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

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN GEORGE

E.

DAWSON

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MEDICAL ^SCHOOL

IN MEMORIAM GORDON SLANDING

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN

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

this little

volume

is

reverently

dedicated

CONTENTS CHAPTER I.

PAGE

The Decay

of

Parental

Interest II.

The Desire

17 for Children,

and Eugenics

... ...

Fitness

III.

Biological

IV.

Parenthood Moral Fitness for Parenthood

V.

Educational Training for

VI.

Parenthood Romantic Love and Eu-

....

genics

VII. VIII.

Religion and Eugenics

.

63 75

87 99 113

The True Builders

of

Na-

tions

X.

51

Racial Ideals of Parent-

hood IX.

35

for

The Creation

125 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

tion of parents that

selec-

measure up to the

best racial standards, in health, intelli-

gence, and efficiency. .the

It also involves

creation of a physical

environment

in the life of

and nations that

will favor

tions of the sexes,

social

communities

normal

rela-

and the procreation

of healthy offspring.

can

and

Before eugenics

make any impression upon

the

masses of the people, however, there

must be erected throughout

more

civilization

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

above the instinctive

lifted

propensities of the lower animals.

renthood

Pa-

rapidly becoming intelligent

is

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

prior to birth

gods,

or

whatever

whom

the

dim

women

is

still

left

other

to the

powers

intelligence of

in

men and

concerning the mysteries of re-

production reposes

its

faith.

This book has been written in the

hope that

it

may

these rational

help in the erection of

standards of what pa-

renthood and the procreation of spring ought to be.

It

[12]

off-

attempts no de-

TO BE WELL BORN tailed

discussion

eugenics, and

problems

the

of

intended to appeal to

is

the

of

the intelligence

ordinary

and woman rather than the

However, the

student.

latter

been kept in mind, for there

need that those

who

to

make

sit

in

has also is

a real

judgment

in

own knowledge

their

usable for the masses. spires in

in

man

scientific

should feel an obliga-

scientific circles

tion

of

any of

its

If the

book

in-

readers an interest

eugenics and a desire to increase

their

knowledge of

aspects, they are

its

more

scientific

urged to read the

fol-

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

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

"The

First Principles of Heredity,"

(3)

Davenport's

"Heredity in Rela-

tion to Eugenics."

deed,

for

and

I

could wish, in-

no more important service [13]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD for this book than to have

an introduction

it

become

to these masters of the

principles of eugenic science.

George E. Dawson. Springfield, Mass.,

September

20, 191 2.

[14]

CHAPTER

I

THE DECAY OF PARENTAL INTEREST

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD TO BE WELL BORN CHAPTER

I

THE DECAY OF PARENTAL INTEREST

One

of the outstanding characteristics

of the present generation

and philanthropic I

is its scientific

interest in children.

use the term "scientific" and "philan-

thropic" restrictively, for there

is

an-

other kind of interest, namely, parental interest,

least

concerning which there

some reason for doubt.

scientific

and philanthropic

is

But as

at

to

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

and [17]

normal

universities, that

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD human

are applying the

sciences to the

study of children; with the establishment, under auspices, of

scientific

and benevolent

numerous branches

of re-

search into children's physical and mental traits, their health,

cupations, care

amusements, oc-

and training; and with

the enactment of laws for the protection

and betterment of auguration of

all

and the

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

As

if

become an

and anxious concern.

to give the highest social sanc-

tion to all these varied activities in be-

half

of

children,

the

United

States

Congress in April, 19 12, established the [18]

TO BE WELL BORN Federal Children's Bureau as a branch

Commerce and

of the Department of

Thus does a great government henceforth become sponsor for the welLabor.

fare of the children of

ways absolutely new mankind.

its

people, in

in the history of

This bureau

to investigate

is

the questions of infant mortality, the birth-rate,

phanage,

dangerous disease,

degeneration,

physical juvenile

desertion,

courts,

occupations,

or-

accident

and

employment, and existing laws

have been en-

in behalf of children that

acted by the different States. eral Children's

Bureau

a culmination of

all

The Fed-

thus not only

is

the scientific

and

philanthropic activities of society that center in childhood; of a distinctly

new

it is

also the

organ

era in the social con-

trol of children's welfare.

[19]

Hardly

less

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD significant as illustrating the heightened

consciousness of the present generation in

regard to children,

literature, scientific

is

and

the wealth of

practical, that

is

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-

dawning

of the twentieth

They mark a

stage of scienti-

ten before the century. fic

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

amelioration of the child's

And

yet,

it is

truly epochal

for the social life.

a curious fact that this

movement

of a better childhood, [20]

is

in the direction

being promoted

TO BE WELL BORN by a generation of men and women

whom

there are distinct signs of de-

At a time

caying parental interest.

when,

in

most

in the

communities

perous States,

intelligent

the

in

men and women

and prosUnited

are vieing with

one another in studying children, working

with

speaking

and writing and

children,

behalf

in

of

children

—the

men and women in these same communities who actually become

number

of

the parents of children, creasing.

women

To

is

relatively de-

begin with, such

men and

are not marrying in so large a

ratio as they did in previous generations.

It is

estimated that forty years

ago the average annual number of marriages per ten thousand of the population in the eight.

United States was ninety-

According

to

[21]

the

census

re-

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD turns for 1900,

North

it

Atlantic

leaders in

many

was

In the

ninety.

States,

which

are

of the activities con-

cerned with the welfare of children, the

marriage rates per ten thousand of the population were eighty-four

and eighty-two

in

1890,

In the North

in 1900.

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

decrease in the ratio of

who marry

is

this

men and women

caused, in any large part,

by a decay of parental

interest.

But

that such a decay of parental interest is,

to

some small degree

causative factor,

is

probable.

at

least,

a

Generally

speaking, in any population where the [22]

TO BE WELL BORN desire for children

is

weakened

it

may

be expected that the primary impulses

which impel to marriage weakened. in

be

will also

a biological law that

It is

any group of related functions,

if

one decays, the others must, in some

But the decay of

degree, be affected.

parental interest

is

not only a probable

cause of the decline in the marriagerate

unquestionably a result of the

it is

latter.

If

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

a biological

it is

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-

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD ing off of the marriage-rate must

in-

volve a decay of parental interest.

But not only do

relatively

and women marry

are increasingly

with their marriage rela-

dissatisfied

Each

tions.

men

in this generation;

who do marry

those

fewer

successive five-year period

since 1867 has witnessed a

number

crease in the

marked

in-

of divorces. Thus,

within the period for which accurate statistics

are available,

we have

the fol-

lowing results: Between the years 1880

and

the

1900,

divorce-rate

for

the

North Atlantic States rose from twentyeight to thirty-eight per one hundred

thousand

the

of

South Atlantic thirty-three; States,

from

population;

States,

in

the

in

the

from thirteen North

to

Central

fifty-five to ninety-six; in

the South Central States from thirty[24]

TO BE WELL BORN and

five to ninety-five;

States,

from eighty-nine

That

and twenty-nine.

Western

in the

hundred

to a is

to

say,

in

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

of

ratios

divorce to marriage were reported from eight States subject

were

purpose:

whose

statistics

upon

this

sufficiently definite for that

Massachusetts,

one to six-

teen; Michigan, one to eleven;

Vermont,

one to ten Ohio, one to eight and eight;

tenths;

New

Hampshire, one

to eight

and three-tenths; Rhode Island, one eight; Indiana, one to seven tenths,

and Maine, one [25]

to six.

and

to

six-

On

an

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD average,

therefore,

there

is

in

these

States one marriage in every nine that is

followed by divorce.

This rapid increase

in the

number

men and women who, having find

of

married,

impossible to live together, ne-

it

cessarily involves a decay of parental

Here, again, the relation

interest.

one both of cause and of

effect.

is

The

presence of children in a household,

and the love of

children,

are admit-

tedly the strongest bonds of wedlock, just

stincts

basis

makes of

the

as

deep-seated

parental

in-

and feelings are the primary of the relations which wedlock legitimate.

weak

If

men and women

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

Nor

decay of parental

is

gen-

interest.

are these the only symptoms of

decaying parental interest in current

Much more

civilization. still,

significant

and, indeed, confirmatory of the

facts

and

sented,

is

rate.

