The Right of The Child To Be Well Born (1912)

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO
BE WELL BORN
GEORGE
E.
DAWSON
(hot^on iTilanMm'ill
\t c
li
a.Uiorn
n\
MEDICAL ^SCHOOL
IN MEMORIAM GORDON SLANDING
THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN

By
GEORGE
Pro/tsser
E.
DAWSON, Ph.D.
of Psychology, Hertford School of Rtligious Pedagogy.
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

NEW YORK AND LONDON
1912
Copyright, 1912, by
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

(Printed in the United States of America)
Published November, 1912
wqi^
Hi?
To
OF
the
memory
MY FATHER AND MOTHER

volume
is
this little
reverently
dedicated
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
PAGE
of
The Decay
Interest
Parental
17
II.
The Desire
Biological
for Children,
and Eugenics
III.
Fitness
IV.
Parenthood Moral Fitness for Parenthood

Educational Training for
... ...
35
51
for
63
75
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Parenthood Romantic Love and Eugenics
....
.
Religion and Eugenics
87 99
113
Racial Ideals of Parent-
hood
IX.
The True Builders

tions
of
Na125
.
X.
The Creation
of Life
135
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
The
science of eugenics seeks to im-
prove the
human
race by controlling the
conditions that insure the birth of better children.
This involves the
selec-
tion of parents that
measure up to the
best racial standards, in health, intelli-
gence, and efficiency.

.the
It also involves
creation of a physical
in the life of
will favor
and
social
environment
communities
and nations that
normal
rela-
tions of the sexes,
and the procreation

Before eugenics
the
of healthy offspring.
can
make any impression upon
masses of the people, however, there
must be erected throughout
civilization
more
rational standards of fatherhood,
motherhood,
and the quality of

[ii]
off-
THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD

spring.
Thus
far the primary functions
involved in the birth of children have
hardly been
lifted
above the instinctive
propensities of the lower animals.
Pa-
renthood
is
rapidly becoming intelligent
in the care of children after birth,
and
organized society devotes no small part

of
its
energies to the education of chil-
dren for almost everything but parenthood.

life
But the control of the forces of

is
still
prior to birth
left
to the
in
gods,
or
the
whatever
other
powers
whom
women
dim
intelligence of
men and
concerning the mysteries of reits
production reposes
faith.
This book has been written in the
hope that
it
may
help in the erection of
these rational
standards of what paoff-
renthood and the procreation of

spring ought to be.
It
attempts no de-
[12]
TO BE WELL BORN
tailed
discussion
is
of
the
problems
of
eugenics, and
intended to appeal to
of
the intelligence
the
ordinary
man
and woman rather than the

student.
scientific
However, the
latter
has also
is
been kept in mind, for there
a real
in
need that those

scientific circles
who
their
sit
in
judgment
should feel an obliga-
tion
to
make
any of
own knowledge
If the
usable for the masses.

spires in
in
its
book
in-
readers an interest
eugenics and a desire to increase
their
knowledge of
its
more
scientific
fol-
aspects, they are
urged to read the
lowing books: (i) Saleeby's "Parent-
hood and Race Culture/' (2) Herbert's
"The
(3)
First Principles of Heredity,"
and
Davenport's
"Heredity in RelaI
tion to Eugenics."
could wish, in-
deed,
for
no more important service

[13]

for this book than to have
it
become
an introduction
to these masters of the
principles of eugenic science.
George E. Dawson.
Springfield, Mass.,
September
20, 191 2.
[14]
CHAPTER
THE DECAY OF PARENTAL

INTEREST

CHAPTER
One
I
THE DECAY OF PARENTAL INTEREST

of the outstanding characteristics
is its scientific
of the present generation
and philanthropic
I
interest in children.
use the term "scientific" and "philanis
thropic" restrictively, for there
an-
other kind of interest, namely, parental

interest,
concerning which there
is
at
least
some reason for doubt.

and philanthropic
But as
to
scientific
interest in
we who live in these days are witnessing new things in the history of the world. With the increasing number
children,
of academic institutions, such as

schools, colleges
normal
and
[17]
universities, that

are applying the
human
sciences to the
study of children; with the establishment, under

auspices, of
scientific
and benevolent
of re-
numerous branches
search into children's physical and mental traits, their health,
amusements, oc-
cupations, care
and training; and with

and the
the enactment of laws for the protection
and betterment of
auguration of
all
children,
in-
kinds of activities for
the improvement of their condition in

the home, the school, the church,
dustrial occupations, there
is
and
in-
abundant
evidence that in scientific and philanthropic circles, the child has

object of critical
become an
and anxious concern.
As
half
if
to give the highest social sanc-
tion to all these varied activities in be-
of
children,
the
United
States
Congress in April, 19 12, established the

[18]
TO BE WELL BORN
Federal Children's Bureau as a branch
of the Department of
Commerce and
Thus does a great government henceforth become sponsor for the welLabor.
fare of the children of
its
people, in
ways absolutely new

mankind.
in the history of
is
This bureau
to investigate
the questions of infant mortality, the

birth-rate,
physical
juvenile
degeneration,
courts,
or-
phanage,
desertion,
dangerous
disease,
occupations,
accident
and
employment, and existing laws
in behalf of children that
have been en-
acted by the different States.

eral Children's
The Fedand
Bureau
all
is
thus not only
a culmination of
the scientific
philanthropic activities of society that

center in childhood;
of a distinctly
it is
also the
organ
new
era in the social con-
trol of children's welfare.
Hardly
less
[19]

significant as illustrating the heightened
consciousness of the present generation

in
regard to children,
is
the wealth of
is
literature, scientific
and
practical, that
accumulating as the product of numerous thoughtful
and prophetic minds.
Such works as G. Stanley Hall's "Adolescence," and Ellen Key's
"The Century
of the Child," could not have been writ-
ten before the

century.
fic
dawning
of the twentieth
They mark a
stage of scienti-
knowledge, and a degree of con-
sciousness of the values of childhood,

that are for the intelligent understand-
ing of the child's nature what the Federal Children's
Bureau
is
for the social

life.
amelioration of the child's
And
yet,
it is
a curious fact that this

in the direction
truly epochal
movement
is
of a better childhood,
[20]
being promoted
TO BE WELL BORN
by a generation of men and women
in
whom
when,
perous
States,
there are distinct signs of de-
caying parental interest.

in the
At a time
and prosUnited
the
most
intelligent
in
communities
men and women

children,
in
are vieing with
one another in studying children, working
with
and writing and

of
speaking
behalf
children
the
number
men and women in these same communities who actually become

of
is
the parents of children,

creasing.
relatively de-
To
begin with, such
men and
women
tions.
are not marrying in so large a
ratio as they did in previous generaIt is
estimated that forty years
ago the average annual number of marriages per ten thousand of the population in the
eight.
United States was ninetyto
According
the
census
re-
[21]

turns for 1900,
it
was
ninety.
In the
are
North
Atlantic
States,
which
leaders in
many
of the activities con-
cerned with the welfare of children, the
marriage rates per ten thousand of the

population were eighty-four
in
1890,
and eighty-two
in 1900.
In the North
Central States, which are also active in

social efforts to
improve the condition
of children, the rates of marriage were
ninety-two in 1890, and ninety-one in

1900.
I
am
far
from asserting that
this
decrease in the ratio of
men and women

interest.
who marry
is
caused, in any large part,
by a decay of parental
But
that such a decay of parental interest

is,
to
some small degree

is
at
least,
causative factor,
probable.
Generally
speaking, in any population where the

[22]
TO BE WELL BORN
desire for children
is
weakened
it
may
be
be expected that the primary impulses
which impel to marriage

weakened.
in
It is
will also
a biological law that

if
any group of related functions,
one decays, the others must, in some

degree, be affected.
But the decay of

not only a probable
parental interest
is
cause of the decline in the marriagerate

it is
unquestionably a result of the

If
latter.
men and women,
for
any
cause, do not marry, the resulting fail-
ure to perform the functions of parent-
hood must
result
in
a decay of the
parental interest associated with such

functions.
Here again
it is
a biological
law that arrest of function ultimately

leads to a greater or less
degree of
atrophy of interests associated with that

function.
So
that, in [23]
any
case, a fall-

ing off of the marriage-rate must
volve a decay of parental interest.
in-
But not only do

and women marry
those
relatively
fewer
men
in this generation;
who do marry
Each
are increasingly
dissatisfied
tions.
with their marriage relasuccessive five-year period
since 1867 has witnessed a
marked
in-
crease in the
number
of divorces. Thus,
within the period for which accurate

statistics
are available,
we have
the fol-
lowing results: Between the years 1880
and
1900,
the
divorce-rate
for
the
North Atlantic States rose from twentyeight to thirty-eight per one hundred
thousand
of
the
population;
in
the
to
South Atlantic
thirty-three;
States,
States,
from thirteen
North
in
the
Central
from
fifty-five to ninety-six; in
the South Central States from thirty[24]
TO BE WELL BORN
five to ninety-five;
and
in the
Western
hundred
say,
in
States,
from eighty-nine
to a
is
and twenty-nine.
That
to
the United States as a whole, the di-
vorce-rate increased during these two
decades from thirty-eight to seventythree per one hundred thousand of the

population, or a
little
over ninety-two
per cent.
In
1902
the
following
ratios
of
divorce to marriage were reported from

eight States
subject
whose
statistics
upon
this
were
sufficiently definite for that
purpose:
Massachusetts,
one to six-
teen; Michigan, one to eleven;

