Problem of Unfit

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 32, 1 November 1933, Page 11

Problem of Unfit

Sir, —I would like to comment on » cable in last week’s “Dominion” on the “Problem of the Unfit.” This is indeed a very vital problem and calls for the attention of Parliament and all eugenic-minded people and authorities in this country. It is a problem that is always shelved,' but should be tackled in earnest, and, as the cable states, it continues to be a matter for intense public debate in England. Professor Cyril Burt, speaking at the London School of Hygiene, says that in order to wipe out the evil it would be necessary tp sterilise one-fifth of the population—i.e., the population of England. That is a terrible picture, but if not done it ean only increase and get worse. The Bishop of Exeter says if the unfit were sterilised people mentally and bodily fit should be encouraged, perhaps even compelled, to have large families. And why not? Let us breed from the best of onr people. It would surely be only a right, just, and Christian thing to bring into the world the best of well-bred human beings. Are not our prisons and mental hospitals full to overflowing; and is not the reason obvious? What should be done is also very obvious, yet nothing is done, and a heavy financial burden is thrown on the fit and those who can pay, Surely it is better to erect a strong fence at the top than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom, and to-day we are simply maintaining ambulances at the bottom, Nature createsin super-abundance and uses disease, famine and war to kill off and keep down the surplus, but the great curse of war is that it kills off the best and leaves a majority of unfit. Our man-made and social laws prevent.the production of the fit, but every man and woman should be encouraged to bring into the world fit and healthy children.—l am, etc.. EUGENIC. Wellington, October 30. . •