America's Fighting Stocks 



441 



future to be one of the <^^reat mistakes 

 connected with the conduct of the war 

 in America. 



Negroes from the French colonies 

 and Sikhs and Gurkhas from British 

 India have been used to some extent 

 in Europe, but although they proved 

 courageous fighters in attack, they 

 did not take kindly to remaining in 

 the trench to be shot. The small 

 Gurkha had a knack of leaving his 

 trench, and worming his way to the 

 German line, w^here he would tap on 

 the ground with his big knife. When 

 the German whose attention was at- 

 tracted by the noise would peer up over 

 the edge to investigate, the Gurkha 

 would neatly sever his head. Such 

 fighting appealed to the Orientals, but 

 proved too dangerous for the modern 

 type of warfare, and most if not all of 

 the Gurkhas have been sent back to 

 India. 



THE JEW AS A FIGHTER 



Although his race is numerically 

 small and commonly characterized as 

 peace-loving, the Jew seems to demand 

 special attention. While forming but 

 2% of the total population, the Jewish 

 race contributed more than 6% to the 

 various military organizations of the 

 United States in 1915. About 4,000 

 Jews fought in the vSpanish War. At 

 present Rear-Admiral Strauss, a mem- 

 ber of that race, heads the Naval 

 Bureau of Ordnance. The Jews do 

 not seem to furnish as many officers as 

 do other races, but in the rank and file 

 their work has been excellent. Many 

 officers who bear German or American 

 names are of Jewish extraction, al- 

 though they may have become so 

 thoroughly assimilated as to have 

 changed their names. There are more 

 than 2,000,000 Jews in the United 

 States. 



But a vast majority of the soldiers 

 will be of distinctly Nordic stock. 

 The Nordics, upon whom the stability 

 of the American nation has ever rested, 

 are those who will be killed in largest 

 numbers. This inevitable result of 

 the war cannot but have a far-reaching 

 effect on the nation as a whole. A 

 vast number of men who are superior, 

 both physically and mentally, will be 

 killed or severely wounded, and many 

 thousands will come back crippled b}^ 

 disease, or will have passed the age 

 when they are likely to marry, or will 

 have developed nomadic traits form- 

 erly inhibited, and for one of these 

 reasons will never reproduce. Many 

 of those who fight in the trenches will 

 never pass on to offspring those superior 

 attributes which have made their pos- 

 sessors the pride of a nation. 



The European war has shown that 

 all races fight well if properly led. 

 The European aimies are undoubtedly 

 led by Nordics to a much greater ex- 

 tent than is popularly supposed, and 

 America's armies certainly will be 

 almost entirely officered by Nordic 

 stock. It is not wise to let the losses 

 of the war fall too heavily on any one 

 stock of the nation, but as things now 

 stand, the Nordic will bear most of the 

 loss, because he is physically fit, gener- 

 ally has fewer dependents, and because 

 the Negroes and aliens will, for various 

 reasons, be frequently eliminated from 

 the draft. It would hence be wise to 

 take special pains to see that each 

 stock contributed its quota. There 

 seems to be a good chance of using the 

 aliens in some line, and except for the 

 exemption of syphilitics, there seems 

 to be no reason why the Negro should 

 not eventually take his part of the 

 burden. There are lots of good fighters 

 in the United States, and a place for 

 each of them. Let each be in his place. 



Increase in Divorces 



Eugenists have pointed out that an 

 increased number of hasty and ill- 

 considered marriages constitute one of 

 the dysgenic features of war. Sexual 

 selection in such cases is not as good as 

 if it were more deliberate. This con- 

 tention seems to be borne out by the 



Follows War Marriages 



fact, mentioned in London correspond- 

 ence of the Associated Press, that there 

 is a large increase in the number of 

 divorce cases now filed in that city. 

 Many of these divorces are recognized, 

 the dispatch says, as being the outcome 

 of hasty war marriages. 



