Chapter XIV 

 Eugenics in the Future 



ALL of us are being greatly damaged by the presence 

 of the unfit and the inferior in the ranks of the 

 nation. If those included in these classes have large 

 families, this injury to our country will be slowly increased 

 as the generations succeed each other. And in all proba- 

 bility, from this cause, racial deterioration is now actually 

 taking place very slowly but very steadily. All this we 

 have seen, and the question is, What can be done to safe- 

 guard the nation against this treacherous disease ? 



In the first place, how are the individuals to be selected 

 who ought to have either small families or no children ? 

 This question has already been answered as regards the 

 insane, mental defectives, criminals, and the diseased. 

 If parenthood were to be entirely prohibited amongst all 

 these classes, not only would all these particular troubles 

 be slowly lessened in the future, but in all probability 

 something would thus be done which would tend to produce 

 a much more widespread improvement. But the possi- 

 bility that other causes might be at work which would 

 more than counterbalance these beneficial effects must be 

 held in view. To use the analogy of the cards once again, 

 if hands containing, for example, many twos and threes — 

 these representing the germs of certain evil qualities — were 

 to be thrown aside and not dealt out again, the remainder 

 of the packs as a whole would thus be made proportionately 

 richer in good cards. But if, at the same time, many of 

 the somewhat higher cards were also being thrown out in 

 a similar manner — these higher cards represented the 

 germs of those qualities possessed by the men of real use 

 to the nation — it is evident that the effects produced by 



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