"The public health is the foundation on which reposes the happiness of
the people and the power of a country. The care of the public health is
the first duty of a statesman."
LORD BEACONSFIELD.
THE EUGENIC IDEA
THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE--THE EUGENIC PRINCIPLE--"THE FIT ONLY SHALL
LIVE"--EUGENICS AND MARRIAGE--THE VENEREAL DISEASES--THE UTILITY OF
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES--THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES AND VICE--EUGENICS AND
PARENTHOOD--THE PRINCIPLE OF HEREDITY--EUGENICS AND
MOTHERHOOD--EUGENICS AND THE HUSBAND.
The eugenist believes the cardinal error of the past has been a failure to
recognize the worth or value of human life. In the past human lives have
counted for absolutely nothing. As we have seen, each generation has
practically deprived posterity of the best of its breed, and we shall see,
when we consider the facts which affect the present vitality of the race,
that the same preposterous conditions still exist.
It is not necessary to waste the reader's time in an effort to prove,
simply from an argumentative standpoint, the logic of the eugenic idea.
There is no existing economic problem that has established itself so firmly
in the hearts of the people who understand it, as has the study of race
culture. It is not the subject, but its scope of application, that is new.
Biologically, we see the manifestations of eugenics on every side. In the
flower garden we breed for beauty, in the orchard for quality. In the
poultry yard and on the stock farm the same process weeds out the unfit and
cultivates the desirable. The value of the eugenic idea is most strikingly
illustrated in the cultivation, or breeding, of the horse from a primitive
creature into the splendid animals which represent the various types of
equine present-day perfection. It has taken generations of the most [10]
painstaking intelligence to understand the traits which had to be evolved
in scientific mating to reach the present standard. If the same rules, or
lack of rules, applied to the mating of horses as applied to ourselves,
there would be few, if any, "thoroughbreds" among them. The principle which
we must recognize is that "Life is the only wealth."
Progress and efficiency will be ensured and of an enduring character, when
all human effort is consecrated to this fundamental principle as a basic
law, and not till then.
To cultivate the human race on prescribed scientific principles will be the
supreme science of all the future, the object and the final goal of all
honest governmental jurisprudence, and the ultimate judge of all true
constructive legislation.
THE EUGENIC PRINCIPLE
The eugenic principle is, that "the fit only shall live." This does not
mean that the unfit must die, but that only the fit shall be born.
Occasionally, as a product of bad environment, or faulty training, or
eccentricity, a horse gives evidence of vicious traits, but the scientific
breeder never mates him. He is allowed to die out. If he were permitted to
father a race, his progeny would develop murderous characteristics that
would retard the type for generations.
THE FIT ONLY SHALL BE BORN.--This implies the exclusion of those, as
parents, who are incapable of creating fit children. Fit children are
children who are physically and mentally healthy. Parents who are unfit to
create physically and mentally healthy children are those diseased in body
or mind, especially if the disease is of the type which science has proved
to be transmissible, or which directly affects the vitality of the child.
In such a category we place those who are deaf, dumb, blind, epileptic,
feeble-minded, insane, criminal, consumptive, cancerous, haemophilic,
syphilitic, or drunkards, and those known to be victims of disease of [11]
any other special type.
It must not be inferred that the above classification is made arbitrarily.
There are many arguments which may be advanced limiting the eugenic
applicability of certain of these diseased conditions. These, however, do
not directly come within the province of the mother. They may be safely
left to special state regulation. We simply make the assertion that no
mother would willingly, or designedly, ally her offspring with any member
of society afflicted with any of the diseases enumerated.
EUGENICS AND MARRIAGE.--The eugenic idea, practically applied to the
institution of marriage, means that no unfit person will be allowed to
marry. It will be necessary for each applicant to pass a medical
examination as to his, or her, physical and mental fitness. This is
eminently a just decree. It will not only be a competent safeguard against
marriage with those obviously diseased and incompetent, but it will render
impossible marriage with those afflicted with undetected or secret disease.
Inasmuch as the latter type of disease is the foundation for most of the
failures in marriage, and for most of the ills and tragedies in the lives
of women, it is essential to devote special consideration to it in the
interest of the mothers of the race.
It is estimated that there are more than ten million victims of venereal
disease in the United States to-day. In New York City alone there are two
million men and women--not including boys and girls from six to twelve
years of age--actively suffering from gonorrhea and syphilis. Eight out of
every ten young men, between seventeen and thirty years of age, are
suffering directly or indirectly from the effects of these diseases, and a
very large percentage of these cases will be conveyed to wife and children
and will wreck their lives. No one but a physician can have the faintest
conception of the far-reaching consequences of infection of this character.
