Many of the
statistics
of
women's colleges, cited in the first part of this chapter, are from Dr.
women's colleges, cited in the first part of this chapter, are from Dr.
Applied Eugenics by Roswell H. Johnson and Paul Popenoe
[73] The entire field of race betterment and social improvement is
divided between _eugenics_, which considers only germinal or heritable
changes in the race; and _euthenics_, which deals with improvement in
the individual, and in his environment. Of course, no sharp line can be
drawn between the two spheres, each one having many indirect effects on
the other. It is important to note, however, that any change in the
individual during his prenatal life is euthenic, not eugenic. Therefore,
contrary to the popular idea of the case, the "Better Babies" movement,
the agitation for proper care of expectant mothers, and the like, are
not _directly_ a part of eugenics. The moment of conception is the point
at which eugenics gives place to euthenics. Eugenics is therefore the
_fundamental_ method of human progress, euthenics the _secondary_ one;
their relations will be further considered in the last chapter of this
book.
[74] The clan has now reached its ninth generation and its present
status has been exhaustively studied by A. H. Estabrook (_The Jukes in
1915_: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1916). He enumerates 2,820
individuals, of whom half are still living. In the early 80's they left
their original home and are now scattered all over the country. The
change in environment has enabled some of them to rise to a higher
level, but on the whole, says C. B. Davenport in a preface to
Estabrook's book, they "still show the same feeble-mindedness,
indolence, licentiousness and dishonesty, even when not handicapped by
the associations of their bad family name and despite the fact of being
surrounded by better social conditions. " Estabrook says the clan might
have been exterminated by preventing the reproduction of its members,
and that the nation would thereby have saved about $2,500,000. It is
interesting to note that "out of approximately 600 living feeble-minded
and epileptic Jukes, there are only three now in custodial care. "
[75] Key, Dr. Wilhelmina E. , _Feeble-minded Citizens in Pennsylvania_,
pp. 11, 12, Philadelphia, Public Charities Assn. , 1915.
[76] The most recent extensive study of this point is A. H. Estabrook's
_The Jukes in 1915_ (Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1916). The
Jukes migrated from their original home, in the mountains of New York, a
generation ago, and are now scattered all over the country. Estabrook
tried to learn, at first hand, whether they had improved as the result
of new environments, and free from the handicap of their name, which for
their new neighbors had no bad associations. In general, his findings
seem to warrant the conclusion that a changed environment in itself was
of little benefit. Such improvement as occurred in the tribe was rather
due to marriage with better stock; marriages of this kind were made more
possible by the new environment, but the tendency to assortative mating
restricted them. It is further to be noted that while such marriages may
be good for the Juke family, they are bad for the nation as a whole,
because they tend to scatter anti-social traits.
[77] Key, _op. cit. _, p. 7.
[78] Figures furnished (September, 1917) by the National Committee for
Mental Hygiene, 50 Union Square, New York City.
[79] This applies even to such an acute thinker as John Stuart Mill,
whose ideas were formed in the pre-Darwinian epoch, and whose works must
now be accepted with great reserve. Darwin was quite right in saying,
"The ignoring of all transmitted mental qualities will, as it seems to
me, be hereafter judged as a most serious blemish in the works of Mr.
Mill. " (_Descent of Man_, p. _98_. ) A quotation from the _Principles of
Political Economy_ (Vol. 1, p. 389) will give an idea of Mr. Mill's
point of view: "Of all the vulgar methods of escaping from the effects
of social and moral influences on the mind, the most vulgar is that of
attributing diversities of conduct and character to inherent natural
differences"!
[80] _Feeble-mindedness, its Causes and Consequences. _ By H. H. Goddard,
director of the Research Laboratory of the Training School at Vineland,
New Jersey, for feeble-minded boys and girls. New York, The Macmillan
Co. , 1914.
[81] Probably the word now covers a congeries of defects, some of which
may be non-germinal. Epilepsy is so very generally found associated with
various other congenital defects, that action should not be delayed.
[82] Goddard, H. H. , _Feeble-Mindedness_, pp. 14-16.
[83] See the recent studies of C. B. Davenport, particularly _The Feebly
Inhibited_, Washington, Carnegie Institution, 1915.
[84] In this connection diagnosis is naturally of the utmost importance.
