"It is only because we are accustomed to this waste of life and are
prone to think it is one of the dispensations of Providence that we go
on about our business, little thinking of the preventive measures that
are possible."
CHARLES E. HUGHES.
EUGENICS AND THE UNFIT
THE DEAF AND DUMB--THE FEEBLE-MINDED--A NEW YORK MAGISTRATE'S
REPORT--REPORT OF THE CHILDREN'S SOCIETY--THE SEGREGATION AND TREATMENT
OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED--WHAT THE CARE OF THE INSANE COSTS--THE
ALCOHOLIC--DRUNKENNESS.
In order to achieve success in eugenics we must strive to encourage the
parenthood of the worthy or fit, and to discourage the parenthood of the
unworthy or unfit. The unfit are those, as previously explained, who,
because of mental or physical disability, are unable to create fit or
healthy children.
THE DEAF AND DUMB.--The condition known as deaf-mutism is due to innate
defect in about half of all cases. Deaf children have one or two deaf
parents or grandparents. There may be two or three such children in a
family. That the deaf should not marry is generally conceded by those who
work amongst them. It should be our aim to discourage the intimate
association of the adolescent deaf and dumb in institutions. It has been
found that such intimate association frequently results in marriage. They
should be educated and instructed in the knowledge that they cannot marry.
When they understand the eugenic principle upon which this social law is
constructed they will be amenable to reason. No process of suasion will be
necessary, however, if their intimate association is prevented.
THE FEEBLE-MINDED.--This includes the criminal, the imbecile, the insane,
and the epileptic. The feeble-minded, technically speaking, belong to the
degenerate class. They enter life mentally deficient, not necessarily [38]
diseased. They should, therefore, be regarded as fit subjects for
educational modification rather than for penal correction or punishment. It
is conservatively estimated that there are five million feeble-minded
people in the United States to-day and not one-eighth of them are receiving
adequate treatment or education. Recent statistics, from various countries,
show that the percentage of deficient or feeble-minded children is
decidedly on the increase. According to a bulletin issued by the United
States Bureau of Education (August, 1912) there are 15,000,000 school
children suffering from physical defects which need immediate attention and
which are prejudicial to health. It would seem as though the time had
passed for anything other than radical measures in the interest of the
race.
Apart from the eugenic fact that these feeble-minded children are not fit
subjects for parenthood, they are a constantly contaminating influence on
society morally, and are a detriment and a hindrance to social and economic
advancement. One illustration of this contaminating process, which is of
serious eugenic import, is the presence of these deficient children in our
public schools. By reason of their lack of attention and concentration,
their mental or psychic insufficiency, their moral delinquency, and
uncontrollable instincts and impulses, they are a menace to the well-being
and to the progress of the normal or fit pupils; they retard and undermine
the discipline of the schoolroom, and they affect the efficiency of the
teachers. They are allowed to stay in school because of the indifference of
the authorities, or because of the influence and social standing, or
political "pull" of the parents, despite the recognition of the injustice
done. Many of the parents of these children seek medical advice but,
because of absurdly inadequate civic or state provision for such cases, the
physician is practically helpless. Most of these irresponsible children are
allowed to wander through the years unrestrained and unprotected. They
easily become the victims of vice and crime, and eventually they become
degenerates and end their lives in insane institutions. Because of the
stigma of degeneration these feeble-minded individuals fall into the [39]
hands of the law and are thereby robbed of the medical assistance which
society should afford them in the early years when improvement is yet
possible.
The following report which recently appeared in one of the daily papers is
interesting and suggestive in this connection. One of the New York City
Magistrates, in his annual report, said: "There is growing up in this city
a menacing army of boys and young men who are the most troublesome element
we have to deal with.... From the ranks of these rowdies that are organized
in bands, or bound up with chums or pals, come most of the crop of
burglars, truck thieves, holdup men, gun-bearers, so-called 'bad men' and
other criminals and dangerous characters. Without reverence for anything,
subject to no parental control, cynical, viciously wise beyond their years,
utterly regardless of the rights of others, firmly determined not to work
for a living, terrorizing the occupants of public vehicles and disturbing
the peace of the neighborhoods, they have no regard for common decency."
But it is to the records of the Children's Society that one must go for
reliable statistics of the potential criminal, as there the only systematic
study of their conditions is made and recorded by one of the greatest
neurologists in the country, Dr. Max Schlapp, of New York. As a specialist
in nervous diseases he has been connected with the Children's Society and
the Children's Court, where he has had wide opportunities for observing the
relation between delinquence and mental defectiveness. In cases of
viciousness or feeble-mindedness exhaustive studies have been made by Dr.
Schlapp. And the extent to which society is daily at the mercy of
uncontrolled potential criminality is alarming.
"Feeble-minded children and feeble-minded men," says Dr. Schlapp, "are
roaming about the streets of New York to-day as free agents. Parents are
not compelled by law to put a feeble-minded child in custody. Yet that
feeble-minded child unsuspected as such, amiable and care-free as he
usually is, is potentially a criminal, and at any moment may commit a
crime. That child is permitted to grow up without restraint, except [40]
such as the parents exercise, and this has no effect whatever in these
cases. The child is allowed to marry and bring forth children of his own
kind, more feeble-minded and more dangerous. There is no system designed to
pick out from the community persons so afflicted, and no law whatever to
prevent their untrammelled movements.
