New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-03-01

conditions as they occurred. without
systematic extirpation Of their causes,
to social hygiene to prophylaXi3
which. To use Mr.. Elliss figure OF
speech. seeks 10 purify not only ne
banks but the river itself. We have
worked upstream TO its source. we have
advanced from symptoms 10 causes
until to-day an equal measure OF pre-
occupation with the race and IFS en-
vironment. with the stream and us
banks and bed, has made MS al. often
unconsciously. socialists and indiv'd-
ualsts both:
At the present ymo TWO great tenden-
cios arc visible i'm our social organization
ON the one hand, the threads oi socldI
life are growing closer. ana LIBERALIZATION,
as regards the simple ana common means
of subsistence. is increasing. on the other
hand. as regards the things that most
closely concern the individual person. tne
srhere of freedom Is being p"rpetlaIlE
enlarged These two tendencies. 50
far from being antagonistic. cannot even
Doe carried out under modern conditions
Of life except together. II ~ only ny SO
cial cooperation in regard 10 Wna'
commonly called the physical Sln' u, ''.,
that IL becomes possible for the lndiN'du.,ai
To develop his own peculiar mature, nv
society Of the future is reasonable an
archy founded on n broad basis OF col
l,ctivism.
However great the advance OF human
life. the evolutionary forces that drive
1; have remained, and will remain the
N thpgp chap
tiers. tho results OF quarter century
OF study. reflection and investigation.
Mr.. Ellis is concerned far less with
hunger. the economic side Of social
hygiene. than with love: less with en-
vironment than with the race that Is
To shape II according To its needs ana
aspirations still. this material phase
is here considered as an important part
of In. means toward race development,
and I'm this sense The Task Of Social
Hygiene" Is. az the author himself
pojnts ont an extension of his earlier
work on sex in Relation to Society.
The new book Is not altogether an
organic whole, made up as II ~ or
papcrs written at different times. but ~
has close-knit continuity of Thought
none the less. MIR. Ellis, then, is here
chiefly occupied with cugenics, WIN the
mental. moral and physical improve
mcnt of men and women in the genera
lions that are To succeed us. lie speaks
with a moderation that should be pom
dcred by the dilettanti. so numerous in
our day. who in their facile spontaneous
omnisciencc would apply theories that
are as vet far from ready for practical
application, that, indeed, have not
even reached the stage OF scientific en-
nerimentation These half-informed
enthusiasts, leaping the obstacles and
uncertainties still in the way. land on
their hapha zard conclusions. and thence
proclaim their faith in the efficacy OF
the making Of many new laws for evo-
luton by compulsion, without full UNI
derstanding OF its processes. The
ACQUISITION snd spread OF knowledge.
the cultivation Of sense Of personal
responsibility. of realization OF mans
highest duty not the enactment OF
measures to be enforced with a strong
hand is the means pointed out by our
author. who, as a matter of course,
turns TO the mothers Of the race as the
most potent influence in the creation
Of ever higher types of manhood and
womanhood.