For a number of decades the

inferences

already

pre-

the steadily diminishing birth-

birth-rate has fallen off about one per cent,

each,

until

in

only three-fourths as

1900 there were

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

and three towns

Bulletin No. n.

[27]

in

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD Massachusetts were summarized so as to

show

the contrast between the pres-

ent generation

one.

19,478 native-born

women

included

these studies were

shown

to

The in

and the preceding

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

has this to say:

"It

Medical Museum, is

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

number

of married people."*

*Quoted by Prof. Walter No.

11,

S.

Wilcox,

in Bulletin

Mass. Bureau of Statistics and Labor.

[28]

TO BE WELL BORN If this rect,

judgment of Dr. Billings

and there

is

an abundance of con-

from medical and

testimony

current

cor-

is

other scientific sources to confirm

it,

it

clear that here again the decay of

is

parental interest

involved both as a

is

causative factor and as a result.

Not

of

susceptible

statistical

sum-

mary, but no

less

suggestive, are the

tendencies

art,

literature,

in

drama, as well as lar

in

many

manners and customs.

and the

of our popu-

This

is

not

a generation that idealizes fatherhood

and motherhood.

Perhaps no genera-

tion ever did idealize fatherhood, unless

it

Hebrew tion of

were the generations of the Patriarchs.

But the

idealiza-

motherhood has been common

throughout human history.

Such

is

not

the case at the present time, at least in [29]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD more cultured

the

society.

prest

Woman

as mother

upon the imagination

dren and young people. academician

American

circles of

is

of our chil-

It is

—excelling

in

not im-

woman

as

scholarship,

taking degrees, traveling in Europe in pursuit of some specialty, and finally en-

tering upon a professional

—that

some kind

career of

becomes the

ideal of

thousands of our brightest girls and

young women, and

in the schools, colleges

universities.

It is

woman

—as club-woman, author,

life

cial

in public

actress, so-

reformer, or political agitator

—that

bulks up most conspicuously in the popular imagination as

doing the things that

are really worth while for the

women

of

the present age. It is the

woman whom one and who is influencing

detached

sees everywhere,

[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

see

on the covers of current

in

the

half-tones

of

that

we

literature,

magazines

and

newspapers, in the "social" columns of the daily press, or in the fashion-plates.

Her

face

is

not piquant enough, her

lines not sufficiently esthetic.

Gibson or

that

girl

we

see,

It is

the

the actress,

some other variant far removed

from the Madonna type of womanhood. In our urban communities there are no

longer

Madonnas

railroads lic

and

places, as

ago, and as

of

the

street,

the

trolley-cars, or other pub-

was the case a generation

is still

the case in [31]

more sim-

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD pie

and unsophisticated neighborhoods.

Street teresting

Here

indices

in

woman

the

and travel are

indeed,

life,

ternity in face

this

in-

connection.

with the lines of ma-

and form has well-nigh

disappeared, except in rural communities

and

in

those parts of our cities

where the foreign population alive the interests

keep

still

and customs of naive

motherhood. Everywhere on the thronging thoroughfares of city depots, lines

life,

about

and on railroads and steamship

we

see,

not

girls, actresses,

Madonnas but Gibson

and

all

sorts of nonde-

script social corsairs, rushing hither thither, in

modish dress that not

and

infre-

quently symbolizes the sacrifice of that physical development and health, and

those

intellectual

and moral

which make women

efficient

a race of men. [32]

qualities

mothers of

CHAPTER

II

THE DESIRE FOR CHILDREN, AND EUGENICS

CHAPTER

II

THE DESIRE FOR CHILDREN, AND EUGENICS I

and

have submitted

this psychological

paradox of a generation

social

whose leaders are keenly

interested in

children from the scientific and philanthropic points of view, and yet apparently have

no strong desire actually

become the parents of setting for

children,

to

as a

two propositions which are

fundamental to any right thinking upon this subject:

(i) All the scientific and

philanthropic

activities

behalf

of

children at the present time, have

no

final

value at

all

in

except as they create

conditions that will insure the propa-

gation of a better

human

[35

3

stock.

The

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD farther one advances in any scientific

study of children's physical and mental traits, ist,

whether

it

be as medical special-

criminologist,

psychiatrist,

tor or moralist, the his facts

educa-

more does he

find

and conclusions emphasizing

the necessity of a regenerated biological

In the words of Dr. S. Her-

heredity.

bert,* "Procreation being the founda-

tion of

all

life,

the science of heredity

forms the basis of the science of

and

its

principles

must, therefore, be

considered the fundamentals of cial science."

life,

The same

is

all

so-

true of the

philanthropic worker with children

who

looks beneath the surface of his tasks

and

tries to build the

better racial

life.

foundations of a

What do

all

our

forts at the education, reformation

*"The

ef-

and

First Principles of Heredity," p. 172.

[36]

TO BE WELL BORN social to,

improvement of children amount do not reach beyond the

they

if

surface facts of our problems and affect the

human parenthood types of children may

quality of

so that better

be born into the world.

Here are two

The

sister.

public school

educate them.

munity

The money

being

is

children, brother

their behalf.

is

and

trying to

of the com-

expended

freely

in

Well-trained and devoted

teachers are giving their time, energy

and patience

them

fit

the

task

of

making

to live out their lives as indi-

viduals and as all

to

members

of society.

But

these efforts of education are being

defeated by the poor "health, bad eyesight,

and irregular attendance of the

children.

pert help

Then medical and is

other ex-

called in, to assist the school [37]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD in getting at the causes of the children's

is

The boy

and removing them.

troubles

found to be color-blind and otherwise

defective

in

The

vision.

has a

girl

chronic sore on one of her lower limbs.

Both children have enlarged glands, de-

and weak

fective skeletal development,

On

lungs.

the surface,

some

of these

seem susceptible of cure; others

defects

Pushing

are doubtful or impossible. the problem further back,

is

it

that the father died of syphilis

mother

is

at present suffering

same disease

The

form. ducts

of

defects

in a chronic

all

and incurable

parents,

constitutional,

great extent, beyond

can

from the

children are thus the pro-

diseased

are

found

and the

relief.

and and,

What,

their to

a

then,

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

the foundations of education

sooner

regeneration

Says Karl Pearson:

or

and

later

"No

at

social

faces.

degenerate

and

feeble stock will ever be converted

into

healthy and sound stock by the

accumulated

effects of education,

laws, and sanitary surroundings.

means may render the

individual

bers of the stock passable,

members cess will

of society; but the

have

to be

and again with in

in *

same pro-

gone through again

circles,

if

to the conditions in

ciety has placed

it,

Such

mem-

not strong,

their offspring,

ever-widening

owing

if

good

is

and

this

the stock,

which

so-

able to increase

numbers."* Quoted by Herbert in his book, "The First Prinpage 175.

ciples of Heredity,"

[39]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD (2)

The apparent decay

of the desire

for parenthood in our generation can

be arrested and corrected only as

and women are brought

to

men more

a

adequate realization of the supreme obligation of being parents.

for offspring,

more or

The

desire

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

sponsibilities

the

human

becoming the parents

and thus sharing the re-

of children,

and glory of improving race through parenthood.

Only thus may wise and strong men and women

effectively concentrate their

wisdom and strength [40]

at the

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,

It

may

no paradox

at all in the

more searching

a

of

light

is

analysis.

be a result of the profound

transition

influences

of

new

a

age,

partly intellectual and partly social in

wherein the older pa-

their operation,

rental functions are being temporarily

disturbed and dislocated. of

the

human

mind

It is

that

a law

instincts

thwarted and defeated in one direction are sure to assert themselves in another.

Much

of the scientific

interest in children sult of defeated

that

may

be,

and philanthropic

may

thus be a re-

parenthood.

it is

certain that [41]

However its

proper

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD object

not

will

normal balance

be

realized,

nor

in the procreative func-

tions of civilization be restored, it

the

until

men and women

brings back to

the

desire for offspring.

What,

then,

the

is

first,

and

indis-

pensable, condition that will focus the intellectual

and moral energies of the

present generation upon the improve-

ment

of the race?

