6 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EUGENICS 



ing to serve their country in the distant future in the 

 way now most certainly open to them. They are shirk- 

 ing a primary duty, for they are leaving to others the 

 task of filling up the invisible gaps in the hereditary 

 ranks of futurity ; and this is to act like deserters in the 

 fight for racial progress. This is a hard saying, over 

 which I hope that young America will ponder ; this, and 

 the opposite truth that to bring into the world children 

 likely to be below the average of their nation in natural 

 qualities, is also to be condemned as definitely unpatri- 

 otic. Here I would add that certain economic problems 

 in connection with the financial strain now thrown on 

 sound families of adequate size are in urgent need of 

 consideration in order to prevent praiseworthy parental 

 foresight from causing racial damage. 



I should like also to express the hope that eugenic 

 organizations will restrict their energies to those ques- 

 tions which are primarily concerned with the inborn 

 qualities of future generations; my reason being that 

 unanimity, and consequently progress, are more prob- 

 able the more clearly limited is the field covered by 

 each society. To take a single instance, divorce had 

 better be ruled out of our list of subjects for considera- 

 tion, because the immediate social consequences of any 

 proposed reforms in connection with the laws concern- 

 ing marriage would be both more important and more 

 calculable than their ultimate racial effects. In regard 

 to family life generally, perhaps the most important 

 object apart from eugenics is that as many children as 

 possible should be brought up in homes where they come 

 under the influence of both a father and a mother ; and 

 if such an aim can be but very imperfectly realized, this 

 affords no argument against its being made the goal of 

 our endeavors. Moreover, in considering such social 

 problems as these, it is generally the broad effects of 

 changes likely to be brought about in the mental atti- 

 tude of the mass of the population which should mainly 

 be held in view; whilst it is often forgotten that too 



