The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-08
SMITHS AND sNODGRAssES.
The OId Fashioned Traits and Types SURE
IN GDvepvt,elsu the New.


the femInists. female and male. were
gifted with wisdom greater than they
give evidence OF possessing they would
agree among themselves to fritter away
less time In unproductive agitation OF pub
lie opinion and get together for tho emf
bodiment OF their peculiar ideals In large
families OF vigorous descendants Con-
tagions OF belief, cult and custom come
and 20 In brief periods Of duration: but
40 long M the laws OF heredity hold good.
or, TO put the matter In words OF one
syllable. so long as the child Is more like
It's parents than like Its neighbours the
control OF the future standards OF our
race will lie more completely In the keep
ing Of those who reproduce their own
types Of character In living men ana
women than In the most frantic and per-
sistent efforts ~ agitators and reformers.
Incredible as II may appear to enthu-
siastic advocates Of the repeal OF certain
OF the laws OF nature propagation VIII
remain more effective than propaganda.
Thoroughly bred family traits fortu-
nately are reliable and very enduring
things. Descendants. OF a long line OF
sound, clear headed men mated genera
ton after generation with sensible ana
devoted women are apt to breed true 10
the virtue OF practical common sense and
remain unaffected Ivy the vogue OF popu-
lar decisions. While the faddists and
extremists, OF less homogeneous stock.
raise "A great hue and cry In deafenng
Advertisement OF their III conceived prof.
ects, those men and women OF sturdier
Intelligence pursue quietly their accus-
toned way, unbewildered by the confusion
Of tongues and teachings. And when at
last the votaries Of strange creeds have
run their courses or agitation, all 100
busy with promotion to have had time.
energy or inclination for the SUCCESSFUL
rearing of their own kind for the per
sl..,. .h..Vr ut
tho soundly bred children of soundly
bred parents take up the march OF prog
rcss at the point to which the wisdom
OF their forebears has advanced II and
carry forward the burden OF the WORLDS
work through the succeeding generation.
The dearest ambition of feminisrn ap-
pears to be TO raise woman to an IN
teilectual equality with man and not
few Of the gentle creatures OF both
sexes. cherish an ingenious faith that
woman OF the future IL destined to be-
come mentally the superior OF the two.
but true mental excellence OF the genera
tons to come can be secured only by the
reproduction OF mental excellence OF the
generation now living. II. then. the
feminlsts are OF tho opinion that they
In their own persons represent the most
advanced types OF the present time. how
are they able to sustain hope that their
aspiration for the cognitive apotheosis
invade the activities Of man and leave
to their supposedly inferior sisters an
overwhelming share Of the task OF re-
populating the world
A simple example in arithmetic may
prove somewh nat startling TO those earnest
workers for the Improvement of the race
who have been too deeply occupied with
PROSECUTING To ind opportunity Of ponder
ing the efficacy of geometrical progress
sion. Let us compare the humanitarian
| endcavors of a typical family of smith
with another which may be denominated
Snodgrass assuming both to be numer-
Gus IN individuals and TO breed fairly true
TO type. The Smith girls. we will say
are OF the old fashioned kind. preferring
above all things the duties of the home
| and family, while the Smith men devote
! themselves strictly to tho business of pro-
viding for their wives and children with
out being led astray by personal ambition ::
| and the Smith couples. in the average
manage to rear to successful matu-
| rity ten children a household. The Snod-
grasses will suppose to be feminsts
| in tendency the men seek chlehy ihdi-
vidual prominence. and the women ape
/ the men In dcvotng their energies pri-
! MARTY to the manly affairs of the COM
/ munity. SO that the Snodgfs,sses average
/ but on. little Snodgrass a household. A
nation may he defined as All accumula-
ton Of Smiths and Snodgrasses
/ In the first generation OF descendants
there will be ten Smiths to one Snodgrass.
/ In the second one hundred Smiths 10 one
Snodgrass, and in the third one thousand
/ Smiths to every Snodgrsss. The Smith
type will be overwhelmingly in the as
cendent. and tho Snodgrass strain OF
, incompetence will be most Thoroughly
weeded out OF the race. together with the
/ Impractical feminist instincts. ideals and
/ preferences Of which tho Snodgrasses
] 81 t,at ap,hn
| ing the course OF tn" century required
| for this degree Of replacement. some OF
| the Smiths may degenerate into Snod-
grasses. and so provide fresh victims for
the racial sacrifice, quite as some OF the
| Snodgrasses may graduate into the
/ Smith class and save their stock for i'm
provement. but tho traits of Smith are
as sure to overwhelm aisA bury the
traits OF Snodgrass as the cNDe of ten
! is certain to bc one thousand And II
| may he instructive to observe that the
names most conspicuous in leadership OF
the feminist movement sound suspiciously
more like Snodgrass than smith AS de-
fined in the preceding paragraph.
Nature, In the teeming fertility OF her
invention. has many ingenious ways OF
eliminating the unit. but none IL OF more
brilliant promise than this new d'stemper
Of femnism. In the keen competition
among families for survival in the evolu-
ton OF the species no one OF them can
neglect in the slightest degree it's primary
/ duty Of self-preservat!on without paying
the penalty OF falling behind In the race
. and a marked deficiency In reproduction
In but three or four generations can re-
suit in nothing less than the practical
extinction OF the family guilty OF that
| failing. The harsh truth Of the matter
Is that the doctrine Of feminism is Its
own worst enemy; for no surer proven
tive of the intellectual advancement of
woman could be devised than the determi-
nation of women OF assumed superiority
| (werc the assumption true) to transfer
| their activities from the home to the
affairs of men. and so neglect their sole
opportunity to perpetuate their supposed
excellence OF mental equipment. The laws
of nature have peculiar attribute of
their own not shared by the Legislative
enactnents Of men they are enforced
inexorably by their infraction. The
future of the race OF mankind Is secure
In the keeping of the most devotesi OF
its mothers and In this sustaining re-
Election We have the just measure of the
true character Of superiority in woman
from every point of view OF her nature
and throughout the destiny OF the species
to its last surviving representative.
FRED METcALY.
PLAINrIEI.p, N. j., March 7.