Decorah-posten., 1895-04-09
The Scandinavian Defective Popula.
tiOn in Iowa.

ords of Iowa are very incomplete. The
records of the other classes of defective
population are sill more unsatisfactory
The editor of this work took special
pains to search the reports of the lnsti-
tutions for the blind. the deaf and dumb
and the paupers; but it was impossible
to obtain any information which might
throw particular light upon the proper
tomato representation OF the Scand ma
vians in the defective classes here al
luded To-. On account Of the detective
ness of the reports it was also, in spite
of all efforts, impossible to treat the
Danes, Norwegians and Swedes separ-
ately.
CRIMINAL STATISTICS.
The criminal statistics are different In
this respect. Every person convicted OF
a crime of some kind figures in the Off
cial records of the state. Hence, the
criminal statistics of Iowa. unlike the
insanity records, are exact and practl-
cally complete. And they put the Scan
dinavian born inhabitants of the state in
an exceedingly favorable light. Accord
ing to the reports OF the p~enitentlarles,
there was n convict for every :. $50 in.
hab tants in the state in 1885, and l for
every 1000 in 1890. The Irish born pop
ulat on has the most ~unenviable record,
the proportion of the numbers OF Irish
born ~conviCts to the whole number of
Irish born inhabitants being | to 2,o25 IN
1885, and / to zoos in 1890 1t must be
observed, howev, r. that the record Of
the Irish improved faster than that of the
whole population. The Germans make
a fine showing, the proportion for 1885
and 1899 being l to 4I52 and l to 1904
respectively. The scandinavian born
population had by far the most splendid
record at the latter date, the proportion
Of the number of ~convicts to the whole
number of inhabitants of Scandinavian
birth being I to $500 in 1885, and to
OOPS in 1900. These figures, however
DNhlS ollN DdoSh Oll lHC ANppllS VI NllN
penltentiarieS, must be supplemented by
the reports of the sec, etary of state re-
lati ng to the convictions Of criminals,
whlch reports are absolutely complete
nasmuch as they give the whole number
OF convictions in every county of the
state for each year. And they tell prac-
tlcally the same tale as the penltcntiary
reports, putting the Scandlnavians way
above the rest in every instance. In or
der to present the matter from different
points of view, the Scandinavian born
are compared with the total number of
foreign born and American born in the
following: In 1880 one out of every 743
foreign born per ons was convicted for
some crime; in 1855, one out of every
100; and in 1900. one out of every 1929
As to the American born inhabitants, the
record was not half 50 ugly, the proper
tion being one to 2,oI5, to 1850. and
I to 2 500 for the years 1880. 1855 and
1890, respectively. But the proportion
OF the whole number of Scandinavian
born persons convicted of crimes to the
total Scandinavian born population for
the same years was o ly l to $50, 2So7,
and 3 3I2.
INSANITY.
Insanity is evidently on the increase
in Iowa. The official reports Of the
hospitals for the insane for the wears
I88o-8G, 1867, and I8o2-o3 bring out
this fact very clearly. The u. S. census
for 1880 and 1890 and the state census
tor 1885 have been used IN estimating the
population. In IS8o-SI there was | pa
tient In those hospitals % every 1928 in
habitants in the state; in I8S6-S7 there
was l for every 1888 inhabitants; and in
1892 % one for every 1906 inhabitants.
The record of the foreign born popula-
ton is much worse than that of the
whole state. Thus. in I88o-SI there was
one::German patient for every 67o Ger
mans in the state; and in 1869, one for
every $50; and in 1892 %, one for every
TO. The proportion OF Brit sh born pa.
TShAA pa
tients TO the British born population for
the same years was I to COS, TAO and
547. The record of the Scandinavians
Tor those years is peculiar. In 1880 81
there was Scandinavian born pat,ert
tor every 1916 inhabitants born in Den
mark, Norway and Sweden; but the
number OF patients increased so fast
hat the proportion was one to s8s in
1880 81, and one to 524 in 1920 Thus
the proportionate number Of ScandIna-
wan patients was exactly doubled in %
years while the proportionate increase
Tor the whole state was a little over one
third. The S~candinavians have the
largest proportion of patients: but the
british born were very close to the Scan.
dInavians, the proportion in the case Of
the former being l to 547 in 1893 in that
OF the latter I to 524. If a separate
record had been kept for the Irish, that
nationality undoubtedly would have
shown a still worse record than the
S~candinavians.
The above statistics, however, by no
means give the whole truth as 10 tho
Pr2portionate prevalence of INSANITY
among the different national ties. In
1854 s. tor instance, there we're 1868 pa.
tlents in tn hospitals. But ACCORDING 70
the state census of 1885 there were Iz,o
insane and idiotic nersons o,ts;J