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The Green Bag

of "the survival of the fittest" has important bearings upon the fundamental problems of the race, and is thus, in the words of Weismann, transforming our old conceptions (Contemporary Review, July, 1909, p. 21):— "It is teaching us to understand the struggle, silent or clamant, among human races, their rivalry for the possession of the earth, and to understand, too, the composi tion of human society, the unconscious divi sion of labor among the members, and the formation of associations. The development of 'classes' and their union in a state appears in a new light when looked at from this point of view. In this department a good deal has been already accomplished." Much has been accomplished, and much will be accomplished, by the several special ized sciences dealing with the broad field of human society in the light of the great dis covery of Darwin and Wallace. What applied ethics learns from the doctrine of selection is that as social fitness is moral fitness, the world should do what it can to promote the survival of the morally fittest, and the de struction of the morally unfit. Applied politics and jurisprudence learn from it the lesson that political organization and legal development are to assist in the survival of the fittest by means of political franchises and juridical capacities so apportioned among men as to further the general welfare, being withheld in those quarters where anti-social or injurious forces are to be discovered at work. In a word, the survival of the fittest means wholesome competition. But in the strife of competition, in which the weakest must go to the wall, we must not commit the error of supposing that the strong may no longer serve the weak, for justice and mercy are always compatible. As the dis tinguished biologist whom we have just quoted says:— "The principle of selection has often been applied in an inverted sense, as if the brutal and animal must ultimately gain the ascend ency in man. The contrary seems to me to be true, for it is the mind, not the body, that is decisive in the selection of the human race." People are now writing in many quarters on the subject of eugenics, or the improve ment of the race, but if we could only adhere consistently to the scientific ideal of justice the problem of the improvement of the race would no longer exist. We should then be improving the race automatically, by allow ing natural forces to have full sway. We should then have left behind us the legacy of outworn toleration, mainly of theological

origin, fostering the evils of pauperism and vice. Justice, not sentiment, would be the dominant motive of public and private charity. Social legislation would not be granted in recognition of any popular demand hostile to the well-being of humanity. Our laws and institutions would themselves con stitute agencies actively at work for the improvement of the race. This, it seems to us, is the correct view of eugenics. No appli cation of eugenics can be either practicable or efficacious, if it is to be made through arti ficial as opposed to natural selection. The human race cannot act upon itself after the fashion of an external force. It must rather act as the passive agent of natural forces operating through society, and no higher good can be attained than that which is in herent in the race. A man who conforms to the laws of health should not have to study the science of medicine to be well, neither should a race. We are not contending for a Darwinian ideal of justice. There is of course no such thing. What is urged is the importance of never forgetting the naturalness of an unre mitting struggle which has as its goal the survival of the highest social merit. It is a natural struggle and a just one. The rewards and punishments distributed by society among the fit and the unfit, by means of laws, are not artificial contrivances but a natural expression of the social conscience. Wealth and opportunity are not an artificial and un natural discrimination, but likewise a normal expression of the social will. Property is an agency in promoting civilization. Socialism contemplates a kind of artificial selection in violation of the regular order of nature. In this connection it is interesting to quote one of the few political documents we have from the pen of Charles Darwin, perhaps the only one. He wrote of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, visited by the Beagle in 1834, in an acute manner, very much as any shrewd observer might write, but bis remarks at that early period are interesting because of any possible connection they may have with the theories that were probably then germinating in his mind. He wrote in his log book:— "The perfect equality among the indi viduals composing the Fuegian tribes must for a long time retard their civilization. As we see those animals whose instinct compels them to live in society and obey a chief are most capable of improvement, so it is with the races of mankind. Whether we look at it as a cause or a consequence, the more civi