;
Vermont,
one to ten Ohio, one to eight and eighttenths;
New
Hampshire, one
to eight
and three-tenths; Rhode Island, one

eight; Indiana, one to seven
tenths,
to
and
six-
and Maine, one

[25]
to six.
On
an

average,
therefore,
there
is
in
these
States one marriage in every nine that

is
followed by divorce.
This rapid increase
in the
number
of
men and women who, having

find
it
married,
impossible to live together, ne-
cessarily involves a decay of parental

interest.
Here, again, the relation

effect.
is
one both of cause and of
The
presence of children in a household,
and the love of
children,
are admit-
tedly the strongest bonds of wedlock,

just
as
the
deep-seated
parental
in-
stincts
and feelings are the primary

of the relations which wedlock
legitimate.
If
basis
makes
of
men and women
weak
parental interests marry, the
bonds of wedlock are correspondingly

weak.
On
the other hand, the break-
ing of these bonds of wedlock through

[26]
TO BE WELL BORN
divorce must result, by and large, in
any population where divorce

eral, in the
is
gen-
decay of parental
interest.
Nor
are these the only symptoms of
decaying parental interest in current

civilization.
still,
Much more
inferences
significant
and, indeed, confirmatory of the
facts
and
is
already
pre-
sented,
rate.
the steadily diminishing birth-
For a number of decades the

1900 there were
birth-rate has fallen off about one per

cent,
each,
until
in
only three-fourths as
many
living chil-
dren to each one thousand potential
mothers as in i860.
In a bulletin*
is-
sued by the Massachusetts Bureau of

Statistics
sults
and Labor
in
1905, the re-
of detailed studies of the birth-
rates in four cities

Bulletin No. n.
and three towns
in
[27]

Massachusetts were summarized so as
to
show
the contrast between the pres-
ent generation
and the preceding
one.
The
in
19,478 native-born
women
shown
included
to
these studies were
have
borne, on the average, two and seventy-
seven one-hundredths children; whereas the mothers of these

bore,
same women
on the average, six and forty-
seven one-hundredths children.
As
to
the causes of this decreasing birth-rate,
Dr. John S. Billings, formerly of the
United States
Army
"It
Medical Museum,
is
has this to say:
probable that
the most important factor in the change

(in the birth-rate)
is
the deliberate
and
voluntary avoidance or prevention of

child-bearing on the part of a steadily
increasing
No.
number
of married people."*
S.
*Quoted by Prof. Walter

11,
Wilcox,
in Bulletin
Mass. Bureau of Statistics and Labor.
[28]
TO BE WELL BORN
If this
rect,
judgment of Dr. Billings

is
is
cor-
and there
an abundance of con-
current
testimony
from medical and

it,
other scientific sources to confirm

is
it
clear that here again the decay of

is
parental interest
involved both as a
causative factor and as a result.
Not
susceptible
less
art,
of
statistical
sum-
mary, but no
tendencies
in
suggestive, are the

literature,
and the
not
drama, as well as
lar
in
many
of our popu-
manners and customs.
This
is
a generation that idealizes fatherhood
and motherhood.
Perhaps no genera-
tion ever did idealize fatherhood, unless

it
were the generations of the

Patriarchs.
Hebrew
tion of
But the
idealiza-
motherhood has been common
throughout human history.
Such
is
not
the case at the present time, at least in

[29]

the
more cultured
circles of
American
is
society.
Woman
as mother
not im-
prest
upon the imagination
of our chil-
dren and young people.

academician
It is
woman
as
excelling
in
scholarship,
taking degrees, traveling in Europe in

pursuit of some specialty, and finally en-
tering upon a professional
career of
ideal of
some kind
that
becomes the
thousands of our brightest girls and
young women,
and
life
in the schools, colleges

It is
universities.
woman
in public
as club-woman, author,
actress, so-
cial
reformer, or political agitator
that
of
bulks up most conspicuously in the popular imagination as
doing the things that
are really worth while for the

the present age.
It is the
women
detached
sees everywhere,
woman whom one and who is influencing

[30]
TO BE WELL BORN
most profoundly the
ideals of
woman's
character and function in the world.
These detached women are the heroines

of novels,
the central figures
on the
stage, the subjects of all kinds of popular art.

It is
not the
Madonna
that
we
and
see
in
on the covers of current

the
literature,
half-tones
of
magazines
newspapers, in the "social" columns of

the daily press, or in the fashion-plates.
Her
face
is
not piquant enough, her

It is
lines not sufficiently esthetic.
the
Gibson
or
girl
that
we
see,
the actress,
some other variant far removed
from the Madonna type of womanhood.

In our urban communities there are no
longer
Madonnas
and
of
the
street,
the
railroads
lic
trolley-cars, or other pub-
places, as
was the case a generation

the case in
[31]
ago, and as
is still
more sim-

pie
and unsophisticated neighborhoods.

life,
Street
teresting
indeed,
in
and travel are

this
in-
indices
connection.
Here
the
woman
with the lines of ma-
ternity in face
and form has well-nigh
disappeared, except in rural communities
and
in
those parts of our cities

still
where the foreign population

alive the interests
keep
and customs of naive

about
motherhood. Everywhere on the thronging thoroughfares of city

depots,
lines
life,
and on railroads and steamship

see,
we
not
Madonnas but Gibson

all
girls, actresses,
and
sorts of nonde-
script social corsairs, rushing hither

thither, in
and
modish dress that not
infre-
quently symbolizes the sacrifice of that

physical development and health, and
those
intellectual
and moral
efficient
qualities
which make women

a race of men.
mothers of
[32]
CHAPTER
II
THE DESIRE FOR CHILDREN, AND EUGENICS
CHAPTER
EUGENICS
I
II
THE DESIRE FOR CHILDREN, AND

have submitted
social
this psychological
and
paradox of a generation
interested in
whose leaders are keenly
children from the scientific and philanthropic points of view, and yet apparently have
no strong desire actually

children,
to
become the parents of

setting for
as a
two propositions which are

(i) All the scientific and
activities
fundamental to any right thinking upon

this subject:
philanthropic
in
behalf
of
children at the present time, have

final
no
value at
all
except as they create
conditions that will insure the propa-
gation of a better
human
3
stock.
The
[35

farther one advances in any scientific
study of children's physical and mental

traits,
ist,
whether
it
be as medical specialpsychiatrist,
criminologist,
educafind
tor or moralist, the

his facts
more does he
and conclusions emphasizing

In the words of Dr. S. Her-
the necessity of a regenerated biological

heredity.
bert,* "Procreation being the founda-
tion of
all
life,
the science of heredity

life,
forms the basis of the science of
and
its
principles
must, therefore, be
all
considered the fundamentals of

cial science."
so-
The same
is
true of the
philanthropic worker with children
who
looks beneath the surface of his tasks
and
tries to build the

life.
foundations of a
all
better racial
What do
our
ef-
forts at the education, reformation
and
*"The
First Principles of Heredity," p. 172.
[36]
TO BE WELL BORN
social
to,
if
improvement of children amount

they
do not reach beyond the
surface facts of our problems and affect the
quality of
so that better
human parenthood types of children may

children, brother
is
be born into the world.
Here are two

sister.
and
The
is
public school
trying to
educate them.
The money
of the comfreely
in
munity
being
expended
their behalf.
Well-trained and devoted
teachers are giving their time, energy
and patience
to
the
task
of
making
But
them
fit
to live out their lives as indi-
viduals and as
all
members
of society.
these efforts of education are being
defeated by the poor "health, bad eyesight,
and irregular attendance of the
children.
Then medical and

is
other ex-
pert help
called in, to assist the school

[37]

in getting at the causes of the children's
troubles
is
and removing them.
The boy
has a
found to be color-blind and otherwise

in
defective
vision.
The
girl
chronic sore on one of her lower limbs.
Both children have enlarged glands, defective skeletal development,
and weak
of these
lungs.
On
the surface,
some
defects
seem susceptible of cure; others

Pushing
is
are doubtful or impossible.

the problem further back,
it
found
that the father died of syphilis
and the
mother
is
at present suffering
in a chronic
from the
same disease
form.
ducts
defects
and incurable
and
and,
The
of
children are thus the proparents,

their to
diseased
are
constitutional,
relief.
great extent, beyond
What,
then,
can
all
the educational and social ac-
tivities in
behalf of these children avail ?

[38]
TO BE WELL BORN
And
such children do but illustrate the
problem that every one
who works
and
later
at
the foundations of education
social
regeneration
sooner
or
faces.
Says Karl Pearson:
"No
degenerate
and
into
feeble stock will ever be converted
healthy and sound stock by the

effects of education,
accumulated
good
Such
laws, and sanitary surroundings.
means may render the
individual
if
mem-
bers of the stock passable,
not strong,
members
cess will
of society; but the
same proand
have
to be
gone through again

this
and again with

in
their offspring,
circles,
if
ever-widening
the stock,
owing
in
*
to the conditions in
it,
which
so-
ciety has placed
is
able to increase
numbers."*
Quoted by Herbert in his book, "The First Prinpage 175.
[39]
ciples of Heredity,"

(2)
The apparent decay
of the desire
for parenthood in our generation can
be arrested and corrected only as
men
more
and women are brought

ligation of being parents.
to
adequate realization of the supreme ob-
The
desire
for offspring,
more or
less blindly in-
stinctive in the earlier generations of
men, must be made

tional,
intelligent
and
ra-
but no less insistent, in this more
advanced generation.
The
interest in
children as objects of scientific study
and philanthropy must be transmuted

into
an
interest in
becoming the parents
of children,
sponsibilities
and thus sharing the reand glory of improving

race through parenthood.
the
human
Only thus may wise and strong men

and women
effectively concentrate their
at the
wisdom and strength

[40]
most
vital
TO BE WELL BORN
point in
human
existence.
It is
indeed
probable that the psychological paradox

of a generation devoted to children as
students and benefactors, while incur-
ring less and less the responsibilities

of parents,
light
It
is
no paradox
at all in the
of
more searching
influences of
analysis.
may
be a result of the profound

a
transition
new
age,
partly intellectual and partly social in

their operation,
wherein the older pa-
rental functions are being temporarily
disturbed and dislocated.

