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those in whom such a picture raises feelings of the strongest repugnance, I would ask them whether a great deal of self-restraint ought not to be exercised and a good deal of suffering imposed to prevent such hateful conditions being of common occurrence.

ILLEGITIMACY

The fact that a woman is wanting in those natural propensities which tend to make her prudent and selfrespecting will obviously make her also more likely to become the mother of illegitimate children; and the same may be said of men, though unfortunately with less cogency. Circumstances may, of course, make it hard to resist temptation; but it will be those who are weakest by nature who will on the average most often fall. If this be so, we must conclude that the parents of illegitimate children are below the average of the community in general in regard to their hereditary qualities; and if this be true of any group of parents, it must be true also of their offspring. But even if illegitimate offspring are racially inferior, it must be remembered that the inborn qualities of a child are no worse merely because it is called illegitimate, and to call it legitimate would be of no advantage from the racial point of view. To prevent illegitimate unions would only be racially advantageous if the result were to be that fewer of these inferior offspring would be produced. The only alternatives to an illegitimate union are no union at all or a legitimate union; and if the hindering of an illegitimate union resulted in no union taking place, then obviously fewer offspring would appear in consequence. If the illegitimate union were to be replaced by a legitimate union, it would be replaced by a union on the average contracted with more forethought and at a later age, and therefore less fertile. Any check on illegitimacy would, therefore, tend to render the persons so affected less prolific; and we may, therefore, conclude that here is a racial ground on which a campaign against all the causes tending to promote illegitimacy may be supported.

In recent years we have watched with great satisfaction

the spread of a noble wave of humanitarianism; but yet we have to ask ourselves whether the leaders of this movement have not overshot the mark in some directions. In this connexion it ought to be acknowledged that anything which makes illegitimacy appear less culpable in the eyes of the public, as, for instance, the use of the expression unmarried wife' instead of unmarried mother,' must produce not only immediate moral effects but also ultimate racial consequences of a harmful character. The moral damage which is done by slurring over the difference between marriage and illegitimate unions is not, of course, fully recognized by those who, in the kindness of their hearts, desire in every way to smooth the path of all unmarried wives'; for they fail to perceive that their action tends to increase the numbers of this unfortunate class in the future. The young are especially apt to hold that no one, whether guilty or guiltless, should be made to suffer when sins have been committed; for they have not learnt to say with Angelo concerning pity, "I show it most of all when I show justice; for then I pity those I do not know." We should, of course, strive to rid the world of all pain of mind or body now being suffered to-day, provided this can be done without causing more pain to-morrow; but if this proviso be forgotten, it is easy to go too far in aiding those who are suffering from the results of sin.

Unquestionably the lot of the unmarried mother is often far too hard; but to discuss all that could be done to alleviate this suffering without producing greater evils in the future is outside the scope of this work. As far as I can judge the most crying need now is that such allowances as illegitimate fathers are ordered to pay by courts of law should be obtainable by the mother with greater certainty. Any reform in this direction would be both just and eugenic; for the greater the certainty with which such burdens are made to fall on the fathers of illegitimate children, the less prone will men be in the future to contract illegitimate unions.

1 Measure for Measure, II. 2. I am far from endorsing all Angelo's opinions.

CHAPTER XXVI

MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS

I. REGISTRATION

In this chapter a number of miscellaneous subjects, all, no doubt, needing lengthy discussion, will be briefly considered, these being for the most part questions which I am incompetent to deal with at all fully. As to the first of these, namely the registration of the inhabitants of a country, I will begin by setting forth in broad outline the system which, after taking the best obtainable advice, I hold ought to be introduced.

In this country a number of separate registers of the population are compiled, each designed independently for a different purpose, and these should be amalgamated if possible into one continuously maintained system capable of meeting all needs. The result of such a reform might certainly be, as regards the public offices concerned, an increase of economy, efficiency and accuracy, together with a saving of time and trouble to the public. The civil rights of all citizens, such as those concerned with the franchise and with the recovery of any dues, could be better ensured, whilst the maintenance of order could be more readily enforced in consequence of individuals being more easily traced. Each individual should at birth be allotted a register number; and it should in many ways be made advantageous to be able to quote it correctly; for example, by charging an extra fee for all licences issued by public offices, or inquiries made thereat, when the register number could not be accurately quoted. Those best acquainted with these matters consider that such a register should be maintained in two parts. There should be a local register kept in each district by some local authority,

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and there should be one central index for the whole country. The central index should be made up from all the local registers, and should be designed, not to contain information, but to check and co-ordinate the local registers.

As to the local registers, they should be in the form of a card index, and should deal with all the inhabitants residing in the locality in question at the time being. As to the information which these local registers should contain, I am not here concerned with the parliamentary, military, educational or other possible administrative uses of the registers, though these are, no doubt, the objects which should be primarily held in view in organizing a new system. All I am here concerned with is the endeavour to facilitate eugenic reform; and for this object, if not for others, the following information should, if possible, be entered on the local registers: the register number of the individual himself, date and place of birth and marriage, where educated, occupation, number of rooms occupied, details as to joining and leaving any national insurance system, and as to receipt of pensions or public benefits of all kinds and periods of imprisonment, references to other punishments or civil processes, particulars as to admissions to lunatic asylums and other similar institutions, facts as to certain diseases, and, finally, date and cause of death. It should also include register numbers of wife and parents.

As to the use of the register in order to ascertain whether some mental or moral failing had been previously recorded, there is no doubt a strong and widespread feeling that no individual should be, as it were, branded for life on account of any disability discovered or misdemeanour committed in youth, and with this sentiment all must sympathize. Though the strictest precautions ought to be taken to see that such a register could only be used for he public good and never as a means of gratifying personal spite or animosity, yet it must be remembered that those who have not carefully considered this matter are sure to attach too little importance to the many evils which flow from the unperceived presence in the ranks of the

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nation of persons of an undesirable type, and that a government under the influence of voters looking mainly to immediate consequences is certain to be over-cautious in these matters. For instance, in the case, of a thief, is he to have the immediate advantage of choosing a wife unhindered by her knowledge of his previous misdeeds, or is the woman to be preserved from ultimately finding out, when too late, that she had married a man with a bad record? Again, are the precautions now taken to prevent bigamy nearly sufficient? Surely no one can doubt that no regard for the ultimate fate of a man should prevent us from endeavouring to safeguard women from making miserable marriages in the dark; a conclusion which is merely strengthened by the fact that ill conduct is largely due to such innate defects as are not only not to be obliterated by improvements of environment, but are also likely to show themselves again in the next generation.1 Hence we may conclude that if any system of exchange of certificates before marriage were to be adopted, as suggested in Chapter XXV, it should be possible to get the certificates checked by the authorities in charge of the local registers before being exchanged. It was also suggested that persons under a certain age should not be married without the knowledge of their parents, and such a register would greatly facilitate the discovery both of the age of the parties themselves and the addresses of their parents. In these ways thoughtless marriages, and marriages made under false pretences either with criminals, or with persons who had been previously insane or were already married, would be diminished in numbers, with eugenic effects.

A registration system of this kind would, moreover, after the lapse of three generations, enable pedigrees to be made going sufficiently far back, not only to meet all racial needs in regard to personal inquiries, but also to form a basis of information in regard to many statistical investigations. Such pedigrees would be very useful

1 I believe I employed a chauffeur who had already killed a man when drunk, without my being aware of the fact. The consequences were somewhat as might have been expected.

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