III THE SELECTION OF THE FIT

In every kind of animal life, with but few exceptions, the males exceed the females in number, so that for the female the field of choice remains a wide one. Among birds it is the cock who acquires the outward adornments of feathers and the sweet singing voice wherewith to woo the hen. She, in her turn, selects the mate she prefers to help her build the nest which is to receive the offspring of their union. Similarly, various kinds of animals, when the mating season approaches, acquire new fur or horns to help them with their courtship.

With us it is otherwise. In the civilised countries of to-day it is the female element which exceeds the male, so that the choice of a mate lies necessarily with the latter part of the community. The woman is compelled to show some special advantage, whether beauty, wealth or some other feature, which will make her peculiarly desirable to the man she wishes to attract. For this reason we often see women lose their self-respect or indulge in the most absurd extravagances in the hope of distinguishing themselves from the mass of their own sex. In the poorer classes, this condition prevails only to a minor degree, and for purely economic reasons nature has her own way to a greater extent. But even here, as everywhere, women are far too prone to take what they can get, rather than remain unmarried. We still find the loafer, the diseased and the drunkard, if like Barkis, they be willing, turned into benedicts, almost before they realise it themselves. Hence the heavy percentage of imbeciles, cripples and degenerates which burden the country and fill the lunatic asylums, hospitals and prisons. This unfortunate condition is due to the fact that in the British Isles there are, according to the statistics of the Registrar-General for 1923, at least 107 women to every 100 men.

More men must be provided to ensure offspring as perfect as the human race can create. Once the heart and imagination of the woman are satisfied, she will spontaneously fulfil her great rôle of mother. Thus equipped, she will carry on her work conscientiously, fully alive to the importance of her child’s welfare. It is the mother’s morale that counts in reproduction: she takes the giant share of the responsibility.

She represents the Sex, self-contained and all-containing; Le sexe, c’est la femme. And yet, in preparing for the ordeal of motherhood—the pivot on which the whole world revolves—her chance of selecting a partner, worthy to become the father of her children, is comparatively small.

The wonder is that more unhealthy children are not born as the result of such a limitation of choice. By the subsequent exercise of great care, many are reared to become useful citizens, but a vast army of permanent inefficients is born into our midst every year. In a population of 40,000,000 there are 300,000 mentally defective persons, most of whom are in asylums, but many still free to marry and procreate. Thus one person in every 118 of England’s population is either mad, idiotic or feeble-minded. Among criminals alone, the fruit of degeneracy, there are in England 30,000 in the jails, besides some 5,000 classed as convicts. There are also every year in England and Wales some 3,800 people who died by their own hands. All these degenerates contribute but little benefit to the State, which is in fact often called upon to support them and their offspring entirely.

In these years of progressive enlightenment it should, above all, be recognised that the general welfare of the nation is immediately dependent on the common sense and morale of its women. It is of primary importance that they should make use of all their intelligence and all their forethought before embarking on the hazardous venture of matrimony.