The White Ribbon. For God and Home and Humanity. THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1911. EUGENICS.

White Ribbon, Volume 17, Issue 194, 17 August 1911, Page 9

The White Ribbon. For God and Home and Humanity. THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1911. EUGENICS.

THIS comparatively new science of Eugenics is well worthy of the careful study of our Unions, because it is a philanthropic science, and on its platform may meet not only scientists, but all those who have at heart the good of mankind. “ For Humanity,’ is part of our motto, hence Eugenics is part of the work we aim at doing. The word, recently coined, is derived from the Greek, and means “Well-born,” and the science may be defined as “ The “ study of the agencies under social “control that may improve or im--4 pair the racial qualities of future ‘generations of the human race, "either physically or mentally,” Branches of the Eugenics Educational Society of London have been formed in Dunedin and in Welling-

ton, their objects being the same as those of the mother Society :

(1) To set forth persistently the national importance of Eugenics in order to modify public opinion, and to create a sense of responsibility in the respect of bringing all matters pertaining to human parenthood under the domination of Eugenic ideals.

(2) To spread a knowledge of the La .vs of Heredity so far as they are surely known, and so far as that knowledge may affect the improvement of the race.

(3) To further Eugenic teaching at home, in the schools, and elsewhere.

This new study ha?- been forced upon the minds of thinking people by the deterioration of the race and its declining birth-rate. Though this latter is an evil to be deplored for many reasons, it is improved quality rather than quantity that is desired. The teeming millions of China and India show that quantity will not raise the standard of the race. It is not so much the declining birth-rate, as the fact that the birth-rate of the tit is declining, while that of the unfit is increasing or stationary. Among the “unfit” may be included the habitual criminal, the tube r cular, the insane, the mentally afflicted, the alcoholic, the diseased either from birth or from excess. To quote from Sir .John Findlay’s address given under the auspices of the Eugenics Education Society of New' Zealand : “One family of defectives, in all its ‘branches prolific, will, in a few’ ” years now, have cost us for maintenance in asylums, gaols, and “ homes, £20,000. Two imbecile girls, “ both themselves illegitimate, have “produced fifteen illegitimate im“becile children, and everyone of “ these, throughout their whole lives, * w’ill be dependent on the State for “everything, including their ulti--4 mate burial.’’ Tragic reading this, and a remedy must soon be found in legislation. * In America, the Indiana law’ makes it impossible for certain classes (habitual criminals and others) to reproduce their kind. A few’ other States already require medical certificates before licenses to marry are issued, and this is probably w'here our legislation will have to begin. But such measures

must be supported by public opinion, and it is one of the aims of the Eugenics Society to educate public opinion on this vital subject. Sir John Findlay attributes one of the causes of national decadence to urbanisation, or the drifting of the population from country to town. In older countries this, has long been a deplorable fact, but the evil has started even in our young country. This means overcrowding and slums, and it is in the slums w’here the unfit live, that the birthrate is highest. In Berlin, in the poorer and most squalid parts, 214 children are born to every 1000 married women, in the richest parts, 121, and in London the difference between the best and worst quarters is about the same. It has been estimated that, taking rural districts generally, the birthrate is 33 per cent, higher, and the children of a better, healthier physique than in the cities. The remedies for this urbanisation are: (1) To keep the people on the land, (2) to enforce and assist the most approved methods of town planning and improvement.

One aim of Eugenics is to enlighten ignorance on the vital subject of sex. The mock modesty of many a mother in allowing her children to grow’ up without such knowledge, or in allowing them to gain it from impure sources, is the cause of many a downfall. To-day there are so many good books on the subject that there is no excuse for any mother not doing her duty in this respect Children should be taught early the sacred functions of their own bodies.

Dr. Benham, of Dunedin, concluded his address on “ Heredity and Eugenics,” by quoting aptly from Ruskin : “ There is as yet no “ascertained limit to the nobleness “of person and mind which the “ human creature may attain, by “ persevering observance of the laws “of God respecting its birth and “ training. ’ This is striking a not unreasonably optimistic note, and there is much to hope for from the Eugenics societies, including as they do in their membership, scientists and philanthropists of high standing among their fellows. C. S. L.