The Washington herald., 1909-01-24
BLONDS NO BETTER
THAN BRUNETTES

frQl the New orleans Tines Democrat.
Il is pleasang to be able to turn from
the turgidities OF an exceptionally strenu-
Gus political campaign 10 an academic
discussion Of the influence of complexion
upon the human temperament and NOR
ais. For a recent contribution upon this
important subject we have to thank Sur
geon MAJ. Charles z Woodruff. OF the
United States army. who has come to the
rescue OF the maligned brunette and TN
dertakes 70 show that the blond is NOR
ally no better than his brunette neighbOr
and that the color Of a mans hair or
eyes is no sufficient evidence either Of his
guilt or his innocence Superficial read
ers OF Mai. WoodruT-s article have ap-
parently miscOnceived his purpose and
jumped 10 the conclusion that his Stats
tics tend 10 absolve the brunette and to
place upon the blond the entire burden OF
guilt All that he seeks TO do however,
is to counteract the injurious impression
created by those popular authors who
have depicted their villains as black
browed, - ''black-bearded. or tail, dark
men"
Mai WocdruTs explanation OF the or!-
gin OF this widespread misimpression is
ingenious. interesting. and logical. The
drift OF immigration in past ages has al
ways been tOwprd the south. The hardy
blond races habitually Overran the south
ern countries and overcame the darker
types. becoming the governing class, the
upper layer" as Il were Thus the poor
peasant. he explains. had always an
overload Of lighter complexion than him
self. The lady in the castle was more
blond than the peasant woman in the
hut. Centuries o. these conditions have
had the effect Of creating the curious
impression that what is above Us IS
blOnder than We are and that which IS
beneath Us Is darker Art and literature
have been a. work crystallizing it IN
painting and story"
Naturally. IN the Old days crimes We're
generally imputed 20 the lower layers II
the king could DO no wrong, certainly his
barOns were not so prone 10 error as their
underlings. The peasants became the
goats" so 10 speak and the prisons
were filled with them Hence the impress
sion OF brunette criminality had its origin
and the writers and painters passed IL
along through the ages
From statistics secured at Clinton PriS-
On. where the worst q New Y0rk's Grim
mails are said 20 De confined. MAJ. Wood
run finds that OF 20 white men whose
coloring IS mentioned IA had blue eyes
forty gray. hazel. and light brown. and
only ninety-fve dark shades OF brown or
black Out Of 4s51 offenders imprisoned
at Elmira. he finds only sixty-eight with
black eyes and only 5l5 with dark brown.
Even including the light brown eyes
he adds, all Of these dark types consti-
tute but one-foUrth the total. the medium
types OF gray and slate are One-hfth, and
the nght-eyed more than half" In Sing
Sing. q per cent Of whose population IS
foreign born, he finds that the bTunettes
furnish large proportion OF first offend
ers. though less than their share OF ha-
bitual criminals
Lest his findings should be regarded as
bearing too hardly on the bonds. Maj
Woodruff is careful 20 declare that com
plexion OF itself has nothing 10 do with
criminality" These studies OF the com
plexion OF criminals are valuable because
they have revealed few facts OF con-
siderable interest as 20 the effects OF
lights in producing nervous states" that
in many cases lead 70 crime So that. If
the blends harbOr secret resentment
against the surgeon major because he
helps 10 destroy the old ideas concerning
their superior virtue. they have al least
no reasonable ground for denOuncing his
conclusions as cruel and slanderOus. As
contributor toward their rehabilitation in
the popular view, the brunettes, we take
Il, are under somewhat heavy obligations
10 the sOldier-savant. VINO has given
them the right 70 demand fairer treat
ment from the writer's Of popular novels
and the cOmpOUnders OF lurid melo-
dramas.