LUTHER BURBANK 



AMEKICA THE BACIAL MELTING-POT 



It is obvious that here in America we are 

 bringing together, thanks to the extraordinary im- 

 migration of recent years, representatives of the 

 human species of many races and from all regions 

 of the globe. In the nature of the case, these new- 

 comers will ultimately intermingle, and thus there 

 will be accomplished, on a broader and more com- 

 prehensive scale, some such blending of the 

 strains of different human races as Mr. Burbank 

 has accomplished in the case of the different 

 races of plants. 



The question naturally arises as to whether the 

 remarkable results that Mr. Burbank has pro- 

 duced in developing improved races of plants are 

 likely to be duplicated in the case of the human 

 plant here in America. Offhand it might seem 

 that such should be the case. But before indulg- 

 ing in too optimistic an augury it is well to con- 

 sider two or three complications. 



In the first place, it must be recalled that Mr. 

 Burbank imports only the best examples of the 

 various species with which he experiments. He 

 thus breeds from selected stock. But it is well 

 known that a large proportion of the immigrants 

 that have come to the United States in recent 

 years are not the best representatives of their 

 various races. On the contrary, they include a 

 large proportion of inferior representatives. 



Without dwelling at length on the matter here, 

 it must be obvious that this introduces a compli- 



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