"The city street is a recruiting ground for the gangster because it is full
of defective children, mental and moral, who are potential criminals. This
question has never been seriously considered. When brought under corrective
restraint it has hitherto long been the custom to herd all the cases
together while serving time. But in 1894 the German Government woke up to
the fact that 3 to 7 per cent. of city children and those of isolated rural
communities contain the 'moron,' or intellectually defective type, together
with the moral imbecile."
Investigation showed recently that in a reformatory near Berlin 63 per
cent. of the inmates were abnormal, while over 50 per cent. were seriously
defective or menaces to society. This has since been shown to exist in all
the leading nations--England, France, Italy, where, by the way, the
Camorrist type is the equivalent for our New York gangster. In the Elmira
Reformatory 38 per cent. are, as a rule, feeble-minded and consist of types
that repeat their offense against society or commit some other crime.
There is only one way to prevent these types from becoming a menace.
Restrain them while they are still developing; keep them from becoming free
agents in the community they menace. Types continually come up in the
Children's Society and the Children's Court. They are carefully studied.
From the actions of the child, from his parents and family history, from
the frequency with which he repeats some offense particularly pleasing to
him, and by virtue of psychological tests and careful medical examinations
the examiners are able to pick out children who should receive scientific
care and treatment.
"The characteristics of the feeble-minded are usually deceiving. One
expects to find them with low brows and furtive looks and more or less
vicious in appearance after they develop criminal tendencies. One would[41]
expect them to show stupidity at a glance. On the contrary, they are
sometimes bright on the surface, amiable, good-tempered under trying
conditions, and almost likeable for their external social side. This is
particularly true of the high grade defectives. The lower order may be
taciturn, gloomy and retiring, and these traits may be noticed almost from
infancy. But as they grow up their social nature may be developed, and they
too may give the appearance of amiableness. One notable thing about them is
their pose of frank innocence. In this they are engaging, and almost
convincing.
"The street type that makes a gangster is practically the same if cruder in
development. These children usually exhibit absolutely no sign of affection
for their parents, no sympathy, and are notably cruel toward animals. One
boy we had in the Children's Society persistently killed all the dogs and
cats his family kept. Finally, when they ceased keeping the animals he got
at the canary cage and killed the bird by pulling the feathers out singly.
He had no compunction about lying, and looked you right in the eye when he
lied. Otherwise he was charming and natural."
While moral insanity is hereditary, yet it can be produced in one
generation. An alcoholic man with clean antecedents may leave tainted
descendants. The only way to combat these conditions in the city is to have
strict registration of all feeble-minded and insane. The state should
discover them, examine them through public officials, and segregate them.
Not only physicians, but school teachers and officials in public
institutions should detect them. There should be in each state an
institution for feeble-minded delinquents.
The history of the average "gangster" shows a taint of alcoholism. This is
further aggravated by living under immoral surroundings, where petty crimes
like stealing and lying are considered "smart." This is the starting point
of the New York "gangster." He is handicapped, and under ancestral
disabilities and the disadvantages of environment that is pernicious, he
cannot get very far. A boy usually qualifies with a gang on his own [42]
personality and tastes. He will often wander from one gang to another until
he has found his particular atmosphere. The best will never find any one
gang congenial enough to hold him, and he finally emerges a decent citizen.
It is all a process of finding himself. The aim of the police should be to
discount as much as possible any swaggering and false hero worship.
The time has come when this great nation should take national cognizance of
this problem. There should be a national institution on some isolated
island. Civilization is coming to recognize such a necessity. With a close
eye on the tide of immigration and a careful segregation of these defective
types, we should soon rid ourselves of what is now growing to be a serious
menace to the home and the nation.
THE SEGREGATION AND TREATMENT OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED.--Dr. John Punton, of
Kansas City, Mo., in an able and exhaustive article on "The Segregation and
Treatment of the Feeble-Minded," writes as follows:
"Your attention is directed to a recent report issued by Wentworth E.
Griffin, Chief of Police of Kansas City, Mo., in which he claims that
recently within six months' time no less than 2,480 juveniles were arrested
charged with crimes ranging from vagrancy to murder and that the majority
of these boys and girls were not normal children, but degenerates who
required medical rather than penal treatment. 'Boys and girls,' says he,
'should not receive correction in the city jails, the work house or
reformatories. These should be the last resort. To correct a boy you must
have an idea of his mental processes. It is natural that the parents
understand something of the child and use that knowledge to make a good boy
out of him. Certainly it cannot be done in the reformatories, for although
the authorities there are competent, they are hardly medical psychologists.
In my opinion, if any progress is to be made it is the parent and the
doctor that must do the work, not the police and the courts.'
"That our Chief of Police deserves credit for not only publishing this
report, but also for the advanced position he takes in recognizing the
appropriate care and treatment of the juvenile offender, is certain, [43]
for he understands the fact that the parents are often the chief culprits
in the child's delinquency and that medical rather than penal treatment is
more often indicated than is at present allowed or practiced.
