258 



The Journal of Heredity 



be transmitted, while either develop- 

 ment or transmission of ability is less 

 Hkely in the city. The abiHty that 

 fails of transmission is a permanent 

 loss to the race. 



If urban populations did not deterior- 

 ate, but maintained a normal rate of 

 increase, the cities mig-ht fill up, and 

 a balance of urban and rural popula- 

 tions would be established. There 

 would not be a continued draft uoon 

 the country, if the urban conditions 

 were not destructive. But always 

 there are inducements for capable men 

 in the city, the recent arrivals com- 

 peting- successfully with the less ener- 

 getic or resourceful natives of the 

 city, and sending- for their rural kin- 

 folks to come in and share their pros- 

 perity, in the easier life of the city. 

 The rural immigrant sees it as an ad- 

 vantage to him that the urbanites are 

 less capable, not realizing that his own 

 children will share the same limita- 

 tions. Thus it is in the nature of 

 cities to be calling always for more 

 people, who go in and are consumed. 

 the parents sacrificing their children 

 as in the days of Moloch. The ancient 

 rural gods were supposed to be satis- 

 fied with the blood of the first-born, 

 but our urban dieties take the whole 

 familv. It is our immoral custom to 

 sacrifice posterity to "prosperity." 

 The limited urban environment and 

 the selective draft upon the rural 

 population work together to deplete 

 the human stock. The race suffers as 

 a whole, until the basis of civilization 

 is destroyed. The "cycle of civiliza- 

 tion" comes to an end, because the 

 adjustments of a complex social struc- 

 ture are not to be maintained by a de- 

 pleted and incapable population. 



The urban environment is too re- 

 stricted for the normal exercise, 

 growth and satisfaction of the human 

 instincts, senses and abilities. Full 

 development of the ])hysical, mental 

 and social stature is seldom attained, 

 and everybody is discontented who 

 feels that he is being deprived of a 

 normal existence. Rich urbanites mav 



sviffer from this feeling of inadequacy 

 as acutely as the poor, and with as 

 little understanding of the cause. 

 Lack of practical judgment and aberra- 

 tions of many kinds, in amusements, 

 dissipations, narcotics, crimes and 

 conspiracies are to be reckoned as 

 symptoms of urban deterioration. 

 Nervous prostration of the individual 

 and radical upheavals of urban masses 

 may be traced to the same underlying 

 cause, the monotony and tension of 

 urban existence. The danger of de- 

 structive mass movements at the pres- 

 ent time is increased by the doctrine 

 of socialism that ascribes all of the 

 urban lesions to economic inequality. 

 Because abuses exist it would abolish 

 the institution of private property, and 

 especially property in land. The 

 socialist remedy for urban deterior- 

 ation would make the city more actively 

 parasitic upon the country and de- 

 stroy civilization more rapidly. Only 

 disaster could be expected through the 

 control of the country from the city, 

 which socialism would establish. 



The course of history shows no 

 remedy for urban deterioration and 

 decay, no solution of the urban prob- 

 lem. Probably there is no artificial 

 way to make good the effects of lim- 

 ited environment in restricting the de- 

 velopment of the individual and caus- 

 ing the deterioration of the race 

 through adverse selection. Urbanism 

 is a dysgenic condition. "Great cities 

 are the sink holes of the human race, 

 the places where the blood deteriora- 

 tes, sterilizes and runs out." Urban- 

 ism needs, of course, to be studied and 

 its lesions carefully determined, but a 

 phenomenon that is to be investigated 

 in detail must first be recognized. 



The American Ideal 



America, fortunately, is not yet ur- 

 l)anized to the extent of the industrial 

 countries of Europe. With us there 

 are still living in the country many 

 people who think and are learning 

 practical ways of restricting the com- 

 mercial parasitism of cities. This 