The great White Plague is merely an incident compared to it. These diseases
are largely responsible for our blind children, for the feeble-minded, for
the degenerate and criminal, the incompetent and the insane. No other [12]
disease can approximate syphilis in its hideous influence upon parenthood
and the future. The women of the race, and particularly the mothers, should
fully appreciate the real significance of the situation as it applies to
them individually. That they do not appreciate it is well known to every
physician and surgeon.
It is first necessary to state certain medical facts regarding these
diseases. They exist for years after all symptoms have disappeared; no
evidences exist even to suggest to the patient that he, or she, is not
entirely cured. After the germs have been in the patient for some time they
lose a certain degree of their virility, and a condition of immunity is
established. In other words the tissue ceases to be a favorable medium for
the development, or activity, of the germs. If these germs, however, are
conveyed to another person, who has never had the disease, or whose tissue
is not immune, they will immediately resume their full activity and
virulence, and will establish the disease, frequently in its most violent
form, in the person so infected. The startling deduction which we must draw
from these facts is, that a man may infect his wife, and may thereby be the
direct cause of wrecking her entire life, and may, in addition, as a
consequence of the infection, cause a child to be born blind, without even
remotely suspecting that he is in any way responsible for it. In the light
of this knowledge, what is the percentage risk a young girl takes when she
selects a husband, remembering that eight out of every ten husbands bring
these germs to the marriage bed? Reread the true story of the young woman
on page five, accept my assurance that there are thousands and thousands of
such cases, and ask yourself, who is to blame? We may certainly assure
ourselves that no man living would wilfully desecrate his bride. He did not
know,--did not even suspect that the disease he had years ago was still in
his system. Society is to blame--you and I--the laxity of the law is the
culprit. Had he been compelled to pass a physical examination before
marriage he would have been told the truth.
It is a notorious fact, that in every civilized city in the world, the
number of operations that are daily performed on women, is increasing [13]
appallingly. Every surgeon knows that nine-tenths of these operations are
caused, directly or indirectly, by these diseases, and in almost every case
in married women, they are obtained innocently from their own husbands. It
is rare to find a married woman who is not suffering from some ovarian or
uterine trouble, or some obscure nervous condition, which is not amenable
to the ordinary remedies, and a very large percentage of these cases are
primarily caused by infection obtained in the same way.
When a girl marries she does not know what fate has in store for her, nor
is there any possible way of knowing under the present marriage system. If
she begets a sickly, puny child,--assuming she herself has providentially
escaped immediate disease,--she devotes all her mother love and devotion to
it, but she is fighting a hopeless fight, as I previously explained when I
stated that one-half of the total effort of one-third of the race is
expended in combating conditions against which no successful effort is
possible. Even her prayers are futile, because the wrong is implanted in
the constitution of the child, and the remedy is elsewhere. These are the
tragedies of life, which no words can adequately describe, and compared to
which the incidental troubles of the world are as nothing.
So long as these conditions exist need we not tremble for the future of the
race? Is not this future welfare a personal issue, or can we trust the
future of our daughters to the same indiscriminate fate that has written
the pages of history in the past?
This problem has been debated from every possible angle without our
reaching any seemingly practical solution. The promise of emancipation,
however, came with the dawn of eugenics. It is the only solution that gives
promise of immediate and reasonable success. For that reason alone it
should receive the active support of every good mother in all lands.
THE UTILITY OF MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES.--There would seem to be no question
as to the utility of marriage certificates. We must remember, however, that
there is a distinction between marriage and parenthood, and that [14]
eugenics is concerned only with parenthood. It is interested in the
institution of marriage to the extent only that it may, by some system of
regulation, be a positive and fixed factor in the production of exclusively
healthy children. The eugenist demands fit children. If society can ensure
fit children, as a consequence of any marriage system which may or may not
include medical certification, the eugenic aim is fully met. At the present
time the giving of a marriage certificate, which is really a permit to
marry, would seem to be the most practical way promptly to accomplish the
eugenic purpose. We should promptly question the honor of any prospective
husband disposed to evade the examination simply because he was not
compelled to obey by a legislative enactment.
We believe that when the public is educated to the truth and intent of
eugenics, there need be no compulsory examination. Men and women will, of
their own accord, desire to know if their marriage will jeopardize the
race. There will be questions of heredity to elucidate, questions of
inherited insanity, poison taints, of blindness and deafness, or it may be
of drunkenness.
Further, marriage certificates, or permits, must be considered in regard to
the future conduct of those to whom we refuse permits to marry. A refusal
of the permission to marry will not change the desire to marry. Many, of
course, to whom a permit is refused, will accept the situation, will be
thankful to be possessed of the knowledge of their incompetency in order
that they may seek medical aid. These individuals will remain under medical
supervision until their ailments are cured and their competency
established. In this way the eugenic aim is materially furthered. Others
may not abide by the decree which forbids marriage. It would wholly defeat
the eugenic idea if the unfit children were to continue to be born
illegitimately. These individuals will comprise the few--probably the
present unfit members of society--and the final solution of the matter must
remain a question of education and evolution. When public opinion is
educated to the degree necessary to establish a system of eugenic
self-protection, we shall be provided with a race of children whose [15]
culture will achieve the ideal of parenthood by a process of education
rather than legislation.
THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE AND VICE.--If a prenuptial examination were made
compulsory there is no doubt of the very prompt and salutory effect it
would have on present-day vice. It has often been said that "You cannot
legislate virtue or sobriety into a people." We are familiar too with the
maxim that "You can lead a horse to the well, but you cannot make him
drink." You can lead a horse to the well, however, and lo! he drinks. If
you lead him at the right time he will always drink. If we legislate at the
psychological moment we can legislate virtue and sobriety into a people.
A very large percentage of existing vice is the immediate product of
ignorance, and the larger percentage of the remainder is the result of
propinquity and the idea that it will never be found out. Very little of it
is the outcome of innate degeneracy. It is an acquired degeneracy we must
guard against, and that is the special educational motive of eugenics.
Young men will be taught the truth about vice, and if they have been
victims in the past, they will willingly submit themselves to a _competent_
investigation of their fitness for marriage. If they are still pure, the
desire to remain so, in order to be eligible for parenthood, will guard
them against the risk of contamination. This will not only result in a
distinct improvement of the moral tone, but the potential possibilities to
posterity will be incalculable. Legislation might therefore be the vehicle
through which eugenic education could enlighten and evolve a fit race.
EUGENICS AND PARENTHOOD
If the supreme end is a better race we must recognize that the great need
for society to-day is to educate for parenthood. History teaches that a
civilization that dissipates its virility in profligacy or spends its
energy in political and commercial trickery, and gives no thought to the
character of the men and women it produces, is destined to total failure.
Parenthood and birth--in these we have the eugenic instruments of the [16]
future. The only permanent way to cure the ills of the world is to prevent
the multiplication of people below a certain standard. The elevation and
the actual preservation of the race depends upon rendering it impossible
for the unfit coming into existence at all. In other words the unfit or
unworthy must be rejected, not necessarily as individuals, but as parents.
Eugenics is allied to the principle of heredity,--the principle that
enables us to modify conditions so as to ensure the right children being
born. The propaganda against infant mortality is directed only toward the
provision of a good environment,--so that children, when born, may survive
and attain the maximum of their hereditary promise. The two campaigns are
essentially complementary. The one applies only before birth, the other
after birth. The statistics of infant mortality unfortunately show that it
is not a process that extinguishes the unfit only. The healthy succumb to
unfavorable environment and it was to amend this condition that the
campaign against infant mortality was undertaken. The two campaigns appeal
to the same creed: that parenthood is the supreme function of the race,
that it must not be indifferently undertaken; that it demands the most
careful preparation; that it is a duty which can only be carried out
eugenically by the highest attainable health of body and mind and emotions.
EUGENICS AND MOTHERHOOD.--Any plan or scheme which has for its object race
regeneration must concern itself with the health, the education, and the
psychology of woman; the environment which shall surround her period of
motherhood, and her selection of the fathers of the future. Society must
safeguard her in all her relations. The race to-morrow are the babies of
to-day. The wealth of a nation therefore is the type of baby that will
constitute its civilization from generation to generation, and absolutely
nothing else counts. We hear much about race suicide, but is it not
monstrous to cry for more babies when we do not know how to keep alive
those we have? It is a fact that everywhere the birth rate of the Caucasian
people is on the decline. Our birth rate as a whole, however, is ample;[17]
it is the death rate that is significant and appalling. When we remember
that one-third of all the babies born die before they reach the age of five
years; and that the deaths of babies under one year of age comprise about
one-fourth of the total death-roll; and that fully one-half of all these
deaths are needless and unnecessary, wherein is the wisdom of working for a
higher birth rate if it is merely that more may die?
The majority of babies are born physically healthy, but because of our
destructive process, we proceed to annihilate hundreds of thousands of them
yearly, and because of defective environment and education we render
thousands of others, including the fit and unfit, inefficient and
incompetent as propagating factors. It is to remove this disastrous stigma
on our intelligence that we have been forced to study the conditions which
the eugenic idea represents. When these principles are understood and
believed, and when they are acted upon, infant mortality will cease to
exist.
It was the design of the Creator that human motherhood should be an exalted
occupation. He placed in her care to nurture and to love, the most helpless
living thing. Few have regarded a baby from this viewpoint and fewer still
understand its supreme significance. That it is the most utterly helpless
thing possessing life is a self-evident fact, and that it should be
destined to be King of all mammalian tribes as well as Lord of all the
earth is a superlative paradox. Because of its utter inability to care for
itself it is more in need of care than any other representative of the
animal world. It is not only in need of immediate care, but it demands care
longer than the young of any other species.
