64 BASIS OF INVESTIGATION. 



say that one-third of the population belongs to the upper class and 

 two-thirds belongs to the lower class. Common observation and 

 the statistics of marriages, births and deaths tell us that the ignor- 

 ant, the vicious, and the mentally incompetent individuals of a com- 

 munity marry early and rear large families, while the intelligent 

 and desirable members of society marry late and have few offspring. 

 The result of this is that the descendants of the ignorant class are 

 becoming relatively more numerous and threaten to supplant the 

 descendants of the intelligent class. 



PROPOSED RESTRICTIONS INADEQUATE. 



There is nothing new in this illustration of the relative rates of 

 increase of the inferior and superior classes of society. The subject 

 has been treated upon by many writers. Galton and Haycraft see 

 in this rapid propagation of the less desirable class of people a 

 serious menace to the future of the race, and in fact conclude that 

 the race is degenerating at the present moment. They both argue, 

 as do others, that there should be a restriction and control of child- 

 bearing as the only means of checking this downward tendency. 

 This may be considered as an ideal plan for race improvement, but 

 it is not a practical one in the present state of civilization. If the 

 race be now deteriorating the plan will be still less practical in the 

 future, while if it be not deteriorating, then there is no occasion for 

 the remedy. 



The statistics which show that the lower classes of society repro- 

 duce more rapidly than the higher and more advanced classes are 

 simply a modern demonstration of a process that has been going on 

 for several centuries. The proof of this is abundant. We have only 

 to compare the known multiplication of the race with the fact that 

 a very large part of the eminent men of the last two centuries left 



