Homo-Culture; Or, The Improvement of Offspring Through Wiser GenerationHolbrook, M. L. (Martin Luther)
Philosophy
Homo-Culture; Or, The Improvement of Offspring Through Wiser Generation
Holbrook, M. L. (Martin Luther)
Eugenics; Heredity
GRECIAN METHODS NOT SUITABLE TO OUR TIME.--It is evident that the
principles which governed the ancients in their endeavors to improve the
race are not capable of application at the present day, under the
conditions of modern civilization. Instead of placing further
restrictions on marriage, the tendency now is to loosen those which have
hitherto existed, although certain regulations, such as relate to age,
consent, etc., are recognized as necessary for the interests of the
State. Moreover, greater facilities are given than were formerly allowed
for dissolving ill-assorted unions, thus getting rid of the excuse for
the formation of irregular connections. Nevertheless, the interests of
neither society at large nor of individuals will permit of the
introduction of the temporary or occasional pairing system, which is a
return to an animal state, and, therefore, not worthy of the dignity
implied in the term, marriage, and which is inconsistent with true
family life. It would be liable to all kinds of abuse, and would become,
in most cases, a legalized system of prostitution, thus dragging society
down to a lower level instead of raising it, and tending to the
deterioration, instead of the improvement, of the race, if not to its
extinction. As to infanticide, this certainly would not be tolerated by
public opinion, although it is now largely resorted to under the guise
of abortion. To legalize child-killing under any circumstances would be
to offer a premium for murder, even if it were permitted only with the
express sanction in every case of the officials of the State. There is
now no justification for such a course, as the education of those who
appear to be on a mental level with the animals has been carried so far
that the term "idiot" may soon have to be dropped from our vocabulary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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