60 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



reasonable wage are, however, so situated because of some 

 defect of character, intellect, or body. They belong, in 

 fact, to the classes we have described as the unfit and the 

 inferior. They might equally well have been called the 

 unemployable at a minimum wage. 



We have already seen that, if every one worked as hard 

 as he could, the stream of goods to be shared amongst all 

 would be as large as possible. From this point of view, 

 though not from others, it would be advantageous if the 

 unfit and the inferior were allowed to do any work they 

 could. But as they could not be permitted to live uncivihzed 

 lives, this would not prevent the State from being obhged 

 to give some assistance to nearly all of them. There is no 

 way of getting rid of the burden cast on their neighbours 

 by the unfit and the inferior, except by getting rid of them 

 altogether. This, of course, cannot be done with those 

 now with us. But looking to the future, we must remember 

 that Hke tends to reproduce like. If the unemployable 

 were to multiply more slowly than the employable, then 

 the breed of the unemployables would be proportionately 

 reduced in numbers in the future; and the appearance of 

 fewer unemployables would mean diminished unemploy- 

 ment. To whatever extent the families of the inferior 

 could now be reduced in size, to a corresponding extent 

 would something be done to lessen the burden thrown on our 

 descendants by the inferior of their day. The question is. 

 Can anything be done in this direction ? To this enquiry 

 we shall have to return. 



It may be said that we have only been suggesting ways 

 of taking a burden off our own shoulders and off the 

 shoulders of our descendants. It may be added that, if 

 we were to regard matters from the point of view of the 

 unfit and the inferior themselves, we should have come to 

 different conclusions. But this is not a just criticism. 

 Vast numbers of these classes lead suffering fives, and if 

 they were to be replaced in the coming generations by 

 healthy and capable citizens, the amount of sorrow and 

 pain which would thus be wiped off the slate would be 



