226 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



enlightened and most desirable members of the 

 community ; and, furthermore, that the exact con- 

 verse of this is also true, that the most reckless repro- 

 duction is to be looked for among the least educated 

 and poorest classes. The effect of this tendency is, 

 of course, just the opposite of what is most needed, 

 and is restrictive of the best elements of the popula- 

 tion while placing no restraint whatever on the mul- 

 tiplication of the least intelligent and poorest people. 

 There is evidence that this tendency is actually 

 operative to-day in the United States. Here the 

 conditions are now distinctly antagonistic to any 

 restrictions among the lowest classes, and are likely 

 to remain so while so much territory remains under- 

 populated, in the sense that it holds natural resources 

 able to give profitable occupation to large numbers 

 of unskilled laborers. Probably the only way to 

 induce the lower classes to limit their families is to 

 educate them to higher standards of living by arous- 

 ing better ideals of attainment and of comfort for 

 their children. But how is this to be done when there 

 is such a demand for cheap labor as exists to-day in 

 the United States ? 



For my own part, I own to a leaning in the direc- 

 tion of considering the quality as well as the numbers 

 of our community. One cannot help suspecting that 

 the interests of the country and of the race would be 

 better served by striving to elevate the ideals and 

 attainments of the laboring classes than by encourag- 

 ing the mere increase of their numbers as is so largely 



