Eugenics; Sexual ethics; Women -- Social and moral questions
[7] This exclusive pre-occupation with the improvement of the
environment has been termed Euthenics by Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, who has
written a book with this title, advocating euthenics in opposition to
eugenics.
[8] Not one of the four stages of social reform already summarized can
be neglected. On the contrary, they all need to be still further
consolidated in a completely national organization of health. I may
perhaps refer to the little book on _The Nationalization of Health_, in
which, many years ago, I foreshadowed this movement, as well as to the
recent work of Professor Benjamin Moore on the same subject. The
gigantic efforts of Germany, and later of England, to establish National
Insurance systems, bear noble witness to the ardour with which these two
countries, at all events, are moving towards the desired goal.
[9] In some countries, however, the decline, although traceable about
1876, only began to be pronounced somewhat later, in Austria in 1883, in
the German Empire, Hungary and Italy in 1885, and in Prussia in 1886.
Most of these countries, though late in following the modern movement of
civilization initiated by France, are rapidly making their way in the
same direction. Thus the birth-rate in Berlin is already as low as that
of Paris ten years ago, although the French decline began at a very
early period. In Norway, again, the decline was not marked until 1900,
but the birth-rate has nevertheless already fallen as low as that of
Sweden, where the fall began very much earlier.
[10] "Foresight and self-control is, and always must be, the ground and
medium of all Moral Socialism," says Bosanquet (_The Civilization of
Christendom_, p. 336), using the term "Socialism" in the wide and not in
the economic sense. We see the same civilized growth of foresight and
self-control in the decrease of drunkenness. Thus in England the number
of convictions for drunkenness, while varying greatly in different parts
of the country, is decreasing for the whole country at the rapid rate of
5000 to 8000 a year, notwithstanding the constant growth of the
population. It is incorrect to suppose that this decrease has any
connection with decreased opportunities for drinking; thus in London
County and in Cardiff the proportion of premises licensed for drinking
is the same, yet while the convictions for drunkenness in 1910 were in
London 83 per 10,000 inhabitants, in Cardiff they were under 6 per
10,000.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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