New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-20
HEREDITY AND POVERTY.
THE PRACTICAL ANSWER OF NETWORK
SIJ,MS TO SOME SCIENTIFIC VAGARlES


THE CHILDREN OF THE POOR BY Jacob A. Rs. IL
Illustrated. PIP. xi.. 300. Charles ecr.oherS sons'
From the points OF view of charity and soci-
olopy. this handsome and interesting book VIII
doubtless be subject to much comment. IL Is pro-
posed here discuss only some OF the points where
it bears upon questions of race. what MI hiis
has to say on these matters Is all the more Naiu-
able because, though he is trained observer, he hao
apparently no thought of his theme aside from the
practical charity In which he is absorbed. Whether
he turns to such themes consciously or uncoh-
sciously, the light he casts upon them Is cast "'
such an angle that lights and shades which are app
20 escape direct investigation are sure 70 DE DTouoO
into view Almost every chapter in this DOCK oearS
upon the question Of hcredity. The case OF every
child rescued from drunken and criminal parents
and raised TO a life of honesty is new miracle alb
solutely unaccountablc upon any theory Oh 'hc
transmission of characteristic traits from parent 10
child except by processes of imitation. But MI
Riis touches the subject directly only once lie
tries then not 10 speak with too much energy, put
he il forcible enough Perfectly good children,
he saws as good as any the Avenue, are spoleu
everv day nv the tenement" How emphatic that
sentence is can only be estimated by one VINO mas
studied the subject practically, by one TO whom
rays and fine clothes are equally Indifferent linen
the author adds What this subject OF hereil'y
amounts 70, whether in the past or the futurc 40
not know / have not had opportunity enough Oh
observing No one that l know OF has lhose
who have had the most disagree In their conci'-
sions or have come to none have known huher-
ous instances Of criminaliy running apparently IN
families for generations, but there was always the
desperate environment as the unknown FACTOR III
the makeup Whether that bore the greatest
share of the blame, or whether the reformation Vi
tho criminal. 10 be effective, should have begun
with his grandfather, could not tell. esiues'
there was always the chance that the great-grand-
father or some one still farther back VI whom ai'
trace was lost might have been paragon of viz
tue even If his descendant thief, ana so there
was no telling just where to begin. In general l
ON inclipad IN think that the bugbear of
heredity is not nearly as formidable as we nave
half taught ourselves to think. 1t is rather
question of getting hold of the child early enough
before the evil influences surrounding him nave
got firm grip on him.
To illustrate this he points TO the case OF TWO GILL
dren whose parents were dlsslpated )allpiros' anu
vet the little ones grew up to be not merely respect
able. but honored members Of society, not III New
York. where they were born, but in another state
But he might have drawn in proof Of his state
mems the entire record OF the Children's Ala 80
ciety In the thirty-nine years during which
Charles Lorlng Brace directed the work OF the So
ciety it found safe country homes for s4,3lo poor
city children. While these were not all street
outcasts they would have become SUCH writes
Mr. Riis had not the society blocked tie way.
The very foundation upon which TINS society anu
every other similar charity must work is the pre-
sumption that there is something lneHaceaoie III
every human being, without reference to his pa
\; hat pIS IN
level Of ordinary morality, if it can act Without
obstruction. AS TO the result, says Mr. Rlls
And does the event Justify the high hopes OF
that tourney to "a new home? Almost always III
the end if the child was young enough when II was
sent out. Sometimes "a change mas 10 oe InIuc.
Oftener the change is of name III the adoption that
follows. Some OF the boys get restless as they
grow up, and run about good deal TO "a 'i nc
anguish of the committee. few are reported as
having "gone to the bad" But even THESE com,
monty come out all right at last One of them
Of whom mention is made in the thirty-lilth an,
nual report mavd turned Of lis a 'o%n and
a member of tho legislature, In the big ledg-
crs in St Marks Place each child who has been
placed out has page to himself, on when an lli3
donss are recorded as he is heard OF year by year
There are twenty-nnc of these canvas-boilnd ledg,
crs now and the stories they have to tell wonli
help any one, who thinks he has lost faith in poor
human nature, 10 PICK IL up WITH vow hcNcr w
let go Of IL again.
Cases like the eighty-four thousand and odd
hundreds of children whose rescue from vicious
life is thus summarized present not merely a
practical but a scientific test OF heredity. 1t Is
no wonder that the son or daughter growing up
through all the most initiative years OF childhood
and youth with the parents, should catch their
tricks of manner, their tastes in science, art and
letters, their method of thought work. Such
phenomenon would he no more a test of anccs-
trail Inheritance than the long line of architects in
single family in Old Egypt under the iron sys-
tenn Of caste. But when the child taken from its
parents, in nnetynine cases out OF hundred fails
10 repeat their most deeply ingrained pecuarties,
these which they have given the most time TO and
which they have taken the most pains to cultivate,
namely, their vices, facts are plainly in contra
diction with popular theory. No examples of he
redity in crime can be considered proof Of the
theory unless they have been subjected TO this
common-sensa test. They admirable exercises
for scientific ingenuity and nothing more.
When YOU get TO the bottom, the race question
is only the heredity question on larger lines IL
vexes the scholar in his library as we'll as the
practical politician The street. Before one can
trust book on Aryan migrations from the hands
of O Jew-baiting German professor German
hating French savant, monograph on Ireland by
an Englishman, letter on the Kaffrs from an
Africander, Southern essayist on the negro, or a
frontier writer on the Indians, one must do the
best he con to eliminate the prejudice OF each
writer. When Darwin knocked the foundation
from under his theory Of human nature by
csnfessing that he was totally wrong about the
mental capacity of the Fuegians, he set exam
pie of scientific candor and honesty which is often
praised, but almost never initiated. NcTy, what
is the evidence furnished by expert in the chart
ties of city like New-York, overlooking with
variations of race in every condition of ignorance
squalor and misery? If careful comparison Of
the data furnished in different chapters is correct
and is rightly understood, this evidence shows
that the moral quality of the individual has moth
ing to do with the race from which he sprang, but
is wholly personal tendency due to training,