The recent action of Chicago, New York, Boston, and other cities, in
establishing psychological clinics for the examination of offenders is a
great step in advance. These clinics should be attached to the police
department, as in New York, not merely to the courts, and should pass on
offenders before, not after, trial and commitment.
[85] As a result of psychiatric study of the inmates of Sing Sing in
1916, it was said that two-thirds of them showed some mental defect.
Examination of 100 convicts selected at random in the Massachusetts
State Prison showed that 29% were feeble-minded and 11% borderline
cases. The highest percentage of mental defectives was found among
criminals serving sentence for murder in the second degree,
manslaughter, burglary and robbery. (Rossy, C. S. , in _State Board of
Insanity Bull. _, Boston, Nov. , 1915). Paul M. Bowers told the 1916
meeting of the American Prison Association of his study of 100
recidivists, each of whom had been convicted not fewer than four times.
Of these 12 were insane, 23 feeble-minded and 10 epileptic, and in each
case Dr. Bowers said the mental defect bore a direct causal relation to
the crime committed. Such studies argue for the need of a little
elementary biology in the administration of justice.
[86] For a sane and cautious discussion of the subject see Wallin, J. E.
W. , "A Program for the State Care of the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic,"
_School and Society_, IV, pp. 724-731, New York, Nov. 11, 1916.
[87] Johnstone, E. R. , "Waste Land Plus Waste Humanity," _Training
School Bulletin_, XI, pp. 60-63, Vineland, N. J. , June, 1914.
[88] "Report of the Committee on the Sterilization of Criminals,"
_Journal of the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology_, September,
1916. Of the operations mentioned, 634 are said to have been performed
on insane persons and one on a criminal.
[89] Guyer, M. F. , Wisconsin Eugenics Legislation. Trans. Amer. Asso.
Study and Prevention of Infant Mortality, 1917, pp. 92-97.
[90] Eugenics Record Office, Bulletin No. 10 A, _The Scope of the
Committee's Work_, Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. , Feb. , 1914; No. 10 B, _The
Legal, Legislative and Administrative Aspects of Sterilization_, same
date.
[91] Eugenics Record Office Bulletin No. 9: _State Laws Limiting
Marriage Selection Examined in the Light of Eugenics_. Cold Spring
Harbor, L. I. , June, 1913.
[92] Penrose, Clement A. , _Sanitary Conditions in the Bahama Islands_,
Geographical Society of Baltimore, 1905.
[93] See von. Gruber and Rudin, _Fortpflanzung, Vererbung,
Rassenhygiene_, p. 169, Munchen, 1911.
[94] Davenport, Charles B. , _Heredity in Relation to Eugenics_, pp. 184
ff. , New York, 1911.
[95] Harris, J. Arthur, "Assortative Mating in Man," _Popular Science
Monthly_, LXXX, pp. 476-493, May, 1912. The most important studies on
the subject are cited by Dr. Harris.
[96] An interesting and critical treatment of sexual selection is given
by Vernon L. Kellogg in _Darwinism To-day_, pp. 106-128 (New York,
1908). Darwin's own discussion (_The Descent of Man_) is still very well
worth reading, if the reader is on his guard. The best general treatment
of the theory of sexual selection, especially as it applies to man, is
in chapter XI of Karl Pearson's _Grammar of Science_ (2d ed. , London,
1900).
[97] Diffloth, Paul, _Le Fin de L'Enigme_, Paris, 1907.
[98] The best popular yet scientific treatment of the subject we have
seen is _The Dynamic of Manhood_, a book recently written by Luther H.
Gulick for the Young Men's Christian Association (New York, The
Association Press, 1917).
[99] The sympathy which we mentioned as the beginning of the
hypothetical love affair does lead to a partial identity of will, it is
true; but there is often too little in common between the man and woman
to make this identity at all complete. As Karl Pearson points out, it is
almost essential to a successful marriage that two people have sympathy
with each other's aims and a considerable degree of similarity in
habits. If such a bond is lacking, the bond of sympathy aroused by some
trivial circumstance will not be sufficient to keep the marriage from
shipwreck. The occasional altruism of young men who marry inferior girls
because they "feel sorry for them" is not praiseworthy.
[100] Ellis, Havelock, _The Task of Social Hygiene_, pp. 208-209,
Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1912.
