2 8 National Life 



definite evidence that the inferior stocks are 

 not able to multiply at will, that a certain 

 standard of physique and brains are needful 

 to a man if he wishes to settle and have a 

 family, 



Mr. Francis Galton has suggested that we 

 might progress far more rapidly than we at 

 present do under this crude system of un- 

 conscious wastage if we turned our thoughts 

 more consciously to the problem, if we em- 

 phasized the need of social action in this 

 direction, and made men and women feel the 

 importance of good parentage for the citizens 

 of the future. But I fear our present 

 economic and social conditions are hardly 

 yet ripe for such a movement ; the all-im- 

 portant question of parentage is still largely 

 felt to be solely a matter of family, and not 

 of national importance. Yet how anti- 

 social such a view may be can be easily 

 realized. From the standpoint of the nation 

 we want to inculcate a feeling of shame in 

 the parents of a weakling, whether it be 

 mentally or physically unfit. We want 

 parents to grasp that they have given birth to 

 a new citizen, and that this involves, on the 