It stands to reason, therefore, that the function of motherhood must be
reckoned with in any scheme of race regeneration; that it must be provided
with the most favorable environment; and that it must be relieved of any
condition which would materially retard the meeting of the obligation to
its fullest possible extent. In an ideal eugenic sense the state must
ensure sustenance to those deprived of ample food and raiment, and [18]
science must continue to solve the problem of a fitter sanitary and
hygienic environment for the congested and densely populated zones of
habitation. Philanthropy must not continue to be wholly misdirected, it
must extend its aid to the deserving healthy and fit, as well as to be
exclusively the protecting agency of the diseased and unfit. If life is the
only wealth, and the preservation of childhood the highest duty of society
and the state,--which it would seem to be, since the continuance and
preservation of the race is obviously essential to the continuance of the
state itself,--the life of every child must be considered an economic as
well as a moral trust. If, therefore, every child is sacred, every mother
is equally sacred. If every child is to be cared for, every mother must be
cared for. If the state cannot afford to provide for what is imperatively
essential to its own continuance, it might as well go out of existence, as
it inevitably will in the end on any other basis, and as all preceding
states have done.
Mothers must not be dependent upon their children's labor for their
maintenance, because if children are compelled to work, they will not be
able to work in the future,--and adult efficiency is necessary to the
well-being of the individual, the race, and the state.
No mother should work, because in the care of her children she is already
doing the supreme work. The proper care of children is so continuous and
exacting a task, and of such importance to posterity, that it must be
regarded as the highest and foremost work--and adequate in itself--and its
efficiency must not be hampered by mothers having to do anything else.
Motherhood must not be financially insecure, because this would defeat its
eugenic purpose. Society, therefore, as a matter of self-preservation, must
ensure to woman her mental and economic security. Civilization's margin is
large enough to provide this. We spend large amounts on luxuries and evils
which are contrary to the genesis of self-preservation, while motherhood is
its basic necessity. When public opinion is educated in the essentials of
eugenics much of this can be, and will be diverted to a nobler purpose. The
total cost necessary to ensure the adequate care of dependent [19]
motherhood would be a mere fraction of the national expenditure, and not a
tithe of what we spend in pension allowances yearly. The latter is regarded
as an honorable debt and is at best the direct product of a decadent ideal,
while motherhood constitutes the very germ of the only altruistic idealism
for all the future.
We concede, therefore, that the children and the mothers must be provided
for, not only as a product of the true construction of the ethics of
sociology, but in obedience to the fundamental law of a moral system of
eugenics. We must go further and assert that children must be cared for
through the mother. It has been the practice to divorce the improvident
mother from her dependent children. This has been demonstrated to be not
only an altruistic fallacy. It has proved to be an economic blunder.
There is another type of evil which largely menaces the eugenic ideal of
motherhood. It is those cases where married women who have children are
compelled to be the bread winners of the family as well as its mothers. No
woman can earn support for herself and children outside of her home and
competently assume the responsibilities of motherhood at the same time.
Whatever aid a mother renders to the state, as a result of effort in
factory or shop, is of infinitely less value, from an economic standpoint,
than her contribution as mother in caring for her own children in her own
home. A careful study of infant mortality, and the conditions of child
life, so far as survival value is concerned, condemns in the strongest and
most vital sense this whole practice. The preservation of the race is the
essential requisite, and it is the vital industry of any people. Any
seeming economic necessity which destroys that industry is one that will
contribute largely to the downfall of the people as a race.
EUGENICS AND THE HUSBAND.--The question of the husband's moral and parental
obligation, as dictated by the marriage institution and constitution, may
be left out of this discussion. We may assert, however, that we do not
believe the eugenic principle intends, in devising ways and means for [20]
the adequate protection, in its completest sense, of motherhood, to relieve
the father of any of his moral or parental obligations. These obligations
will be justly defined, and as previously stated, will be the subject of
special state legislation. No legislation of an economic character can
detract from the performance of a moral obligation, and by no process of
sophistication can modern statesmanship accomplish the dethronement of
motherhood. The duty of the father is to support his children and the
mother of his children, and the duty of the state is to see that this is
done. The fundamental law of the eugenist must be to recognize that
fatherhood is a deliberate and responsible act, for which a fixed
accountability must be maintained. Whatever legislation is undertaken in
this connection must be with the object in view of strengthening the
efforts of the right kind of father and husband, and of rendering more
difficult the path of the irresponsible father and husband. If the supreme
duty of a state is the maintenance of justice, its whole effort in the
future will be to legislate in harmony with the eugenic principle.
* * * * *
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