badly-nourished, poverty-stricken mothers is infinitely
better than an abundant supply of artificial food combined with neglect. In
view of the fact that there is a distinct tendency to evade this maternal
duty these facts should be suggestive and important. It is the duty of the
mother with any eugenic sense to preach and to practise this gospel. [53]
Paris learned the lesson of the siege because though she has the smallest
birth-rate to-day, she nevertheless has the smallest infant death-rate of
any large city in Europe.

The writer believes that in eugenics the women of the race have the
instrument wherewith to save the world. He is assured that it is the
supreme potential agency for the betterment of the race, and that mankind
will never be inspired with a holier cause. He believes that through all
the ages the human race has been growing better, coming nearer the truth,
and that as a result of this patient progress, there has been evolved the
eugenic idea that is to solve the problems of the human family. If the "fit
only are born" think of the possibilities of education and of environment.
Each child is born with a great potential promise, and endowed with a
reasonably good heredity, the whole effort of that child will be toward a
higher moral attainment. If the effort of the individuals of the race is to
achieve a high moral success, the quality of the civilization of future
generations will be far superior to the type with which we are familiar.

Eugenics gives to women the supreme civilizing instrument of the future. It
places the burden of the morality of the home and of the race on their
shoulders. If we deny the writing on the wall it does not render the
warning negative. The signs of the times are epochal. The great political
parties are realizing, for the first time in history, that new and
important issues concerning the family, the home, and the children, in
other words the nation's manhood and womanhood, must be considered and
included in their platforms. They know that the time has gone when
statesmen will exclusively decide what shall be done with the sons and
daughters which women bring into the world. They know that the mothers of
the race must have a voice in deciding for peace or war since they create
every soldier that will lie dead when war is over. Women will help decide
the question of taxation by government and by trusts, because they know
that it comes out of their incomes and they need it