292 EUGENICS 



This means, if one takes into consideration the fact 

 that members of the first group probably marry several 

 years earlier, on the average, than members of the 

 second group, that the mentally defective class is 

 reproducing itself about twice as rapidly as the intel- 

 lectual class. There can be no doubt as to what the 

 result of such a proportion as this must be. Let us 

 quote Prof. Pearson's own conclusion : ' The progress 

 of the race inevitably demands a dominant fertility 

 in the fitter stocks. If that principle be not recognized 

 as axiomatic by the mentally and bodily fit themselves, 

 if the statesman do not accept it as a guide in social 

 legislation, then the race will degenerate until, sinking 

 into barbarism, it may rise again through the toilsome 

 stages of purification by crude natural selection/ Or, 

 it may be added, until it be annihilated by a more 

 efficient neighbour. 



With regard to the cause of these differences in the 

 birth-rate of different sections of the community, there 

 can be very little doubt that they are largely due to 

 deliberate restraint on the part of the more prudent 

 and intelligent classes. When a person has attained 

 by his own industry to a certain standard of comfort, 

 and even luxury, he naturally desires to give his 

 children a fair start, and to insure for them an equal 

 degree of ease and security ; and if he finds that this is 

 more easily done when the number of his family is 

 limited, it is difficult to blame him for taking advantage 

 of the fact. If this class of men had more children 

 on the average than are produced by people in in- 

 ferior stations, it would mean that the children of the 



