What is eugenics? / by Major Leonard Darwin.

  • Darwin, Leonard, 1850-1943.
Date:
[1937]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: What is eugenics? / by Major Leonard Darwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    72/104 (page 60)
    60 WHAT IS EUGENICS? reasonable wage are, however, so situated because of some defect of character, intellect, or body. They belong, in fact, to the classes we have described as the unfit and the inferior. They might equally well have been called the unemployable at a minimum wage. We have already seen that, if every one worked as hard as he could, the stream of goods to be shared amongst all would be as large as possible. From this point of view, though not from others, it would be advantageous if the unfit and the inferior were allowed to do any work they could. But as they could not be permitted to hve uncivihzed lives, this would not prevent the State from being obhged to give some assistance to nearly all of them. There is no way of getting rid of the burden cast on their neighbours by the unfit and the inferior, except by getting rid of them altogether. This, of course, cannot be done with those now with us. But looking to the future, we must remember that like tends to reproduce like. If the unemployable were to multiply more slowly than the employable, then the breed of the unemployables would be proportionately reduced in numbers in the future; and the appearance of fewer unemployables would mean diminished unemploy¬ ment. To whatever extent the famihes of the inferior could now be reduced in size, to a corresponding extent would something be done to lessen the burden thrown on our descendants by the inferior of their day. The question is, Can anything be done in this direction ? To this enquiry we shaU have to return. It may be said that we have only been suggesting ways of taking a burden off our own shoulders and off the shoulders of our descendants. It may be added that, if we were to regard matters from the point of view of the unfit and the inferior themselves, we should have come to different conclusions. But this is not a just criticism. Vast numbers of these classes lead suffering hves, and if they were to be replaced in the coming generations by healthy and capable citizens, the amount of sorrow and pain which would thus be wiped off-the slate would be