I

submit that

it

is

the conscious, intelligent desire on the

men and women to be parents. Whenever the intelligence supplied by part of

modern

science

relationship instincts

is

brought into effective

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

[42J

era and a

new

TO BE WELL BORN This

stock of men.

is

no more than

say that desire must remain, as

it

to

has

always been, the mainspring of biological evolution.

Children will never be

well-born until they are desired by the

men and women who

A

rents.

generation that does not de-

sire offspring will

power

to

are potential pa-

propagate

be as fit

weak

in

its

children as would

a generation that did not desire culture

or wealth in the power to become edu-

No

cated or prosperous.

occult influ-

ence of indifferent, or hostile, mental attitudes

upon

the

healthy offspring

procreation

here implied.

is

of I

refer merely to the effect of parental desire, or the lack of

gible

physiological

rental desire

man

life

is

it,

upon the

processes.

If

lacking, not only

an accident at [43]

its

is

tan-

pa-

hu-

inception,

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD but

is

it

often hindered or destroyed.

Unquestionably the darkest unwritten chapter

of

men's

ance and folly

Dr.

here.

is

Chandler,* a physician of standing, gives

more than one-half of

many

years

of the

human

race

and that three-fourths

these are deliberately destroyed.

all

Says Dr. George article

of

W. W.

as his opinion that

it

die before birth,

ignor-

selfishness,

J.

Englemannf

an

in

on the "Decreasing Fecundity

Women :" "The

avoidance or pre-

vention of conception,

if

possible,

the

premature termination of pregnancy,

if

more potent

in

need

be, are factors far

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

parental

desires

What must

be

of

only

is

the

too

life

evident.

upon the

effects

physical and psychical that

such atrophied

of a child

runs the gauntlet of drugs and

other destructive agencies throughout its

embryonic existence, even

The

vives?

intelligent

if it

agencies

surof

civilization should take this

whole prob-

lem out of the obscurity

to

false it,

and ignorant delicacy condemns

and make the

and

which a

women

Youth

responsibilities of

clear

and

men

inescapable.

of both sexes should be educated

to desire

parenthood and to form the

most rational and reverent cerning

it.

ideals con-

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]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD tion of

welfare,

individual

of

tion

the only complete realiza-

life,

says:* "There

the

to

no question as which

sentiment

baneful

gradually

is

among

developing

the

Dr. Engle-

highest duty to the race.

mann

and

is

young

people that bearing children belongs to

low

life

and

is

degrading, which

and then becomes evident

upon those with large

cast

implying that their sensual. "

scattered

life is

broadcast

in

by women.

celebrity in the

it

is

magaat the

strange to

woman

of

more aggressive

new womanhood, writing in New York Independent^ a few

* Ibid. t

novels,

Thus, a

circles of

the

"vulgar and

and public addresses

present time, mostly,

much

families,

Similar sentiments are being

zine articles

say,

now

in aspersions

December

26,

1901.

[46]

TO BE WELL BORN years ago,

tells

us plainly that insist-

ence on the duties of motherhood impertinent rights.

interference

with

is

private

Such sentiments should be

set,

wherever

yet

idealistic,

privileges

possible,

by

an

off-

intelligent,

interpretations

of

the

and duties of parenthood,

and the holding before the imagination of children

and young people, of every-

thing in literature,

art, science

ligion that can inspire

and

fix

and

re-

a deep

desire to share in the parenthood of the race.

[47]

CHAPTER

III

BIOLOGICAL FITNESS FOR

PARENTHOOD

CHAPTER

III

BIOLOGICAL FITNESS FOR PARENTHOOD

Next

importance to a normal de-

in

parenthood,

sire for

for the various

By

biological fitness

is

functions

biological fitness

it

involves.

meant the pos-

is

session of those fundamental qualities

of

body and

wrought

human

into

race at

pensable to

its

mind

that

have

been

the constitution of the its best,

and are

indis-

perpetuity and progress.

Such, in general, are health, vigor, and efficiency,

with

all

physical

and

mental

that

lie

their implications of

resourcefulness

at the basis of racial existence

and advancement.

This biological

ness for parenthood

is

fit-

primarily closely

interwoven with a normal desire for [51]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD The great

parenthood.

and

instincts

feelings that give rise to a desire for

oflspring are rooted in health, vigor

and

efficiency.

Throughout

racial evo-

and parental

lution parental desire

fit-

ness must needs have worked together, for their object has been the same.

weakness or perversion

in either

Any must

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

ual

and rearing

attraction

and [52]

children.

Sex-

repugnance

have

TO BE WELL BORN everywhere been guided by a kind of eugenic prevision that

is

deeper than

From the time of the cave-man, men and women have chosen consciousness.

their

mates more or

less

standards of

efficient

motherhood.

No

true to the

fatherhood and

small element of the

racial ideal of beautiful, graceful, intuitive nal. all

and tender womanhood It

is

mater-

may, therefore, be said that

men and women,

at their best, are

instinctively eugenists.

How

deed, could

mankind have

measure of

vitality,

ness of heart that

Emerging from

else,

built

in-

up the

wisdom, and goodit

has achieved?

this

process of in-

stinctive sexual selection in the direc-

tion

of

parental

fitness,

there

have

gradually appeared customs, usages and

laws that, in one form or another, have [53]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD become binding upon human

and now

constitute

the

society

standards of

parental fitness the world over. certain

psychical

conditions life,

of

organic

peoples

On

wedlock.

and

and a certain adaptability

of sex to sex, are recognized civilized

Thus

as

among

indispensable

all

to

the surface, these popu-

lar standards of conjugal, and, in the last analysis, parental, fitness

to

have

little

uniformity and

may seem little

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

obstacle to marriage, there

is

evidence

that the popular

mind recognizes

some degree of

biological

parenthood

Modern

is

that

fitness

for

explicit

and

necessary.

science has

intelligible the facts

made

and principles of

parental fitness which age-long instinct

and

racial

customs and laws have

ready universally, prehended.

if,

al-

indeed, dimly, ap-

Biology,

in

its

wide

in-

ductive studies of heredity during the last

half century, has

established the

fact that the propagation of all

of life

forms

follows laws that are definite

and ascertainable. no exception

The

of

life

to these laws.

ditions that underlie fitness

man

is

The confor human

parenthood are beginning to be deter-

mined with some degree of [55]

certainty.

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD As a result, the conviction is growing among intelligent men and women that it

would be possible rapidly

improve

to

the quality of children born into the

world.

While the method qualities

of transmission of

from parent

to offspring

is

not

yet fully understood, and while sciendiffer

tists

as to whether or not ac-

quired qualities is

may

be inherited, there

no difference of opinion regarding

the

really

Thus

all

human

vital

will

aspects

heredity.

of

agree that the qualities

beings are born with,

transmitted to their offspring. over,

all

will

may

be

More-

agree that the qualities

acquired after birth, in so far as they affect the vitality of the individual,

affect

the

vitality

of

his

offspring

through the germinal elements. [56]

may So

TO BE WELL BORN either in the matter of physical

that,

deformities or disease, or in that of

mental disease, the case if

the specific disability

nevertheless

mitted,

diminished vitality

may

which

will favor the

same

disability or

life

clear that

not trans-

condition

of

be transmitted

outcropping of the

some

thing, in short, that

the

a

is is

is

other.

Any-

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

science corroborate racial instinct,

of

and

customs and laws well-nigh universal, that

men and women

parents

if

should not become

they are physically and men[57]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD tally incapacitated to

bear healthy

may

This incapacity

dren.

chil-

take the

form of congenital tendencies

some

to

body or mind,

radical disease of

tuberculosis, cancer, or insanity.

It

like

may

take the form of acquired disease that

has become so deep-seated and to

affect

may

the

germinal

have

lost

whatever form degeneration its

elements.

It

take the form of old age, when,

through diminished cells

fixt as

vitality, the

their this

may

energy.

germ-

But

in

organic or psychical

appear,

it

should run

course within the lives of the indi-

viduals

It

afflicted.

handed on

to

other

other generations.

It

should

not

individuals

may

be

and

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

because upon tion

of

fulfilment the evolu-

its

has

life

all

are bound

also a benificent law,

is

it

We

life.

