The Eugenic Marriage Volume I Part 1

The Eugenic Marriage.

Volume I.

by W. Grant Hague, M.D.

VOLUME I

INTRODUCTION

Despite the fact that much has been written during the past two or three years with reference to Eugenics, it is quite evident to any one interested in the subject that the average intelligent individual knows very little about it so far as its scope and intent are concerned. This is not to be wondered at, for the subject has not been presented to the ordinary reader in a form that would tend to encourage inquiry or honest investigation. The critic and the wit have deliberately misinterpreted its principles, and have almost succeeded in masking its supreme function in the garb of folly.

The writer has yet to meet a conscientious mother who fails to evince a reasonable degree of enthusiastic interest in eugenics when properly informed of its fundamental principles.

The eugenic ideal is a worthy race--a race of men and women physically and mentally capable of self-support. The eugenist, therefore, demands that every child born shall be a worthy child--a child born of healthy, selected parents.

No one can successfully a.s.sail the ethics of this appeal. It is morally a just contention to strive for a healthy race. It is also an economic necessity as we shall see.

The history of the world informs us that there have been many civilizations which, in some respects, equalled our own. These races of people have all achieved a certain success, and have then pa.s.sed entirely out of existence.

Why? _And are we destined to extinction in the same way?_ We know that the cause of the decline and ultimate extinction of all past civilizations was due primarily to the moral decadence of their people. Disease and vice gradually sapped their vitality, and their continuance was impossible. [xx]

It would seem to be the destiny of a race to achieve material prosperity at the expense of its morality. When conditions render possible the fulfilment of every human desire, the race exhausts its vitality in a surfeitment of caprice. The animal instincts predominate, and the potential vigor of the people is exhausted in contributing to its own amus.e.m.e.nt. Each succeeding civilization has reached this epochal period, and has fallen, victim of the rapacity of stronger and younger invading antagonists, _themselves to succ.u.mb to the same insidious process_.

The present civilization has reached this epochal--this transition--period.

In one hundred years from now we shall either have accomplished what no previous civilization accomplished, or we shall have ceased to exist as a race. Our success depends on the response of the people to the eugenic appeal. Few appreciate the responsibility involved.

It is not necessary, however, to combat or deplore the evils of the past.

Civilization has failed in the task of race-maintenance; it failed, however, in ignorance. We cannot plead the same excuse. We are face to face with conditions that we must solve quickly or our destiny will be decreed before we apply the remedy.

A function of the eugenist is to gather and attest statistics, and to establish conclusions based on these statistics. It has been conclusively demonstrated that, if the race continues to progress as it exists now--that is, if conditions remain the same, and our standard of enlightenment, so far as racial evolution is concerned, does not prompt us to adopt new constructive measures--_every second child born in this country, in fifty years, will be unfit; and, in one hundred years, the American race will have ceased to exist_. We mean by this that every second child born will be born to die in infancy, or, if it lives, will be incapable of self-support during its life, because either of mental degeneracy or physical inefficiency. This appalling situation immediately becomes a problem of civilization. No state can exist under these conditions. If these statistics are reliable--and we know they are true and capable of verification by any individual who will go to the trouble of [xxi]

investigating them--it is self-evident that a radical change must immediately be inst.i.tuted to obviate the logical consequences that must follow as a sequence. The eugenic demand, that "every child born shall be a worthy child," is, therefore, the solution of the problem.

This does not imply, however, that the eugenist must solve the elementary problem of how the state will ensure its own salvation by guaranteeing worthy children. Worthy children can come only from fit and worthy (clean and healthy) parents. It becomes the imperative function of the state--the function on which the very life of the state depends--to see that every applicant for marriage is possessed of the qualities that will ensure healthy, worthy children. We must, therefore, sooner or later devise a system of scientific regulation of marriage, and it is at this point we stumble against the problem that has prompted the ebullitions of the wit and the sarcasm of the critic. A casual reference to the science immediately suggests to the layman an impossible or quixotic system of marriage by force. Even the word "eugenics" is a.s.sociated in the minds of many otherwise estimable old ladies, and others who should know better, with a species of malodorous free love, and their hands go up in holy horror at the intimation of a scientific regulation of this ancient function.

