This leads to the consideration of moral standards, and here again
details are complex but the broad outlines clear. It seems probable that
morality is to a considerable extent a matter of heredity, and the care
of the eugenist should be to work with every force that makes for a
clear understanding of the moral factors of the world, and to work
against every force that tends to confuse the issues. When the issue is
clear cut, most people will by instinct tend to marry into moral rather
than immoral stocks.
True quality, then, should be emphasized at the expense of false
standards. Money, social status, family alignment, though indicators to
some degree, must not be taken too much at their face value. Emphasis is
to be placed on real merit as shown by achievement, or on descent from
the meritoriously eminent, whether or not such eminence has led to the
accumulation of a family fortune and inclusion in an exclusive social
set. In this respect, it is important that the value of a high average
of ancestry should be realized. A single case of eminence in a pedigree
should not weigh too heavily. When it is remembered that statistically
one grandparent counts for less than one-sixteenth in the heredity of an
individual, it will be obvious that the individual whose sole claim to
consideration is a distinguished grandfather, is not necessarily a
matrimonial prize.
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