1 32 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



reproduction of the unsound, so they bear hardly on the 

 fit, and not only check the efficient members of society 

 who might desire to bring up a natural number of 

 children, but impair the conditions of environment in 

 which these children might otherwise have been reared. 

 The supplies which go to the unsound in all ranks of 

 life, either through inheritance, charity, or through 

 rates and taxes, will always be a direct and unprofitable 

 drain on the national resources. As much as is spent 

 in these ways, so much the less is there for other 

 purposes. Less is spent directly in the wages of 

 competent men, less capital can be accumulated to 

 stimulate further enterprise. 



Now a demand for the services of competent men 

 brings more of them into employment, and tends to 

 raise their rate of wages. Hence more competent men 

 are in a position to buy goods, and they are all able to 

 buy more. Therefore industry, and with it the wealth 

 of the country, is increased. Moreover, more competent 

 men are able to support wives and families, and that 

 most essential part of the future wealth of nations, a 

 supply of competent children, is increased. 



If, on the other hand, we trace that part of the with- 

 drawn money which would have gone to swell the 

 stores of accumulated capital, we are perhaps on more 

 debatable, or at all events more debated, ground. 

 Still, most economists are agreed that the accumulation 

 of capital, by increasing its supply and by cheapening 

 it, stimulates industry, and again brings into employ- 

 ment the services of competent men, with the beneficial 

 results we have seen above. 



Both these processes are checked by the worse than 



