Page 198 - The Social Weapon: Darwinism
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would be social collapse. Obviously however, real social col-
lapse would come about when the model proposed by Galton
and the like, based on slaughter, conflict, violence, and slaugh-
ter, were put into practice. During a lecture to the Huxley
Institute in 1901, Galton claimed that "brains of our nation lie in
the higher of our classes." 111 In addition, he recommended that
children of the upper class should be identified at birth and
1,000 pounds be paid to their families. He suggested that upper-
class women should give birth to at least one extra son and
daughter. 112
Galton's belief—that an increase in the numbers of people
whom he regarded as superior class could lead to social
progress—is irrational, illogical, and unscientific. A great many
elements lead any society to progress, but the most important
are the moral values and characters of those who make up that
society. A society whose members possess strong moral values
and characters will progress swiftly, and permanently. It is
impossible for such features to be passed on genetically. If some-
one wants his society to make progress, he must turn his atten-
tion to the spiritual strengthening of individuals by various
cultural and educational means. Galton and those like him
sought to increase the numbers of the rich and reduce those of
the poor by treating human beings literally like animals in the
countries in which they were influential, and even sought to jus-
tify even murder on that account—a terrible cruelty and inde-
scribable ignorance.
Nonetheless, at Galton's prompting, the first activity of the
eugenics movement in Britain was based on birth control. This
measure, taken by those who had been deceived by the decep-
tions of the theory of evolution, was aimed solely at the poor
and those whom they regarded as of an "inferior" race.
The Social Weapon: Darwinism