The Fertility of the Unfit
BY
W.A. CHAPPLE, M.D., Ch.B., M.R.C.S., D.P.H.
WITH PREFACE BY RUTHERFORD WADDELL, M.A., D.D.
Melbourne: Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, N.Z., andLondon
WHITCOMBE & TOMBS LIMITED.
PREFACE.
The problem with which Dr. Chapple deals in this book is one of extremegravity. It is also one of pressing importance. The growth of theCriminal is one of the most ominous clouds on every national horizon. Inspite of advances in criminology the rate of increase is so alarmingthat the "Unfit" threatens to be to the new Civilization what the Hunand Vandal were to the old. How to deal with this dangerous class isperhaps the most serious question that faces Sociologists at this hour.And something must be done speedily, else our civilization is inimminent peril of being swamped by the increasingly disproportionateprogeny of the Criminal.
Various methods have from time to time been suggested to ward off thisdanger. In my judgment one of the most effective has yet to be tried inthe Colony—the system of indeterminate sentences. Nothing can be morefutile than the present method of criminal procedure. After a certainstated period in gaol, we allow Criminals—even of the most dangerouscharacter—to go out free without making the slightest effort to securethat they are fit to be returned to society. We quarantine theplague-stricken or small-pox ship, and keep the passengers isolated tillthe disease is eradicated. But we send up the Criminal only for adefinite time, and at the end of that, he is allowed to go at large eventhough we may know he is a more dangerous character than when he enteredthe gaol. This is egregious folly.
Dr. Chapple's treatise, however, takes things as they are. He proposesto save society from the multiplication of its Criminals by a remedy ofthe most radical kind. When he was good enough to ask me to write apreface for his book I hesitated somewhat. I read the substance of it inMS.S. and was deeply impressed by it. But still I am in some doubt. I amnot quite prepared to accept at once Dr. Chapple's proposed remedy.Neither am I prepared to reject it. I am simply an enquirer, trying toarrive at the truth regarding this clamant social problem. The time hascertainly come when the issues raised in Dr. Chapple's book must befaced. It is very desirable therefore, that the public should have theseput before it in a frank, cautious way, by experts who understand whatthey are writing about, and have a due sense of the graveresponsibilities involved. Dr. Chapple's contribution seems to me veryfully to satisfy these requirements. No doubt both his premises andconclusions are open to criticism at various points. It is, indeed, notunlikely that the plan whereby he proposes to limit the "fertility ofthe Unfit" may come with a sort of shock to some readers.
It is, perhaps, well that it should, for it may lead to thought andcriticism. In any case, this policy of drift must be dropped and Dr.Chapple's remedy, or some other, promptly adopted. A preface is not theplace to discuss the pro's and con's of Dr. Chapple's treatise. My mainobject in this foreword is to commend to the public who take an interestin this grave problem a discussion of it, which is alike timely andthorough and reverent. And this, I believe, readers will find in thefollowing pages.
Dunedin,<