76 WHAT IS EUGENICS? 



forced to face the perilous risks of the Great War, all our 

 best citizens were ready to send their sons forth to face death 

 for their country's sake. Duty and patriotism are now 

 calling to them just as loudly, if they could only hear it, 

 to supply the men and women needed to maintain our 

 nation in the future in the paths of peace and industry. 

 Surely persons of good stock should feel ashamed to know 

 that parents of bad stock are fulfilling this duty better than 

 themselves. 



Here one cannot but ask, What are the reasons which 

 make so many worthy citizens limit the size of their families 

 to such an extent as to tend to wipe out their breed ? 

 Some of their reasons are meritorious, though mistaken, 

 whilst some are definitely bad. As to the bad reasons, 

 families are very often limited merely as the result of the 

 love of pleasure. We have nothing to say to the men who 

 put beer before babies, or to the women who rank dress and 

 dances before daughters. If their stock dies out, so much 

 the better. 



Ambition is the main cause of small families; and 

 ambition is of two kinds. First there is the desire of 

 parents to rise in the world. This is only bad if it is carried 

 too far. We all see that ambition must not lead to a selfish 

 disregard of the rights of others. Neither must it lead to a 

 disregard of the needs of the nation in the future. To have 

 no more than one or two children in order to make it easy 

 to mount the social ladder should be unsparingly condemned. 

 Snobbishness and the desire for social advancement are 

 found in all ranks of society ; and the snobbishness which 

 favours the limitation of families amongst the well-to-do is 

 now doing a deadly injury to the race. 



There is certainl}'^ one reason for the limitation of the 

 size of the family which is worthy of respect, and that is 

 the desire to make sure that the children already born can 

 be placed in as good positions as is possible. In the 

 following chapters something will be said as to how it could 

 be made more possible in the future to satisfy this ambition 

 of parents where there are several children. But in any case 