"When we come to inquire into the cause of feeble-mindedness, alcoholic
heredity, syphilitic heredity, and consanguineous marriages are found to be
the chief etiological factors. Bourneville claims that 48 per cent. of the
idiots and imbeciles are the offspring of alcoholic parents.... Acute and
chronic diseases in the parents, fright, shock, injuries, parental neglect,
faulty education, poverty, malnutrition, social dissipation and lack of
proper control are all well-known factors in the production of
feeble-mindedness.
"Segregation of the feeble-minded is advocated by medical authority the
world over, and when this is done they can be made under appropriate
medico-pedagogic treatment to become largely self-supporting.
"As an economical as well as a humane measure, the various States can well
afford to make such provision, more especially for the large body of
feeble-minded who are now without any medical care whatever. Moreover,
where it is possible, laws prohibiting the marriage of such as well as all
other defectives should be passed and enforced."
WHAT THE CARE OF THE INSANE COSTS.--The total cost of the care of the
insane, in this country, has been estimated to be $165,000,000 a year. In
estimating the cost of the insane we must take into account the value or
worth of each adult to the State. This value has been computed to be $700 a
year. If, upon this basis, we count the adult membership of the insane
class between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, we find that their worth
is roughly about $132,000,000.
The cost of maintenance in the various insane institutions is about
thirty-three millions of dollars a year. It would be quite possible to
justly increase this total by estimating the worth of the help whose whole
time is devoted to the care of the insane. If these individuals worked at
some other trade or profession, their time would. be of value to the [44]
state in general--not to a class who should be non-existent. The cost to
the state of the potential criminal is not included in this estimate.
From the above figures it may be observed that it costs more to simply
maintain the insane each year than it costs to work the Panama Canal; or to
pay for the total cost of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial
departments of our government. The total cost is more than the entire value
of the wheat, corn, tobacco, and dairy and beef products exported each year
from this country.
ALCOHOLIC DRUNKENNESS.--Alcoholism is a sign and a symptom of degeneracy
and is a distinct indication of unfitness for parenthood. The only cure for
alcoholism is to prohibit parenthood. It has been proved that alcohol taken
into the stomach can be demonstrated in the testicle or ovary within a few
minutes, and, like any other poison, may injure the sperm or the germ
element therein contained. As a result of this intoxication of the primary
elements, children may be conceived and born who become idiots, epileptics
or feeble-minded. It is asserted that 48 per cent. of all the idiots and
imbeciles are the offspring of alcoholic parents.
Recent experiments show that parental alcoholism alone can determine
degeneration. Mr. Galton quoted the case of a man who, "after begetting
several normal children became a drunkard and had imbecile offspring"; and
another case has been recorded of a healthy woman who, when married to a
drunkard, had five sickly children, dying in infancy, but in a later union
with a healthy man bore normal and vigorous children.
Dr. Sullivan found on inquiry that:
.... "Of 600 children born of 120 drunken mothers 335 died in infancy or
were still-born, and that several of the survivors were mentally defective,
and as many as 4.1 per cent. were epileptic. Many of these women had female
relatives, sisters or daughters, of sober habits and married to sober
husbands. On comparing the death rate amongst the children of the sober
mothers with that amongst the children of the drunken women of the same
stock, the former was found to be 23.9 per cent., the latter 55.2 per
cent., or nearly two and a half times as much. It was further observed [45]
that in the drunken families there was a progressive rise in the death rate
from the earlier to the later born children."
Dr. Sullivan cites as a typical alcoholic family one in which the first
three children were healthy, the fourth was of defective intelligence, the
fifth was an epileptic idiot, the sixth was dead born, and finally the
productive career ended with an abortion.
The nervous systems of many children of alcoholic parents are wrecked for
life; many die in convulsions as infants. Many, however, who do not die,
live as epileptics. This action of alcohol on the health and vitality of
the race is the most serious of the evils that intemperance brings on the
community. The tendency of all children of alcoholics is toward nervous
disorders of a grave type.
Statistics show a very high rate of still-births and abortions among the
children of drunken mothers, show that drunken women must not be permitted
to become mothers.
Dr. Branthwaite in a lecture stated: "In my judgment, habitual drunkenness,
so far as women are concerned, has materially increased, during the last
twenty-five years, which I have spent entirely amongst drunkards and
drunkenness. These people are not in the least affected by orthodox
temperance efforts; they continue to propagate drunkenness, and thereby
nullify the good results of temperance energy. Their children, born of
defective parents, and educated by their surroundings grow up without a
chance of decent life, and constitute the reserve from which the strength
of our present army of habitual drunkards is maintained. Truly we have
neglected in the past, and are still neglecting, the main source of
drunkard supply--the drunkard himself; crippled that and we should soon see
some good results from our work."
Dr. Fleck, another authority, says: "It is my strong conviction that a
large percentage of our mentally defective children, including idiots,
imbeciles and epileptics, are the descendants of drunkards."
Therefore the chronic inebriate must not become a parent.
* * * * *
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