The Fertility of the Unfit

Fertility of the Unfit, The

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Title: The Fertility of the Unfit
Author: William Allan Chapple
Commentator: Rutherford Waddell
Release Date: July 10, 2005 [EBook #16254]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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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., AND LONDON
WHITCOMBE & TOMBS LIMITED.

PREFACE.
The problem with which Dr. Chapple deals in this book is one of
extreme gravity. It is also one of pressing importance. The growth of
the Criminal is one of the most ominous clouds on every national
horizon. In spite of advances in criminology the rate of increase is so
alarming that the "Unfit" threatens to be to the new Civilization what
the Hun and Vandal were to the old. How to deal with this dangerous
class is perhaps the most serious question that faces Sociologists at this
hour. And something must be done speedily, else our civilization is in
imminent peril of being swamped by the increasingly disproportionate
progeny of the Criminal.
Various methods have from time to time been suggested to ward off
this danger. In my judgment one of the most effective has yet to be
tried in the Colony--the system of indeterminate sentences. Nothing can
be more futile than the present method of criminal procedure. After a
certain stated period in gaol, we allow Criminals--even of the most
dangerous character--to go out free without making the slightest effort
to secure that they are fit to be returned to society. We quarantine the
plague-stricken or small-pox ship, and keep the passengers isolated till
the disease is eradicated. But we send up the Criminal only for a
definite time, and at the end of that, he is allowed to go at large even
though we may know he is a more dangerous character than when he
entered the gaol. This is egregious folly.
Dr. Chapple's treatise, however, takes things as they are. He proposes
to save society from the multiplication of its Criminals by a remedy of
the most radical kind. When he was good enough to ask me to write a
preface for his book I hesitated somewhat. I read the substance of it in
MS.S. and was deeply impressed by it. But still I am in some doubt. I

am not quite prepared to accept at once Dr. Chapple's proposed remedy.
Neither am I prepared to reject it. I am simply an enquirer, trying to
arrive at the truth regarding this clamant social problem. The time has
certainly come when the issues raised in Dr. Chapple's book must be
faced. It is very desirable therefore, that the public should have these
put before it in a frank, cautious way, by experts who understand what
they are writing about, and have a due sense of the grave
responsibilities involved. Dr. Chapple's contribution seems to me very
fully to satisfy these requirements. No doubt both his premises and
conclusions are open to criticism at various points. It is, indeed, not
unlikely that the plan whereby he proposes to limit the "fertility of the
Unfit" may come with a sort of shock to some readers.
It is, perhaps, well that it should, for it may lead to thought and
criticism. In any case, this policy of drift must be dropped and Dr.
Chapple's remedy, or some other, promptly adopted. A preface is not
the place to discuss the pro's and con's of Dr. Chapple's treatise. My
main object in this foreword is to commend to the public who take an
interest in this grave problem a discussion of it, which is alike timely
and thorough and reverent. And this, I believe, readers will find in the
following pages.
RUTHERFORD WADDELL.
Dunedin,
_Dec. 9th, 1903._
FROM DR. J.G. FINDLAY, M.A., LL.D.
DEAR DR. CHAPPLE,--
You are aware that I gave your Treatise on the "Fertility of the Unfit" a
very careful perusal. It is a subject to which I have devoted some
attention, both at College and since I left College, and I feel competent
to say that no finer work on the subject has been accomplished than
that contained in your Treatise. I consider it of value, not only from a
statistical point of view, but also from a point