The

depended.

sooner the world consciously and fearlessly faces this truth, the sooner will it

end much of the misery and unhappi-

ness that Shall

mankind.

afflict

it

be said that, in advocating

standards of biological fitness for parenthood,

we

are in danger of reducing

and marriage

courtship

calculating selfishness?

advanced

the science of

reasoning

A

eugenics.

could

standard

of

This

argument

an

as

terms of

to

be

more

biological

marriage and parenthood

No

is

often

against line

of

superficial. fitness is

for

nature's

standard and, as already stated, sexual ;

selection

from the beginning has im[59]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD plicitly

How

adopted this standard.

have survived ?

The

science of eugenics merely does,

what

else could the race

it

is

the function of

all

science to do,

renders explicit and rational the pro-

To

cesses of nature.

and women of their

say that the

men

civilization should choose

mates according to their biological

fitness

parenthood,

for

more than

is

to

say no

that the great instincts

and

feelings that impel to marriage, should

be rationalized and directed according to the standards of

This

is

process

precisely is

modern knowledge.

what every

instinctive

increasingly subjected to in

The

the progress of civilization. dividual

community

or

that can not

meet

in

in-

civilization

this condition of ad-

vancement

is

in the vast

program

clearly unfit for a place

of racial

[60]

life.

CHAPTER

IV

MORAL FITNESS FOR PARENTHOOD

1

CHAPTER

IV

MORAL FITNESS FOR PARENTHOOD

Men

universally recognize the moral

values of

life,

according to their various

conceptions of morality.

ing related to

among

human

is

noth-

welfare, perhaps,

people of the same moral ideals,

upon which there

is

such general agree-

That moral character, as popu-

ment. larly

There

understood,

indispensable

is

to

normal parenthood, needs, therefore, no

But there

argument. ing the

common

fitness for

parenthood.

is

of morality,

need of enlarg-

conception of moral

more than anywhere perience,

is

Here, perhaps,

else in

human

ex-

the ordinary interpretation

and the ordinary exercise

of moral conduct,

superficial.

[63]

If

the

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD science of eugenics

ever effectively to

is

lay hold of the problems of sexual relations as involving a better type of chil-

dren,

more

it

must be supported by a much

radical

conception

of

morality

than generally prevails.

This more radical conception of morality relates itself at

logical fitness

considered.

once to the bio-

for parenthood already

In

fact, it is

but the con-

scious, obligatory content of the latter.

From is

the viewpoint of eugenics, that

moral which insures a better human

stock,

and that

feats,

in

is

immoral which de-

any way,

racial evolution.

this

great end of

Such a conception

of

morality involves considerations of far-

reaching significance.

First of

all,

it

involves the subordination of marriage

and sexual

relations to the welfare of [64

]

TO BE WELL BORN From

the point of view of

social morality a

marriage license and

offspring.

the

words of a clergyman or

the law tions of

officer of

may moralize the sexual relamen and women. Not so from

the point of view of biological morality.

Here

the moral quality lies in the

parental purpose and results of such relations.

Throughout the whole range

of animal life below

the sexes

is strictly

propagation of

life.

man, the union of subordinated to the

The females

species limit their choice of

of the

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

of nature.

Man

is

the only animal that has disturbed this

moral order

in

the fundamental pro[65]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD cesses of

life,

and made the union of

the sexes an end in

only

creature

that

He

is

the

deprived

his

itself.

has

mate of the power of choice relations,

and has

institutions

of his

own

immorality

up laws and

built

that

legalize

lusts.

Here

as

yet

in sexual

is

little

the

tyranny

a source of considered.

From it have sprung the sex-slavery of women throughout the ages, with all its incidental concubinage

And

yet,

and

prostitution.

however far men may thus

have departed from the standards of biological morality,

and however much

the primary ends of

life

may have

been

defeated, the hope of future racial re-

generation

lies in

the reinstatement of

parental functions as the center of relations between the sexes.

all

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 Marriage and the sexual

functions.

men and women have no nature, whatever may be the

relations of

warrant

in

case in custom and law, except as a

means

for the propagation

and rearing

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.

and women are created

Growth

of

preceding

to be parents.

body and mind sexual

Men

in the years

maturity

is

every-

where conditioned by the demands of racial perpetuity.

growth of any

If

through arrest of

kind, or through acci[67]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD dent or design, the sexual

does not

life

mature, the results are registered in

No

every fiber of the being.

where defeated parenthood tentional,

fault lies

is

not in-

and no suggestion of

paragement

But we

here exprest.

is

dis-

can not escape the solemn judgment of nature that no

life

does not perform life

part in the great

process of which parenthood

The

medium. pleteness fit

its

complete that

is

is

children,

final test of

the

is

moral com-

the will to be a parent of just

as the

organic completeness

is

final

test

of

the capacity to

become such a parent.

Thus of one's

it is

that the conscious ordering

life in

fitness is

the direction of parental

another fundamental require-

ment of eugenic of

the

sternest

morality.

Here

obligations [68]

is

that

one rest

TO BE WELL BORN upon the sons and daughters of men.

A

man may have as he will

life

destiny be

may have will

if

if

the right to use his

only his

own

individual

Other people

considered.

a right to use his

only the ends of a

life

as they

more or

less

extrinsic social advantage are involved.

But no man, and no group of men, may do

this,

when

the

man

father of children.

is

to

become the

Men and women

belong to the race in a

much deeper

sense than our popular conception of

morality implies. of themselves,

What

they

make out

and what they do with

themselves, become through parenthood the eternal heritage of the race.

Such considerations enlarge our conceptions of individual

what a

growth and conduct life.

On

light is shed [69]

in the

the positive side,

upon the care of

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD health, the cultivation of the mind,

the development of

all

and

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

cance

worth.

Their greatest

lies in their potential

signifi-

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

the negative side of moral char-

acter an equally illuminating light

The

shed.

is

resistance to evil of every

becomes

description

at

much

once a

larger task than the conservation of individual

comes

a

Howbeit,

welfare. vastly

more inspiring and

hopeful task in proportion as are larger.

be-

it

its

ends

Organic appetites are thus

to be regulated

and used

in the interest

of posterity, no less than in the interest

of the individual

The supreme

life.

temptations of the sexual

life

are to be

met and overcome by young men and

young women with the

vision of parent-

hood before them, and the relation of the

exercise

healthy and

of

sexual

efficient

some time be born

functions

children that

to them.

to

may

No more

powerfully inhibiting impulse could be [71]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD invoked than that associated with the pride of virile fatherhood and chaste

and beautiful motherhood. Similar conditions hold true of other

What man

tions.

practise

own in

any vice

lives as the

racial

woman in

woman would

or

they could see their

media of transmission

progress?

What man

or

could abuse their bodies or their

minds, in any

saw

if

moral tempta-

way

whatsoever,

if

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

their posterity?

[72]

be

numbered

CHAPTER V

EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR PARENTHOOD

CHAPTER V EDUCATIONAL TRAINING FOR PARENTHOOD must be obvious

It

thinks out a

ment

in

program

to

any one who

of racial improve-

terms of eugenics, that children

and youth must be much more nitely trained for

the

present time.

defi-

parenthood than at

The

right

of

the

child of civilization to be well-born will

never fully be realized so long as

and women are ignorant of the cal

biologi-

processes involved in the bearing

and rearing of

young man,

children.

How

can a

for instance, feel the sig-

nificance of a ity

men

drug habit for the

of his germinal-cells,

if

he knows

nothing about the nature of such [75]

vital-

cells

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD and the

upon them of poisons

effects

like alcohol

and tobacco?

How

can a

young woman

feel

the significance of

habits of dress

and

diet that arrest the

development motherhood,

of if

organs she

is

involved

in

ignorant of the

constitution of her body, the laws of dietetic

and sexual hygiene, and the

relation

between healthy development

and maternity?

In short, no adequate

biological or moral fitness for parent-

hood, under conditions of civilization, is

as

possible in a state of ignorance such

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

and

instincts that held parent-

hood more or of the species.

been

said, the

But

eugenic.

to the stand-

Thus were developed

ards of nature. habits

conform

less true to the

welfare

Thus, as has elsewhere

human in

race

naturally

is

civilization,

instinct

and automatism no longer are safe

Man

guides in parenthood.

has eaten

of the fruit of the tree of knowledge,

and the

first effects

of knowledge have

always been to disturb conditions that determined by

have previously been habit

a

and

little

for

the

instinct.

