Holmes and Doud: Extinction of Mayflower Descendants 299 



ing the limited capacity of that cele- 

 brated vessel. 



Considering the role which the May- 

 flower descendants have played in the 

 history of our nation, this result is cer- 

 tainly one to be greatly deplored. If 

 there is a remedy for this evil it can 

 only become efifective, I believe, if the 

 evil is clearly recognized. The con- 

 sensus of opinion among most of those 

 who have studied the fall of the birth 

 rate is that the chief factor involved 

 is the voluntary restriction of the size 

 of the family. In these days the obliga- 

 tion of obeying the primal behest to 

 be fruitful and multiply, rests very 

 lightly upon most people. I seriously 

 doubt if the majority even of educated 

 poeple have ever thought of how many 

 children per married couple are re- 

 quired to perpetuate the race. How 

 often one may hear it said glibly that 

 one or two children per family is quite 

 enough ! Without discussing the prob- 

 able reasons for this almost incredible 

 ignorance and indifiference concerning 

 one of the most important and elemen- 

 tary matters of moral obligation, it is 

 evident that we need a more widespread 

 appreciation of the dangers of race sui- 

 cide and a change of attitude in re- 

 gard to this among people who are the 

 bearers of good inheritance. Since hu- 

 man beings have come to regulate the 

 matter of their own perpetuation, it is 

 essential that they act with an intelligent 

 appreciation of the racial consequences 

 of their conduct, and not merely from 

 the standpoint of their personal com- 

 fort and convenience. The consequence 

 of the reduction in the fecundity of 

 those classes who are successful in 

 reaching a fair educational standard 

 and in attaining a modest degree of 

 financial competence is to recruit the 

 race mainly from ranks below medioc- 

 rity. The racial deterioration which 

 would thus be entailed cannot be 

 checked by limiting the propagation of 

 mental defectives. A society in which 

 those with superior inheritance do not 

 perpetuate their stock will eventually 

 suffer racial decay. Anyone who 



studies the present condition of the dif- 

 ferential birth rate cannot escape the 

 conclusion that this is precisely the con- 

 dition in which our present generation 

 in America finds itself, and there is 

 no remedy for this situation that does 

 not involve the increase of the birth 

 rate among those of good inheritance, 

 at least to the point necessary to per- 

 petuate their stock. 



It would be a task eminently appro- 

 priate for the Society of Mayflower 

 Descendants to consider the problem of 

 the ways and means by which it may 

 rescue itself from extinction. Here is 

 a field for really worthy endeavor, in- 

 finitely more valuable than tracing fam- 

 ily histories or celebrating the achieve- 

 ments of one's ancestors. It is time 

 now to look to the future rather than 

 to the past. Should the Mayflower 

 descendants succeed, in any degree, to- 

 wards solving the problem of avoiding 

 extinction, it will not only be a direct 

 service to the country, but one of pos- 

 sibly much greater value through the 

 influence of its example. The problem 

 facing the Mayflower descendants is, 

 of course, the same that, in our modern 

 world, faces people who have risen to 

 a higher social status. It can be solved, 

 I believe, only by the efifective dissemi- 

 nation of a sense of racial obligation. 

 What keeps the population of civilized 

 countries on the increase is a combina- 

 tion of various forces : ignorance, lack 

 of prudence, religion, love of children, 

 the economic value of children, and a 

 sense of racial duty, etc. A stock tends 

 to rise or fall, according to which of 

 these forces predominate. Where igno- 

 rance and lack of restraint are the prin- 

 cipal causes of dififerential fecundity, a 

 people tends to be recruited mainly from 

 its inferior strains. Where the higher 

 incentives to fecundity prevail, the race 

 tends to be replenished more from those 

 capable of responding to such motives. 

 The economic value of the child no 

 longer afifords a stimulus to family in- 

 crease, and religion, while still influ- 

 ential in some sects, has largely ceased 

 to make itself effective among Protes- 



