Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1898 — LESSENING STATURE IN EUROPE [ARTICLE]

LESSENING STATURE IN EUROPE

One of the Chief Coutrlbutln? Causes Is the Military Service Exacted. Thiß relation between stature and health is brought to concrete expression in the armies of Europe through a rejection of all recruits for service who fall below a certain minimum standard of height, generally about five feet, says Popular Science Montblj. The result of this is to preclude the possibility of marriage for all the fully developed men during Iheir three years in the barracks, while tbe undersized individuals, exempted from service on thin uccount, are left free to propagate the species meanwhile. Is it not apparent that the effect of this artificial selection is to put a distinct premium upon inferiority of stature ir. so far as future generations are concerned? This enforced postponement of marriage for the normal man implies not merely that the children of uormal families are born later in life —that would not be of great moment in itself—it means far more than this. The majority of children are more often born in the earlier half of married life, before the age of 35. Hence a postponement of matrimony means not only later children, but fewer children. Herein lies the great significance of the phenomenon for us. Standing armies tend in this respect to overload succeeding generations with inferior types of men.