National Republican., 1880-03-12
MISCELLANEOUS.
The oeneratlon I'D lhn WIolod.

The Scientific american of February 81, 1875.
considering the Generation of tho Wicked"
and the Knife Remedy" states that certain
phases of criminaity are not ouly consistent
with, but are usually accompanied by abund-
ant animal yigOr, capable of indefinite propa-
CATION, and the probabilities arc that tho
criminals of future yeais will be chiefly de-
sconded from the sturdy sinners for whose
restraint the police systems Of to-day are
mainly required. The criminal class, like the
paupcr class, is, to n great extent, AN hcr,d-
ltary caste, representing the unciviizcd and
largely the unciyiliziElc elemGr!s oil the CONF
munity How to deal with this ciaSs, saT
P turn Its perverted forces into useful
channels ana nnke its pcrpetuatlon
difficult, if not impossible, is tho great social
problem of the day. Every boy and girl
now growing up in beggary aud lawcssncss
Is tho possible ancestor of long line of
pariahsiand neither prudence nor philanthropy
can tolerate the neglect of them. Society has
as little right to allow the future to be afflicted
with the pernicious fruit of such pernicious
stems as II has TO stock the fields with poison.
Gus plants or knowingly establish the con.
ditions for the development of future posti.
lence. The rational tendency of "a high civili-
zation is toward diminished birth.ratc.
The waste of lifo that goes on Ia
ruder societies, through wars, public and pri-
vate, through improvdenOo aud unhealthful
CohhiblOuo VI Dtlugt lS lullutusClN lCSsencu III
civilized conditions and with IL the need of
many births. A vastly larger proportion Of
tho children born are able to attain maturity
and the average duration is much increased.
A low birth rate is, therefore, perfectly con-
sistent with high national power and progress
and tho development of all that makes lifo
desirable, and, as we have said, the tendency
of civilization is always to obtain such an
economical birth rate. But the less civilized
grades of society, improvident in all things,
arc equally so in human life. Careless of tho
responsibility of pareutage, they breed like ver-
min, the criminal grades being especially pro-
life more than make up for the destructiveiu1u-
encos ofcrimc. The lusty vagabond leads jolly
life, filled to the end with all the endowment lie
is capable of, aud leaves behind him q nu-
merous progeny to pay the penalty Of his mis-
deeds in hereditary poverty, impoverished
constitutions, dcpraved tastes and wasting
diseases and other conditions of carly defeat
in lites engagements and the morally and
physically healthy arc taxed for the support
Of aims houses, prisons, asylums, hospitals aud
other places Of refuge for them. For tho
victims as well us for humanity at large it
were better had these never been born, and
we can only regard ii RS an illustration of tho
power of popular prejudice, that people who
find nothing to condemn in the determination
of individuals whose murderous nature
seems Incompatible with public safety
arc really 10 noiu up thelf haDus
in horror at the most guarded sugges.
ton of the advisability of making it Inn
possible for lusty savages to mnict upon the
community a brood of ill.balanced organisms,
destined to swell the ranks Of vice aud crime.
The effect upon the criminal statistics of this
city would be something marvellous for the
next hundred years, were the wolst offenders
against public peace aud morality sent to the
Islnnd-not as now, to recuperhte their wasted
forces and return IN u few weeks to enter
more Justify upon thoir evil course-but to be
made perfectly harmless as regards the future.
In this way only can the stream of tendency
which makes for uurightousness DO dried up
at its source, and tho protection of the moral
health Of the community be insured by the
prevention of that worst Of social dstempers,
hereditary crime ~