The Survival of the Unfit.

Feilding Star, Volume XXI, Issue 129, 30 November 1899, Page 4

The Survival of the Unfit.

The October National Review contains an article by Mr Arnold White wbich_ affords a subject for serious consideration' It is entitled the " Quit of Infirmity," and aims at showing that Great Britain is now devoting herself to the " systematic manufacture of infirm citizens." The first count in Mr White's indictment is the growing depopulation of Bnelish villages. The healthy rustics are, he tells us, being supplanted by the M whitefaced workman living m courts and alievs." While in 1884 there were 8,484,730 acres of corn und«»r oultivatien in the United Kingdom, in 1808 there were only 7,400,335. This,, of. course, means the gradual decay of country life that that implies. Even, the Education Act of 1870 falls under. Mr White's censure from this point of view. "Mr Forster" (its introducer), w« are told, "may he credited not only with killing the British agriculture which Sir Robert Pee' scotched, but also with lowering the standard of national health by emptying the villages into the towns." But it is our modern humanitarianism which Mr White moat strongly impugns for its " cnlt of infirmity." " Christian charity is invoked to canonise weakness, whilst preventable disease is honoured under the sacred principle of individual freedom." The two Jubilees of the Queen, it is complained, were mainly signalised by tha establishment of hospitals, or. as Mr White calls them, •'instutions for the half -cure and multiplication of the unfit." tfut, it may be asked, is there any evidence but mere assertion that the race is deteriorating ? Mr Arnold White brings some strong evidence to show that it, at any rate» is physically in a most unsatisfactory condition. He tells us that out of a thousand applicants for service m the Army, no fewer than 403 are rejected on physical, grounds. He tells us that in 1898 out of 66,501 reoruits, no fewer than 23 287 were rejected by the Medical Department*) He assures us that "unless- the stamina and physical fitness of our folks are taken m hand the downfall of the Anglo Saxon is assured." There. have notbeea wanting reformers in New Zealand to draw attention to the same dangers as those which .form the subject of this article. Thus the report, oi the Inspector of Hospitals warns us against the evil effects of out-relief. "I know-," wrote the Inspector, of a "defective, half imbecile girl who has already had five illegitimate children. . . . all of whom are now beiag supported by the Charitable Aid Board, while of course tbe mother is maintained, and encouraged to propagate more." All over New Zealand he said, "the State subsidy for indiscriminate out-door relief is the most effective scheme that could be devised for the systematic cultivation of social parasites." But, Dr. McGregor is more hopeful than Mr Arnold White. The former considers that a" new philan* thropy," atudjing "causes as well as symptoms," is slowly wbznmgita way. The idiot and the madman, and often the criminal, were in earlier times Jeft at large, with the result that generations of such were continually produced. In modern times they are kept in institutions under conditions which largely, if not altogether, prevent reproduction. We sincerely trust that in this matter Mr Arnold White takes too gloomy a view. In Bpite of the increase of town life, it is the testimony of many recent visitors to England that the race seems to be gaming rather than losing in robustness. The increase of town-life, seems inevitable, and undoubtedly this increase brings with it a tendency to physical deterioration which must be met by ira« proved sanitation and greater facilities for fresh air. The growth of the humanitarian sentiment is .also inevitable, but this, too, will be an unmixed good the more, in all relief, charity is tempered with a wisdom that looVs not only to the .present but to the the future welfare of the rape. ..