The Press Saturday, April 7, 1917. The War and the Race.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15869, 7 April 1917, Page 8

The Press Saturday, April 7, 1917. The War and the Race.

A very thoughtful article -upon tho effect of war on tho racial qualities of mankind, written byMrW. C. D. Whetham, papears in tho current number of the "Quarterly Review." Since the general acceptance of Darwin's theory of natural selection there have been two conflicting views regarding the effect of war upon the race. "Tho militarist "has enlarged on the elimination of "the unfit individual or nation, and " tho pacifist on the destruction of the "best by battle or barrack life, each "in the happy confidence of finding "plentiful facts to warrant either a "policy of ruthless conquest and destruction or of complacent and mean"spirited surrender of national ideals or "obligations." The Germans, it is well known, insisted upon war as one of tho means employed by Nature for the improvement of tho race; thus Otto Ammon says* "For its collective effect war is " a blessing for humanity since it offers "tho only means of measuring the "powers of nations against each other "and of adjudging victory to tho most "capable. War is the highest and " most majestic form of the struggle for '' existence; it cannot be dispensed with "and therefore cannot bo abolished." This was the gospel preached by Treitschko and by his admiring disciple, Bcrnhardi, and it formed tho basis of the, psychological preparation of tho German nation for the great war. Thi3 reading of tho doctrine of natural selection became a substitute for tho principles of life and conduct based on . Christian ethics, ''which," says ilr

"Whetham, "were perhaps never wholly "acceptable to the North-German temperament." He goes on to point out that it does not at all follow that a survival of the fittest for war, or for organised industry and commerce, wouid secure the fittest for the Art of Life as a wholo:— "Even if in accordance with her expectation, Germany had swiftly triumphed in a war sprung on Europe at the moment of her choice, it would merely have shown that sho was fittest among the nations to survive in the treacherous, clumsy and brutal environment into which she lias turned a department of human activity that, if always dreadful, used to have in it some elements of the picturesque and chivalrous. It does not follow that she would have been tho more fit to bo trusted with the government of tho world, and the final control over tho bodies and soul 3 of the inhabitants." Darwin, it is well known, held that war was harmful to tho race. In the "Descent of Man," he says:— "In every country in which a standing army is kept up, the fairest young men aro taken to the conscription camp or are enlisted. They are thus exposed to early death, or are often tempted into vice, and are prevented from marrying during the prime of life. On the other hand tho shorter and feeble men with poor constitutions are left at home and consequentlv have a much better chanco of marrying and propagating their kind."

This statement, as Mr "Whetham reminds us, ignores tho undoubted benefits of military training—benefits less spoilt by counterbalancing evils than when Darwin wrote. Moreover, he compares the evil of a conscript system, i which in modern times means short service, with those of a "standing" or long-service army. Nevertheless it is tolerably certain that the present war, in which so jnanuy millions of picked men arc engaged, and in which so large a proportion of tho best aro killed, must leave tho next generation with a larger proportion than it should have of fathers who havo been rejected for military service. Tt is, to say the least, a fair presumption that this will have an injurious effect upon tho race, and unless countervailing tendencies aro brought into play this may continue for many succeeding generations. Ono obvious. remedy is comparatively easy of adoption. Tho voluntary restriction of births .especially among tho better educated and moro well-to-do classcs, has in tho past been bad for the raco. It lias been chiefly responsible for the number of families who are now mourning tho loss of only sons. There is reason to hope that the war has taught a very important lesson in this respect; that in future there will be earlier marriages and that tho middleclasses will be less anxious on economic grounds to restrict tho number of mouths to b© fed. To assist this tendency Mr "Whetham, in common with other writers, urges a further readjustment of taxation to lighten tho burden of the father of a family. He points out that a large number of sailors and soldiers will receive pensions when tho war is over. These men will he above the average of the community as desirable parents. Even those maimed for life or broken in health will not transmit their infirmities (save in certain very special and known cases) to their descendants. Henco they should be given every encouragement to beget offand to that end their pensions should increaso not only with the number of their existing children as now allowed, but, the "Quarterly Roview" thinks, with the' number also of their children afterwards born. Th© importance of settling aa many as possible of them upon tho land, and thus enabling them to make homes and bring up children in tho most favourable environment, is' obvious. Even for the cruel scars which will be left by this great war NatUro provides healing influences j it remains for us to see that these aro allowed to operate.