Unfortunately, the popular mind has received the impression that this incident const.i.tutes the sum total of the eugenic idea, while the truth is that the eugenist is only slightly concerned with its modus operandi. This feature has been so magnified by widely published disingenuous discussion that it has a.s.sumed the aspect of a test problem, a judgment on which shall decide the utility of the science itself. Should this decision be unfavorable, it would seem, according to its exponents, that it would not be worth while promulgating the doctrines of the science beyond this point.

It is as though we were asked to deny ourselves the inspiration and pleasure of a trip abroad because the morning of the day on which the ship sailed happened to be cloudy.

It is certainly no part of the function of the eugenist to uproot [xxii]

instinct, or to trample into the dust age-long rights, though the instinct is simply the product of an established habit, based on an erroneous hypothesis, and the so-called rights simply acquired privileges, because the intelligence that would have builded differently was not awakened.

Eugenic necessity will render imperative the state's solution of this fundamental problem, for the reason that civilization will be driven to demand its just inheritance--the right to exist. The eugenist will not be compelled to open the door; it will be opened for him. We can afford, therefore, to wait with supreme confidence, because the good sense of the people will not always submit to the tactics of the jester when it needs a saviour.

The eugenist does not seek to interfere with the liberties of the rising generation: a boy may choose whom he will; the girl may select the one who appeals to her most, and they may enjoy all the vested rights and romance that custom has decreed the lover; but, when they resolve to marry, _the state must decide their qualifications for parenthood_. This must be the crucial test of the future. The life of the state depends on it. The continuance of the race must be the supreme object of all future constructive legislation. We must recognize that "life is the only wealth,"

and that every other criterion of an advanced civilization must measure its success according to its wealth in worthy parenthood.

The eugenist does not even dictate what the test for parenthood shall be.

Common sense, however, suggests that it will a.s.sume some form that will eliminate those physically or mentally diseased. He believes that, when the people are sufficiently educated to appreciate the object in view, they will devise a system that will meet with universal approval.

Eugenics concerns itself with problems on which the destiny of the race depends. It must not, therefore, be limited to questions relative to mating and breeding. Every factor that contributes to the well-being and uplifting of the race, every subject that bespeaks physical or mental regeneration, that aids moral and social righteousness and salvation, and promises a greater social happiness and contentment, has a eugenic [xxiii]

significance. So long as there exists an unsupported mother or a suffering child; so long as we rely on hospitals and prisons, penitentiaries and the police, to minister to the correction and regeneration of the unfit and degenerate; so long as we tolerate grafting politicians and deprive the poor of breathing s.p.a.ces, sanitary appliances, and a hygienic environment; so long as war and pestilence deprive posterity of the best of the race for parenthood; so long as we emphasize rescue rather than prevention, so long must the eugenist strive unceasingly to preach his propaganda of race regeneration.

The scope of eugenics is too far-reaching in its beneficent purpose to be fettered by the querulous triflings of the ancient or intellectual prude; nor should it be belittled by the superficial insight of the habitual scoffer. It is not a fantasy nor an idle dream. It is not even an inspiration. The destiny of the race has brought us face to face with conditions unparalleled in the history of this civilization, and the very existence of the race itself may be wholly dependent on the foresight of the minds that have made the science of eugenics possible.

A brief consideration of the conditions that actually exist, with which we are face to face, and which certainly justify the existence of a science whose function it should be to demand serious investigation of methods of race regeneration, may help the reader to an intelligent and practical understanding of the tremendous importance of the subject.

It has been already remarked that, at the present rate of decrease, the birth-rate will be reduced to zero within a century. If the birth-rates in England, Germany, and France should continue to decrease as they have since 1880, there would be no children born, one hundred years hence, in these countries. While we do not a.s.sert, and probably none of us believes that either or all of these nations will actually be out of existence in a hundred years--unquestionably because we feel, at least we hope, that our methods will be so changed in that time that the necessary modification will ensure a continuance of the race, nevertheless, the fact remains that _the inevitable result of continuing along present lines will be [xxiv]

that, within the period of one hundred years, these peoples will cease to perpetuate themselves_.

