"It is a pathological worship of mere number," writes Alleyne Ireland,
"which has inspired all the efforts--the primary, the direct election
of Senators, the initiative, the recall and the referendum--to cure the
evils of mob rule by increasing the size of the mob and extending its
powers."(4)
Equality of political power has thus been bestowed upon the lowest
elements of our population. We must not be surprised, therefore, at
the spectacle of political scandal and graft, of the notorious and
universally ridiculed low level of intelligence and flagrant stupidity
exhibited by our legislative bodies. The Congressional Record mirrors
our political imbecility.
All of these dangers and menaces are acutely realized by the Eugenists;
it is to them that we are most indebted for the proof that reckless
spawning carries with it the seeds of destruction. But whereas the
Galtonians reveal themselves as unflinching in their investigation and
in their exhibition of fact and diagnoses of symptoms, they do not on
the other hand show much power in suggesting practical and feasible
remedies.
On its scientific side, Eugenics suggests the reestabilishment of
the balance between the fertility of the "fit" and the "unfit." The
birth-rate among the normal and healthier and finer stocks of humanity,
is to be increased by awakening among the "fit" the realization of the
dangers of a lessened birth-rate in proportion to the reckless breeding
among the "unfit." By education, by persuasion, by appeals to racial
ethics and religious motives, the ardent Eugenist hopes to increase the
fertility of the "fit.
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