some wise men are advocates. It is probably less dangerous than a huge standing army, but it is full of risks. The mind takes color like the dyer’s hand, and one fears that compulsory military training is one of the roots of militarism. It would be tragic to fall into the grip of one of the national diseases that we are combating in our enemies and to become insidiously Prussianized. Moreover the people of this country have an inherent dislike of coercion and do better without it. If a man does not demand our coat, we may perhaps give him our cloak; if he does not seek to compel us to go a mile, we may go twain without a grumble. Certain it is that in the time of revision it will be for the eugenist to champion the free and plastic organism rather than the highly efficient machine.
In recent years we have seen in this country a number of endeavors on a large scale towards the improvement of the conditions of human life. We have our detailed criticisms and honest doubts, but, on the whole, there is agreement that several things have been done, e. g., in the way of Old-Age Pensions, which have greatly lightened the too prevalent “life-harming heaviness,” and have relieved the national conscience at the same time. Other endeavors were in progress or incipient, which were more directly eugenic, in connection for instance with tuberculosis, and there was warrant for hoping that notable progress might be made along lines of practicable eugenics. Now there is the fear lest eugenic endeavors be put back for decades. Probably every one can already recall several progressive activities that have entered during the past six months into a state of encystation. For the undeniable privilege of being part of civilized Europe, and for the undeniable distinction of having been willing—on this occasion—to do the right thing at all costs, we shall have a long price to pay, and we shall be paying it long after the personal and ethical thrill has passed. Perhaps the deadliest part of the paying-up will be the shelving of eugenic endeavors and our connivance thereat.
The eugenic ideal is as old as mankind and older; it is the primeval pride in creation. But deliberate eugenics with the race as a whole in view is, with few exceptions, such as Plato’s Republic and the Jewish people, relatively modern; indeed. Sir Francis Galton was the first to give it scientific expression. The newness of the idea of deliberate national eugenics, its remoteness from being instinctive, the rarity of the biological outlook, even among statesmen, make one apprehensive of the days of retrenchment. But this is not the time to bruit disappointment, and perhaps after all our fears may be liars.
Three hopeful considerations may be briefly referred to. (1) The war is likely to demonstrate the value of constitutions which can endure without stolidity, which have resiliency without “nerves.” We may look forward to a heightening of the standard of all-round fitness.
