New Britain herald., 1915-11-18

birth as possible The wonder of this case is that the doctor had the cour- age of his convictions. As he has causticly remarked. many babies have been allowed to die in this same fashion and no one has known out side the hospitals. In this event, the mother, who had never seen her baby. gave consent that it should die as de- creed by science.
 We are in the throes of a so-called uplift movement of which the killing of this Chicago baby is part. Scientists are eager to remove the human race from the plane of chance and set it on the rock-ribbed founda- ton of choice. They are going to weed out the bad and nurture the good. And the elimination, as far as possible, will take place before defec- tives come into the world. When any appear after these precautions they will be dealt with just as this helpless mite in Chicago. Because all this is
 
 old conservatives held to be true. be- cause medical science is thought to be usurping rights which do not be- long to it, the radicals of the present day are being condemned. And yet the strange part of 1t all is that the very men who advocate all these new laws cannot agree on any one case. Were board of medical men to sit probable that he would have been given a chance. For who among them would have said he could not be cured? Who would say he was ropelessly defective? Granted that he was. subnormal, could he not have been cured in later life by this some science that snuffed away his life? There are those who will never admit defeat even in medicine.
 To show how far behind the times is the doctrine of the survival of the fittest,' there was play produced in New York last Friday :, under the auspices of the Medical Review of Reviews, a play entitled 'The Un- born" and laden with the same pro- paganda as Brieux's Damaged, Goods" which stirred America more than a year ago. In explaining why it produced this play the Medical Review of Reviews issued the fol- lowinp. sfatement,.-
 with this performance of The Unborn we are again using what seems to us the most powerful means for pushing our propaganda of en- lightment. And if our dramatic presentation results in no more than l a dignif1ed setting forth of the ques- tions involved, and brings the prob lem from an unassailable position in the dark to place where it may be properly dealt with, our purpose will be achieved.
 Society should hold in it's hands not only the Key of Death but also I the Key of Life so Havelock Ellis l says. And it is idle to deny that the time has come when bestial repro duction, without any regard to here dity and circumstance, must be checked. Woman's place in the | world has advanced sufficiently to 1 permit her keen intelligence and natural instincts to be the sole guides l of the necessity for offspring. And I let it be noted that while we deny 1 the proper use of the means which civilization has placed in our hands, so long will brutal and criminal at tempts in the same direction take place. %
 with a sincere desire to limit the number of the offspring of the most prolific part of the human race paupers, detectives, degenerates, the alcoholic, diseased and insane-we make our plea for broader laws and more humane attitude in respect to the problems of this play"
 With all these ideas permeating the scientific world the only thing forSsthe layman to do is sit back and hope for, the best. When the sur- geons and physicians get through with the cleaning tip process the world might be a fine, old place in which to dwell But by that time the millineum will have put in it's appearance and all these efforts will have gone for nought. Thus shall love's labor be lost.
 TOPSY-TJLRVY TIME.