RACE SUICIDE. A PLEA FOR THE UNBORN.

NZ Truth, Issue 138, 8 February 1908, Page 1

RACE SUICIDE. A PLEA FOR THE UNBORN.

In a new and sparsely^peopled con-tinent-island like Australia and the contiguous Itominion '_>_■ New Zealand, what a glorious opportunity is afforded for thp bu_fcdinjg up of a great nation and'^ a still greater race ! In certain directions the Cbmnsonwealth and. ; .this country is groping, albeit somewhat /Mindly, along tha road to the desired goal of racial7superiority, the means 61, the vliegis_aiaon which is , the outcome K 4! 7 'the '-'SVjiite Australasia' 1 pplicjfc, '■% ■■' pbliey , - by ' the way , Tthat, despire -tiie jeers and gibes of Plufcism .arid Reactionary Conservatism, has come to stay. But while the policy of alien exclusion is a noble .one, there are- many other and very pernicious elements at work and operatingt against the attainment of the highest possible standard of racial excellence. To some of these causes we will refer presently. "To be a good animal js the nrst requisite to success m life, vand to be a nation of good animals is the first condition to national prosperity." So (Said Herbert Spencer. The question is: Areweiu Australasia breeding a race of good human anima_|f ? The 7«nKwer must be an emphatic') Ho. ' ".' "What, then are the causes of our national deterioration and degener-. acy ? . The reply to this question is surmlied by an eminent sociologist and physician, Dr. Robert Reid Rentoul, m his public-spirited but yet somewhat unpalatable book entitled *'Race Culture or Race Suicide." Amongst the causes of national decay emoted by Dr. Rentoul— not •-'Fighting Larry" of Metbourne— the following may be mentioned :— "Our bealth-dcstroying system of tntcrmarria-ge with and. interbreeding from lunatics and idiots, epileptics, imbeciles, . and the , feeble-mind.cd ; Child-marriages ; we forbad the healthy to marry ; we compel th* -diseased and unfit to marry; we release asylum . patients as recovered when ■fehey/are not recovered ;■ overwork the young brain ; unsuitable employment ef women and children : the abuse of alcoboij undesirable alien immigraMon and, emigration of our fit; the use .of- abortion drugs, etc, ; various diiseasefi ' ;. sexual excess." Verilv./ it is not a pleasant subiect to write upon. ' But, like "The Critin," we roust "Mother- Grundy's, rage defy" m- : our performance o^,.a public duty. There is m th;is matter an urgent ne«««itv for plain speaking.' The wriiga: who adds too much water to his ink is in-grave dariirer of being misunderstood. Many persons liate what they doubt or cannot understand. , Such people consider all these questions as uncalled for, and label them non~ex'i. stent, thereby themselves representing a class of degenerates who, although of adult age, possess the infantile or non-developed mind. On this subject of national importance there has been erected the Great; Taboo. Mrs Grundy arid Coery ■ "Bush !•" These are the same people, by the way, who believe that women were created . with two objects —slavery and prostitution.' Sir James Stephen, the einiment judge and jurist, declared : "Let us dream no dreams and tell no lies, but go our way whatever it may lf»a-i us, with our eyi-s open and our heads ' erect. If death ends all, v/e cannot meet it better. If not, let us enter Whatever may be the next scene, like •hentst men, with no sophistry m our c_»utks and no 'masks on our faces." When will we commence to take the scales f rom ' our eyes ? "Like the *ab_it th;\L scurries to its burrow, a»ad Iroai that - retreat surveys the _i_fr»H*M*- *f" its dreams and &w*ek«, -w*_.y persons take refuge m aa *2Mw<l*ite denial of, tbe necessity of ftny qlyvnfy* Whatsoever, and will only, lil* the -calf following the milk Wl, a*r<;» to a change if their perSpnftl **_ petty interests are at stalcfi. 'flair mental horizon is boundpi by —icza' conditions from which ♦hoy 'gain their daily bread, he that 'sh.tr.izon 5 baron, beer, corn, cotton, money, ox egoism." So cleverly and Inwhantly writes Dr. Rentoul. -«- * . j» The di'^eront , religious bodies s.Tunbfble concerning their dogmas a»d sbJ^oloths,. arid make no effort ta- study 6p£ of the highest forms of face culture— health— well krowlng j that the great Jewish religion is a toiiidon of hoaljfcb. almost as much as I v rSfflon of ethics. This and oth«Jt countries devote ,larp e sums of money for expeditions to discover the. North ir ■ the South Poles, to dig ' up relte £J E*ypt W Palestine, to establish

