The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-21
ALlENlST ON ANARCHISTS.
OF THE DEGENERATE CLASS LIK F
 CRIMINALS AND INSANE.
Violence Due to Suggestion-M Mental Weakness and Heredity--EvOlutton
of the Anarchist.

Weakness and Evolution
 of the Anarchist.
 A physician connected with many
 hospitals and instit utions for the treat
 ment of nervous and mental diseases
 has made for the New York Evening
 Post the following summing up of his
 conclusions respecting the mental con-
 dition of the anarchist and his relation
 to the criminal and insane classes:
 'As a rule, anarchy is something be-
 low the superficial surface of society
 closely connected with, though not a
 part of the submerged tenth or paul
 per class of the community. From the
 standpoint of the expert on mental and
 nervous diseases, the anarchist stands
 sharply outlined in two varieties, the
 man who suggests and the man who
 is suggestible.' There are the brainy
 men of the submerged tenth and many
 others following them who are not
 brainy. The followers are better
 known to the police than the leaders,
 who are not usually known to the pub
 lie.
 'The criminals, the insane, and the
 anarchists are all members of the de-
 generate class differing in many par
 ticulars, but all agreeing in being anti
 cocial. The deeds and actions of the
 three classes may be the same, murder,
 or assassination, or other crimes of vii olence A degenerate is a word used In various ways. Popular use attrib-
 utes to the degenerate abnormal or
 unnatural crimes. The newest books
 on mental diseases use it in a much
 broader sense as indicating class of mankind who are abnormal in mind and body from inheritance. Heredity as understood to-day ignores any def- nte type of disease Because parent was tuberculous or eccentric orjalcohol- ic the child does not of necessity in- herit the same conditions Heredity passes down abnormal tendencies in various ways, but surely and. certainly mental abnormality superimposed on physical abnormalities. These com prise the chief signs of degenerate as the word is used scientifically.
 Tn examining a suspected lunatic the general outlines of face and head, sometimes almost on the lines of the old fashioned phrenologists are first noted. Most pains-taking attention is given to the position of the eyes, whether too near together, too far apart, or too high, or if irregularly placed The eye itself presents numerous defects in col or and shape of pupil, which appear as a rule only in degenerate types. The ear and roof of the mouth are espec- ially valuable in giving hint that hereditary condition is present. Next to physical stigmata of degeneracy, and of insanity in particular, come mental stigmata. These include variety of traits found in normal men, such as passionate outbreaks, vanity, self-con- ceit, selfshness, jealousy and numer- Dus other mental characteristics. The criminal having an increase of some common, complete lack of self-con- trol or inhibition, which readily exag- gerate any positive trait of character readily falls into a criminal life, and eventually finds his way to prison He may or may not have physical stigmata of degeneration. A large proportion of criminals show them, especially of the criminals. Whatever view may be taken of their mental weakness, as enemies of society no one has yet, on any large scale, viewed them as sub- jects for insane hospitals. Though the ories of reformation are entertained in individual cases, as class of the con- 1 they are to be regarded as en- enlies of society.
 Between the ordinary criminals and 1 the insane and mentally unbalanced | come the class of anarchists now exeit- Ing public interest since the assassna- lion of President Mckinley. They are | more positively anti-social than the ordinary professional criminal. The crook, robber or common murderer is m enemy of society, but more as an individual, as man against man.
 ''The anarchists are organized in | heir hostility to society, and are defi- lite in their methods of waging war against society. To them the individu- il counts for little, the system for much. Like the criminal, their mental resolve themselves into wo varieties, those who show excess i've ueVGlOpIlleHL UL CSIldlIl dBBE6SSlVe 1 raits, and those who are weak and how the lack of self-control in marked egree. Hence come the two kinds of narchists first, those who lead or suggest" like Emma Goldman, and thers less we'll known; and second, he flock of rather feeble minded an- rchists who respond to the suggestions f the master minds as certainly as he subject of a professional hypnotist.
 Tn the crowds of anarchists that fre- uent the headquarters in East Side aloons are many types presenting ,arked degenerate characteristics. he marks of discontent and dissats- action with the existing order of soci- ty are to be expected. It is the kind E discontent that a man continuously { shows. "One of the marks of degenerate { lild is failure to get along with other i 1ildren in school. Simple shyness, or ,wardice, or self-conceit and vanity t ay exist Even as children the in- l lne delusions that they are persecu- / d or oppressed by other boys or the t achers become frequent and annoy 1 g. They increase as the children t .ow older. As these children grow up I
 be eighteen or twenty years of age, r ese mental traits increase. They are a sver able to hold any business posi- ( on any length of time, being incapa- t e of working continuously or giving ! l,t,, <J f~a J | a