[Segregation no New Idea, and Ultimately a Necessary Practice.]
The idea of segregation is no new one, for at the call of religion man and woman have in most countries, and in all times, separated themselves from their fellows. They have denied themselves the pleasures of love, and of the table; they have foregone worldly ambition, and have lived lives often of utter solitude, and of miserable privation, in order to fulfil what they considered to be a higher duty. Believing in the advent of some sudden change, of the destruction of the present condition of things, they naturally thought and cared little for the preservation of a race, destined soon to have spiritual existence alone. Thus, it came about that millions of the most thoughtful and noble-minded men and women have in the past committed the fatal mistake of leaving the rest of humanity to carry on the race. Theirs was a voluntary segregation which must have had the most direful results upon the race. That which we speak of is an enforced segregation which would eliminate from it some of its worst qualities.
Were this segregation proposed, it would be impossible to oppose it except by prejudice and that inertia which every change has to encounter. If our pity is enlisted on the side of suffering, it must be used to prevent the production of those who are bound to suffer. Parents on an average produce from four to five children, and the criminals and incapables are reckless as to the condition of their offspring. The “ins and outs” of our workhouses take refuge there; they live on the organised charity of the land; they have not the physical and moral power to support themselves; they can leave at any moment and return mothers and fathers of children, who, like themselves, must be clothed and fed by the toil of others. Those who cannot support themselves, from poverty of physique, disease, or mental or moral incapacity, are yet permitted by the community to exercise the functions of parenthood, which, in its nature and essence, implies an excess of power over and above that which is required for the individual’s own self-preservation.
[The Masses must be Taught the Main Facts of Heredity and Evolution.]
In addition to our attempts to separate the deserving poor from the criminal and vagrant classes, which should be done on the grounds of common decency, every endeavour may with advantage be made to further a clear understanding of the action of selection in general evolution, and in this undertaking we shall have the assistance of the workers in most sciences; for everywhere the thoughtful man is regarding the facts in his own department under this new light.
By pointing out the marked racial change resulting from the action of selection, which shows itself every ten years in the production of some new variety of dog or pigeon, and every year in the production of many varieties of flowering plants, we can convince the uninstructed by ocular demonstration which they cannot deny. They must learn to look upon mankind as organically related to other animals, and it must be pointed out to them that the facts of human evolution are in the main similar to, and form but a section of, the facts of general evolution. It must be pointed out that in many families there are perhaps one or two of the children, bred under conditions like the rest, who are delicate, of ungovernable temper, or have some deformity. They will know by experience that these children will in their turn have children like themselves, and the wonderful benefit to the race which would result from the selection of the strongest in mind and body as race producers will of necessity follow. It would then be possible to develop a strong public feeling against any marriages contracted by obviously sickly people, for the suffering which may be inflicted by producing sickly offspring may reasonably be urged against those who would otherwise be willing to gratify their convenience or personal predilection, and perhaps eventually this might lead to prohibition of such marriages. It should be pointed out that temperaments, and moral and mental qualities, are transmitted just as surely as physical traits; that all, in fact, of the qualities of the future race will depend upon those which are blended together to-day in parenthood. It follows, therefore, that the greatest of all responsibilities is taken by the assumption of parenthood, and everyone may well ask himself or herself, before undertaking it, Will the world be better for any more of me?
[The End and Aim of Marriage.]
To-day we are apt to be cautious before marriage; we are very keen to be assured on the question of dowry, and one hears of private inquiry as to money matters through the family solicitor. We have pride in so-called “birth,” which is of very fictitious biological value, and think much of an alliance with one of good family. Men and women have already, therefore, learned to tread with caution on the pathway which leads towards the altar, and for the most part no longer give full play to vanity and passion pure and simple. We are prepared, therefore, to look before we leap, but we look in the wrong direction, we avoid inconvenience and plunge into catastrophe. The reason for this is that we are but partially educated in the real ends and aims of life, and do not know the course which leads to ultimate success provided we follow it.