A FEW THOUGHTS CONCERNING 

 EUGENICS 



By Alexander Graham Bell 



The following paper is an address by Dr Bell to the American Breeders' As- 

 sociation at the recent convention of the Association in Washington, January, 

 1908. This Association was formed several years ago to encourage those per- 

 sons of the United States working to improve our plants and animals. The 

 President of the Association is Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, 

 and the Secretary, Hon. Willett M. Hayes, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. 

 Every person who is interested in the scientific work of the Government and of 

 individuals of the United States to create stronger and more productive varieties 

 of animals or plants is eligible for membership. The Association is doing splen- 

 did zvork in collecting and distributing the results of the many zuorkers along 

 these lines. One branch of the Association includes efforts to improve the human 

 race, and it zvas as a member of the Committee on this subject of eugenics that 

 Dr Bell presented this address. 



THE subject you have entrusted 

 to your Committee on Eugenics 

 is of transcendent importance to 

 mankind. It is no less a question than the 

 consideration of whether it is possible to 

 apply the principles of selective breeding 

 to man for the benefit of the human race. 

 If it is true that "the proper study of man 

 is man," no higher or nobler subject of 

 research can be found. 



I esteem it an honor to have been se- 

 lected by you to serve on the committee 

 having this matter in charge, and to be 

 associated with the eminent men who 

 compose the committee, under the lead- 

 ership of Dr David Starr Jordan, Presi- 

 dent of Leland Stanford University. 

 President Jordan, as chairman, has 

 already presented a preliminary report 

 for the committee, which has met with 

 the ready acceptance of all the members. 



As the Committee on Eugenics has not 

 yet held a meeting for conference and 

 discussion, it will of course be understood 

 that anything I may say upon the sub- 

 ject today expresses merely my own in- 

 dividual views, for which the committee 

 is in no way responsible. 



The improvement of the human race 

 depends largely upon two great factors, 

 heredity and environment; and we deal 

 chiefly with the question of heredity. It 

 is a breeder's problem with which we are 

 mainly concerned and not a question of 

 education or environment. 



We have learned to apply the laws of 

 heredity so as to modify and improve our 

 breeds of domestic animals. Can the 

 knowledge and experience so gained be 

 made available to man, so as to enable 

 him to improve the species to which he 

 himself belongs ? 



Can we formulate practical plans that 

 might lead to the breeding of better men 

 and better women? This is the great 

 question we are called upon to consider. 



The problem is one of great difficulty 

 and perplexity, for its solution depends 

 upon the possibility of controlling the 

 production of offspring from human 

 beings. By no process of compulsion can 

 this be done. The controlling power, if 

 it is possible to evoke it in the interests 

 of the race, resides exclusively with the 

 individuals most immediately concerned. 

 This fact, I think, should be recognized 

 as fundamental, so that our processes 

 should be persuasive rather than manda- 

 tory. 



The great hope lies in the fact that 

 human beings possess intelligence, and 

 a desire that their offspring may be fully 

 up to the average of the race in every 

 particular, if not superior. It is cer- 

 tainly the case that no man desires that 

 his children shall be weak, sickly, defec- 

 tive, or in any way inferior in physical 

 or mental endowments. A condition of 

 sentiment therefore prevails that is emi- 

 nently favorable to voluntary compliance 



