THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF MAN 261 



can read but ill the signs of the times who does not 

 foresee an early end to the exploiting of the labor of 

 these helpless creatures. Humanity has determined 

 firmly that these things must pass, that the young 

 child must not labor long or hard, that a woman 

 must not be taxed beyond her strength. Already ^^ 

 in England there is a partially successful movement 

 which will doubtless spread to this country to pro- 

 vide that a woman be granted a little time before and 

 after the birth of her child during which she shall 

 not be allowed to suffer because her power to earn a 

 wage is temporarily gone. These things cannot fail 

 in the long run to strengthen the people. They 

 strengthen chiefly the present generation. The blight 

 of the fact that acquired characters cannot be trans- 

 mitted, meets us here. This improved environment 

 can only slowly, if at all, improve the race, and every 

 effort made in this direction must be repeated with 

 each generation. 



Under such circumstances is it to be wondered at 

 that the eugenist is hoping to raise the strain? Any 

 improvement he can bring about is not only valuable 

 for the generation in which it comes but is carried on 

 into the generations which follow. This is the hope 

 that strengthens and sustains him in his effort. The 

 science of eugenics is so new, so little is surely known 

 concerning the transmission of human characters, that 