This

is

what makes

knowledge a dangerous thing race

Its effect is to

as

for

the

individual.

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

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD other drug-intoxications, and of sexual depravity.

The

civilization, the

farther

we advance

more degraded do

in

cer-

tain sections of the population become.

The explanation as

civilization,

of this paradox is

often

is

asserted,

the misapplication of the fruits of

not

but

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

He

life.

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

under whose dominion

life

they no longer can live as instinctive

and automatic creatures. It

is

to education, then,

that civili-

must increasingly turn

zation efforts

all

its

parenthood.

regenerate

to

Throughout

in

those agencies that af-

men and women

fect the fitness of

to

be fathers and mothers, there must be erected

more

definite standards of pa-

rental training.

that

the

The

principal

biological

objective

individual development

is

truth

point

of

parenthood,

should be put at the basis of

all

the

care and training of children and youth.

Their physical and mental growth, and their education, should be this

end

in

view.

shaped with

Anything

in

the

home, school, or elsewhere, that sacrifices

prospective parenthood [79]

upon any

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD of

altar

individual

whatsoever, as

is

it

or

social

a crime against society,

is

against the individual

woman.

idolatry

Since

woman

is

man

or

much nearer

the biological processes of bearing and

rearing offspring than

is

man, her care

and training are of fundamental con-

A

cern.

girl's

development in the

di-

rection of a well-endowed maternity

vastly

more important

the school than

is

in the

home

any possible

or intellectual accomplishment. shall

it

profit a

whole world of tinction

and

woman

if

social or

is

or in social

What

she gain the

academic

lose the soul of her

dis-

mother-

hood? In addition to this general parental ideal

throughout

children and definitely

all social institutions,

young people should be

educated [80]

for

parenthood.

TO BE WELL BORN years

Fifty

Herbert

ago,

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,

agine

how

some

col-

we may im-

puzzled an antiquary of the

period would be on finding in them no indication that the learners likely to

be parents.

'This

were ever

must have

been the curriculum for their celibates/

we may fancy him

concluding.

T

per-

ceive here an elaborate preparation for

many

things

:

especially for reading the

books of extinct nations and of coexisting nations it

(from which, indeed,

seems clear that these people had [81]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD worth

little

tongue)

;

but

reading I find

in

own

their

no reference what-

ever to the bringing up of children.

They could not have been

so absurd as

to omit all training for this gravest of responsibilities.

Evidently,

then,

must have been the school course of their monastic orders/

this

of one

"

But while similar comments might still

be

made upon

the educational cur-

ricula of our public institutions,

it

is

one of the significant signs of our times that outside of the schools

there in

is

rapidly

favor of

parenthood.

ment

is

a

and colleges

growing up a sentiment scientific

training

for

The whole eugenic move-

in this direction,

and numerous

popular reading and lecture courses,

having for their object the instruction of mothers in the care

and training of

TO BE WELL BORN may be regarded as the a new type of education.

their children,

beginning of It

is,

anomalous that higher

indeed,

education, which

is

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.

The concep-

must soon change.

tion of culture as a thing isolated

the problems of

where

being

academic lete.

A

will

every-

includes

of

soon be obso-

conception of culture

forming which sciences,

and

is

from

outside

questioned,

circles,

new

and death

life

But

the

is

modern

and more particularly those

that give an understanding trol of the forces of

must our women's

human

and con-

life.

Soon

colleges, in particu-

[83]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD lar, feel the influence

ture-ideal,

which means so

motherhood of the

race.

must even our men's

new culmuch for the

of this

But soon,

too,

colleges acknowl-

edge the value of a culture and a technical

knowledge that

fits

for conscious,

Too long has

rational fatherhood.

the

male of the species limited his parental functions

to

begetting offspring

and

providing for their support. In an ideal civilization,

men

man's

no

task,

will feel that

less

it

is

a

than a woman's, to

beget and rear brave sons and fair daughters, quite as armies,

make

laws,

business enterprises.

[84]

much

as to lead

or conduct large

CHAPTER

VI

ROMANTIC LOVE AND EUGENICS

CHAPTER

VI

ROMANTIC LOVE AND EUGENICS Eugenics

and

sciences, life

one of the newest of the

is

science

all

mankind.

of

is

new

in the

come

has

Science

only with the more complete organiza-

human

tion of sible

by

posin-

once a point of view,

It is at

tellect.

made

intelligence,

development of the

the

a method, and a body of facts and conclusions.

As

experience lyzed,

a point of view

as

capable

of

it

being ana-

and applied

interpreted,

regards

to the

mastery of the forces of nature and

man's

life.

classifies

As

a method

it

observes,

and interprets for use the

facts of experience.

and inferences

it

As

a body of data

constitutes organized [87]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD knowledge.

Eugenics

being well-born, and

is

is

the science of the application

of science in general to the better under-

standing and control of the forces that condition the birth of men. science because

only

recently

it

It is

a

new

deals with material

accumulated,

and

by

methods only recently devised, through the researches of biologists scientists

working

problems of

at the

and other

more intimate

life.

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

relations of the sexes

have always been

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

in

heaven; storks have brought

babies into the world. to

To

such experiences of

apply science life

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

what happens

when

science

here repeated

is

everywhere

begins

to

reduce

world to an orderly process. merely an attitude of

instinctive,

mind

in

else

It

the is

impressionistic

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]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD and the control of

their

relations

in

In the light of what has

marriage.

view

been

said, this

It is

held by the same type of minds in

perfectly natural.

is

connection with religion, morality, and

every other form of experience that

is

complex, and as yet but imperfectly

Yet

understood and controlled.

no

real support in fact,

it

and there

is

has

no

reason for believing that eugenics will destroy idealistic love between

women.

In the

first

place,

it

simple truth to say that those sert that

will,

it

the

men and is

who

the as-

have not themselves attitude

of

mind, and, therefore,

know nothing

ex-

perimentally

effects

cultivated

feelings

of

and the

scientific

its

idealistic qualities.

the second place, the

who have

upon the In

men and women

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.

As between

upon a flower

a

and a

and

uncritically

and

impressionistic way, ty,

human experiman who looks

to idealize

scientist

who

feels its

looks

an

in

beau-

upon a

flower analytically, and with a definite

consciousness

advantage

Nor

tage with a

woman

feels its beauty, the

not

certainly

is

and

structure

its

and yet

functions,

former.

of

yet again

man who

is

with

the advan-

looks

impressionistically

the

upon a

and

her, rather than with a scientist

loves

who

loves while viewing the object of his

as

affection

a

type

of

physical

and

psychical

organization

woman.

changes the qualities neither

It

of the flower nor

of

[91]

as

the

well

as

woman

a

to

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD Nor does it alter responsiveness of the men to beauty

understand them. the

and everything affections,

else that enthralls the

make them

to

intelligent.

indeed, the admiration for a flower

If,

or

the

love

for

a

woman depended

upon a lack of understanding, there would be

little

credit to

him who would

be capable of the one or the other.

But

it

is

clearly not the case

that

admiration or love are emotions limited to naive

and

uncritical intellects.

concrete experiences of

everywhere in the

contrary.

The

men and women

civilization are proof to

Esthetic

feelings,

ad-

miration, and love are not destroyed by scientific analysis of their is

all

objects.

It

their nature to attach themselves to

the changing processes of the intel-

lect,

shaping and adapting themselves [92]

TO BE WELL BORN new

to every

and mode of

In general,

gence.

the

that

idea

it is

are

feelings

intelli-

a law of mind enriched

and

strengthened with every enlargement

The

of the intelligence.

content of the

one measures the breadth and power of the other.

