ept at the top and over-rewarded if he is unworthy) is essential to
eugenics; but it is quite incompatible with the existence within the
state of a number of isolated groups, some of which must inevitably and
properly be considered inferior. It is certain that, at the present time
in this country, no Negro can take a place in the upper ranks of
society, which are and will long remain white. The fact that this
situation is inevitable makes it no less unfortunate for both Negro and
white races; consolation can only be found in the thought that it is
less of a danger than the opposite condition would be. But this
condition of class discrimination is likely to exist, to a much less
extent it is true, in every city where there are foreign-born and
native-born populations living side by side, and where the epithets of
"Sheeny," "Dago," "Wop," "Kike," "Greaser," "Guinea," etc., testify to
the feeling of the older population that it is superior.
While eugenic strength in a state is promoted by variety, too great a
heterogeneity offers serious social difficulties. It is essential if
America is to be strong eugenically that it slow down the flood of
immigrants who are not easily assimilable. At present a state of affairs
is being created where class distinctions are likely to be barriers to
the promotion of individual worth--and equally, of course, to the
demotion of individual worthlessness.
Even if an immigration is not assimilated, then, it yet has an indirect
effect on eugenics. But there are other indirect effects of immigration,
which are quite independent of assimilation: they inhere in the mere
bulk and economic character of the immigration. The arrivals of the past
few decades have been nearly all unskilled laborers. Professor Carver
believes that continuous immigration which enters the ranks of labor in
larger proportion and the business and professional classes in a smaller
proportion than the native-born will produce the following results:
1. Distribution. It will keep competition more intense among laborers
and less intense among business and professional men: it will therefore
raise the income of the employing classes and lower the wages of
unskilled labor.
2. Production. It will give a relatively low marginal productivity to a
typical immigrant and make him a relatively unimportant factor in the
production of wealth.
3. Organization of industry. Immigrants can only be employed
economically at low wages an
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