War, Immigration, Eugenics 
children born at the time of the war 
between China and Japan, twenty 
years ago, became conscripts in 1915. 
According to the Asahi of Tokyo, as 
translated in the Japan Chronicle, the 
number of conscripts in Tokyo decreased 
over 16%. For Japan as a whole there 
was an increase of conscripts in 1915, 
but the rate of increase was only 30 to 
50% of the normal. Furthermore, a 
lowering in the quality of the new 
soldiers is distinctly observable. The 
Asahi says that “most of those who 
underwent conscript examinations this 
year were born during the war and 
therefore are sons of those too old or too 
weak to go to the front, and so it is no 
surprising thing if the conscripts of 
1915 are of exceptionally delicate con- 
stitution.’’ This “impoverishment of 
the breed,” in Dr. Jordan’s opinion, is 
an inevitable resuit of war. The longer 
the conflict continues, the more serious 
will be the effects upon future gen- 
erations. The weakling fathers—too 
young, too old, or too feeble to fight— 
and the improperly nourished, over- 
worked and harassed mothers of Europe 
are handing on to their children who 
are now being born an inheritance of 
physical and mental unfitness which 
will mark not only this generation but 
future generations, through the long 
vista of the time to come. An increase 
in the number of defective children, now 
and hereafter, is a condition which 
Europe must face, and which, because 
it will affect the character of our immi- 
grants, vitally concerns the United 
States. Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, contributes to Dr. 
Jordan’s book an opinion as to the 
probable effects of heavy artillery firing 
on the nervous systems of soldiers in the 
war. He believes that subjection to the 
constant roar of the firing will “result in 
a more or less defective mental or nerv- 
ous state in the progeny of such 
individuals.” 
SOME COUNTERBALANCES 
Dr. Jordan’s view may be thought 
rather extreme. The problem is a 
highly complex one. There are not 
lacking those who take a different posi- 
tion. It is pointed out that wars have 
245 
been so constant, not only in Europe 
but over most of the world, that if 
wars do result in racial deterioration, 
national degeneracy should have fol- 
lowed them. Again, it is urged that 
by no means all of the physically and 
mentally fit who go to war are killed, 
or are so impaired in body or mind as 
to be undesirable fathers for future 
generations of offspring. The number 
and the quality of the men who will 
survive the war is at present an unknown 
and indeterminable element in the 
problem. Prof. Roswell H. Johnson, of 
the University of Pittsburgh, has 
recently warned us! against sweeping 
and unqualified statements that war 
is either good or bad in its effects on 
the human race. Some wars are mainly 
good, others mainly bad. A conscripted 
army is likely to be physically, and 
probably also in other respects, superior 
to the bulk of the population. The 
conditions of poverty, improper sanita- 
tion, and inadequate medical treatment 
in the homes tend toward a deterioration 
of the race. Many factors must thus 
be taken into account. In summing 
up his argument, Prof. Johnson says: 
“In the present war it would seem 
that the high quality of both sides 
compared with the rest of the world is 
so predominant a dysgenic factor that, 
together with the other dysgenic fea- 
tures, the eugenic results are over- 
balanced. The human species there- 
fore, on account of this, is at present 
declining in inherent quality faster than 
in any previous length of time.” 
In connection with this particular 
subject, it is highly significant that 
Germany, which is universally recog- 
nized as preeminently the military power 
of the world, and whose scientific study 
of military problems is so thoroughly 
organized, should already be giving 
serious attention to the racial effects of 
the war. On October 26-28, 1915, 
there was held in Berlin, a Tagung fur 
die Erhaltung und Mehrung der deutschen 
Volkskraft—surely a highly significant 
designation. Over 1,000 delegates 
attended, and the proceedings were 
marked by an extraordinary unanimity 
of sentiment. It was recognized that 
‘war kills the best, the bravest, the 
1 JOURNAL OF HerepitTy, Vol. VI, No. 12, December, 1915. 
