The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-01-12
IMPoRTING.INsANITY.
New York Tribune.l


 With all the vast benefits of immigra- lion there are some evils which are fore ing themselves upon public attention. That which hrst suggests itself E the im- pora,ion of paupers and criminals, and of those who are in danger of drifting into helplessness or crime Another grave evil, of which the public has heard comparatively little, is the increase of in sanity accompanying immigration, either through the direct importation of the in- sane, or rather their exportauon from countries to this, or through their inability in many cases to stand the strain and hardship of their change of life. Dr. kems,er. superintendent of the Wiscon- sin northern hospital for the insane, who necessarily sees much of the immigrant population, says, in one of his reports, that beside the ordinary cases of insanity, there are to be found "the depressing influences of hsme-sickness and over work and under feeding al most always present in new countries set tied largely by fore gn-borD persons"
 The subject has been attracting atten- ton in Chicago in practical way. The papers there recently announced that fif- teen insane persons, who had been picked up in the streets by the police, and nearly all of whom were foreigners, would be examined in the courts Dr. Foster Pratt. of Michigan, read paper upon tkis subject before the American public health association at its recent meeting, which gave some startling facts regarding the growth of insanity as re- Lated 10 the increase of the foreign-born population. It is to be kept in mind. of course. that statistics of insanity, though still far from perfect, have greatly inn proved, and the apparent growth Tn ln- sanity is perhaps due in part to the in- creased accuracy of the returns. Never theless, the facts show a mournful in- crease of insanity, and demonstrate that large proportion of the addition is to be ascribcd to immigration. By the cen- sus of 1850 the number of persons re- ported as insane was |, 6io, of whom ol9 were foreign-born. The great flood of immigration was then just fairly be- ginning, the Irish famine of '46 and the German revolution of IS being powerful moving causes At this point one-sev- enth of the insanity of the country was to be found among the alien one-tenth of the population. In 1900, e3,oe9 in- sane persons were reported, of whom 76S were foreign-born. Thus one-fourth of the reported insanity was of foreign origin, though the foreign-born pepulA- ton had only increased to one-eighth of the whole. In 1870, 37432 insane per sons were reported, oi whom II,22I were of foreign birth. Thus. although the for eign-born population had increased to enly one-seventh of the whole, the for eign born among the insane had in- creased to a ratio of nearly one-third. The census of 1880 showed an enormous increase in insanity, which ascribed largely to the fact that the census was by far the most accurate yet taken. But even in this the proportion of foreign born to the whole number of insane was we'll preseved-e6, 346 out of oI .9o7 Less than one-seventh of the population but more than one-fourth and nearly one-third of the insane were of foreign birth. During the whole period named the rate of increase of the foreign-born insane was greater than the rate ofincrease of the foreign-born population. During the last decade covered the latter increased less than 70 per cent; the former I5o per cent. Dr. Pratt charges, and probably with justice, portion of the increase of insanity among native Americans, which has been great also. 10 the admixture of foreign blood.
 It may be necessary before long to consider seriously the question of sitting immigrants more carefully. When the right Is claimed and exercised to shut out the whole of certain race. the right to keep out persons of weak and diseased minds will hardly he denied. It cannot be doubted that among immigrants who are assisted" here by their governments a good proportion are those who are either mentally deficient themselves or are likely 10 transmit mental weakness 10 their offspring. and this elemen, is dan- gerous one.
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