THE CONTROL OF THE WORLD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1717, 7 April 1913, Page 4

THE CONTROL OF THE WORLD.

i In his notable presidential address at tho International History Congress, reported in our cable columns on; Saturday, Mit. James Bryce pointed out that six European races controlled almost the entire earth, and that eight Powers swayed the political destinies of tho globe. The position is undoubtedly a remarkable one, and there are many signs that before the present century comes to an end there will. be a unification in the control of -the world such as has never previously been known in the history of the human race. Is that control going to bo European or Asiatic ? Fifty years ago it looked as if nothing could prevent the ultimate dominance of the white races, but of recent years a new factor 1 has entered into the struggle in the form of an enemy within tho gates, and now just as the opportunity offers for the complete triumph of European civilisation serious doubts have arisen as to whether the white peoples will be able to take the •final step. They stand face to face with the double danger of a .falling birth-rate among the best elements of tho community and an unchecked multiplication of tho unfit." . These, tendencies attack a nation at its very heart, and arc far more fatal than the armies of its enemies. Unless they are held in check the sceptre is destined to depart from tho European races. The evil has already reached alarming proportions in France, and in England, Germany, and the United States it is causing gravo anxiety. Practically nothing is being done to prevent tho habitual criminal type and those suffering from hereditary mental defects from reproducing their kind, and thus the unsound stock is multiplying at a, much more rapid rate than the rest of the community. In their/recent book on Heredity and iSocicty, Me. and Mrs. , Whetham point out that the decline in the birth-rate which has now become general throughout, Western Europe and North America-is being accompanied by a sustained increase among Asiatic peoples. The writers go on to state that for the more advanced classes of a nation to raise the general conditions of environment without filling up the improved spaces so created will inevitably lead to an increase in tho number of inferior citizens; and in the same way if the Eastern nations, while retaining, their simple standards of life, can profit by our improvements in hygiene, take advantage of our medical knowledge, utiliso our scientific inventions, and the work of our captains of industry, "they must of necessity supplant the European populations wherever the two races come into contact with each other." The position, however, though disquiet ing, is not by any means hopeless, for the remedy is in our own hands. By legislation, based on ascertained facts, something might be done to check the increase of mental, physical, and moral racial evils of an hereditary character, while avoiding rash and reckless experiments suggested by scientific theories that have not been thoroughly established. It is not, however, so easy by any form of legislation to counteract the present tendency among the best elements of the community to subordinate the future well-being of the race to present material comfort. The lightening of the burden of taxation on parents of .families might have somo effect in this direction, but the most cffectivc remedy is to strengthen and improve the character of the nation. The problem is fundamentally a moral one, and, as Me. Whethaji states, tho most hopeful way to encourage a population to resume a lino of conduct which is beneficial to the State is "to lay more stress on religious and educational influences, than on any scheme of payment by results."