[101] G. Stanley Hall (_Adolescence_, II, 113) found the following
points, in order, specified as most admired in the other sex by young
men and women in their teens: eyes, hair, stature and size, feet,
eyebrows, complexion, cheeks, form of head, throat, ears, chin, hands,
neck, nose. The voice was highly specialized and much preferred. The
principal dislikes, in order, were: prominent or deep-set eyes, fullness
of neck, ears that stand out, eyebrows that meet, broad and long feet,
high cheek-bones, light eyes, large nose, small stature, long neck or
teeth, bushy brows, pimples, red hair. An interesting study of some of
the trivial traits of manner which may be handicaps in sexual selection
is published by Iva Lowther Peters in the _Pedagogical Seminary_, XXIII,
No. 4, pp. 550-570, Dec. , 1916.
[102] It has been suggested that the same goal would be reached if a
young man before marriage would take out a life insurance policy in the
name of his bride. The suggestion has many good points.
[103] The correlation between fecundity and longevity which Karl Pearson
has demonstrated gives longevity another great advantage as a standard
in sexual selection. See _Proc. Royal Soc. London_, Vol. 67, p. 159.
[104] It is objected that if the long-lived marry each other, the
short-lived will also marry each other and thus the race will gain no
more than it loses. The reply to this is that the short-lived will marry
in fewer numbers, as some of them die prematurely; that they will have
fewer children; and that these children in turn will tend to die young.
Thus the short-lived strains will gradually run out, while the
long-lived strains are disseminated.
[105] Hankins, F. H. , "The Declining Birth-Rate," _Journal of Heredity_,
V, pp. 36-39, August, 1914.
[106] Smith, Mary Roberts, "Statistics of College and Non-college
Women," Quarterly Pubs. of the _American Statistical Assn. _, VII, p. 1
ff. , 1900.
[107] "Statistics of Eminent Women," _Pop. Sci. Mo. _, June, 1913.
[108] "Marriage of College Women," _Century Magazine_, Oct. , 1895.
[109] Blumer, J. O. , in _Journal of Heredity_, VIII, p. 217, May, 1917.
[110] The statistics of this and the following middle west universities
were presented by Paul Popenoe in the _Journal of Heredity_, VIII, pp.
43-45.
[111] _Harvard Graduates' Magazine_, XXV, No. 97, pp. 25-34, September,
1916.
[112] Popenoe, Paul, "Stanford's Marriage-Rate," _Journal of Heredity_,
VIII, p. 170-173.
[113] Banker, Howard J. , "Co-education and Eugenics," _Journal of
Heredity_, VIII, pp. 208-214, May, 1917.
[114] _Eugenics: Twelve University Lectures_, p. 9, New York, 1914.
[115] Cf. Gould, Miriam C. , "The Psychological Influence upon Adolescent
Girls of the Knowledge of Prostitution and Venereal Disease," _Social
Hygiene_, Vol. II, pp. 191-207, April, 1916. This interesting and
important study of the reactions of 50 girls reveals that present
methods or indifference to the need of reasonable methods of teaching
sex-hygiene are responsible for "a large percentage of harmful results,
such as conditions bordering on neurasthenia, melancholia, pessimism and
sex antagonism. "
[116] Gallichan, Walter M. , _The Great Unmarried_, New York, 1916.
[117] Sprague, Robert J. , "Education and Race Suicide," _Journal of
Heredity_, Vol. VI, pp. 158 ff. , April, 1915.
Many of the statistics of
women's colleges, cited in the first part of this chapter, are from Dr.
Sprague's paper.
[118] Odin calculated that 16% of the eminent men of France had at least
one relative who was in some way eminent; that 22% of the men of real
talent had such relation; and that among the geniuses the percentage
rose to 40. There are thus two chances out of five that a man of genius
will have an eminent relative; for a man picked at random from the
population the chance is one in several thousand. See Odin, A. , _La
Genese des Grands Hommes_, Vol. I, p. 432 and Vol. II, Tableau xii,
Lausanne, 1895.
[119] Crum, Frederick S. , "The Decadence of the Native American Stock,"
_Quarterly Pubs. Am. Statistical Assn. _, XIV, n. s. 107, pp. 215-223,
Sept. , 1914.
