THE BREEDING OF MEN 



are restricted to two or three individuals in a 

 fraternity. 



At first sight, then, it might seem that the en- 

 thusiasts who have prated about race suicide, and 

 urged on humanity in general the duty of having 

 large families, were justified. And indeed, Mr. 

 Burbank's method of growing vast numbers of 

 seedlings, in order to select the best, may be said 

 to be corroborative. 



It must be recalled, however, that Mr. Bur- 

 bank has the option of destroying all of his seed- 

 lings, and that he commonly preserves only a few 

 among the thousands. 



Obviously this part of the plant breeder's meth- 

 ods cannot be applied to the human plant, and 

 hence we are debarred from giving indiscriminate 

 approval to the method of quantity production as 

 applied to human beings. 



What we are justified in saying, however, is 

 that quantity production applied to the better 

 classes of the community would be highly bene- 

 ficial. It should be remembered that Mr. Bur- 

 bank applies the principle of quantity production 

 not indiscriminately, but to the best individuals. 

 He could never produce the improved varieties 

 for which he is famous were he to breed only from 

 undesirable members of the colony, even though 

 he germinated seeds by uncounted millions. 



[253] 