of
It is
a law
the
human
mind
that
instincts
thwarted and defeated in one direction

are sure to assert themselves in another.
Much
of the scientific
and philanthropic
thus be a re-
interest in children
sult of defeated
may
parenthood.
certain that
[41]
However
its
that
may
be,
it is
proper

object
will
not
be
realized,
nor
the
normal balance
in the procreative func-
tions of civilization be restored,

it
until
brings back to
men and women

the
first,
the
desire for offspring.
What,
then,
is
and
indis-
pensable, condition that will focus the

intellectual
and moral energies of the

submit that
present generation upon the improve-
ment
of the race?
it
is
the conscious, intelligent desire on the
men and women to be parents. Whenever the intelligence supplied by

part of
modern
instincts
science
is
brought into effective
relationship
with the great elemental
and feelings that have created
parenthood and wedlock of the sexes,

then will there be born a desire for
spring, both
in
off-
quantity and quality,
that will usher in a
new
era and a
new
[42J
TO BE WELL BORN
stock of men.
This
is
no more than
it
to
say that desire must remain, as
has
always been, the mainspring of biological evolution.
Children will never be
well-born until they are desired by the
men and women who

rents.
are potential pa-
A
to
generation that does not debe as

fit
sire offspring will
weak
in
its
power
propagate
children as would
a generation that did not desire culture
or wealth in the power to become edu-
cated or prosperous.
No
occult influ-
ence of indifferent, or hostile, mental

attitudes
upon
the
is
procreation
of
I
healthy offspring
here implied.
refer merely to the effect of parental

desire, or the lack of
it,
upon the
If
is
tan-
gible
physiological
is
processes.
pa-
rental desire
lacking, not only

its
hu-
man
life
an accident at
[43]
inception,

but
it
is
often hindered or destroyed.
Unquestionably the darkest unwritten

chapter
of
men's
is
selfishness,
ignor-
ance and folly
here.
Dr.
W. W.
years
Chandler,* a physician of
standing, gives
it
many
human
as his opinion that

of the
more than one-half

die before birth,
race
and that three-fourths
of
all
these are deliberately destroyed.

J.
Says Dr. George

article
Englemannf
in
an
on the "Decreasing Fecundity

avoidance or preif
of
Women :" "The
vention of conception,
possible,
the
if
premature termination of pregnancy,

need
be, are factors far
more potent
in
the causation of decreasing fecundity
than
is
the progress of gynecic science
for the contrary."

* Scott's "Sexual Instinct,"
t
page
274.
Philadelphia Medical Journal, January, 1902.
[44]
TO BE WELL BORN
The
significance
of
such atrophied
too
evident.
parental
desires
is
only
What must
that
be
the
effects
life
upon the
of a child
physical and psychical
runs the gauntlet of drugs and
other destructive agencies throughout

its
embryonic existence, even
if it
surof
vives?
The
intelligent
agencies
civilization should take this
whole probto
lem out of the obscurity

false
it,
which a
and ignorant delicacy condemns

responsibilities of
and make the
men
and
women
clear
and
inescapable.
Youth
of both sexes should be educated
to desire
parenthood and to form the

ideals con-
most rational and reverent

cerning
it.
Even young children should
be brought up in an atmosphere of
precept and example to think of parent-
hood as a natural and inescapable func[45]

tion of tion
life,
the only complete realizawelfare,
of
individual
and
the
highest duty to the race.
Dr. Engle-
mann
to
says:* "There
is
no question as
which
is
the
baneful
sentiment
gradually
developing
among
young
people that bearing children belongs to
low
life
and
is
degrading, which
now
and then becomes evident

cast
in aspersions
upon those with large

life is
families,
implying that their

sensual. "
"vulgar and
Similar sentiments are being
scattered
broadcast
in
novels,
magaat the
zine articles
and public addresses

it
present time, mostly,

say,
is
strange to
by women.
Thus, a
woman
of
much
the
t
celebrity in the
more aggressive
circles of
new womanhood, writing in New York Independent^ a few

26,
* Ibid.
December
1901.
[46]
TO BE WELL BORN
years ago,
tells
us plainly that insistis
ence on the duties of motherhood

impertinent
rights.
set,
an
interference
with
private
off-
Such sentiments should be

possible,
wherever
idealistic,
by
intelligent,
yet
interpretations
of
the
privileges
and duties of parenthood,

and young people, of everyart, science
and the holding before the imagination

of children
thing in literature,
and
re-
ligion that can inspire
and
fix
a deep
desire to share in the parenthood of the

race.
[47]
CHAPTER
III
BIOLOGICAL FITNESS FOR
PARENTHOOD
CHAPTER
Next
sire for
III
BIOLOGICAL FITNESS FOR PARENTHOOD

in
importance to a normal deis
parenthood,
biological fitness
it
for the various
functions
is
involves.
By
of
biological fitness
meant the poshave

been
session of those fundamental qualities
body and
into
mind
that
wrought
the constitution of the

its best,
human
race at
its
and are
indis-
pensable to
perpetuity and progress.
Such, in general, are health, vigor, and

efficiency,
with
all
their implications of
physical
that
lie
and
mental
resourcefulness
at the basis of racial existence
and advancement.
ness for parenthood
This biological
is
fit-
primarily closely
interwoven with a normal desire for

[51]

parenthood.
The great
instincts
and
feelings that give rise to a desire for
oflspring are rooted in health, vigor
and
efficiency.
Throughout
racial evofit-
lution parental desire
and parental
ness must needs have worked together,

for their object has been the same.
Any
must
weakness or perversion
in either
have quickly affected the course of development.

parallel
Thus
it is
that everywhere,
with the desire for children,
there has been a recognition that pa-
renthood should be conditioned by some

degree of physical and mental
fitness.
Half-conscious instincts as old as the

race have shaped a process of sexual
selection that has insured a choice of
parents along the broad lines of fitness

for bearing
and rearing and

[52]
children.
Sex-
ual
attraction
repugnance
have
TO BE WELL BORN
everywhere been guided by a kind of
eugenic prevision that
consciousness.
is
deeper than
From the time of the cave-man, men and women have chosen
their
mates more or
efficient
less
true to the
standards of
fatherhood and
motherhood.
No
small element of the
racial ideal of beautiful, graceful, intuitive

nal.
all
and tender womanhood

It
is
mater-
may, therefore, be said that

at their best, are
men and women,
instinctively eugenists.
How
else,
in-
deed, could
mankind have
vitality,
built
up the
measure of
wisdom, and goodit
ness of heart that
has achieved?
process of in-
Emerging from
tion
this
stinctive sexual selection in the direc-
of
parental
fitness,
there
have
gradually appeared customs, usages and
laws that, in one form or another, have

[53]

become binding upon human
society
and now
certain
constitute
the
standards of
parental fitness the world over.

conditions
life,
Thus
and
of
organic
psychical
and a certain adaptability
of sex to sex, are recognized

civilized
among
all
peoples
as
indispensable
to
wedlock.
On
the surface, these popu-
lar standards of conjugal, and, in the

last analysis, parental, fitness
may seem
little
to
have
little
uniformity and
ra-
tional basis, yet they serve to establish
the principle, that, true to the funda-
mental instincts of procreation, the conscious evolution of custom
and law
is
toward a eugenic view of parenthood.
Wherever
physical deformities or weak-
ness, mental disease or incompetency,
too great disparity in age, or any other

factor likely to affect the
[54]
number and
TO BE WELL BORN
quality of offspring,
is
regarded as an
is
obstacle to marriage, there
evidence
that
that the popular
mind recognizes
biological
fitness
some degree of
parenthood
is
for
necessary.
Modern
science has
made
explicit
and
intelligible the facts
and principles of
parental fitness which age-long instinct
and
racial
customs and laws have

if,
al-
ready universally,
prehended.
indeed, dimly, apin

its
Biology,
wide
in-
ductive studies of heredity during the

last
half century, has
established the
fact that the propagation of all
forms
of life
follows laws that are definite
and ascertainable.
no exception
The
life
of
man
is
to these laws.
ditions that underlie fitness
The confor human

certainty.
parenthood are beginning to be deter-
mined with some degree of

[55]

As a result, the conviction is growing among intelligent men and women that
it
would be possible rapidly
to
improve
the quality of children born into the
world.
While the method

qualities
of transmission of
to offspring
is
from parent
not
yet fully understood, and while scientists
differ
as to whether or not ac-
quired qualities
is
may
be inherited, there
no difference of opinion regarding

really
all
the
vital
aspects
of
heredity.
Thus
will
agree that the qualities
human
over,
beings are born with,
may
be
transmitted to their offspring.

all
More-
will
agree that the qualities
acquired after birth, in so far as they

affect the vitality of the individual,
may
So
affect
the
vitality
of
his
offspring
through the germinal elements.

[56]
TO BE WELL BORN
that,
either in the matter of physical
deformities or disease, or in that of
mental disease, the case

if
is is
clear that
the specific disability
not transof
mitted,
nevertheless
condition
diminished vitality
may
some
is
be transmitted
which
will favor the
outcropping of the
other.
same
the
disability or
Any-
thing, in short, that

life
a vital factor in
of a parent, such as the various
physical organs and mental traits, may,

if
modified through disease or misuse
of any kind,
become, directly or
in-
directly, a vital factor in the life of the

child.
Therefore
does
the
testimony
of
science corroborate racial instinct,
and
customs and laws well-nigh universal,

that
men and women

if
should not become
parents
they are physically and men[57]

tally incapacitated to
bear healthy
chil-
dren.
This incapacity
may
take the
to
form of congenital tendencies

radical disease of
tuberculosis, cancer, or insanity.
some
like
body or mind,
It
may
take the form of acquired disease that
has become so deep-seated and

to
affect
fixt as
the
germinal
elements.
It
may
cells
take the form of old age, when,

vitality, the
through diminished
germ-
have
lost
their
this
energy.
But
in
whatever form
degeneration
its
organic or psychical
it
may
appear,
should run
course within the lives of the indiafflicted.
viduals
It
should
not
be
handed on
to
other
It
individuals
and
other generations.
may
not be, in-
deed, without peril to every individual

involved, whether parent, child, or society at large.
This
[58]
is
the stern but
TO BE WELL BORN
inexorable law of
to believe
it
life.
We
are bound
is
also a benificent law, fulfilment the evolu-
because upon
tion
its
of
all
life
has
depended.
The
sooner the world consciously and fearlessly faces this truth, the sooner will
it
end much of the misery and unhappiafflict
ness that
Shall
it
mankind.
be said that, in advocating
standards of biological fitness for parenthood,

courtship
we
are in danger of reducing

to
and marriage
an
terms of
is
calculating selfishness?
This
often
advanced
as
argument
against
line
the science of
eugenics.
No
of
reasoning
could
of
be
more
superficial.
fitness
is
standard
biological
for
marriage and parenthood

