The Detroit times., 1913-12-26
BY HERBERT QUICK.

Author Of ION Board the Good Ship
Earth" When Glory Ceased" etc.
Copyrighted, 1913 by the Newspaper
Enterprise Association.)
/ Eugcnits ~ vhe science of breed
inS human heiusa II is the fashion,
iusl now. II IS commanding the at
tention of many real thinkers and a
HOST OF people who only think they
think And it is the occasion of more
uttered imbecility than any toric now
discussed
Defined In one very narrow way,
IL a very minor title in the
science OF crmnolOgy In little
broader way. II is a good subject for
people TO study before marriage. In
a still deeper aspect IL is the mental
breakfast food OF half-baked amateurs
and crazy scientists.
For SCIENTISTS are quite as likely TO
90 crazy as other people. When they
do. We get from them eliXirs of life
od-age mIcrobe philosophy, and social
uplifT by eugenics
one great scientist whose work in
many lines has been fine has deyel-
Of exceptional couples for breeding
purposes an increase OF the number
OF very talented people could be pro
moted.
The notion is perfectly absurd. even
If Sir Francis Cation did put II forth.
His selected individuals would. in
all proba bility. not love each other
or, II they did would be more or
less unfruitful Robert and Elizabeth
Browning We're two geniuses How
many know whether they had chill
dren? And the ordinary reference
books do not disclose the fate of ROD
ert Wiedemann Barrett Browning,
their only child. SO unimpOrtant was
ne. Where are the Dickenses, the
Longfelows the Shakespeares, the
NTghtngu0us, me Stetteys AND tHe
Millions?
If the breeding OF human beings
could be carried on with as much
certainty as that Of animals, by mat
ing superior men and women as SUI
perior ews and rams are mated the
thing would still be impossible. We
have pedigrees or the live stock, but
none of the people our genealogies
quality OF the blood lines of any peo-
pie or any family on earth. And II Is
a -Well-established fact OF breeding
that mass selection produces no re
suits
Mass selection" means the breed
ing from the best individuals without
reference TO their religious pedigree.
And We have no human pedigrees
based on talent or excellence. physi-
cal or mental Mass selection IS the
only sort Sir Francis Cation could
haye used. and it has been shown by
Or Raymond Pearl and others that
mass selection does no good. The of
spring take back 10 the general level
OF their ancestry
n this thing could be done. il would
be bad thing. We have plenty OF
very talented people now. What we
need is more average development.
And the supereXcellenCe Of human
beings cannot be generally transmit
ted because OF our morals and orr
souls The superior male animal may
be so used as TO do this. and the in
ferior males killed of and this Is
the only way but not SO with thu
human being II Cations scheme
could be carried out. it would with
draw THE best stock from the general
population and segregate il In a small
group OF supermen. The mass would
lose all that group would gain. And
Il is the mass which is important in
a world going over wholly to democ-
racy Cations proposition is impos
sible as to its practical breeding prob
III. IL F.1lT
sible
DIR. Waters Of the Kansas Agricul-
tural college has taken pure-bred beef
cattle and made scrubs or them IN
one generation. He did II by the
same operation that makes scrubs
OF peope-by starving and unshelter-