276 



The Journal of Heredity 



the reproduction of the germinally 

 superior is more important than to 

 prevent the reproduction of the in- 

 ferior (although each effort has its 

 proper place in eugenics) ; and such 

 measures as have been officially adopt- 

 ed in France, by tending to increase 

 the birth rate, will have a valuable 

 eugenic effect in so far as they are 

 selective. But a review of them will 

 show that they leave much to be 

 desired. 



1. The law of July 13, 1913, grants 

 a monthly bonus to each family hav- 

 ing more than three children under 

 thirteen years of age ; the bonus ap- 

 plying to each child in excess of three, 

 and continuing until the child reaches 

 his thirteenth birthday. The state, 

 department, and commune join in the 

 financial provisions for this bonus, 

 the amount of which is not stated. 



2. The law of Jime 28, 1918, prom- 

 ises state assistance to departments 

 which give bonuses for children ; the 

 amount ccHitributed by the state vary- 

 ing directly with the number of fami- 

 lies having more than four children, 

 and inversely with the wealth of the 

 department. The law has in view not 

 only an allotment for the maintenance 

 of children, but a sort of insurance 

 fund which will provide either a 

 capital for the children when they 

 mature, or else an old age pension 

 for their parents. But the terms of 

 this law, according to L. March, are 

 too onerous to permit the participa- 

 tion of the poorer departments. 



3. More than seventy large indus- 

 trial organizations have established as- 

 sociations of their employees, some- 

 what similar to the familiar mutual 

 benefit association. The employees 

 contribute regularly small amounts, 

 which they can draw out as their 

 families increase in size ; and the 

 funds are increased by contribution 

 of the employer, proportional to the 

 amount of his total payroll. The last 

 provision assures that the employer 

 will have no interest in giving a job 

 to a single man in preference to a 

 family man. 



4. Civil service employees, and also 



those of many private enterprises, 

 receive regular increases in pay pro- 

 portionate to increases in their fami- 

 lies. 



5. Tax measures provide an increase 

 of twenty-five per cent in the income 

 tax of bachelors, and exemptions for 

 the fathers of families. 



6. Members of large families are 

 granted special rates on the railways. 



7. The law of July 31, 1920, makes 

 severe provisions against abortion and 

 the sale of contraceptives. 



Without stopping to analyze any of 

 these measures in detail, one can see 

 at a glance that such real eugenic 

 eft'ect as they may have is for the 

 most part indirect and, so to speak, 

 accidental. On the whole, they ob- 

 viously represent an attempt to secure 

 quantity of population, without defi- 

 nite provision for quality. 



Numerous other measures are pro- 

 posed by the writers in this volume. 

 G. Schreiber, secretary of the French 

 eugenics society, urges the importance 

 of a compulsory medical examination 

 prior to marriage, — without any pro- 

 hibitory or other restrictive measures 

 attached to it. Dr. Apart pleads for 

 an intensification of the campaign 

 against infant mortality, tuberculosis, 

 syphilis, and alcoholism, — although all 

 four of these afflictions are, strictly 

 speaking, eugenic to some degree, and 

 their reduction should therefore be ac- 

 companied by some real eugenic meas- 

 ures to counterbalance. F. Houssay, 

 in a most interesting communication, 

 argues that much of the sterility of 

 civilized peoples is due to auto-intoxi- 

 cation, following particularly on the 

 excessive use of meat, alcohol, and 

 condiments, and cites in detail an ex- 

 periment of his own in which fowls 

 fed on an exclusive diet of fresh meat 

 showed progressive sterility until in 

 the sixth generation the line became 

 extinct. Indeed, every one of the 

 papers in this volume is distinctly 

 worth study, not only because of the 

 information presented, but because 

 they show eugenics in what, to Ameri- 

 cans, is for the most part a novel 

 aspect. — Paul Popenoe. 