;
nature's
standard and, as already stated, sexual

selection
from the beginning has im[59]

plicitly
adopted this standard.
How
The
what
else could the race
have survived ?
science of eugenics merely does,

it
is
the function of
all
science to do,
renders explicit and rational the processes of nature.
To
say that the
men
and women of
their
civilization should choose
mates according to their biological

for
fitness
parenthood,
is
to
say no
more than
that the great instincts
and
feelings that impel to marriage, should
be rationalized and directed according

to the standards of
modern knowledge.
instinctive
This
is
precisely
is
what every
process
increasingly subjected to in
the progress of civilization.

dividual
The
in-
or
community
meet
in
civilization
that can not
this condition of ad-
vancement
in the vast
is
clearly unfit for a place
program
of racial
life.
[60]
CHAPTER
IV
MORAL FITNESS FOR PARENTHOOD
CHAPTER
Men
IV
MORAL FITNESS FOR PARENTHOOD

universally recognize the moral
life,
values of
according to their various
conceptions of morality.
There
is
noth-
ing related to
human
is
welfare, perhaps,
among
ment.
larly
people of the same moral ideals,
upon which there

understood,
such general agree-
That moral character, as popuis
indispensable
to
normal parenthood, needs, therefore, no

argument.
ing the
But there
is
need of enlarg-
common
conception of moral
fitness for
parenthood.
Here, perhaps,
more than anywhere

perience,
is
else in
human
ex-
the ordinary interpretation
of morality,
and the ordinary exercise

superficial.
of moral conduct,
If
the
[63]

science of eugenics
is
ever effectively to
lay hold of the problems of sexual relations as involving a better type of chil-
dren,
it
must be supported by a much

conception
of
more
radical
morality
than generally prevails.
This more radical conception of morality relates itself at
once to the bio-
logical fitness
for parenthood already

fact, it is
considered.
In
but the con-
scious, obligatory content of the latter.
From
is
the viewpoint of eugenics, that
moral which insures a better human
stock,
feats,
and that
in
is
immoral which dethis
any way,
great end of
of
racial evolution.
Such a conception
First of
morality involves considerations of far-
reaching significance.
all,
it
involves the subordination of marriage
and sexual
relations to the welfare of

[64
]
TO BE WELL BORN
offspring.
From
the point of view of
social morality a
marriage license and

officer of
the
words of a clergyman or
the law
tions of
may moralize the sexual relamen and women. Not so from

the moral quality lies in the
the point of view of biological morality.
Here
parental purpose and results of such

relations.
Throughout the whole range

man, the union of
subordinated to the
of animal life below
the sexes
is strictly
life.
propagation of
The females
of the
species limit their choice of
mates ac-
cording to conditions that best perpetuate their kind.
Conjugal relations and
parental ends are thus never divorced.
This
is
one of the primary factors in
the moral
economy
in
of nature.
Man
is
the only animal that has disturbed this
moral order
the fundamental pro[65]

cesses of
life,
and made the union of

itself.
the sexes an end in
He
is
the
his
only
creature
that
has
deprived
mate of the power of choice

relations,
in sexual
and has
that
lusts.
built
up laws and
the
institutions
legalize
tyranny
of his
own
Here
yet
is
a source of
considered.
immorality
as
little
From it have sprung the sex-slavery of women throughout the ages, with all its
incidental concubinage
and
prostitution.
And
yet,
however far men may thus

and however much
life
have departed from the standards of

biological morality,
the primary ends of
may have
been
defeated, the hope of future racial re-
generation
lies in
the reinstatement of
all
parental functions as the center of

relations between the sexes.
Eugenic
idealism can give no sanction to a sys[66]
TO BE WELL BORN
tern of morality that permits
a divorce-
ment between conjugal and parental

functions.
relations of
Marriage and the sexual
warrant
in
men and women have no nature, whatever may be the

and rearing
case in custom and law, except as a
means
for the propagation
of offspring.
Again, just as eugenic morality requires that sexual relations be subor-
dinated to the ends of parenthood, so
does
it
require that the
life
of the in-
dividual in other respects be ordered
with reference to the same end.
Men
and women are created
to be parents. in the years

is
Growth
of
body and mind

sexual
preceding
maturity
every-
where conditioned by the demands of

racial perpetuity.
If
through arrest of
growth of any
kind, or through acci[67]

dent or design, the sexual
life
does not
mature, the results are registered in
every fiber of the being.
No
fault lies
where defeated parenthood

tentional,
is
not indis-
and no suggestion of
is
paragement
here exprest.
But we
can not escape the solemn judgment of

nature that no
life
its
is
complete that
does not perform

life
part in the great

is
process of which parenthood
the
medium.
pleteness
fit
The
is
final test of
moral com-
the will to be a parent of

just
children,
as the
is
final
test
of
organic completeness
the capacity to
become such a parent.
Thus
of one's
it is
that the conscious ordering
life in
the direction of parental
fitness is
another fundamental requiremorality.
ment of eugenic
of
the
sternest
Here
is
one
rest
obligations
[68]
that
TO BE WELL BORN
upon the sons and daughters of men.
man may have

as he will
if
the right to use his
life
only his
own
individual
destiny be
considered.
Other people
life
may have
will
if
a right to use his
as they
less
only the ends of a
more or
extrinsic social advantage are involved.
But no man, and no group of men, may

do
this,
when
the
man
is
to
become the
father of children.
Men and women

much deeper
they
belong to the race in a
sense than our popular conception of
morality implies.
of themselves,
What
make out
and what they do with
themselves, become through parenthood

the eternal heritage of the race.
Such considerations enlarge our conceptions of individual
growth and conduct

life.
in the
On
[69]
the positive side,
what a
light is shed
upon the care of

health, the cultivation of the mind,
and
the development of
all
those resources,
both of personal character and of property, that constitute the foundation of
success!
These
things
become
not
merely expressions of individual and

selfish
worth.
Their greatest
signifi-
cance
lies in their potential
values for
a fatherhood and a motherhood that

shall multiply in the lives of their chil-
dren the blessings of their

sonal achievement.
own
per-
There could be no
greater incentive to the young, of both

sexes, throughout their educational careers,
and
in the choice of their busi-
ness or profession, than this eugenic
view that
tially,
life is
not wholly, or essen-
a matter of individual success or
failure, but rather of the success or fail-
ure of the species.

[70]
TO BE WELL BORN
On
shed.
the negative side of moral charis
acter an equally illuminating light
The
resistance to evil of every
description
becomes
at
once a
much
it
larger task than the conservation of

individual welfare. vastly
Howbeit,
be-
comes
more inspiring and

its
hopeful task in proportion as

are larger.
ends
Organic appetites are thus
to be regulated
and used
in the interest
of posterity, no less than in the interest
of the individual
life.
The supreme
life
temptations of the sexual
are to be
met and overcome by young men and
young women with the

the
exercise
of
vision of parent-
hood before them, and the relation of

sexual
functions
to
healthy and
efficient
children that
may
some time be born
to them.
No more
powerfully inhibiting impulse could be

[71]

invoked than that associated with the
pride of virile fatherhood and chaste
and beautiful motherhood. Similar conditions hold true of other

tions.
moral tempta-
What man
any vice
if
or
woman would
practise
they could see their
own
in
lives as the
media of transmission
racial
progress?
What man
if
or
woman
saw
in
could abuse their bodies or their
minds, in any
way
whatsoever,
they
every violation of the moral
law which they committed, the possible

disease or death of that portion of the
human among
race
that
may
be
numbered
their posterity?
[72]
CHAPTER V
EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR PARENTHOOD
CHAPTER V
EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR PARENTHOOD
It
must be obvious
to
any one who
thinks out a
program
of racial improve-
ment
in
terms of eugenics, that children

defi-
and youth must be much more

nitely trained for
parenthood than at
the
present time.
The
right
of
the
child of civilization to be well-born will
never fully be realized so long as
men
and women are ignorant of the

cal
biologi-
processes involved in the bearing

children.
and rearing of
How
can a
young man,
ity
for instance, feel the sig-
nificance of a
drug habit for the

if
vital-
of his germinal-cells,
he knows
cells
nothing about the nature of such

[75]

and the
effects
upon them of poisons
like alcohol
and tobacco?
feel
How
can a
young woman
habits of dress
the significance of
diet that arrest the
and
she
development motherhood,
of
if
organs
is
involved
in
ignorant of the
constitution of her body, the laws of

dietetic
and sexual hygiene, and the

between healthy development
In short, no adequate
relation
and maternity?
biological or moral fitness for parent-
hood, under conditions of civilization,

is
possible in a state of ignorance such
as
generally
prevails
regarding
the
functions of parenthood.
Among
the lower animals and primi-
tive races of
men, healthy parenthood
was not conditioned by intelligence. The rigorous process of natural selection killed off those animals
[76]
and those
TO BE WELL BORN
men
that did not
conform
to the stand-
ards of nature.
habits
Thus were developed

welfare
and
instincts that held parentless true to the
hood more or
of the species.
Thus, as has elsewhere
been
said, the
human
in
race
is
naturally
instinct
eugenic.
But
civilization,
and automatism no longer are safe

guides in parenthood.
Man
has eaten
of the fruit of the tree of knowledge,
and the
first effects
of knowledge have
always been to disturb conditions that
have previously been

habit
determined by
is
and
instinct.
This
what makes
individual.
little
knowledge a dangerous thing

race
as
for
for
the
the
Its effect is to
secure a freer gratifica-
tion of appetites rather than a better
control of them.
This
is
amply
illus-
trated in the history of drunkenness

[77]
and

other drug-intoxications, and of sexual
depravity.
The
farther
we advance
in
civilization, the
more degraded do
of this paradox
is
cer-
tain sections of the population become.
The explanation
civilization,
is
not
as
often
asserted,
but
the misapplication of the fruits of
civili-
zation through inadequate knowledge.
The cure for this condition has always been more knowledge. Man has
turned his back upon instinct and habit
as the regulative forces of his
life.
He
has set out to become a creature of

rational will,
civilized
and
is
rapidly shaping a
environment in which he must
be intelligent or perish from the earth.
Thus
it
is
that in parenthood,
as
in
other things, men's weaknesses and perversions must be cured through an ever
more
complete
knowledge
[78]
of
those
TO BE WELL BORN
forces
of
life
under whose dominion
they no longer can live as instinctive
and automatic creatures.

