384: PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



the practical man will not hear of it because he knows that it 

 is not in us to practise it. Even if the way were clear, it 

 would be like destroying fruits and leaving roots, and securing- 

 a fictitious comfort by an entiirely artificial method of 

 disowning our social liabilities." 



Even on the wider question of the place of eugenics generally 

 as contrasted with " negative eugenics," one cannot ignore the 

 latest deliverance by Marrett, Reader in Social Anthropology in 

 the University of Oxford, as showing the relative values of 

 eugenics and general social improvement. He says — 



" We may easily fall into the mistake of supposing our race 

 to be degenerate, when jDoor feeding and exposure to unhealthy 

 surroundings on the part of the mothers are really responsible 

 for the crop of weaklings that we deplore. And, in so far as 

 it turns out to be so, social reformers ought to heave a sigh 

 of relief. Why? Because to improve the race by way of 

 eugenics, though doubtless feasible within limits, ,remains an 

 unrealized possibility through our want of knowledge. On the 

 other hand, to improve the physical environment is fairly^ 

 straight-ahead work, once we can awake the public conscience 

 to the need of undertaking this task for the benefit of all 

 classes of the community alike." 



I have to touch on another subject that has a distinct bearing 

 on the welfare of our country and the well-being of our citizens,, 

 and one that is of great interest to our people, viz.. Compulsory 

 Military Service. The place of combat, struggle, fighting, in the' 

 evolution of the human race has naturally attracted much atten- 

 tion. It is sometimes referred to as brute force — force acting 

 blindly. The place of war among civilized races is also oftem 

 discussed, and people enumerate the great personal qualities that 

 it fosters, favours, and gives scope to. Lecky says that war, even 

 when unjustifiable, "calls into action splendid qualities of 

 courage, self-sacrifice, and endurance which cast a dazzling and 

 deceptive glamour over its horrors and its criminality. It appeals,, 

 too, beyond all other things, to that craving for excitement, adven- 

 ture, and danger, which is an essential and imperious element in 

 human nature, and which, while it is in itself nefther a virtue nor 

 a vice, blends powerfully with some of the best as well as with 

 some of the worst actions of mankind." 



Count von Moltke speaks from the soldier's and statesman's 

 point of view. ^ He says — " War is an institution of God, a prin- 

 ciple of order in the world. In it the rao.st noble virtues of men. 

 find their expression — courage as well as abnegation, fidelity to- 

 duty, and even love and self-sacrifice. The soldier offers his life. 

 Without war, the world would fall into decay and lose itself in; 



