 quality, in values, moral, mental, and 

 physical, will be a much longer and more 

 difficult process. Still for a century to 

 come the history of Europe will disclose 

 its failure adequately to conserve the 

 most forceful elements of its population. 

 But as in the long run the strong and 

 intelligent tend to outlast the futile, 

 the dissipated, and the lawless, we may 

 expect that after this, as after every war, 

 there will be an ultimate although very 

 tardv recoverv. 



Game-Bird Farming Needed 



General prohibition of the sale of 

 migratory birds has created a great 

 demand for domesticated birds to sup- 

 ply the markets. To meet these de- 

 mands the regulations under the migra- 

 tory bird treaty act, made in 1916 

 between the United States and Great 

 Britain for the protection of game birds 

 migrating between this country and 



Canada, make liberal provisions for 

 the propagation of migratory waterfowl. 

 Permits are issued free of charge by 

 Secretary of Agriculture, through the 

 Bureau of Biological Survey, authoriz- 

 ing persons to acquire a limited number 

 of wild waterfowl to be used as the nu- 

 cleus of a breeding stock or to strengthen 

 the strain of birds already posses.sed. 



