The average legislator is equally unlikely to understand
the full import of eugenics, unless he has made a definite effort to do
so. All the more honor, then, to the rapidly increasing number of social
workers and legislators who have grasped the full meaning of eugenics
and are now striving to put it in effect. The agriculturist, through his
experience with plants and animals, is probably better qualified than
anyone else to realize the practicability of eugenics, and it is
accordingly not a matter of mere chance that the science of eugenics in
America was built up by a breeders' association, and has found and still
finds hundreds of effective advocates in the graduates of the
agricultural colleges.
The program of eugenics naturally divides itself in two parts:
(1) Reducing the racial contribution of the least desirable part of the
population.
(2) Increasing the racial contribution of the superior part of the
population.
The first part of this program is the most pressing and the most easily
dealt with; it is no cause for surprise, then, that to many people it
has seemed to be the predominant aim of eugenics. Certainly the problem
is great enough to stagger anyone who looks it full in the face;
although for a variety of reasons, satisfactory statistical evidence of
racial degeneracy is hard to get.
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