freedom of access to all rewards that the state can give should be open to every one (and conversely that no one should be kept 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