There

no danger, therefore, that

is

romantic love between the sexes will perish with the cultivation of the science of

any more than there

eugenics,

is

danger that idealism of any kind can suffer

from an

experience. the

very

I

marriage. logical will

would make

culmination

No

parenthood.

born that

intelligent ordering of

is

child

of

ideal love fitness

can be

for well-

the product of a loveless

A

clearer view of the bio-

implications

of

romantic love

some time vindicate the [93]

poetic

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD In our

sentiment of the ages.

own

democratic society, where the freedom of sexual choice has

had so many

nal

illustrations

happy marriages,

and

in the splendid

founded thereon, dence of its

in

homes and

there

is

how romantic

families

ample

evi-

love enlarges

bounds with the increase of

gence.

sig-

intelli-

There are those who witness

these demonstrations in

racy of the

modern democ-

consistency between

the

highest form of popular intelligence the

world has yet seen, and the istic

relations of

finest ideal-

man and woman

in

wedlock, and yet believe that romantic love can not survive the next step for-

ward.

I

have no such misgivings.

I

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

besetting

normal expression, but becoming

their

stronger the

difficulties

and more

advance of

tined

a

in

civilization,

more

with

compelling

and des-

enlightened

and

ethical future to control all sexual relations.

jugal

Only where

love

exists

this

can

complete reciprocity of

romantic conbe

there

life

that

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,

ways recognized the of eugenics.

The

it

has

al-

essential principles

ideal of

marriage has

contemplated the welfare of offspring,

and the birth of children has been surrounded with conditions and cere-

monies intended Religion,

has

indeed,

men

agency

among

worthy

ideals of

meaning.

to exalt its

been in

a

chief

cultivating

marriage and parent-

hood.

The

Christian

especially

religion

committed to

Jewish people, from rived so

many

of

its

[99]

has

this task.

whom social

it

been

The

has de-

and moral

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD standards, are conspicuous

peoples of

all

among

the

times, not only for the

and

sanctity they attach to marriage

but also for their applica-

childbirth,

tion

of

many

essential

principles

sexual and social hygiene.

and practises

of

the

Jews

of

The

ideals

in

these

matters were carried over into modern

through the influence of the

civilization

Bible and the founders of Christianity.

The genealogy tory of his

of Christ

birth

his-

might properly be

chapters

interpreted

as

while

teachings

his

and the

in

eugenics,

concerning

relations of the sexes

the

serve at every

point to exalt the primary functions of

parenthood.

Throughout

civilization, the ideals

inherited illustrated

Christian

and customs thus

from the Jewish

race,

and

and established through the [ioo]

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

rational control of the sources of

life.

But while religion has thus helped

mankind

to

form exalted

ideals of

riage and childbirth, and while

marhas

it

favored customs and laws supporting such ideals,

it

has not always welcomed

the teachings of eugenic science.

common antagonism tific

ings,

mind

classes.

does,

of the non-scien-

to the rationalizing of feel-

beliefs

especially

The

and conduct,

among

strong

Religion,

has

been

the religious

embracing,

as

it

man's strongest convictions, be-

comes the main bulwark of opposition to everything that

standards

it

seems to question the

has erected. [ioi]

Everything

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD relating life

ultimate

the

to

problems of

and death has long been regarded

as peculiarly within the sphere of religion.

Thus

childbirth

it

is

that marriage

have been invested with an

Ac-

atmosphere of supernaturalism. cordingly, believer,

and

the

average

seems

little

to it

religious

short

of

irreverent to bring these great affairs

within the sphere of scientific gence.

If

God

joins

intelli-

man and woman

together in wedlock, what has eugenics to say about their fitness to be parents If

every child born into the world

a special creation of

its

?

is

Maker, what

has eugenics to do with the process of

may be said that no man or woman would longer

generation? intelligent

It

ask such questions seriously.

commonly accepted [

Yet the

religious beliefs of

102]

TO BE WELL BORN most of the men and

women

of Chris-

tendom consistently permit no other view of the matter. solemnizes the union of in wedlock,

is

The ritual that men and women

an expression of a view

of marriage that

makes

it

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.

The common feeling

indifferent,

ward any view birth that

is

people are

no compulsion

of marriage

and

to-

child-

not provided for in their

creed, while their leaders, the clergy,

are often openly hostile in their attacks

upon

scientists

who

believe that

and women are joined together lock not so

much by

in

men wed-

the repetition of

solemn religious formulas as by their [103]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD meeting the sternly

inflexible conditions

of nature's laws.

obvious that there

It is

hope

is little

of extensively popularizing eugenics so

long

as

religious

leaders,

laymen,

clergy or

are

religion

is

final

in

indifferent

The

hostile to its claims.

whether

the

or

sanction of

lives

of

the

masses of the people, and unless their ideals

and feelings are ap-

to, little

headway can be made

religious

pealed in

their

Religion

regeneration.

and

science must, then, be brought into co-

operation

if

the eugenic

human improvement

is

program of

to

affect

any

To

this

large section of civilization.

end those who see

life

whole, whether

under the name of religion or that of science,

The

should

dedicate

themselves.

ideal of racial regeneration [104]

is

com-

TO BE WELL BORN mon

to both religion

both will

finally

and

and

science,

be judged,

alike

in

the silent processes of nature and in the

consciousness of wise

men everywhere,

by what they contribute

to this great

end.

In the

first place, let

religious leaders

broaden their outlook upon their beliefs

and seek

to discover the eugenic

implications of religion

second place,

own

itself.

broaden their

let scientists

outlook upon their

In the

own body

of truth

and seek

to discover its beginnings in

the older

modes

of feeling

that religion represents.

that religion, in pects, tially

its social

and I

intellect

have said

and moral

as-

has everywhere held an esseneugenic

ideal,

and that

pecially true of Christianity.

this is esIf,

then,

the eugenic principles implicit in the [105]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD Christian religion were to be rendered

through the interpretations of

explicit

the

science,

masses of Christian be-

would

lievers

no

find

fault

Going

science of eugenics.

with the

to the very

heart of Christian

belief,

eugenic

problems,

suppose

were

interpret the eugenic signifi-

to

cance of Christ's the

time being,

as affecting that

dismissing,

life,

mystical

its

for

or

dog-

a

man

Here was

matic significance.

men

born of a race and a family that meet every

condition

heredity.

of

select

The Jewish

biological

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 Further-

product of racial evolution?

more, he was born of a family that represented a long process of religious

and moral stock

of

selection.

priestly

He came from

a

and prophetic men.

His parents represented the culmina-

had made

tion of those qualities that

the Jewish race distinctive and

sured

had

in-

survival in the stern struggle

its

Such a father as Joseph

for existence.

and such a mother as Mary meet every condition of eugenic parenthood. Shall

it

be said that this

naturalistic interpretation

preme Such

is

ideal

of

not

my

is

to force a

upon the su-

supernatural religion? intention.

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-

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD tainly are as I

may

ever

have indicated, what-

be the interpretation.

was born

of a stock of

men

Christ

that repre-

sented, perhaps, the highest product of religious

and moral

tory of the world.

selection in the his-

In no other race,

or period of history, has such attention been paid to the selection of pa-

rents as

ment

among

the Jews of Old Testa-

history.

Is there

no lesson here for Christian-

ity in its efforts to

man

race?

regenerate the hu-

Leaving out of

the time being,

all

sight, for

other views of Christ

as affecting men's salvation, would not the

modern world be

application

to

its

benefited

by an

problems of racial

improvement of the eugenic principles that are illustrated in the generation

of Christ?

What,

indeed,

[108]

would have

TO BE WELL BORN been the results for civilization already if

Christian leaders had given the same

attention

through

to

regenerating

preaching a

mankind

eugenic

Christ

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.

tion that the

I

have a convic-

salvation of the world,

according to the pattern of life,

will

tively

Christ's

be accomplished most effec-

through meeting the conditions

under which Christ himself was begotten as a son of man. [109]

The word

that

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD became

flesh in

him, and dwelt

men, can be multiplied

men

in the lives of

generally only as children are born

into the

the

among

world incarnating, as

divine

life

through

parenthood.

[no]

a

He

did,

sanctified

CHAPTER

VIII

RACIAL IDEALS OF

PARENTHOOD

CHAPTER

VIII

RACIAL IDEALS OF PARENTHOOD Fundamentally, the racial ideals of

That

parenthood are biological.

is

to

say, they contemplate the preservation

of the species

and

its

progressive de-

velopment into better and better types of

men and women.

In

the

lower

when there was direction of human life,

stages of civilization, little

conscious

men and women became

parents

ac-

cording to the law of natural selection.