[120] Kuczynski, R. R. , _Quarterly Journ. of Economics_, Nov. 1901, and
Feb. , 1902.
[121] Nearing, Scott, "The Younger Generation of American Genius," _The
Scientific Monthly_, II, pp. 48-61, Jan. , 1916. "Geographical
Distribution of American Genius," _Popular Science Monthly_, II, August,
1914.
[122] In the chapter on Sexual Selection it was shown that the Normal
School girls who stood highest in their classes married earliest. This
may seem a contradiction of the Wellesley marriage rates in this table.
The explanation probably is that while mental superiority is itself
attractive in a mate, there are interferences built up in the collegiate
life.
[123] Banker, Howard J. , "Co-education and Eugenics," _Journal of
Heredity_, VIII, pp. 208-214, May, 1917.
[124] Hill, Joseph A. , "Comparative Fecundity of Women of Native and
Foreign Parentage," _Quarterly Pubs. Amer. Statistical Assn. _, XIII,
583-604.
[125] See Willcox, W. F. , "Fewer Births and Deaths: What Do They Mean? "
_Journal of Heredity_, VII, pp. 119-128, March, 1916.
[126] The data are published in full by Paul Popenoe in the _Journal of
Heredity_, October, 1917. It must be noted that, in spite of their small
salaries, the Methodist clergymen marry earlier and have more children
than do other men of equal education and social status, such as the
Harvard and Yale graduates. This difference in marriage and birth-rate
is doubtless to be credited in part to their inherent nature and in part
to the action of religious idealism. It confirms the belief of eugenists
that even under present economic circumstances the birth-rate of the
superior classes might be raised appreciably by a campaign of eugenic
education.
[127] For an official statement of the attitude of the birth-rate of the
Mormon church, see _Journal of Heredity_, VII, pp. 450-451, Oct. , 1916.
[128] Mecklin, John M. , _Democracy and Race Friction, a Study in Social
Ethics_, New York, 1914. p. 147.
[129] It would be more accurate to say the Nordic race. Other white
races have not uniformly shown this discrimination. The Mediterranean
race in particular has never manifested the same amount of race feeling.
The Arabs have tended to receive the Negro almost on terms of equality,
partly on religious grounds; it seems probable that the decadence of the
Arabs is largely due to their miscegenation.
[130] Mecklin, _op. cit. _, p. 147.
[131] Blascoer, Frances, _Colored School Children in New York_, Public
Education Association of the City of New York, 1915. The preface, from
which the quotation is taken, is by Eleanor Hope Johnson, chairman of
the committee on hygiene of school children.
[132] Mecklin, _op. cit. _, p. 32.
[133] The Negro's contribution has perhaps been most noteworthy in
music. This does not necessarily show advanced evolution; August
Weismann long ago pointed out that music is a primitive accomplishment.
For an outline of what the Negro race has achieved, particularly in
America, see the _Negro Year Book_, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.
[134] _Social Problems; Their Treatment, Past, Present and Future_, p.
8, London, 1912.
[135] Stetson, G. R. , "Memory Tests on Black and White Children,"
_Psych. Rev. _, 1897, p. 285. See also MacDonald, A. , in _Rep. U. S.
Comm. of Educ. ,_ 1897-98.
[136] Mayo, M. J. , "The Mental Capacity of the American Negro," _Arch.
of Psych. _, No. 28.
[137] Phillips, B. A. , "Retardation in the Elementary Schools of
Philadelphia," _Psych. Clinic_, VI, pp. 79-90; "The Binet Tests Applied
to Colored Children," _ibid. _, VIII, pp. 190-196.
[138] Strong, A. C. , _Ped. Sem. _, XX, pp. 485-515.
[139] Pyle, W. H. , "The Mind of the Negro Child," _School and Society_,
I, pp. 357-360.
[140] Ferguson, G. O. , Jr. , "The Psychology of the Negro," _Arch. of
Psych. _ No. 36, April, 1916.
[141] Though the Negro is not assimilable, he is here to stay; he should
therefore be helped to develop along his own lines. It is desirable not
to subject him to too severe a competition with whites; yet such
competition, acting as a stimulus, is probably responsible for part of
his rapid progress during the last century, a progress which would not
have been possible in a country where Negroes competed only with each
other. The best way to temper competition is by differentiation of
function, but this principle should not be carried to the extent of
pocketing the Negro in blind-alley occupations where development is
impossible. As mental tests show him to be less suited to literary
education than are the whites, it seems likely that agriculture offers
the best field for him.
