The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, not Men." WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1912. EUGENICS AND THE MIKADO.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 5967, 7 August 1912, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, not Men." WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1912. EUGENICS AND THE MIKADO.

li true aw tlui elegies on the late Alilmiim, if true are Hio eulogies of late Mikado, anil ii tra c are ilnUnvs uf (Migviiics, then to Japan thi' practical students of eugenics should go for information. Wo am told that tho limpiro of Japan has been ruled for ASOO years by one unbroken lino ! of the same Imperial family. Apt there has teen no defeneration, no decadence. Tho late Mikado was nothing less than a genius. TliC'Ujrn born and bred in the purple, ancient- prejudiI ccs slipped away from his strong serene mind like water off a duck's back. His consummate wisdom wan exhibited in the choice oi his adviser*he hud a jwrsonal charm, and a delicacy of firling shown by innumerable incidents which proved hum a perfect gentleman; he • was a tuler of uncommon virility ami determination, ■ affable, amiable, very clear-minded, oxtrei»ely studious and hard-working, a „d consequently well informed 0 n all topic*, naturally tanign -and humane; he could witch the world with noMo horsemanship, and write four or five first-class poems evory day. In short, Mutsu ilito, the late Mikado, was an allround genius, a fte* whom even Emperor William of. (Wwany toil* ft

long way in the rear. How has it been possible to produce such a paragon by breeding from the sarin-' family for 250U years? That is the problem ior the eugeuists. The Japanese Can constrain oaks, pirns, and other forest trees to grow only a few inches high, they can breed roosters with tails eighteen feet long, they can produce wrestlers nearly a quarter of a ton in weight, and jugglers and contortionists the cleverest in the world, but, in the oi European experience, their most in.&rvcllous achievement has 'been to pretcrve physical, mental, and moral excellence in one family for twenty-live centuries. That is why we say Japan must be the home of practical eugenics, and all eager students oi the new science should make a pilgrimage there before unloading their ik strums for improving Ihe race on the public. They, and their segregation, of the incapable, and sterilisation of the unfit ! Ifet than go to Japan and study how royal families are treated there, and then come back to Europe »nd Btudy how royal families are treated there. Let them note the points of difference in the two modes of treatment, if there are any, and th» dinerence to resulia. Then they would have some real data irom which t 0 deduce the laws which govern heredity. We know the royal families of Europe have been breeding in and in for many years. The. marriage market for European sovereigns is strictly limited by etiquette. Outside a charmed circle nuptial ti s can be only morganatic? and entail no legitimate right of specession to tli,. offspring. Hence symptoms oi degeneracy are not wanting in European royal families, though >iow common such symptoms really are is information barred to the ordinary layman. But we know our own Royal family has been alllicted with hereditary weakness of intellect by the outstanding example of Gcurcc 111. I'y what sort cf matrimonial etiquette has the Japanese royal famiW avoided decadence ? From the 11th century to 1868 the Emperor of Japan was merely a puppet swayed at will by the military faction which happened to be in power during his time. The rval ruler was the rihonjun, or Tycoon, or general of the troops. Up to a comparatively recent period, standard geographical and historical works on Japan actually spoke of two emperors of Japan, the- spiritual emperor, who held his court at Kioto, and the temporal emperor, who dwelt at Vedo or Tokio. Vet from a long line of these " shado.v has sprung one of the urea test rulers of modern times, a demigod in the eyes of his subjects, to wU;jc extraordinary wisdom and resolution they attribute the revolutionary reforms which have placed Japan in the front rank of nations. How was it done ? Up to the rfiign of the late F.mp-ror, Japan's history was similar to that oi France during the early rwffcaeval period. In the latter country the Merovingian monarchs, thow proverbial rois faineants, lived like the Mikados in luxurious retirement, while the Mayors of the "Palace or Dukes of the Pranks carried out all the practical functions of royalty. But Duke Pippin the Short jfot tired ofhiß nominal subjection, deposed the last Merovingian king, and got himself crowned by the Pope Kin • of the Franks. But in the long line of the Japanese Shoguns no King I'ippin appeared. Was it because thev lacked the sanction of my spiritual influence outside that vested in the se- , eluded .Mikados, whose temporal power t&ey had usurped? Probahlv so. But the strange fact that none of the £bogons of Japan ever succeeded in making himself real Emperor of Japan is not Bo marvellous as the fret tfcat a r#jral race of sluggards

and degenerates should produce, after hundreds of years kad elapsed, a ruler remarkable for energy, intellect, and rtsolution. But is it a fact ? That is what students of .eugenics should ascertain. Because, if it be a fuct, there is no need for their drastic remedies for degeneracy. For all our decadents and wasters" could be segregated and secluded in communities ordered and organised alter the Japanese pattern, with the assurance that, after the lapse 'J. a century or two, some commanding genius wonld emerge from these phalansteries, whose invaluable services to his country would compensate it for all the expense and trouble involved iu carrying out the scheme. Isut then there exists in Japa» a religion called Shinto, whose prophets declare that tlw whole duty of a good Jap consists in obeying implicitly and without question the commands of the Mikado, and we have no means 0 f knowing to what extent this ' magnificent spirit of loyalty " has tampered with the truth.