The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-18

...a
hatdships which kilr off the weak must tsil
more or less preiudioially upon the strong VINO
survive. II we succeed in bringing up many
| who would have disappeared uhoeI = iHo
severe test, II is fair to suppose u,S suSs have
| destrov certain evils which wouid haxe
! bronoht down the general standard OIL heaSn.
The implied doctrine seems 10 DO shsS 4ersa,
| trials which ipiufe the sickly teno posi.iVey
! 10 invieorate the healthy. bus Tue heIaoulu9
tSoo,v ia only applicable within very narrow
,;,o;,sy and the more ordinary case would seem
80 hs that anything which is bad for one class
,ells proportioDately upon the other. Ger
! tsinly the savage tribes upon whom the ex-
periment is tried on the largest scale seem to
he of distinctly weaker fibre than the more
pampered European; and the soldier who has
been luxuriously brought up Is said to stand
hardships better than his r0ugher comp paniou,
who in the common phrase, has been Injured
TO baTdships from his youth. Still we may
suppose that, within certain limits, which it
is impossible to define the effect Of rearing
the siokly part of the population is to pro.
duce race of inferior stamina. II we had
not certain awkward moral feelings, we ought
to choose out the most promising babies, as
we take the best-lOokiug puppies in litter,
and Temorsely drown all who are not strong
enough to live.
The general result would therefore be that
civilization produces upon the human race an
effect analogous to that which racing is alleged
to produce uIon the breed of horses. We
certainly develop some qualities in very high
degree; we get highly nervous, sensitive AMI
intellectual race; but they are wanting in the
robust physical qualification which is a neces-
sary substratum Tor their other merits. The
first necessity of O population, as for an indi-
vidual, is that il should live. 1t may display
the finest intelligence, but ifit has not vitality
enough to carry on an internecine struggle for
existence, it will not be able to get hearing at
all in this world. The rough pachy yderm atOus
mart of tho popu 1ation will svnapd at tho onst
ofthe more refined the inferior races, which on
the whole manage to produce greater surplus
with given amount oflabor, will push on one
side the more costly, though more powerful, ma
chine, just as scTew-stesme ers supplant paddle
wheels, not beosuse they are faster or more
convenient, but because they burn less coal to
produce given speed. And finally, if we be-
come SO tender-hearted as to rear all the
weakly constitutions, we shall pay for our
humanity by degeneratipg in average strength,
and shall be- literally too good for this world
or, If statement in such terms sounds too
improbable, we may say that our good nature
may perhaps be developed out of proportion
to our foresight or our severer virtues. So far
as there is any truth in this view, il would
not be in any way opposed to the doctrine
OF natural selection; for that doctrine merely
asserts that the races will survive which, on
the whole, are best adapted to the world in
which we live. 1t would be partial con-
demnation Of our modern civilization, and
would show that, although it has produced
race distinctly better fitted for self lfpreserva-
tion than the red Indian or the negro, it has
yet developed mankind in very imperfect
and ene-sided manner. We are trying,
according to the proverb, to chop
blocks with raZors, and have encouraged
delicacy at the price of strength. Men, like
horses, are becoming "weedy," and require
an infusion of some stronger and less highly
strung organizations. The eXcitable Ameri-
can needs to be invigorated by the daller EU-
ropean immigrant;sand in some climates, at
least, the white man ill have to be content
with supplying commanding officers to use
their brains in directing the ruder rank and
file of Asiatic races. In short, we should have
| to regard the development of mankind, not as
a continuous process in which the finest race
in existence at given period always tends to
| multiply at the expense of it's neighb0rs, but
rather as a tentative and vaclating advance,
where certain races gain for time exoep-
| tional merits at the expense OF vitality, and
then have to sink back upon the more vigoT
GUS breeds Of the second rank.
| The observations necessary to determine
| this point weuld undoubtedly be Of the highest
interest. We should hardly be philosophical
enough to be reconciled to partial deteriora-
tion OF the race by the fact that il is in accord
ance with the law of natural selection. II
would be melancholy to believe that the pro-
! gress upon which We pride ourselves is in part
illusory, and that We must start again from a
! lower platform. We would infinitely rather
discover that the alleged indications OF decline
are merely exceptional. The case OF a new
country is obviously not quite in point. There
is there a special demand for the rougher
kinds of labor, and the race which increases
most rapidly has an advantage which It does
not possess in other countries. What is re-
quired is as many millions as possible of rough,
hard working pioneers; and the enormous in
crease of the immigrant population in Ams-
RIGA has been in fact produced immediately by
such demand. In a country in the normal
state, where the limits of population are
closer, the more intellectual qualities will give
agreater advantage; and 1t ia at least probable
that the evils which result from preserving
the weakly children will be counter balanced
by removing the causes of general depression.
This, however, Is an intricate problem, which
we must be content for the present simply to
note, without attempting to discover a salts.
factory solution.