It
is
to education, then,
that civiliin
its
zation
efforts
must increasingly turn

to
regenerate
all
parenthood.
Throughout
those agencies that af-
fect the fitness of
men and women
to
be fathers and mothers, there must be

erected
more
definite standards of pa-
rental training.
The
biological
truth
of
that
the
principal
objective
is
point
individual development
parenthood,
all
should be put at the basis of
the
care and training of children and youth.
Their physical and mental growth, and

their education, should be
this
shaped with
in
end
in
view.
Anything
the
home, school, or elsewhere, that sacrifices
prospective parenthood
[79]
upon any

altar
of
individual
is
or
social
idolatry
whatsoever,
as
it
a crime against society,
is
against the individual
man
or
woman.
Since
woman
is
much nearer
the biological processes of bearing and
rearing offspring than
is
man, her care
and training are of fundamental concern.
girl's
development in the
diis
rection of a well-endowed maternity
vastly
more important
is
in the
home
or in
social
the school than
any possible
or intellectual accomplishment.
shall
it
What
dis-
profit a
woman
if
she gain the
whole world of
tinction
social or
academic
and
lose the soul of her
mother-
hood?
In addition to this general parental
ideal
throughout
all social institutions,
children and
definitely
young people should be

for
educated
[80]
parenthood.
TO BE WELL BORN
Fifty
years
ago,
Herbert
Spencer
framed an indictment against educational systems that, unfortunately,
even
yet too often holds true of our high
schools
and
colleges.
"If," says he,
"by
some strange chance not a vestige of

us descended to the remote future save
a pile of our school-books or
lege examination papers,
some
col-
we may im-
agine
how
puzzled an antiquary of the
period would be on finding in them no

indication that the learners
likely to
were ever
be parents.
'This
must have
been the curriculum for their celibates/
we may fancy him

many
things
:
concluding.
per-
ceive here an elaborate preparation for

especially for reading the
books of extinct nations and of coexisting nations

it
(from which, indeed,

[81]
seems clear that these people had

little
worth
;
reading
I find
in
their
own
tongue)
but
no reference what-
ever to the bringing up of children.
They could not have been

responsibilities.
so absurd as
to omit all training for this gravest of
Evidently,
"
then,
this
must have been the school course

of their monastic orders/
of one
But while similar comments might

still
be
made upon
the educational curit
ricula of our public institutions,
is
one of the significant signs of our times

that outside of the schools
and colleges
training
there
in
is
rapidly
growing up a sentiment
scientific
favor of
for
parenthood.
The whole eugenic moveand numerous
ment
is
in this direction,
popular reading and lecture courses,
having for their object the instruction

of mothers in the care
and training of
TO BE WELL BORN
their children,
beginning of
It
is,
may be regarded as the a new type of education.

anomalous that higher
is
indeed,
education, which
more and more
ac-
knowledging the claims of technical

learning, should so generally ignore the
most valuable kind of technical learning, namely, that related to the art of
living
this
and reproducing the
species.
But
must soon change.
The concepfrom
of
is
tion of culture as a thing isolated
the problems of
life
and death
every-
where
being
questioned,
outside
academic
lete.
circles,
and
will
soon be obsois
new
conception of culture
includes
forming which
sciences,
the
modern
and con-
and more particularly those
that give an understanding

trol of the forces of
human
life.
Soon
must our women's
colleges, in particu-
[83]

lar, feel the influence
of this
ture-ideal,
which means so
race.
new culmuch for the

too,
motherhood of the
But soon,
must even our men's

nical
colleges acknowl-
edge the value of a culture and a tech-
knowledge that
fits
for conscious,
rational fatherhood.
Too long has
the
male of the species limited his parental

functions
to
begetting offspring
and
a
providing for their support. In an ideal

civilization,
men
no
will feel that
it
is
man's
task,
less
than a woman's, to
beget and rear brave sons and fair

daughters, quite as
armies,
much
as to lead
make
laws,
or conduct large
business enterprises.
[84]
CHAPTER
VI
ROMANTIC LOVE AND

EUGENICS
CHAPTER
Eugenics
sciences,
life
VI
ROMANTIC LOVE AND EUGENICS

is
one of the newest of the

all
and
science
is
new
has
in the
of
mankind.
Science
come
posin-
only with the more complete organization of

sible
human
the
It is at
intelligence,
made
by
development of the
tellect.
once a point of view,
a method, and a body of facts and conclusions.
As
a point of view
capable
of
it
regards
experience
lyzed,
as
being anato the
interpreted,
and applied
mastery of the forces of nature and
man's
life.
As
a method
it
observes,
classifies
and interprets for use the
facts of experience.
As
a body of data
and inferences
it
constitutes organized
[87]

knowledge.
Eugenics
is
the science of the application
being well-born, and
is
of science in general to the better under-
standing and control of the forces that

condition the birth of men.
science because
it
It is
new
by
deals with material
only
recently
accumulated,
and
methods only recently devised, through

the researches of biologists
scientists
and other
working
life.
at the
more intimate
problems of
Because eugenics has to do with the

birth of children,
to
it
must needs have
do with marriage and the relations
of the sexes.
But marriage and the

have always been
relations of the sexes
invested with mystery, with a glow of

feeling difficult of analysis,
all
and with
sorts of resulting superstitions.
The
love of the sexes has been symbolized

[88]
TO BE WELL BORN
by the blind Eros marriages have been
;
made
to
in
heaven; storks have brought
babies into the world.
To
apply science
life
such experiences of
naturally
arouses antagonisms in minds the world
over that are unused to analyzing their

experience, that love mystery,
and that
resist the substitution of definite ideas
and determinate feelings for vague and

massive ones.
only
There
begins
is
here repeated
else
what happens
science
everywhere
to
when
reduce
It
the
is
world to an orderly process.

merely an
attitude of
instinctive,
impressionistic
mind
in
antagonism with a
rational one.
The most common expression

antagonism to eugenics
is
of this
the view that
romantic love will perish as soon as

science
is
applied to the choice of mates

[89]

and the control of
marriage.
their
relations
in
In the light of what has
been
It is
said, this
view
is
perfectly natural.
held by the same type of minds in
connection with religion, morality, and
every other form of experience that
is
complex, and as yet but imperfectly
understood and controlled.
Yet
it
has
no
real support in fact,
and there
is
no
reason for believing that eugenics will

destroy idealistic love between
men and
it
women.
sert that
In the
first
place,
is
the
as-
simple truth to say that those

it
who
will,
have not themselves

attitude
cultivated
the
scientific
of
mind, and, therefore,

perimentally
feelings
know nothing
effects
ex-
of
its
upon the
In
and the
idealistic qualities.
the second place, the
men and women
who have
cultivated the scientific atti[90]
TO BE WELL BORN
tude of mind would be the last to say
that they have less capacity to love, or
have ceased
ence.
to idealize
As between
human experiman who looks

and
in
upon a flower
and a
uncritically
an
impressionistic way,
ty,
and
feels its
beau-
scientist
who
its
looks
upon a
and
the
flower analytically, and with a definite
consciousness
functions,
of
structure
and yet
is
feels its beauty, the
advantage
former.
certainly
not
is
with
Nor
yet again
the advan-
tage with a
man who
looks
upon a
loves
woman
impressionistically
and
her, rather than with a scientist
who
and
as
loves while viewing the object of his

affection
as
type
of
physical
as
psychical
organization
well
woman.
It
changes the qualities neither

of
of the flower nor
the
woman
to
[91]

understand them.
the
Nor does it alter responsiveness of the men to beauty

else that enthralls the
and everything
affections,
If,
to
make them
for
intelligent.
indeed, the admiration for a flower
or
the
love
woman depended
him who would
that
upon a lack of understanding, there

would be
little
credit to
be capable of the one or the other.
But
it
is
clearly not the case
admiration or love are emotions limited

to naive
and
uncritical intellects.
The
concrete experiences of
men and women

feelings,
everywhere in
the
contrary.
civilization are proof to
Esthetic
ad-
miration, and love are not destroyed by

scientific analysis of their
is
objects.
It
their nature to attach themselves to
all
the changing processes of the intel-
lect,
shaping and adapting themselves

[92]
TO BE WELL BORN
to every
new
idea
and mode of
it is
intelli-
gence.
that
In general,
feelings
a law of mind
enriched
the
are
and
strengthened with every enlargement

of the intelligence.
The
content of the
one measures the breadth and power

of the other.
There
is
no danger, therefore, that
romantic love between the sexes will

perish with the cultivation of the science
of
eugenics,
any more than there
is
danger that idealism of any kind can

suffer
from an
I
intelligent ordering of
experience.
the
would make
of
ideal love
fitness
very
culmination
for
well-
parenthood.
No
child
can be
born that
marriage.
logical
will
is
the product of a loveless

clearer view of the bioof
implications
romantic love
poetic
some time vindicate the

