40 ADDRESS 



substitution of cows' milk, with the resultant opportunities of 

 adulteration and contamination, has interferred with nature. 

 The movement for the prevention of infant mortality amounts 

 in the end simply to this to give back to the baby what is the 

 baby's natural birthright, namely, pure milk and pure air. 



It would be an ardent disciple of the theory of natural selec- 

 tion who would maintain that to poison all infants is a good 

 way to eliminate the unfit. If this is true, we would better 

 abandon modern hygiene altogether, abolish sanitation and quar- 

 antine, and rejoice at the readmission of the bubonic plague, 

 yellow fever and smallpox, as well as the great increase of infant 

 diseases, which would speedily ensue. According to this logic, 

 India with its famines, plagues and life span only half as great 

 as ours, is far more conducive to progress than Western civili- 

 zation. The truth is that the elimination of disease acts both 

 directly and indirectly toward the improvement in health and 

 vitality, not only of the present, but of succeeding generations. 

 Instead of going back to primitive conditions we ought to go 

 forward. It is sometimes said that the cure for the evils of 

 democracy is more democracy. And it is likewise true that the 

 cure for the evils of civilization is more civilization. 



We are confronted with a special condition at present, which 

 makes this movement to prevent infant mortality almost indis- 

 pensable for future generations ; that is, the decreasing birth rate 

 due to voluntary causes. We cannot understand the problems 

 of infant mortality unless we take into consideration the problem 

 of births. A small birth rate requires a small death rate, or 

 else a dwindling population. In countries like France, where 

 the birth rate is small, there is an especial danger of depopula- 

 tion. This is an important problem not only in France, where 

 the density of population is great, but all over the world today. 

 We do not realize it here because we have no statistics of births. 

 The true evolutionary progress seems to be in the direction of 

 vital economy by decreasing the death rate and the birth rate 

 at the same time. The statistics of Yale University show that 

 the number of children of graduates does not equal the number 

 of the parents; that is, the graduates of Yale University are not 

 reproducing themselves. And this is not confined to my own 

 alma mater, but is true of all colleges where statistics are ob- 

 tained. The natural order is that we reduce the birth rate and 

 reduce the death rate also. It makes for economy ; it makes the 

 birth of a human being a more important event, and it makes 

 for the conservation of the life that is born. This seems to be 

 the law of biology. In the progress of animal organisms there 

 seems to be a tendency to a general reduction both of the birth 

 and of the death rate. The female mackerel lays some 50,000 



