24 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



that all endowed with any natural superiority will pass on 

 some of their good quaUties to some of their descendants. 

 We know that this is equally true of harmful quahties. 

 And this knowledge is all that is needed to justify us in 

 assuming that the lot of mankind in the future would be 

 improved if steps were now to be taken which would result 

 in a lowering of the birth-rate of all the naturally inferior 

 tjrpes, and an increase in the birth-rate amongst the naturally 

 superior. To introduce reforms having these effects is the 

 aim of eugenics ; provided that the moral attributes of man 

 are always duly safeguarded. 



It may be said that these islands are over-populated, 

 and that consequently no steps should now be taken which 

 would tend to increase the birth-rate of any section of the 

 people; for that would tend to increase our already too 

 great numbers. But there would be no increase in numbers 

 if any increase in the descendants of the superior stocks 

 was counter-balanced by an equal decrease in the inferior 

 strains. In any case, to impose some immediate suffering 

 as the result of over-population might weU be justifiable 

 if it would lead to an enduring improvement in the natural 

 qualities of the race. It is by the adoption of eugenic 

 reforms to-day that the reputation and happiness of our 

 nation in the future can most certainly be promoted. 



Moreover, all reforms involve some risk. To do nothing 

 is, however, often the course which involves most risk. 

 The world is never really standing still ; and to leave things 

 alone may be merely to drift on to unseen rocks ahead. 

 The bogey of dangers in the path of progress is often raised 

 by us from an unconscious desire to save ourselves the 

 trouble of making up our minds and of beginning to move 

 in new directions. If science points clearly to certain steps 

 which could now be taken in order to benefit our nation in 

 the future, do not let us fail to move in that direction out 

 of a selfish regard for our own comfort. Eugenics calls 

 upon us to include all future generations amongst our 

 neighbours ; that is amongst those for whom we ought to 

 be prepared to sacrifice our own immediate interests. 