"chairs" at universities yto study. Music or War. m fact, for ; everything except the study of the begetting 'of. a nation physically and mentally sound. Unquestionably the full, free and unfettered discussion Of this all-impor-tant subject of racial ' improvement, though it be surrounded by many and various difficulties, should engage the attention of the politician m Parliament, the editor at his desk, the publicist m his library, and of every man and woman who has the interests of his or her country at heart. THbiigh, as we have said, the subject 4s not a pleasant one to write upon, it is so nationally urgent as to be, worthy of close and careful consideration. While agreeing with Dr, Rentoul m his citation of ' certain causes of national degeneracy, we are not prepared to adopt all, of his conclusions and recommendations. All students, of public afiairs will coincide, with his lament concerning the growing increase of insane persons. TDr. Rentoul also refers to "the disgusting system of inducing certain '.mentally and physically diseased peridhs to marry, and a slight operation which I was the first to propose as a means of , checking the increase m the number of the insane, and ■■ of preVenting innocent offspring .from being cursed by some parental blemish.',' Amongst other causes of racial degeneracy Dr.. Rentoul sneaks of "prostitution, and especially, clandestine prostitution." which he : declares to be on th/r increase, the increase of nervo_s diseases, the increase m the rifle"" of suicide : the infant death rate, especially of males, is a national disgrace ; married women are fighting shy of maternity, \vhile-manv refuse to suckle -vfiieir children : and there is an increase also m criminal abortion, and checks to conception. The worst sign of .all-,! m Dr. Rentoul's opinion, is that the I majority of people seem to think that < mere commercial progress •is the only kind of progress worth paying any attention to. He adds the pregnant 'wotds :—<"l would rather see a country bealthv and poor than diseased and wealthy. The eternal strug-gle for wealth is slowly but surely .blinding our eyes to existing conditions." U .* , It The author 'of "Race Culture: or Race Suicide" adopts Max Nordau's word ' 'degenerate. ' ' and also his . de-r finition of "degeneracy," which, lis says, is "a deviation from the generic type caused, by the incapacity of the ■ degenerate offspring to attain to its full development." Dr. Rentour remarks: "The Almighty has practically said to • mankind and womankind : 'I shall no longer crep-ije.;.hu-: man being. I appoint you to act as My deputy.' " And how does humanity repay that Divine trust ? By breeding from the "unfit" and the degenerate. Our author deprecates the intermarriaEe of Britishers with foreigners; surely an idea originating from insular prejudice. But he is ou surer ground, as we m- Australasia well know, when he refers to the "monstrosities produced by the intermarrying of whites with blacks, reds, or yellows." "Do men gather grapes of thorns.- or figs of thistles ?" Diseased, physically orr^entally, some of them sexual perverts, suffering from satyriasis or r-ympho-mania, people are permitted to marry and breed. . Dr. Rentoul estimates that. in the United Kingdom one person m. every five is . physically or mentally diseased; and probably the proportion m Australasia 7 is - similar. What wonder, then, that- that which the Cradle rocks the: S;p'ade will cover ? In Enghnd m ItfOJJ, no fewer than 19,704 persons were tried for sexual offences, and of these . 10,204 were found guilty. This "tally" included soliciting by women ; jtnd incidentally it may be stated that it is I estimated that there arc 200,000 : prostitutes m England alone. The number of sexual offences yearly aggregated m Australasia is also a very large one, and probably pro^ortionatelv equals therEnglish total. Whatj marvpl, then, that the offspring are degenerate '! • .« ■ • • "To the* marriage altar," writes Dr. Rentoul, "comes the wide and! deep stream of the diseased and the j i. healthy, the sane and- the insane, ,^,he j criminal and the honest, the ' child ; i and the senile, the rake and the 1 1 blameless, the roue, the neurotic, : the erotic, the sexual pervert, and i the 'ittlormed' prostitute, the, habit.