[142] This letter, and much of the data regarding the legal status of
Negro-white amalgamation, are from an article by Albert Ernest Jenks in
the _Am. Journ. Sociology_, XXI, 5, pp. 666-679, March, 1916.
[143] A recent readable account of the races of the world is Madison
Grant's _The Passing of the Great Race_ (New York, 1916).
[144] _The Old World in the New. _ By E. A. Ross, professor of Sociology
in the University of Wisconsin, New York, 1914.
[145] Cf. Stevenson, Robert Louis, _The Amateur Emigrant_.
[146] Interview with W. Williams, former commissioner of immigration, in
the _New York Herald_, April 13, 1912.
[147] Of the total number of inmates of insane asylums of the entire U.
S. of Jan. 1, 1910, 28. 8% were whites of foreign birth, and of the
persons admitted to such institutions during the year 1910, 25. 5% were
of this class. Of the total population of the United States in 1910 the
foreign-born whites constituted 14. 5%. Special report on the insane,
Census of 1910 (pub. 1914).
[148] _The Tide of Immigration. _ By Frank Julian Warne, special expert
on foreign-born population, 13th U. S. Census, New York, 1916.
[149] _Essays in Social Justice. _ By Thomas Nixon Carver, professor of
Political Economy in Harvard University, Cambridge, 1915.
[150] Fairchild's and Jenks' opinions are quoted from Warne, Chapter
XVI.
[151] _America and the Orient: A Constructive Policy_, by Rev. Sidney L.
Gulick, Methodist Book Concern. The _American Japanese Problem: a Study
of the Racial Relations of the East and West_, New York, Scribner's.
[152] _Oriental Immigration. _ By W. C. Billings, surgeon, U. S. Public
Health Service; Chief Medical Officer, Immigration Service; Angel Island
(San Francisco), Calif. , _Journal of Heredity_, Vol. VI (1915), pp.
462-467.
[153] _Assimilation in the Philippines, etc. _ By Albert Ernest Jenks,
professor of anthropology in the University of Minnesota. _American
Journal of Sociology_, Vol. XIX (1914), p. 783.
[154] Students of the inheritance of mental and moral traits may be
interested to note that while the ordinary Chinese mestizo in the
Philippines is a man of probity, who has the high regard of his European
business associates, the Ilocanos, supposed descendants of pirates, are
considered rather tricky and dishonest.
[155] An important study of this subject was published by Professor
Vernon L. Kellogg in _Social Hygiene_ (New York), Dec, 1914.
[156] Nasmyth, George, _Social Progress and the Darwinian Theory_, p.
146, New York, 1916. While his book is too partisan, his Chapter III is
well worth reading by those who want to avoid the gross blunders which
militarists and many biologists have made in applying Darwinism to
social progress; it is based on the work of Professor J. Novikov of the
University of Odessa. See also _Headquarters Nights_ by Vernon Kellogg.
[157] Jordan, D. S. , and Jordan, H. E. , _War's Aftermath_, Boston, 1915.
[158] Jordan, David Starr, _War and the Breed_, p. 164. Boston, 1915.
Chancellor Jordan has long been the foremost exponent of the dysgenic
significance of war, and this book gives an excellent summary of the
problem from his point of view.
[159] See Woods, Frederick Adams, and Baltzly, Alexander, _Is War
Diminishing_? New York, 1916.
[160] See an interesting series of five articles in _The American
Hebrew_, Jan and Feb. , 1917.
[161] _Journal of Heredity_, VIII, pp. 277-283, June, 1917.
[162] _The Early Life of Abraham Lincoln_, New York, 1896. For the
Emancipator's maternal line see _Nancy Hanks_, by Caroline Hanks
Hitchcock. New York, 1899.
[163] _The Life of Pasteur_ by his son-in-law, Rene Vallery Radot,
should be read by every student of biology.
[164] Hollingworth, H. L. , _Vocational Psychology_, pp. 212-213, New
York, 1916.
[165] Sir Francis Galton and C.