Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1911-09-21
THE HAND THAI. WRECKS THE
CRADLE.

i#VCssF7ANO IsIAi WnESNS I7E
CRADLE.
In a recent editorial in these col
umns, we spoke Of the work which the |
modern eugenist is doing to arouse !
the public conscience not only to the
possibilities Of improving the human
race by proper selection of parent !
types, but to the far more vital mat,
ter of mere self preservation. We |
called attention to Pearson's state
ment that 25 per cent of the present
generation is producing so per cent
OF the next; that imbeciles, paupers,
criminals and detectives were produc-
ing faster than manufacturers, mer-
chants, lawyers and physicians; that,
in word, if the present form of So
ciety is to continue, something must
be done to prevent the perpetuation of
defective classes. To those readers
who may take more than casual in
terest in the subject, we commend the
reading of Prof William E. Kellicott's
Social Direction of Human Evolu-
tion," book which presents in pop
ular and yet authoritative manner the
dangers that beset society.
That these dangers are not mere
/, dreams, that heredity does play the
! major part in the prevention Of de-
.sirable and undesirable classes alike,
is only too easily demonstrated in or
der to drive home the necessity of a
careful study of human heredity. We
! have only to cite Poellmann's study
Of family established by two daugh-
tiers of woman drunkard, who in five
or six generations produced all told
S34 descendants, Of whom over 700
were professional beggars, inmates of
almshOuses, criminals and incompe-
tents of various degrees, and to con-
trast with that degenerate family the
1886 descendants of Jonathan Ed
wards, most of whom occupied dis
tinguished positions in educational
institutions, in the diplomatic service,
in political lie, in commercial affairs,
and in literature.
Environment plays but small part
in this process of conscious race i'm
provement. Free public libraries,
clean houses, modern sanitation can
mot correct bad blood. Slums, sweat
Il ;,,+ ho1
they breed criminals, but because they
may kill off classes which, if nourish-
ed, might become strong and healthy
stocks What is wanted is more
painstaking and scientific study of the
germ plasm that develops a healthy
or unhealthy strain, rather than more
asylums and prisons for the correc-
ton and punishment of offenders. A
lphilanthropist who will wisely donate
to that cause the funds which would
otherwise find their way to the Golfers
Of charitable institutions should earn
everlasting fame. Greater than any
political issue, greater than the build
ing Of more universities and libraries,
greater even than the abolition OF
standing armies, is any movement
which has for it's object the direct
Improvement of the human race
The sociologist has had his day. His
statistics of people who are i'll fed and
i'll housed, can serve no other purpose
than that IF Indicating the need Of
better accommodations for the poorer
classes in the effort to uplift them. 1t
. is to the biologist to whom society
must turn-the man who can definite
ly point out why this or that strain is
undesirable, why this family should
mot be married into, because OF Its
questionable ancestry, why that stock
lis desirable because from it there had
sprung men and women of genius
Able work in this direction is now
being done in England under the guild
ance of Prof. Karl Pearson of the Eu-
genics Laboratory of the University
!, Of London, and in America by the
} Committee on Eugenics Of the Ameri-
can Breeders Association, of Cold
A Spring Harbor, New York. Only q
.. beginning has been made, but begin
ming that has shown that behind the
phrase race suicide" which was ban
6s H 3Asa I saai8 s58 38ss M III