It is not necessary to enquire closely into the various causes for this unparalleled situation. The falling birth-rate in itself is not the prime cause. Even admitting that there are enough babies born, too many of them are born only to die in infancy. We need no further proof of the urgent need for conscientious inquiry, call it by what name you please. The science of common sense is all-sufficient. The seemingly intelligent individual who can only find material for ribaldry in this connection is a more serious buffoon than he imagines. It is apparent that our methods are wrong. Any constructive effort to correct them is commendable. When it is stated that 20 per cent. of the American women are unable to bear children, and that 25 per cent. of all the others are unwilling to a.s.sume the burden and responsibility of motherhood, we partly realize the gravity of the case.

On the other hand, statistics show that the majority of men have acquired disease before they marry, and that a very large percentage of these men convey contagion to their wives. This condition, to a very large extent, accounts for the inefficiency of women as mothers. It is responsible for at least 75 per cent. of the sterility that exists. The effect of this deplorable condition is directly responsible, also, for the ill health that afflicts women and that renders necessary the daily operations of a serious nature that are conducted in every hospital in every city in the civilized world. As a result of the dissemination of this poison, children are born blind, or are born to die, or, if they live, they are compelled to carry all through their helpless lives the stigma of disease and degeneration. It would surely seem that the individual to whom G.o.d has given intelligence and a conscience cannot think of these, the saddest facts in human experience, without resentment and humility. _Surely the time has arrived when every boy should know, from his earliest youth, that there is here on earth an actual punishment for vicious living as frightful as any that the mind of man can conceive._ [Page xxv]

When we inquire into the cause of this trend toward race degeneracy, we find that poverty and the inability of the workingman to support large families, luxurious living, and the life of ease and amus.e.m.e.nt on the part of the women of wealth; the fact that an increasingly large number of women have entered professions that prevent motherhood, and that the number of apartment-houses where children are not wanted are on the increase, all play their part. In this age of intense living, it is not to be wondered at that many shrink from the responsibility of rearing children, and the same conditions that contribute to this decadent ideal intensifies s.e.x-hunger, and it is this dominating pa.s.sion that tolerates and makes possible the most frightful crime of the age--infanticide. Greece and Rome paved the way for their ultimate annihilation when their beautiful women ceased to bear children and their men sought the companionship of courtesans.

Baby contests have demonstrated that only one child in ten was found to be good enough to justify a second examination. In a test examination in the public schools, only eight in five thousand were competent to qualify in all the tests. One of these eight was a Chinese boy and another an American-born son of a native Greek. Of the twenty million school-children in the United States, not less than 75 per cent. need immediate attention for physical defects.

While man has been a.s.siduously improving everything else, he has neglected to better his own condition. Every animal that man has taken from its native haunts and domesticated, he has efficiently improved. He has even produced more marvelous results by the application of the same principles to the vegetable kingdom. In his haste to civilize himself, however, he has failed to apply the principles that are essential to self-preservation. It is regrettable, also, to know that, while the government has spent many thousands of dollars in sending out literature to the farmers, instructing them how to raise profitable crops and to breed prize horses and pigs, absolutely none of the public money has been used in instructing American mothers how to raise healthy children. [Page xxvi]

A distinguished insurance expert has proved that there was an increase of nearly 100 per cent. in the mortality from degenerative diseases in the United States between 1880 and 1909. The growing prevalence of these diseases indicates a falling-off in the vitality of the race. It means that the diseases of old age are invading the younger ranks.

The Life Extension Inst.i.tute, of New York City, in its recent report, states that "forty of every hundred men and women employed in the Wall Street district require medical attention; twenty of the forty need it immediately, and ten of the forty must have it to avert serious results."

