The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1906-09-13

nessestand the evil/results of ancestral
sins. We must remember that the
present generation is not responsible
for all its poor For, as most Of us
have Inherited ttse physical looks of
father and a mother, a grandfather or
a grandmother, $50 there are hosts Of
unfortunate children born into the
world who front the cradle are doomed
to a life Of physical inccmpefency be-
cause mentally and physically tainted
from birth But though the law of
heredity is ihexorable and though our
poorhouses and hospitals are crowded
with a lot of miserable creatures who
are dragging out suffering, an APP
palling existence because they were
aot the offspring of healthy parents,
and though thousands Of men and wo-
men who are not inmates Of public in
situations Of charity are social para
sites or dependents upon others for
support through the same dire causes,
yet the strange fact remains that re-
spectacle and refined society forbids
its teachers to discuss these vital ques-
lions In public lest such u discussion
should offend delicate and sensitive
ears
Is the offending of delicate ears to
stand IN the way of the untold agonies
men and women are allowed to marry
who have no business to marry? Are
the wards of our public institutions to
be boycotted by all intelligent men and
women because they do not wish to
see suffering in its most repulsive
forms? Shall we refuse to look at lit
tie children, born with curvature of
the spine and with diseased blood and
with crooked limbs, who, with swollen
lips and distorted and uniformed fea-
lures, are looking at us from hundreds
of cots shall we refuse merely be-
cause these little sufferers have in
herited the physical weaknesses of
their parents? What right had the
parents of these suffering children to
marry? Some time ago | attended Il
church wedding where the bride hob
bled up the aisle ON cane. She had
an abscess on one limb and was af-
fiicted with tuberculosis besides She
had been an invalid from birth. Her
mother had died of consumption only
few months after the girl was born.
And yet the minister of that church
ended his service with the solemn
words, "Whom God hath Joined to-
gether let not man put asunder" Are
we to suppose that God meant such
woman as that to marry and perpet-
uate misery and suffering In the world?
How to Stop 1t.
Well" some one says, how can
you stop men and women who are
physical incompetents from marry
ing?' By doing what every intelligent
physician in the world is advocating
by making it obligatory upon every
man and woman to pass a proper
physical examination before they can
get from the county license to marry
In old Sparta 1t used to be the custom
for the attendants to kill at birth chill
dren that were born cripples or weak
lings. We cannot do that. Such a
custom would be abhorrent to our feel
ings. But we can do better We can
prevent feeble children from being
born of physically incompetent par
ents by refusing to let physically I'M
sound men and women marry at ALL
Water cannot rise higher than its
source. A strong branch cannot grow
from withered trunk Neither can
physically and mentally healthy child
descend from unhealthy parents.
The first reformation of our social
evils should be pathological. 1t should
be sweeping diagnosis and should
start with sound physical marriage
altar. 1t should extend our immigra-
ton laws-nameiy, the laws which al
low little children to come into the
world among ourselves rather than
the immigration laws which prevent
lepreus children and their parents to
come from other lands into ours. Pre-
natal causes may be just as far reach
ing In their social results as postnatal.
A child must be born well In order to
live physically well.
Marital laws having made 1t possible
for the coming generations to be born
well, the. next question Is almost as
important as the first. What are we
going to do with the physical and NOR
al development of our children after
they are born! | am abiding to all the
boys and girls who are born In the
slums and In the congested quarters
of our large cities. The problems that
confront my neighbours children from
the socialistic standpoint are just as
important as those that confront my
own
The street Arab.
Did you ever try to put yourself in
the place of the street arab who is
running wild in one of our large cities?
Mr. Spurgeon in one of his books told
this anecdote: He was one day visiting
his orphan home While there little
boy came up and sat down beside
him and said: MFR. Sturgeon, suppose
there was an erphanage and there was
lot of little boys there. And suppose
all those little boys had lost their ia
theirs. And suppose once month their
mothers came and their aunts and
brought them pennies and apples and
oranges and nice things. And suppose