THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF MAN 261 
can read but ill the signs of the times who does not 
foresee an early end to the exploiting of the labor of 
these helpless creatures. Humanity has determined 
firmly that these things must pass, that the young 
child must not labor long or hard, that a woman 
must not be taxed beyond her strength. Already 
in England there is a partially successful movement 
which will doubtless spread to this country to pro- 
vide that a woman be granted a little time before and 
after the birth of her child during which she shall 
not be allowed to suffer because her power to earn a 
wage is temporarily gone. These things cannot fail 
in the long run to strengthen the people. They 
strengthen chiefly the present generation. The blight 
of the fact that acquired characters cannot be trans- 
mitted, meets us here. This improved environment 
can only slowly, if at all, improve the race, and every 
effort made in this direction must be repeated with 
each generation. 
Under such circumstances is it to be wondered at 
that the eugenist is hoping to raise the strain? Any 
improvement he can bring about is not only valuable 
for the generation in which it comes but is carried on 
into the generations which follow. This is the hope 
that strengthens and sustains him in his effort. The 
science of eugenics is so new, so little is surely known 
concerning the transmission of human characters, that 