[93]

sentiment of the ages.
In our
own
sig-
democratic society, where the freedom

of sexual choice has
had so many
nal
illustrations
in
happy marriages,
and
in the splendid
homes and
is
families
evi-
founded thereon,
dence of
its
there
ample
how romantic
love enlarges
intelli-
bounds with the increase of
gence.
There are those who witness
these demonstrations in
modern democthe
racy of the
consistency between
highest form of popular intelligence the
world has yet seen, and the

istic
finest ideal-
relations of
man and woman
in
wedlock, and yet believe that romantic

love can not survive the next step for-
ward.
have no such misgivings.
regard the love of the sexes as an integral
part
of
biological
evolution,
found at every stage of human develop[94]
TO BE WELL BORN
ment, in more or less imperfect forms,
according to the
their
difficulties
besetting
normal expression, but becoming
stronger
the
and more
a
compelling
with
advance of
in
civilization,
and des-
tined
more
enlightened
and
ethical future to control all sexual relations.
Only where
exists
this
romantic conthere
jugal
love
can
be
that
complete reciprocity of
life
which makes
parenthood the crowning joy of conscious
human
existence,
as
it
is
the
supreme end of those mighty forces

that
drive the
race of
men forward
toward an ever-enlarging destiny.
[95]
CHAPTER
VII
RELIGION AND EUGENICS
CHAPTER VII
RELIGION AND EUGENICS
In proportion as religion has been
social
and
ethical in scope,
it
has
al-
ways recognized the

of eugenics.
essential principles
The
ideal of
marriage has
contemplated the welfare of offspring,
and the birth of children has been

surrounded with conditions and cere-
monies intended
Religion,
to exalt its
meaning.
a
chief
indeed,
has
been
in
agency
among
ideals of
men
cultivating
worthy
hood.
marriage and parent-
The
Christian
religion
has
been
especially
committed to
this task.
it
The
Jewish people, from

rived so
whom
social
has de-
many
of
its
and moral
[99]

standards, are conspicuous
among
the
peoples of
all
times, not only for the
sanctity they attach to marriage

childbirth,
and
but also for their applicaessential
tion
of
many
principles
of
sexual and social hygiene.
The
in
ideals
and practises
of
the
Jews
these
matters were carried over into modern

civilization
through the influence of the
Bible and the founders of Christianity.
The genealogy
tory of his
interpreted
as
of Christ
and the
his-
birth
might properly be
in
chapters
eugenics,
while
his
teachings
concerning
the
relations of the sexes
serve at every
point to exalt the primary functions of
parenthood.
Throughout
Christian
civilization, the ideals
and customs thus

race,
inherited
illustrated
from the Jewish

[ioo]
and
and established through the
TO BE WELL BORX
life
and teachings of Christ, have
in-
vested marriage and the birth of chil-
dren with a sanctity that has no doubt

steadily
tended
toward a moral and

life.
rational control of the sources of
But while religion has thus helped
mankind
to
form exalted
ideals of
marhas
riage and childbirth, and while
it
favored customs and laws supporting

such ideals,
it
has not always welcomed
the teachings of eugenic science.
The
common antagonism
tific
of the non-scien-
mind
to the rationalizing of feel-
ings,
beliefs
and conduct,
has
been
especially
classes.
strong
among
the religious as
it
Religion,
embracing,
does,
man's strongest convictions, be-
comes the main bulwark of opposition

to everything that
seems to question the
standards
it
has erected.
[ioi]
Everything

relating
life
to
the
ultimate
problems of
and death has long been regarded
as peculiarly within the sphere of religion.
Thus
it
is
that marriage
and
Ac-
childbirth
have been invested with an

average
little
atmosphere of supernaturalism.
cordingly,
believer,
to
it
the
religious
seems
short
of
irreverent to bring these great affairs
within the sphere of scientific

gence.
If
intelli-
God
joins
man and woman

?
together in wedlock, what has eugenics

to say about their fitness to be parents
If
every child born into the world

its
is
a special creation of
Maker, what
has eugenics to do with the process of

generation?
intelligent
may be said that no man or woman would longer

It
ask such questions seriously.
Yet the
commonly accepted
[
religious beliefs of
102]
TO BE WELL BORN
most of the men and
view of the matter.
solemnizes the union of
in wedlock,
is
women
of Chris-
tendom consistently permit no other
The ritual that men and women

it
an expression of a view
of marriage that
makes
a religious
institution rather than a eugenic one.

It
is
not surprizing, therefore, that
the science of eugenics frequently meets
with ridicule and antagonism in religious circles.

indifferent,
The common
feeling
of marriage
people are
to-
no compulsion
ward any view

birth that
is
and
child-
not provided for in their
creed, while their leaders, the clergy,
are often openly hostile in their attacks
upon
scientists
who
believe that
in
men
wed-
and women are joined together

lock not so
much by
[103]
the repetition of
solemn religious formulas as by their

meeting the sternly
of nature's laws.
It is
inflexible conditions
obvious that there
is little
hope
of extensively popularizing eugenics so
long
as
religious
leaders,
whether
or
clergy or
laymen,
are
indifferent
hostile to its claims.
The
the
sanction of
of
religion
is
final
in
lives
the
masses of the people, and unless their

religious
ideals
and feelings are ap-
pealed
in
to, little
headway can be made

Religion
their
regeneration.
and
science must, then, be brought into co-
operation
if
the eugenic
is
program of
affect
human improvement
end those who see
to
any
this
large section of civilization.

life
To
whole, whether
under the name of religion or that of

science,
should
dedicate
themselves.
is
The
ideal of racial regeneration

[104]
com-
TO BE WELL BORN
mon
to both religion
finally
and
science,
and
in
both will
be judged,
alike
the silent processes of nature and in the
consciousness of wise
men everywhere,
to this great
by what they contribute

end.
In the
first place, let
religious leaders
broaden their outlook upon their

beliefs
own
and seek
to discover the eugenic

itself.
implications of religion
In the
second place,
let scientists
broaden their
of truth
outlook upon their
own body
and
I
and seek
the older
to discover its beginnings in
modes
of feeling
intellect
that religion represents.
have said
as-
that religion, in
pects,
tially
its social
and moral
has everywhere held an esseneugenic

ideal,
and that
this is esIf,
pecially true of Christianity.
then,
the eugenic principles implicit in the

[105]

Christian religion were to be rendered
explicit
through the interpretations of

the
science,
lievers
masses of Christian befind
would
no
fault
with the
science of eugenics.
Going
belief,
to the very
heart of Christian
as affecting
that
eugenic
problems,
suppose
men
for
were
to
interpret the eugenic signifilife,
cance of Christ's
the
dismissing,
time being,
its
mystical
or
a
dog-
matic significance.
Here was
of
select
man
born of a race and a family that meet

every
condition
biological
heredity.
The Jewish
people
repre-
sented in the time of Christ the cul-
mination of religious and moral de-
velopment among the races of the earth.
Where
else could
such a religious and
moral character as Christ have been

expected to appear, viewed simply as a
[106]
TO BE WELL BORN
product of racial evolution?
Further-
more, he was born of a family that

represented a long process of religious
and moral
stock
of
selection.
He came from
priestly
and prophetic men.
His parents represented the culmination of those qualities that
had made had

in-
the Jewish race distinctive and
sured
its
survival in the stern struggle
for existence.
Such a father as Joseph
and such a mother as Mary meet every

condition of eugenic parenthood.
Shall
it
be said that this
is
to force a
naturalistic interpretation
upon the su-
preme
Such
is
ideal
of
supernatural religion?
intention.
not
my
The
ortho-
dox interpretation may remain unaffected.

I
am
merely stating a possible
and an obvious view of Christ's place

in biological evolution.
[107]
The
facts cer-

tainly are as I
have indicated, whatChrist
ever
may
be the interpretation.
of a stock of
was born
religious
men
that repre-
sented, perhaps, the highest product of
and moral
selection in the his-
tory of the world.
In no other race,
or period of history, has such attention been paid to the selection of pa-
rents as
among
the Jews of Old Testa-
ment
history.
Is there
no lesson here for Christianregenerate the husight, for
ity in its efforts to
man
race?
Leaving out of
all
the time being,
other views of Christ
as affecting men's salvation, would not

the
modern world be
to
its
benefited
by an
application
problems of racial
improvement of the eugenic principles

that are illustrated in the generation
of Christ?
What,
indeed,
would have
[108]
TO BE WELL BORN
been the results for civilization already
if
Christian leaders had given the same

to
attention
regenerating
mankind
Christ
through
preaching a
eugenic
that they have given through preaching
a mystical, dogmatic Christ?
Let
men
and women believe what they will as to their salvation through Christ, it
surely could not impair the efficacy of
that belief
if
they sought to reproduce
in themselves the conditions of Christ's
parenthood, and thus to insure some
measure of incarnation of the divine

life in their
offspring.
have a convic-
tion that the
salvation of the world,

Christ's
according to the pattern of

life,
will
be accomplished most effec-
tively
through meeting the conditions
under which Christ himself was begotten as a son of man.

