The 

 Human 

 Harvest 



Effects of 

 emigra- 



[78] 



of war to a minimum. She is "military, but 

 not warlike*'; and this distinction means a 

 great deal from the point of view of this 

 discussion. In modern times the greatest 

 loss of Germany has been not from war, 

 but from emigration. If the men who have 

 left Germany are of higher type than those 

 who remain at home, then the blood of the 

 nation is impoverished. That this is the 

 case the Germans in Germany are usually 

 not willing to admit. On the other hand, 

 those competent to judge the German- 

 x^merican find no type of men in the Old 

 World his mental or physical superior. 



The tendency of emigration, whether to 

 cities or to other countries, is to weaken the 

 rural population. An illustration of the re- 

 sults of checking this form of selection is 

 seen in the Bavarian town of Oberam- 

 mergau. This little village, with a popula- 

 tion not exceeding fifteen hundred, has a 

 surprisingly large number of men possessing 

 talent, mental and physical qualities far 

 above the average even in Germany. The 

 cause of this lies in the Passion Play, for 

 which for nearly three centuries Oberam- 



J 



