The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-06-12
copyright. 1914. by A. S. Gray)
EuGENlCS.

EUGENIcS.
Lester Ward declares that aversion
In the relations between man and
woman means that their union will re
suit in some defect or imperfection ir
the offspring And our knowledge OF
the laws of heredity and Of environ
ment prove this must be true.
Environment counts for fully 80 pei
cent in the development of the indi
vidual, and a family distraught by
pickering, misunderstanding. and the
lack of mutual consideration and for"
bearance. cannot we'll be considered
favorable environment in which to de-
velop normal children.
Sex selection and the survival of the
fittest appears to have been RESPONSE
BILE for the course OF human evolution
up to the time of the ancient Greeks,
and II the fragments of that early civil
lization indicate anything. obviously
they indicate q plane Of pure and log
ical thought we have yet to attain.
Sex selection means the choice of
superior mates, and therefore the pro
duction of superior qualities in pos"
terity. Free, natural selection has
been the uplifting power that has de-
veloped and conserved the race. The
primitive selection inspired by natural
instinct and maintained by strong
arms and a stone club undoubtedly
bred men and women relatively superb
or to many of today, and vastly superb
or to those certain to result from a like
number of generations with choice
largely governed by the power Of
property accumulated through more or
. less devious methods.
What Is there In all recorded his.
tory that we can point to in evidence
Of our ability to improve on the forces
that brought US from the primal cell
to Thales, Anaximander, Hippocrates
and Euclid, intellects that still actuate
the minds Of men after more than
twenty centuries?
Granting that beings vary among
themselves generation after genera
ton. granting only the 1T survive,
granting the survivors tend to trans
init their qualities. then 1t follows that
evolution 10 now going on and that We
:aro either ascending or descending.
I'VE know It to be- within our. power
to 20 In either direction, ard therefore
that We can develop q vastly superior
and happier race In q few genera
lions II We win to do 50. But what
rational steps are being taken to this
end? We laugh ut the childish ef.
forts to stay natural forces by i'm.
perial OF legislative edict recorded in
earlier ages; but are recent legis]a.
1dvo enactments in the name Of Gu.
yenics any more logical or do. they
promise to be any more effective than
Emperor Caliguh's command that the
tide cease to rise? #-~
! The simple and .disagreeable truth
10 that modern business has destroyed
the fundamental principle Of natural
selection. Making women economic
ally dependent on men eliminates tho
lifting power Of woman's choice-and
there can be no choice without free.
dom and no freedom except It be
grounded in economic independence.
Because Of woman's dependence and
humanity's mental, sympathetic and
social refinements, the fundamental
principles Of natural selection and the
survival Of tho nttest" through the
struggle for existence have been
forced'into the background. creating IN
artificial condition certain to be COZ.
Tected by self.destruction. Hence
khis cry for eugenics. .s~
Eugenics cannot become q vital
power in any nation until sufficient
body OF the people become imbued
with the true principles, and this 10 Z
condition impossible to attain through
legislation. and is only to be achieved
by individual effort and mental and
physical development. No sane par.
ents Will knowingly deliberately con-
denim their children or their children's
children to poverty. the insane asy.
lum or worse: and the means Of pre-
vention lie in knowledge. r.. , .-
II every child were given . prac.
tical working knowledge Of physics,
chemistry and biology, studies that
furnish material for true thought and
fundamental understanding. the pres.
snt unhealthy condition would auto
matically correct itself. and there
would b nj more, talk Of eugenics. !.
..f% HEREolTY.
49, o. -.. -
Irving Fisher In United States sen.
ate document No. 419. National Vital.
;ity. Its Wastes and Conservation, ~
says: Human. vitality depends upon
two primary conditions: heredity and