The Eugenic Marriage Volume I Part 5

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 a.s.sociation of the adolescent deaf and dumb in inst.i.tutions. It has been found that such intimate a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sociation 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 cla.s.s. 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 pa.s.sed 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 r.e.t.a.r.d 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 inst.i.tutions. 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 a.s.sistance 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. .h.i.therto 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 inst.i.tutions should detect them. There should be in each state an inst.i.tution 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 inst.i.tution 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 pa.s.sed 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 cla.s.s 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 inst.i.tutions 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 cla.s.s 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 Ca.n.a.l; 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 t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e 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 a.s.serted 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 const.i.tute 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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CHAPTER V

"The real undermining of health is not seen. It is done in an insidious way. It has to be carefully ferreted out."

DR. HARVEY W. WILEY.