Posted on 01/03/2009 6:54:16 AM PST by Ethan Clive Osgoode
Excerpts from The Passing of the Great Race, Fourth Edition, Scribner's, 1936. pg. 46--55.
Note. This was a very popular book. It went through a lot of reprintings: 1916, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1932 and 1936. It is roughly the american equivalent of Mein Kampf. Two prefaces endorsing Grant's work are written by evolutionary scientist and Darwin Medalist Henry Fairfield Osborn (the horse-evolution guy.) Osborn was president of the American Museum of Natural History, and Grant was a trustee. Together they founded the New York Zoological Society. Osborn and Grant were members (co-founders) of the American Eugenics Society. Osborn and Grant were co-organizer and treasurer (respectively) at the 2nd International Eugenics Congress in 1921.
Madison Grant
The value and efficiency of a population are not numbered by what the newspapers call souls, but by the proportion of men of physical and intellectual vigor.
Where altruism, philanthropy or sentimentalism intervene with the noblest purpose and forbid nature to penalize the unfortunate victims of reckless breeding, the multiplication of inferior types is encouraged and fostered. Indiscriminate efforts to preserve babies among the lower classes often result in serious injury to the race. At the existing stage of civilization, the legalizing of birth control would probably be of benefit by reducing the number of offspring in the undesirable classes. Regulation of the number of children is, for good or evil, in full operation among the better classes and its recognition by the state would result in no further harm among them.
Mistaken regard for what are believed to be divine laws and a sentimental belief in the sanctity of human life tend to prevent both the elimination of defective infants and the sterilization of such adults as are themselves of no value to the community. The laws of nature require the obliteration of the unfit and human life is valuable only when it is of use to the community or race.
It is highly unjust that a minute minority should be called upon to supply brains for the unthinking mass of the community, but it is even worse to burden the responsible and larger but still overworked elements in the community with an ever increasing number of moral perverts, mental defectives and hereditary cripples. As the percentage of incompetents increases, the burden of their support will become ever more onerous until, at no distant date, society will in self-defense put a stop to the supply of feebleminded and criminal children of weaklings.
The church assumes a serious responsibility toward the future of the race whenever it steps in and preserves a defective strain. The marriage of deaf mutes was hailed a generation ago as a triumph of humanity. Now it is recognized as an absolute crime against the race. A great injury is done to the community by the perpetuation of worthless types. These strains are apt to be meek and lowly and as such make a strong appeal to the sympathies of the successful. Before eugenics were understood much could be said from a Christian and humane viewpoint in favor of indiscriminate charity for the benefit of the individual. The societies for charity, altruism or extension of rights, should have in these days, however, in their management some small modicum of brains, otherwise they may continue to do, as they have sometimes done in the past, more injury to the race than black death or smallpox.
As long as such charitable organizations confine themselves to the relief of suffering individuals, no matter how criminal or diseased they may be, no harm is done except to our own generation and if modern society recognizes a duty to the humblest malefactors or imbeciles that duty can be harmlessly performed in full, provided they be deprived of the capacity to procreate their defective strain. Those who read these pages will feel that there is little hope for humanity, but the remedy has been found, and can be quickly and mercifully applied. A rigid system of selection through the elimination of those who are weak or unfit -- in other words, social failures -- would solve the whole question in a century, as well as enable us to get rid of the undesirables who crowd our jails, hospitals and insane asylums. The individual himself can be nourished, educated and protected by the community during his lifetime, but the state through sterilization must see to it that his line stops with him or else future generations will be cursed with an ever increasing load of victims of misguided sentimentalism. This is a practical, merciful and inevitable solution of the whole problem and can be applied to an ever widening circle of social discards, beginning always with the criminal, the diseased and the insane and extending gradually to types which may be called weaklings rather than defectives and perhaps ultimately to worthless race types.
In the Middle Ages, through persecution resulting in actual death, life imprisonment and banishment, the free thinking, progressive and intellectual elements were persistently eliminated over large areas, leaving the perpetuation of the race to be carried on by the brutal, the servile and the stupid. It is now impossible to say to what extent the Roman Church by these methods has impaired the brain capacity of Europe.
No better method of eliminating the genius producing strains of a nation could be devised and if such were its purpose the result was eminently satisfactory, as is demonstrated by the superstitious and unintelligent Spaniard of to-day. A similar elimination of brains and ability took place in northern Italy, in France and in the Low Countries, where hundreds of thousands of Huguenots were murdered or driven into exile.
Under existing conditions the most practical and hopeful method of race improvement is through the elimination of the least desirable elements in the nation by depriving them of the power to contribute to future generations. It is well known to stock breeders that the color of a herd of cattle can be modified by continuous destruction of worthless shades and of course this is true of other characters. Black sheep, for instance, have been practically obliterated by cutting out generation after generation all animals that show this color phase, until in carefully maintained flocks a black individual only appears as a rare sport.
In mankind it would not be a matter of great difficulty to secure a general consensus of public opinion as to the least desirable, let us say, ten per cent of the community. When this unemployed and unemployable human residuum has been eliminated together with the great mass of crime, poverty, alcoholism and feeblemindedness associated therewith it would be easy to consider the advisability of further restricting the perpetuation of the then remaining least valuable types. By this method mankind might ultimately become sufficiently intelligent to choose deliberately the most vital and intellectual strains to carry on the race.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.
Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Of course these idiots don’t think that once they get too old they won’t be turned into Soylent Green.
That poor deluded machine thought it was perfect too if I recall my favorite Star Treks.
Yes, it's strange. For example, John Maynard Keynes was a director of the (british) Eugenics Society. His mother was a eugenist too. His nephew too, who was the son of Margaret Darwin. But, John Keynes was gay. He had no children. Now, why would a gay guy join a eugenics organization?
It never ends, and then one day “unfit” can mean whatever the bullies want it to mean, for instance “they” don’t think properly, like “we” do.
A really disturbing thing about this article lies in the last paragraph. Grant is basically saying that we must kill off the unfit, so that the rest can evolve into something smart enough to figure out who the fit are.
We would sure be better off if Stephen Hawkins had been offed.
Did you get this on the Club of Rome website or was it in the Green Agenda? [hahhahahah]
Thanks for the ping!
(don’t sterilize me bro!)
Well, nothing has evolved yet, (although much has devolved) so I guess that holding our breath is out of the question?
“human residuum”...
First target, the knuckle-dragging Christians, and the various other useless enemies of science crowd.
Maybe out of hatred of all the normal people who are "breeders?" Just like nowadays the gay lobby and the abortionists support many of the same causes.
Thank you for the ping!
Science is a pretty poor thing to base morals on.
Nothing at all really
Just wow. To look into his logic, there is are "divine laws" commonly believed but "mistaken", and "laws of nature" which he believes wholeheartedly. What makes the "laws of nature" any better than the "divine laws" apparently amount to convenience of the species (or himself?). It can be easily argued that there are no "laws of nature" since introducing a species into a new environment can wreck the ecosystem and cause the death of many species including the one introduced in the first place--not to mention the many mass-extinction events throughout natural history. If these things can be argued to have anything with respect to law it would be "lawlessness", and so arguing from the basis of "natural law", especially imputed to humanity which can possibly uniquely restrain itself for noble causes, is to argue not for better law, but for no law at all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.