ual inebriate m& the. drug habitue,, ■me -idibt , " the epileptic , the ' V^le- - minded and bacl_ward, the rich and the poor, the deformed 'faked' by her • dressmaker. 'Oh, ;jity the •children ! ' a voice m the wilderness cries out. But ociety practically, by its acquiescence m existing conditions, replies : 'Ob, damn the children ! The marriage has been made m heaven.' " The lawyers say : "Marry and try it, and then you can $^ .a- divorce if you find, you have ?pfll_e a mistake !" Society says : 4l You must not mention these things;! They are blasphemous and indelicate I" Dr. ;. jP , ran_r : Lydson, m his "Diseases of Society" wrote: "The xeputable physician, who shall write i^a: iook.upon sexual matters for pop;.u_it reading would immediately be Swooped down upon by that stench-jin-the-nostrils of broad-mind-ed men— the multitudinous med-ico-^ethical ass whose rancorous voice and flamboyant ears are always m evidence." « * .• "A good tree cannot bring, forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." What, then, is the remedy for racial degeneracy ? Dr. Rentoul writes chiefly of heredity- and environment ■• as the contributory causes, and he quotes the saying : of Goethe that " F ools and sensible persons are alike harmless. It is only the half-foolish and the half-wise who are the most dangerous." And 'he ascribes to the popular education of the present day fee condition which he describes as "halif-wise." Sir Robert Anderson remarks : "The twentieth century promises to be the most conceited century since God made man on the earth." If conceit and ignorance are the same, then he is correct. The parents,, of course, are to blame. It is related of Oliver Wendall Holmes, who was a physician as well as a charming "Autocrat" of literature, that hp wf s once called m by a mother to see her mental l^-aflGicted child. He remarked that a consultation should have taken place before, and he was informed that such had taken place; "Ah !" he replied, "but the consultation should have been held fifty years ago !" ' a' m a Comihg to Dr. Rentoul's suggestions, some^of them will doubtless be deemed extreme, as, for example, his proposals that persons guilty of sexual offences should be subjected to "a slight surgical operation" (which, however, would probably not be effective m destroying erotic desire), and also that the demented and degenerated should be "sterilised" to prevent them adding to the population. He demands,'- moreover, that there should be provided by legislative enactment a provision for a prenuptial cenjificate of health m addition to rigorous penalties; such, as exist m several States of America, upon persons, who knowingly marry people suffering' from certain contagious diseases. '-'If there is one form of prostitution that we should guard againjst, it is. marital prostitution." Societies exist for the prevention of cruelty to children. Is it too much to ask that they should extend their operations to the protection . of the , unborn ? It is illegal- to have sexual relations with an imbecile., but nob so7if married to her ! Lunatics are released , from our asylums to marry or resume married life ! Then the industrial and social conditions of society forbicrmany. of the. "fit" to marry. . Commerce and Religion say: "We claim 'the lit fqr business purposes. Marry; thp .'Urifit and use them for procreation'' purposes !" Yr ■■ ■ ■as . ■■'..* a■ • " ■! • Legislation on this subject prevails m the . Argentine, Austria, Servia! and the following States of the North American Republic : Michigan Delaware, Connecticut, Minnesota. Indiana, North Dakota, '' Pennsylvania, Alabama,. Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, and Wisconsin. The enactments vary somewhat ; but generally they follow the lines of the Austrian law, which enables parents to refuse their consent to' a marriage on the ground of the inadequate means, bad moral character, insanity or diseased condition of either of the contracting parties. The American statutes are, however, principally directed to prevent the marriage of persons who. are insane, idiotic, or suffering from disease taint. And the law m Pennsylvania was recently invoked when a parson of advertising proclivities announced that he intended to marry two deaf mutes. * * » « But m these antipodes as m Britain, we are content, with that mockmodesty and Puritanical „rudery which arc so characteristic of AngioSaxondom, to let these things slide. ' Matches are made m Heaven ! And if they be dipped m Hell there is always the Divorce Court to be appealed to ! Who cares for the children f Who listens to the wail of the unborn? Who thinks of the future of the nation and the race ? And the gravity of the situation rests m the fact that politicians, pressmen, parsons, and publicists are too busy with trivalties nf tariffs, with hunting for threepences on the plate, and with such engrossing controversies as the composition of a football or a cricket team that they cannot find time to face and deal with the great? est national question and the gravest national peril of the day D