ELIMINATION OF THE UNFIT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1980, 10 February 1914, Page 6

ELIMINATION OF THE UNFIT

,_ _$— . It is boeorijipg the fashion among a section of scientists to talk in a somewhat caltoiis manner about the elimination of ■ the unfit, and other drastic schemes of ioeial s=in%'eiy. For instance it is announced in our ' cabfo columns to-day that Sie Williaji Ramsay, iii a speech at the nual dinner at the Institute of Sanj-tai-y Engineers, raised the question whether instead of doing so nutch to prolong the lives of the unfit it would not Iμ better to let sonic of them din out. There is no fioubt a good deal to bo an id in favour of preventing types of defectives from reproducing tliiiii; kind, but tho con* science of civilised humanity would be outraged by any attempt to eliminate huftfan beings by a deliberate policy of iwgloet. A.hy such cheapening of life fl'ould blunt some of the, finest elements in our national character, and result itj the moral deterioration of the, rac«. Physical fitness is very important, but it is nob the only thing worth considering. Bouio of the gw>atet benefactors of humanity could not jjass yw lowcKt standard of physical fitness, jind NiWZSCi'iB, thff great: German philosopher, who pushed the claims of the superman to the utmost, himself dkd n mental, wreck. A civilised community must- do its beet to fit the unfit for (ha battle of life, though this sort of .humanitarian work is generally speaking very disappoint-

ing, and the results arc discourag- i ingly meagre. The community, however, has a right, at any rate in certain extreme cases, to take steps tr prevent defectives from permanently contaminating the race, bat the limitations of our knowledge ns regards the problems of heredity should mate us very cautious in corisidcring suggestions for tampering with the foundations on which society rests-. A recent German writer (Dn. FoiiBSTEn) points out that "in this cas.n of humanity, epiritua-l and ethical factors have to bo taken into account," and.that proposals fov the artificial elimination of the unfit rest upon tho sclf-dc-ccptjoh that *v<i possess a knowledge which in reality vmv do svot poss-es-8. Eeeldcss ifei's id racial reform which tend to iiiiibrmine the sanctity of lift) do mnio harm than good, for they shock i'm public mind artd give rj«o to « »;■• vulsion of fueling w-lvicli fei.vdn to Hut the progress of more reasonable «f-, forts for the betterment of the raw,