The

individuals that

the conditions of

were

human

fitted to

meet

survival re-

Those who could

produced themselves.

not meet such conditions were weeded out,

and

failures.

left

no posterity

to repeat their

Whatever may be our

mate philosophy of [113

life, 3

we may

ulti-

not

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD human

doubt that the general trend of been

has

evolution

toward

The guiding

stock of men.

improvement may be

this

nature of

life

itself,

or

the

fact

human

is

life,

Thus

is

may

of

very be in

directing

The world

of

even below the conscious

men, has ever sought a

complete it

force of

But whatever the cause, the same.

intelligence of

more

better

in the

it

some transcendent form intelligence.

a

expression

that parental

nature's irreducible terms,

of

itself.

selection, is

in

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,

in

parental selection has [114]

human still,

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 extinct.

But

at its best,

has

become

reasons, and have

the race as a whole,

and

remained true to the directing force of its

existence,

and has chosen

its

parents

according to their fitness for perpetuating the race, and insuring

ment.

To

those

its

improve-

communities

and

nations that have most completely realized this eugenic ideal, has been given

the place of leadership. individuals

whose

lives

And

to those

have conformed

to the racial standards of

parenthood

has been given the promise made to the

Hebrew Abraham,

that their seed shall

inherit the earth. [115]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD What,

then,

more

specifically,

the racial ideals of parenthood? is vitality,

of body

are

First,

including health and energy

and mind.

Without

vitality

Communities

the race can not endure.

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,

have no chance of perpetuity.

While progress of any

ways its

of ef-

kind,

which

implies a surplus of energy

products,

is

out of the

There are numerous vitalized stocks of

illustrations of de-

men, both ;

is

and

question.

in families,

communities and nations and their son

al-

always the same.

les-

Nothing, in

the long run, can offset the devitaliza-

men. [n6]

tion of a stock of

Every virtue

TO BE WELL BOR& and

grace

rooted

mental degeneracy,

and

physical

in is

'

of small account

from the viewpoint of the long journey mankind has

set out to

make. The

sacrifice of vitality for the sake of

supposed virtues or graces the blindest of

Second, of

is

human lift

therefore,

is,

follies.

Mere

intelligence.

can not

stock

such

vitality

race

the

higher level of existence.

It

to

may

a

be

the basis of progress, but progress

is

secure, under conditions above the slow-

process

of

natural

selection,

through

the

medium

of

Wherever

in

intelligence.

the history of

mankind

low order,

intelligence has been of a

there has been stagnation of decay.

only

life, if

not

Wherever, on the other hand,

intelligence has been of a

the forces of

life

high order,

have been controlled [117]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD and

utilized in the direction of progress.

Intelligence, indeed,

the great main-

is

spring of variability, in the individual

and

in the race,

and

is

supreme

the

test

of capacity for improvement.

Third,

power

is

technical efficiency, or the

direct

to

energy and express

ideas in productive work. intelligence action,

Vitality

have their end

such as will bring

sources of

life to

obstacles,

its

the re-

welfare.

men everywhere and

all

skilful

bear upon the specific

tasks that promote ability of

in

and

The

to cope with

to transform their en-

vironment into a more suitable habitat

and instrument of progress, ured by their technical vitality

and even

skill.

is

Wherever

intelligence

come dependent upon the of others, there have

have be-

technical skill

men become

[118]

meas-

para-

TO BE WELL BORN and ultimately degenerate.

sitic is

the history of

numerous

communities everywhere in

This

families

and

civilization.

Whether such parasitism and degenercome

acy

through

the

of

idleness

chronic pauperism or through the idleness induced by wealth, the story quite

the

same.

the

power

Technical efficiency,

factor

is

an

as

in

do things,

skilfully to

indispensable

is

in

racial,

individual, progress.

Fourth,

morality

is

and

religion.

These are the conservative and regenerforces

ative

in

racial

Morality

life.

protects vitality, intelligence, nical efficiency

pation.

race

It

from misuse and

dissi-

adjusts the individual and

to

the

worlds in a

way

the

and tech-

physical

and

social

that consciously re-

gards the permanent values of [119]

life.

Re-

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD ligion interprets the

meaning of

it

answers, up to the light of

It

gence,

the ultimate

questions

that

outlook

all.

the

It gives

upon the complex and

troublous world of

which makes

intelli-

of

whence and whither of men.

all.

it

human

worth while

experience to live at

Morality and religion have every-

where

in

human

history conditioned the

Where

they

have been highly developed, there

vital-

survival of civilization.

ity has been conserved, intelligence has

been sanely occupied, and technical

skill

has ministered to worthy ends.

These four

qualities,

therefore, are

the essential ideals of parenthood in the

life

gence,

of the race. technical

Vitality,

efficiency,

spiritual virtues, morality

have measured human [120]

and

intelli-

and

the

religion,

fitness to

share

TO BE WELL BORN the perpetuation and improvement

in

And

of the race through parenthood. if

these be the qualities that have every-

where, and at

all

times, constituted the

selective standard of parenthood, they

should

now

stitute

our standard of what a father

be the qualities that con-

or mother should be. should,

may, and

interpret this racially derived

standard dual

We

liberally, as applied to indivi-

men and women.

There are

all

sorts of permutations in the qualities

of

human

life

that

may

mutually bal-

ance one another, and produce exceptions to the ideal parental type.

general,

it

must be

But, in

eternally true that

the broad lines of racial evolution have fixt

the criteria of men's necessities, in

marriage

and the begetting of

spring, as in other things. [121]

He

off-

or she

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD that consciously endeavors to

up is

measure

to the racial ideals of parenthood,

making the

best possible preparation

for performing the functions of father-

hood or motherhood.

And

the com-

munity or nation that erects such

ideals

in its educational system, its religion, its

literature

and

art,

and

generally, can not fail to lished

among

its

social life

become

estab-

the peoples that endure,

a leader in the long march of progress.

[122]

human

CHAPTER

IX

THE TRUE BUILDERS OF NATIONS

CHAPTER IX THE TRUE BUILDERS OF NATIONS In the light of racial evolution,

men and women who

the

lives primarily as

live

it

is

out their

good parents that are

the true builders of nations.

It is

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

the fathers

and mothers of

dren, fitted to live

torch of

life

Society

may

and empires. chil-

and hand on the

aglow with a purer flame. enroll in its halls of

fame

its

ephemeral heroes.

of

fame, however, only those find a [125]

In nature's hall

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD place

who have

thought, and done,

felt,

the things that become incorporated in

mankind through

the life of

biological

heredity.

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 cap-

industry,

of

leader of armies,

necessary

to

a

the

and

politician, all

the

the rest, are

complete

civilization.

But, in the last analysis, they are sec-

ondary functions, depending upon conditions

created by the

functions

of

more primary

parenthood.

Interfere

with the latter in any radical way, stop their

exercise

area of

human

over life,

any considerable

and communities

and nations must deteriorate and cease to exist.

Whatever men and women [126]

TO BE WELL BORN may

think about the relative importance

of the functions they discharge, there is

no doubt what nature

condemns

the

extinction

to

She

thinks.

childless

family and the childless race.

This truth

but

simple,

of

nature's

quickly decide

often

neglected,

economy

should

some questions that men

and women are now raising as never There can be no doubt that the

before.

deliberate

choice

of

motherhood as a duty is

under challenge

are

fatherhood to

human

in these days.

men and women who

and

society

There

assert that

they can render a more needed service to the State

Whether sincere,

than to bear

this

assertion

we may

its is

children.

absolutely

not know; but

least often put to the test.

and women are ceasing [127]

it

is

at

These men

to be fathers

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD and mothers.

throughout

Scattered

Europe and America

the civilizations of

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

of jaded intellect, feelings its

to the cynicism

or the atrophy

associated with

significance

ative

due

is

senile

the same.

of

decay,

The

cre-

energy of the human stock

is

men and women,

to

ceasing,

in

such

be longer potent.

Organized society

is

already becom-

ing conscious of the primary values of parenthood, and the imminent dangers that threaten

it

through neglect.

In

France, England, and the older sections [128]

TO BE WELL BORN of the

United States, the decline of

the marriage- and birth-rates

more and more comment circles.