[109]
The word
that

became
flesh in
him, and dwelt
among
men, can be multiplied
in the lives of
men
the
generally only as children are born
into the
world incarnating, as
life
He
did,
divine
through
sanctified
parenthood.
[no]
CHAPTER
VIII
RACIAL IDEALS OF
PARENTHOOD
CHAPTER
VIII
RACIAL IDEALS OF PARENTHOOD

Fundamentally, the racial ideals of
parenthood are biological.
That
is
to
say, they contemplate the preservation
of the species
and
its
progressive de-
velopment into better and better types

of
men and women.

conscious
In
the
lower
stages of civilization,
little
when there was direction of human life,

parents
ac-
men and women became

The
individuals that
cording to the law of natural selection.
were
fitted to
meet
the conditions of
human
survival re-
produced themselves.
Those who could

to repeat their
ulti-
not meet such conditions were weeded

out,
and
left
no posterity
failures.
Whatever may be our

life,
3
mate philosophy of
[113
we may
not

doubt that the general trend of
evolution
human
better
has
been
toward
stock of men.
this
The guiding
itself,
force of
improvement may be
life
in the
very
be in
nature of
or
it
may
some transcendent form

intelligence.
of
directing
But whatever the cause,

the same.
the
fact
is
The world
of
human
more
life,
even below the conscious
intelligence of
men, has ever sought a

expression
of
itself.
complete
it
Thus
is
that parental
selection,
is
in
nature's irreducible terms,
a question
of fitness to improve the race by bring-
ing into the world a better type of

offspring.
In
all
the succeeding stages of racial
evolution, as conscious intelligence has
more and more supervened

affairs,
[114]
in
human
still,
parental selection has
in
TO BE WELL BORN
general, followed the lines of biological
fitness.
There have, of course, been

Communities and
apparent exceptions.
nations have failed to meet the tests

of eugenic parenthood for a variety of
reasons, and have
become
and
extinct.
But
has
the race as a whole,
at its best,
remained true to the directing force of

its
existence,
and has chosen
its
parents
according to their fitness for perpetuating the race, and insuring

its
improve-
ment.
To
those
communities
and
nations that have most completely realized this eugenic ideal, has been given
the place of leadership.

individuals
And
to those
whose
lives
have conformed
parenthood
to the racial standards of
has been given the promise made to the
Hebrew Abraham,
inherit the earth.
that their seed shall
[115]

What,
is vitality,
then,
more
specifically,
are
the racial ideals of parenthood?
First,
including health and energy
of body
and mind.
Without
vitality
the race can not endure.
Communities
and nations that have become weakened

through disease or wrong habits of
living,
and have
lost the physical
and
mental energy necessary to maintain

their lives at the proper level
ficiency,
of ef-
have no chance of perpetuity.

kind,
While progress of any
which
al-
ways
its
implies a surplus of energy

is
and
products,
out of the
question.
There are numerous

vitalized stocks of
illustrations of de-
men, both
;
in families,
les-
communities and nations and their

son
is
always the same.
Nothing, in
the long run, can offset the devitalization of a stock of
men. [n6]
Every virtue
TO BE WELL BOR&
and
grace
rooted
is
'
in
physical
and
mental degeneracy,
of small account
from the viewpoint of the long journey mankind has

set out to
make. The
such
sacrifice of vitality for the sake of
supposed virtues or graces

the blindest of
is,
therefore,
human
lift
follies.
Second,
of
is
intelligence.
Mere
the
It
vitality
stock
can not
race
to
higher level of existence.
may
be
is
the basis of progress, but progress
secure, under conditions above the slow-
process
of
natural
selection,
only
through
the
in
medium
of
intelligence.
Wherever
the history of
mankind
not
intelligence has been of a
low order,
life, if
there has been stagnation of

decay.
Wherever, on the other hand,

high order,
intelligence has been of a
the forces of
life
have been controlled

[117]

and
utilized in the direction of progress.
is
Intelligence, indeed,
the great main-
spring of variability, in the individual
and
in the race,
and
is
the
supreme
test
of capacity for improvement.
Third,
is
technical efficiency, or the
power
to
direct
energy and express

Vitality
in
all
ideas in productive work.

intelligence
action,
and
have their end
skilful
such as will bring

life to
the re-
sources of
bear upon the specific

its
tasks that promote

ability of
welfare.
The
men everywhere
and
to cope with
obstacles,
to transform their en-
vironment into a more suitable habitat
and instrument of progress,

ured by their technical
vitality
skill.
is
meas-
Wherever
have be-
and even
intelligence
come dependent upon the

of others, there have
[118]
technical skill
men become
para-
TO BE WELL BORN
sitic
is
and ultimately degenerate.
This
the history of
numerous
families
and
communities everywhere in
civilization.
Whether such parasitism and degeneracy
come
through
the
idleness
of
chronic pauperism or through the idleness induced by wealth, the story

quite
is
the
same.
Technical efficiency,
the
power
skilfully to
do things,
in
racial,
is
an
in
indispensable
factor
as
individual, progress.
Fourth,
is
morality
and
religion.
These are the conservative and regenerative
forces
in
racial
life.
Morality
protects vitality, intelligence,

nical efficiency
and techdissi-
from misuse and

physical
pation.
It
adjusts the individual and

the
the
race
to
and
social
worlds in a
way
that consciously relife.
gards the permanent values of

[119]
Re-

ligion interprets the
It
meaning of
questions
it
all.
answers, up to the light of

the ultimate
intelli-
gence,
of
the
whence and whither of men.

that
It gives
outlook
upon the complex and
troublous world of
human
experience
to live at
which makes
all.
it
worth while
Morality and religion have everyin
where
human
history conditioned the
survival of civilization.
Where
they
vital-
have been highly developed, there
ity has been conserved, intelligence has
been sanely occupied, and technical

has ministered to worthy ends.
skill
These four
qualities,
therefore, are
the essential ideals of parenthood in the

life
of the race.
technical
Vitality,
intelli-
gence,
efficiency,
and
the
spiritual virtues, morality
and
religion,
have measured human

[120]
fitness to
share
TO BE WELL BORN
in
the perpetuation and improvement
of the race through parenthood.

if
And
these be the qualities that have everyall
where, and at
times, constituted the
selective standard of parenthood, they
should
stitute
now
be the qualities that con-
our standard of what a father
or mother should be.

should,
We
may, and
interpret this racially derived

liberally, as applied to indivi-
standard
dual
men and women.

life
There are
all
sorts of permutations in the qualities
of
human
that
may
mutually bal-
ance one another, and produce exceptions to the ideal parental type.
But, in
general,
it
must be
eternally true that
the broad lines of racial evolution have

fixt
the criteria of men's necessities, in
marriage
and the begetting of
off-
spring, as in other things.

[121]
He
or she

that consciously endeavors to
measure
up
is
to the racial ideals of parenthood,
making the
best possible preparation
for performing the functions of father-
hood or motherhood.
And
the comideals
munity or nation that erects such
in its educational system, its religion,

its
literature
and
art,
and
its
social life
generally, can not fail to

lished
become
estab-
among
the peoples that endure,
a leader in the long march of

progress.
human
[122]
CHAPTER
IX
THE TRUE BUILDERS OF

NATIONS
CHAPTER IX
THE TRUE BUILDERS OF NATIONS
In the light of racial evolution,
the
it
is
men and women who
live
out their
lives primarily as
good parents that are

It is
the true builders of nations.
not
the captains of industry, the politicians
and
rulers, the generals of armies, the
professional men, the poets and artists,
or any other class of
men
acting in the
capacity of their craft, that have laid

the foundations of states
It
is
and empires.
chil-
the fathers
and mothers of
dren, fitted to live
and hand on the
torch of
Society
its
life
aglow with a purer flame.

enroll in its halls of
may
fame
ephemeral heroes.
In nature's hall
of
fame, however, only those find a

[125]

place
who have
felt,
thought, and done,
the things that become incorporated in

the life of
heredity.
mankind through
biological
This
is
not to deny that there are
other values in the individual and in

the race besides those that attach to
parenthood.
tain
The
functions of the capthe

politician,
all
of
industry,
the
leader of armies,
and
the rest, are

civilization.
necessary
to
complete
But, in the last analysis, they are sec-
ondary functions, depending upon conditions
created by the
of
more primary
Interfere
functions
parenthood.
with the latter in any radical way, stop

their
exercise
over
life,
any considerable
area of
human
and communities
and nations must deteriorate and cease

to exist.
Whatever men and women

[126]
TO BE WELL BORN
may
is
think about the relative importance
of the functions they discharge, there
no doubt what nature

to
thinks.
She
condemns
This
truth
extinction
the
childless
family and the childless race.

simple,
but
often
neglected,
of
nature's
economy
should
quickly decide
some questions that men
and women are now raising as never

before.
There can be no doubt that the

choice
of
deliberate
fatherhood
to
and
motherhood as a duty
is
human
society
under challenge
in these days.
There
are
men and women who

than to bear
assertion
assert that
they can render a more needed service

to the State
its
is
children.
Whether
sincere,
this
absolutely
it
we may
not know; but
is
at
least often put to the test.
These men
and women are ceasing

[127]
to be fathers

and mothers.
Scattered
throughout
the civilizations of
Europe and America
there are leaders of both sexes
who
are preaching and practising the sus-
pension of this primary function of the

race.
In the light of biological prin-
ciples, this
mental and emotional
atti-
tude can be rooted only in a decadent

life.
Whether
it is
due
to the cynicism
of jaded intellect,
feelings
its
or the atrophy
senile
of
associated with
is
decay,
creis
significance
the same.
The
ative
energy of the human stock

in
ceasing,
such
men and women,

is
to
be longer potent.
Organized society
already becom-
ing conscious of the primary values of

parenthood, and the imminent dangers
that threaten
it
through neglect.
[128]
In
France, England, and the older sections
TO BE WELL BORN
of the
United States, the decline of

is
the marriage- and birth-rates
exciting
more and more comment

circles.
It is
in intelligent
ceasing to be a matter of
is
individual
and family concern, and

social
becoming a matter of
concern.
When
communities and nations become

of
conscious
the
decadence
of
their
stock through the failure to discharge
parental duties,
it is
only a question of
instincts
time
when
the
strongest
will
of
self-preservation
selves.
assert
them-
Whatever
individuals
may do
in
the matter, nations do not choose
to die in a
manner
so
little
creditable
to their integrity or fame.
The time seems

of
ripe,
therefore, for
society to address itself to the
problem
self-improvement
through deliber-
ately exalting parental functions to the

[129]

place that nature gives them.
Nothing
would do more
to correct the indiffer-
ence and neglect of
men and women

and
regarding their primary duties to the

race, than to
make
this indifference
neglect
either
social
offense,
recognized
by stern public opinion or by