There are from one-quarter to three-quarters of a million of preventable deaths every years in this country. That number of individuals could have been saved with proper care and attention to health in the early stages of disease, or before it gained a start. Practically all the diseases that carry business men off prematurely are curable in the early stages.

Of the percentage of Wall Street men who need medical attention immediately, most have kidney or heart disease. The others are victims of typical unhygienic habits, such as fast, gluttonous eating, neglect of exercise, too much tobacco and liquor, and bad posturing in the office. The business man considers these trifles, but they count heavily.

Business efficiency is greatly increased, first, by selecting men physically fit for work, and, second, by keeping them in that condition.

There is a tremendous waste from inefficiency constantly going on, due to impaired health. Wall Street has an astonishing corps of neurasthenics.

We need a broader interpretation of the term Eugenics, so that we may gain a more sympathetic and tolerant audience. The remedy does not lie in an academic discussion of these problems; to continue the debate behind closed doors will not lead anywhere: the public must be educated to a just appreciation of existing conditions and the remedy must be the product of effort on its part.

Any condition that fundamentally means race deterioration must be [xxvii]

rendered intolerable. The prevalant dancing craze is an anti-eugenic inst.i.tution, as is the popularity of the delicatessen store. No sane person can regard with complacency the vicious environment in which the future mothers of the race "tango" their time, their morals, and their vitality away. We do not a.s.sume to pa.s.s judgment on the merits of the dance; we do, however, emphatically condemn the surroundings.

The moving-picture shows, vaudeville entertainments, dancing carnivals, the ease of travel, the laxity of laws, the opportunities for promiscuous interviews, all tend to give youth a false impression of the reality of life and to make the path of the degenerate easy and attractive.

The history of civilization is, curiously enough, the story of masculine brutality, self-indulgence, and vice. The history of the world also proves that woman's sphere has been to submit patiently and silently to injustice and imposition. _Practical eugenics is the first worthy effort in the history of all time to hold men and women responsible for their mode of living._ It is a mighty problem. There is no greater nor more difficult one to be solved. It has taken eons to bring men to the point of questioning their right to do as they please; it will take time to compel them to realize their disgrace and acknowledge their duty. When we consider that there are eighty thousand women condemned to professional moral degradation in the City of London, and that every so-called civilized city on the globe contributes its pro rata share to this army of potential mothers, we begin to appreciate the vastness of the task.

Eugenics has already accomplished what no other movement has ever accomplished: it has created the spirit that gave birth to the thought of men's responsibility, and it has taught us that the female of the race has rights. We can now speak without fear; the light is no longer hidden.

Women must realize, however, that they have contributed, and continue to contribute, to race degeneracy. We hear and read much about the double standard of morals. As long as woman are willing to marry their daughters to reformed rakes, providing they have money and social position, [xxviii]

so long shall we have a double standard. So long as young society women go into hysterics over pedigreed dogs and horses and then marry men reeking in filthy unfitness for parenthood, mothers cannot expect any other standard of morals. So long as one marriage in twelve ends in divorce, the ethics of the female need enlightenment. We shall not get another standard of morals until women themselves demand it and insist on it. If they lend themselves to breaking down the conspiracy of silence, the women may solve the marriage problem by refusing to marry rakes.

We need a more liberal construction of the intent of eugenics in order to clarify the obtuse minds so that its propaganda of education may be easily and justly comprehended.

There is no field for speculation in the a.n.a.lysis of right living. It conforms to the law of cause and effect. It is positively concrete in substance. A recital of the life history of Jonathan Edwards, in comparison with that of the celebrated "Jukes" family, emphasises this a.s.sumption with a degree of positiveness that is tragic in its significance.

Jonathan Edwards was born in England in Queen Elizabeth's time. He was a clergyman and he lived an upright life. So did his wife. His son came to the United States, to Hartford, Connecticut, and became an honorable merchant. His son, in turn, also became a merchant, upright and honored.

His son, again, became a minister, and so honored was he that Harvard University conferred two degrees on him on the same day; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This learned man again had a son, and he became a minister. Jonathan Edwards was his name.