The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1914. ELIMINATING THE UNFIT.
A question which is probably as old a# the human race has just been raised ■fcy Sir William Bamsay, a celebrated authority on Chemistry, in the course Of a speech delivered at a dinner of the Institute of Sanitary Engineers in England. It is: Should the physically unfit be left to die, or should wo go on "coddling", and preserving them? The. ancient Spartans solved the question by decreeing the extinction of the unfit, by killing off all weak, deformed or sickly children. As a rough-and-ready rule, this was found to operate successfully, and the Spartan regimen of simple food and severe exercise ensued the development of a strong and hardy race. But there was doubtless a great 1 and unnecessary waste of life, without adequate advantage; for physical perfection is not everything. It is well known that many weak children become robust ill after life; and those who lemain delicate in constitution are often possessed of the very highest mental powers. A book could be written showing the benefits that have been conferred upon humanity by the labor of j men and women who, under a "physical fitness" test, would have been left to die in childhood. It is possible tint Sir Wm. Ramsay does not contemplate anything so drastic as the abandonment of infants; he may merely have questioned the wisdom of laboriously patching up adults who are not worth preserving those so disabled by accident or disease as to be of no economic value, and those so wasted physically and morally by debauchery and idle habits that are a curse to the world and a burden to themselves. 'There can be no doubt that opinion is moving in the direction of the elimination of the uufit; but it would be wrong to make the physical test the only one of even the principal one. There are people of good physical structure and robust health who arc incurable lmiatios, 1 drunkards, criminals, sensualists and I idlers. If there is to be a system of | "weeding out," it must begin with the j chronic criminal and paupers, extending thence to lunatics, drunkards and all idle and vicious members of society, before it reaches those whose only fault 'is a -short limb, a withered hand, a narrow cheat or a delicate cojistitutian. Scientists are prone to place undue | stress on physical fitness, forgetting | that such is not the chief requisite for I survival in a civilised slate of society, j Truthfulness, sobriety, honesty, willpower, memory and mental attributes generally—everything', in fact, that goes to the making of what we call "chaspcter"—are of greater importance to-day for the success and happiness of the individual and for the welfare of society than mere physical fitness. Tho nwn who is deficient in those attributes is a greaUr menace to society than the one who is infirm or diseased. If we are to have elimination of the unfit, the process must include all the mental and moral "defectives," as well aij. the physical; and if the process were carried out irrespective of rank, wealth or social position, there would be lamentation in many high quarters. On Ehe .other hand, if regard is paid only to physical fitness, society would probacy go backward and sink into barbarism, for it is only in the savage state that a high and uniform standard of physical perfection has hitherto been maintained. It would thus seem that drastic race-culture would spell retrogression. Nature often declines to grow brain I and brawn in the one individual. If men were wise, they would let Nature have 'her way—assisting her where ne- [ cessary, but never running counter to her decrees. If the penalty of civilisation is bodily weakness, we must cither pay the penalty or forego our civilisation. But with wisdom and patience ■we may be able to lighten the penalty and attain a good level of both physical and mental fitness without resorting to ■violent Spartan methods.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 193, 13 February 1914, Page 4
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666The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1914. ELIMINATING THE UNFIT. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 193, 13 February 1914, Page 4
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