Let the
law.
men and women who

be honored by so-
honor parenthood by worthily performing

its
functions
ciety.
Let them consciously be given
the place in social esteem and social opportunities that nature gives
them
in
her long plans for the
On
the
the other hand,

doctrines
let
human race. those who preach

impotence be
of
racial
rated as nature rates them
diseased
mental
decay.
its
or senile
men and women whose

life,
attitude reflects not
but
This
is
not to reflect upon those who,

[130
]
TO BE WELL BORN
through no fault of their own, do not
become parents.
There are many such,
both through physical disabilities and

the social maladjustments that so often
make marriage difficult. It is rather to draw the line sharply, as nature

draws
those
choice.
it,
between those who share the
fundamental task of nation-builders and
who do
and
not,
from
deliberate
It is to exalt
parenthood as a
social duty,
to erect standards for
human worths that reveal the men and women of a community or nation who are really performing the
evaluating
most important
I
social service.
would honor among women the
mother, however humble her social station,
who has brought
into the world
strong and beautiful children, and
who
gives them full of promise to the great

[131I

human world about her. I would honor among men the father, whatever his
craft,
whose
virility
and
skill
have been
multiplied in sons and daughters that

shall
improve the citizenship of

I
his
so-
country.
ciety
would have organized

its
bestow
richest
favors
upon
her
who,
like
the
Roman
matron,
brings,
as her
supreme offering, her

"These are
society,
children,
and says:
I
my
like-
jewels."
would have
wise, give tangible, practical acknowl-
edgment of the truth and

the old adage,
justice
of
"He
that hath a wife
and
children,
hath given hostages to
fortune."
[132]
CHAPTER X
THE CREATION OF LIFE
CHAPTER X
THE CREATION OF LIFE
The
has
at
right of the child to be well born
its final
all.
sanction in the joy of living
For,
whatever the pessimist
may
say, life at its lowest

is
and
at its
highest estate
the
ings whatsoever.
sum of all blessThe eternal cosmic

its
process would seem to have for
su-
preme goal the creation

every
creature
of
this
life,
and
born
of
process
it
it,
shares the spirit that works through

all.
It,
too,
has the will to
live,
and
too,
would create an ever larger measlife
ure of
it is
for itself
all
and
others.
Thus
or
liv-
that of
created things, whether
sprung
from the
cosmic
process
fashioned through the activities of

[135]

ing creatures themselves, the greatest
life.
is
To
live,
life
and up
to
have the endow-
ments of
to the limits one's na-
ture imposes,
is,
therefore, an expression
of the deepest purpose of the universe,
and of the
soul of
man.
Herein
is
the
measure of the fundamental right of

every child born into the world.
If,
therefore, life itself
is
the greatthe very

in
est of created things,
and
is
if
purpose of the universe

such creation, then
is
fulfilled
parenthood the
in
supreme creative function

life.
human
Here men and women are nearto
est
the
cosmic process.
Here do
they share most completely the control

of the unseen forces
upon which the
phenomena of
sense, and, I doubt not,
of spirit, depend.
All the creations of

all
man's handicraft;
the creations of
[136]
TO BE WELL BORN
art, literature
and science;
secondary
all
the creastates-
tions of social philosophers
and
men,
are
of
importance,
lives created
compared with the human

by men and women
parents.
in their capacity as
From
derful
is
the viewpoint of science,

this share of
won-
men and women
in the creation of life.
Down
through
the countless millenniums of years,
from
monera
less
to
men, from masses of form-
protoplasm to highly differentiated
nations, the stream of life has flowed.
In each man's and each woman's being

this
stream appears, bringing to light
the hereditary accumulations of ages,
together
with
those
variations
that
fel-
separate the individual

lows.
from
his
This
total
product of racial and
personal traits, brought into relation[137]

ship with those of an individual of the
opposite
sex,
through
the
the
union
of
germinal-cells,
becomes
starting
point of another
the
first
human
cell,
being, old as
living
and yet a new

life.
creation in the universe of
Thus
does the stream of
life
flow on, through
the cooperation of the individual with the

race,
and of man with woman.

is
This cooperation
parenthood, the only
form of
activity in
which man shares

life.
directly in the creation of
From
is
the viewpoint of religion also,
parenthood wonderful.
Put a per-
sonal
God
into the universe,
and man
in
in
in his capacity of parent becomes,
sense
more intimate than
any
other type of activity, a coworker with
Him.
tal
Conceive of
man
as an
immor-
being,
and fatherhood and mother[138]
TO BE WELL BORN
hood become the
of
really
fundamental
Conceive
media of eternal existence.
Christ as the incarnation of God,
and parenthood becomes the instrument

of the incarnation process.
It
is
not
strange that the Christian religion has

ascribed to
father,
its
God
the attributes of a
and
to Jesus
Christ the attriis it
butes of a son.
Nor
strange that
rela-
the highest conception of
woman's
tions to her Creator has been exprest

in
terms of
it
human motherhood;
tho
pity
is,
and tragical for the moral

man's relations to his
history of civilization, that the highest
conception
of
Creator has not been exprest in the
same terms!
From
science
the viewpoint,
then,
is
both of
and
religion, there
an appeal
to the imagination
and the conscience
[139]

of those
who
think long thoughts con-
cerning parenthood.
In neither science
nor religion
is
there justification, out-
side of ignorance or cynicism, for be-
lieving that parental functions
may
be
taken
up or
laid
aside
indifferently.
Nothing but the

can absolve any
the
guilt
inability,
or lack of
opportunity, to perform these functions
man
or
woman from
of
life.
of
violating
a law
Men and women

cosmic necessity,
fate,
are in the grip of a
whether we
call
it
God, or blind primordial energy.

the creative
They can no more take

hands than they can
their courses.
is
process of the universe into their

call
own
the stars from
The
will of the universe
to
is
create life;
and every creature

an expresa primary
has,
that
called into being as
sion of that will,
as
[140]
TO BE WELL BORN
quality of
its
existence, the impulse to

in its in
become more complete and

to
own
being
reproduce
itself
the world.
The
pulse
dual character of this cosmic imat
the
foundation
of
all
its
life,
argues an interdependence of
sulting functions.
paired, the other
If
re-
the one be imsuffer.
must
In hu-
man
self,
life,
the will to reproduce one's
and the functions of reproduction,

long run, upon the will to
react, in the
live as
an individual, and the power of

its
achieving
purpose.
life,
Man
Here
is
must create
whatever
else
he creates, or perish from the earth.

a basis of necessity for a
new
in-
kind of creative idealism, and for a
new
application
in
of
the
forces
its
of
telligence
realizing
ends.
We
inspire our children to be idealists in

[141]

art,
literature,
religion,
and
other
things.
idealists
Why
in
not inspire them to be

relations
to
their
cosmic
creation?
Is there a greater product
of the creative imagination than a hu-
man
life,
conceived in the
skill
spirit,
and
wrought with the
of a Praxiteles,
a Raphael, or a Shakespeare?
We
in-
spire our children to enlarge their intelligence.
Why
not inspire them to
learn their relations to the forces that
brought them into the world, and determine their primary place in the
of
life
mankind?
or
Could there be a greater

than a
product of
scientific intelligence
man
race
woman who knew how

child that
in
to beget
and rear a
a
would lead the

its
step higher
?
march
of
progress
What an
religion,
educational system,
social
[142]
what a
what a
economy, that
TO BE WELL BORN
has not yet discovered and brought under
a
measurable degree of control,
man's fundamental creative functions

in the world's order!
What
a civiliza-
tion that can dismiss with indifference
or sneers the teachings and warnings

of
scientific
eugenics!
How much
be
satis-
longer will
fied
men and women
with secondary causes, rather than

social regeneration
primary causes, of
and advancement?
How much
longer
will they choose, in their schools, col-
leges,
and marts of
trade, to give their

to
supreme attention
the
creation
of
ephemeral things, rather than to the

creation of
life itself?
In
the
drama
is
called
"The Lion's
Says the old
will
Whelp," there
old
a dialog between an
man and
a youth.
man: "The next century

[143]
be the
century of the child, just as this cen-

tury has been
the
woman's century.
rights,
When
rality
the child gets his

will
mo-
be perfected.
that he
is
Then every
bound
to the
man
life
will
know
which he has produced, with other
bonds than those imposed by society
and the laws.
You understand
if
that a
man
can not be released from his duty
as father, even
he travels around the
world; a kingdom can be given and

taken away, but not fatherhood."
Says the youth: "I know
this."
Says the old
man
once more:
"But
in this, all righteousness is not fulfilled
in
man's carefully preserving the

called into existence.
life
which he has
Xo
man
can early enough think over the
other question, whether and
when he
of
has the right to

*
call life into
existence."*
Quoted from Ellen Key's "The Century

45-
the Child," page
[144]
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARY
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of 50c per volume after the third day overdue, increasing to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in demand may be renewed if application is made before expiration of loan period.
5m-2,'44(9258s3)
b*
4i_rn! *+
child t0
64 iJ
J//

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THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO

IN MEMORIAM GORDON SLANDING

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN

of Psychology, Hertford School of Rtligious Pedagogy.

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

Published November, 1912

MY FATHER AND MOTHER

Parenthood Moral Fitness for Parenthood

Parenthood Romantic Love and Eugenics

Religion and Eugenics

Racial Ideals of Parent-

The True Builders

race by controlling the

conditions that insure the birth of better children.

This involves the

tion of parents that

best racial standards, in health, intelli-

gence, and efficiency.

and nations that

tions of the sexes,

and the procreation

make any impression upon

masses of the people, however, there

must be erected throughout

rational standards of fatherhood,

and the quality of

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD

far the primary functions

involved in the birth of children have

above the instinctive

propensities of the lower animals.

rapidly becoming intelligent

in the care of children after birth,

organized society devotes no small part

energies to the education of chil-

dren for almost everything but parenthood.

But the control of the forces of

concerning the mysteries of reits

This book has been written in the

help in the erection of

standards of what paoff-

renthood and the procreation of

and woman rather than the

been kept in mind, for there

need that those

should feel an obliga-

usable for the masses.

eugenics and a desire to increase

aspects, they are

urged to read the

lowing books: (i) Saleeby's "Parent-

hood and Race Culture/' (2) Herbert's

First Principles of Heredity,"

could wish, in-

no more important service

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD

to these masters of the

principles of eugenic science.

THE DECAY OF PARENTAL

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN

THE DECAY OF PARENTAL INTEREST