ally accomplished in this direction and by this
method is clearly shown by the history of the Jewish people, and by
the Roman Catholics, among whom there are distinctly fewer divorces
and childless marriages than among Protestants. In many countries and
communities the organized Church still exercises an immense influence
over the whole subject of marriage: the Church could easily become a
powerful factor in eugenic practice. Such a control can and should be
given eugenic direction by the establishment of a more discriminative
attitude, looking toward a reduction in the reproductivity of the
dependent or defective as well as to the increased reproductivity of
the valuable and able. In all of the discussion of "race suicide" and
the value to the State of the large family, how seldom do we hear any
mention of quality! To plan the organization and conduct of a State
without regulating and controlling the quality of its membership is
like adopting plans and elevations for a costly building without
making any specifications as to materials.

In concrete eugenic practice it seems probable that most can be
accomplished for the present by striving to limit the multiplication
of the undesirable, dependent, or dangerous elements of the social
group. There can be less uncertainty here. The social organization has
already marked certain kinds of individuals as unfit and unworthy,
whose liberty must be limited in many directions for the social
welfare. This aspect of the matter can be put upon a dollars and cents
basis very clearly, and this is apparently the only relation that
affects a good many people. Why should the able and worthy and thrifty
members of society be compelled to pay, as they are in this country
alone, $100,000,000 annually, not to mention the vast sums voluntarily
contributed toward "charitable" purposes, for the support of the
criminal and pauper and defective classes who themselves contribute
nothing of value and whose very existence is evidence of criminal
disregard of the right of every individual to be well born, into a
healthy and sane life? The only answer, if it be an answer,
is--because the competent are willing to foot the bill. Millions for
tribute but not one cent for defense. And yet a penny's worth of
defense outweighs a million's worth of cure.

In the practice of Eugenics the greatest caution must be exercised.
All eugenic practice must be tested by the most careful and
scrutinizing scientific m