It is

individual

in intelligent

ceasing to be a matter of

and family concern, and

becoming a matter of

When

exciting

is

is

concern.

social

communities and nations become

conscious

of

decadence

the

of

their

stock through the failure to discharge

parental duties,

time

when

the

it is

strongest

self-preservation selves.

in

only a question of

will

Whatever

instincts

assert

individuals

of

them-

may do

the matter, nations do not choose

to die in a

manner

so

little

creditable

to their integrity or fame.

The time seems

ripe,

therefore, for

society to address itself to the

of

self-improvement

problem

through deliber-

ately exalting parental functions to the [129]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD place that nature gives them.

would do more

Nothing

to correct the indiffer-

men and women

ence and neglect of

regarding their primary duties to the race, than to

a

neglect

make

this indifference

offense,

social

and

recognized

either

by stern public opinion or by

law.

Let the

men and women who

honor parenthood by worthily performing

functions

its

ciety.

be honored by so-

Let them consciously be given

the place in social esteem and social opportunities that nature gives

them

in

human race. those who preach

her long plans for the

On the

the other hand, doctrines

of

let

racial

impotence be

rated as nature rates them

or senile

men and women whose

attitude reflects not

This

is

—diseased

life,

but

its

mental decay.

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

it,

between those who share the

fundamental task of nation-builders and

who do

those choice.

not,

It is to exalt

social duty,

and

from

deliberate

parenthood as a

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

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD human world about her. I would honor among men the father, whatever his craft,

whose

virility

and

have been

skill

multiplied in sons and daughters that shall

improve the citizenship of

country. ciety

her

I

would have organized

bestow

who,

brings,

his

its

like

as her

richest

favors

Roman

the

so-

upon

matron,

supreme offering, her

children,

and says:

jewels."

I

my

"These are

would have

society,

like-

wise, give tangible, practical acknowl-

edgment of the truth and the old adage,

and

children,

"He

justice

of

that hath a wife

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

sanction in the joy of living

its final

For,

all.

may

whatever the pessimist

and

say, life at its lowest

highest estate

is

sum of all blessThe eternal cosmic

the

ings whatsoever.

process would seem to have for

preme goal the creation every

creature

at its

born

of

of

and

life,

this

su-

its

process

shares the spirit that works through all.

too,

It,

has the will to

live,

and

it,

would create an ever larger meas-

ure of it is

too,

it

life

for itself

that of

sprung

all

and

others.

Thus

created things, whether

from the

process

or

fashioned through the activities of

liv-

cosmic

[135]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD ing creatures themselves, the greatest

To

life.

ments of

and

live, life

ture imposes,

up is,

to

is

have the endow-

to the limits one's na-

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

est of created things,

and

purpose of the universe such creation, then

is

is

is

est

if

the very

fulfilled

in

parenthood the

supreme creative function life.

the great-

in

human

Here men and women are nearto

the

cosmic process.

Here do

they share most completely the control of the unseen forces

phenomena of

upon which the

sense, and, I doubt not,

of spirit, depend.

All the creations of

man's handicraft;

all

[136]

the creations of

TO BE WELL BORN art, literature

and science;

all

tions of social philosophers

men,

—are

the crea-

and

states-

secondary

importance,

compared with the human

lives created

of

by men and women

in their capacity as

parents.

From derful

is

the viewpoint of science, this share of

men and women

Down

in the creation of life.

through

the countless millenniums of years,

monera less

to

won-

from

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

separate the individual lows.

This

total

from

his

that fel-

product of racial and

personal traits, brought into relation[137]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD ship with those of an individual of the

opposite

sex,

through

germinal-cells,

becomes

point of another the

living

first

being, old as

and yet a new

creation in the universe of

does the stream of

life

of

starting

the

human cell,

union

the

Thus

life.

flow on, through

the cooperation of the individual with the

and of man with woman.

race,

This cooperation

form of

is

parenthood, the only

activity in

which man shares

directly in the creation of

From is

the viewpoint of religion also,

parenthood wonderful.

sonal

life.

God

Put a per-

into the universe,

and man

in his capacity of parent becomes,

a

sense

more intimate than

in

in

any

other type of activity, a coworker with

Him. tal

Conceive of

being,

man

as an

immor-

and fatherhood and mother[138]

TO BE WELL BORN hood become the

fundamental

really

media of eternal existence. of

Conceive

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

and

God

the attributes of a

to Jesus

butes of a son.

Nor

Christ the attriis it

the highest conception of

strange that

woman's

rela-

tions to her Creator has been exprest in

human motherhood;

terms of

pity

it

is,

tho

and tragical for the moral

history of civilization, that the highest

conception

of

man's relations to his

Creator has not been exprest in the

same terms!

From science

the viewpoint,

and

then,

religion, there

to the imagination

is

both of

an appeal

and the conscience

[139]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD of those

who

think long thoughts con-

cerning parenthood.

nor religion

is

In neither science

there justification, out-

side of ignorance or cynicism, for be-

lieving that parental functions

up or

taken

aside

laid

Nothing but the

may

be

indifferently.

or lack of

inability,

opportunity, to perform these functions

can absolve any the

guilt

of

man

violating

Men and women

a law

of

whether we

call

the creative

process of the universe into their

hands than they can their courses.

The

create life;

to

that

it

God, or blind primordial energy.

They can no more take

is

life.

are in the grip of a

cosmic necessity, fate,

woman from

or

is

call

the stars from

will of the universe

and every creature

called into being as

sion of that will,

own

has,

[140]

as

an expresa primary

TO BE WELL BORN quality of

existence, the impulse to

its

become more complete

in its

own

being

and

to

The

dual character of this cosmic im-

pulse

reproduce

the

at

in

itself

foundation

the world.

of

all

argues an interdependence of sulting functions. paired, the other

man

life,

If

its

life,

re-

the one be im-

must

suffer.

In hu-

the will to reproduce one's

and the functions of reproduction,

self,

react, in the live as

long run, upon the will to

an individual, and the power of

achieving

Man

its

purpose.

must create

life,

whatever

else

he creates, or perish from the earth.

Here

is

a basis of necessity for a

new

kind of creative idealism, and for a

new

application

telligence

in

of

the

realizing

forces its

ends.

of

in-

We

inspire our children to be idealists in [141]

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD art,

religion,

literature,

things.

Why

idealists

in

and

other

not inspire them to be

their

relations

cosmic

to

Is there a greater product

creation?

of the creative imagination than a hu-

man

conceived in the

life,

wrought with the

skill

spirit,

and

of a Praxiteles,

We

a Raphael, or a Shakespeare?

in-

spire our children to enlarge their in-

Why

telligence.

not inspire them to

learn their relations to the forces that

brought them into the world, and determine their primary place in the of

mankind?

product of

man

or

race

Could there be a greater

scientific intelligence

woman who knew how

and rear a a

progress

child that

step higher

in

than a

to beget

would lead the its

march

of

?

What an religion,

life

educational system,

what a

social [142]

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

longer will

How much

eugenics!

scientific

men and women

be

satis-

with secondary causes, rather than

fied

primary causes, of

social regeneration

How much

and advancement?

longer

will they choose, in their schools, col-

leges,

and marts of

supreme attention

trade, to give their to

the

creation

of

ephemeral things, rather than to the creation of

In

the

life itself?

drama

Whelp," there old

man and

is

"The Lion's

called

a dialog between an

a youth.

Says the old

man: "The next century

will

be the

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

THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD tury has been

When rality

man life

the

woman's century.

the child gets his will

will

Then every

be perfected.

know

that he

is

mo-

rights,

bound

to the

which he has produced, with other

bonds than those imposed by society

You understand

and the laws.

man

that a

can not be released from his duty

as father, even

if

he travels around the

world; a kingdom can be given and taken away, but not fatherhood."

Says the youth: "I know

man

Says the old

this."

once more:

"But

in this, all righteousness is not fulfilled

—

in

man's carefully preserving the

which he has

man

called into existence.

Xo

can early enough think over the

other question, whether and

has the right to *

life

call life into

when he

existence."*

Quoted from Ellen Key's "The Century

the Child," page

45-

[144]

of

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