ethods. Mendelian heredity gives a different
answer from Job's to his own query: "Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean?" It also makes clear how it may often happen that it
needs but three generations to go from Fifth Avenue to the Bowery, and
back again. Many so-called criminals may be anachronisms, some only
modificationally bad. But there are many cases, many practices,
regarding which there can be no doubt: the Eugenist says, treat these,
and let the doubtful cases alone until as a result of the increase of
knowledge there is no doubt. And while it is easy to say that we
_believe_ the criminal or the insane are the products of a wrong
environment, it is also easy to say that we believe they are not. What
the Eugenist demands is _knowledge_, then belief, and action based
thereon.

Finally, the eugenic program calls for the spread of the facts, far
and wide, through all classes of society. Bring forcibly before the
people the facts of human heredity. Teach them to understand the force
of the eugenic ideal of good breeding. "The prevalent opinion that
almost anybody is good enough to marry is chiefly due to the fact that
in this case, cause and effect, marriage and the feebleness of
offspring, are so distant from each other that the near-sighted eye
does not distinctly perceive the connection between them." By
education we must produce first of all a thoughtfulness in the
community regarding the racial responsibilities of marriage and
reproduction. Human beings are frequently rational creatures; placing
before them clear and truthful ideas regarding fit and unfit matings
cannot fail of an ultimate effect. "The virtue of repetition, the
summation of suggestion, which sells pills and pickles, which makes
Free Trade or Tariff Reform a national issue, this force operating as
a slight but persistent influence when linked to eugenic proposals
will in a few years' time make these proposals a living force to the
common man." By talking and teaching, in season and out, the community
will be compelled to think on these things; they will be forced into
the public conscience and the pressure of public opinion will rise for
the eugenic and against the noneugenic ideals of mating and the
rearing of families. And the rest will come in due season and more
effective and permanent results will follow than are likely to come
from any amount of premature legislation. As Galton writes: "The
enlightenment of the individual is a ne