White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1911-11-05

-
the same law of nature which applies
10 animals applies likewise TO man
kind and therefore d~eprecate the fact
that the greatest increase IS to
be noted in families where con-
ditions are not conductive 10 the best
training and education of the child
rem. 1t calls attention TO Pearson's
statement that 25 Per cent Of the
present generation is producing SO
per cent of the next; that imbeeiles.
paupers, criminals and detectives
were producing faster than manu-
faeturers. merchants. lawyers. and
physicians; that. in a word, II the
present form Of society is to continue.
something must be done to prevent
the perpetuation of defective classes.
1t then comments as follows:
That these dangers are not mere
dreams, that heredity does play the
major part in the prevention of de-
sirable and undesirable classes alike.
is only too easily demonstrated in
order 10 drive home the necessity Of
a careful study OF human heredity.
We have only 10 cite Poellmann's
study of a family established By two
daughters Of a woman d%runkard, who
in five or six generations produced
ali told s34 defendants. OF whom
oyer 700 were professional beggars.
inmates of almshouses. criminals and
incompetents of various degrees. and
to contrast with that degenerate
family the 1894 defendants OF
Jonathan Edwards. most of whom
occupied distinguished positions il
educational institutions. in the diplo-
matte service. in political life. in
commercial affairs. and in literature.
Environment plays but a small
part in this process Of conscious race
Improvement. Free public Libraries.
clean houses, modern sanitation can
not correct bad blood. Slums.
sweatshops and dirt are bad. not be-
cause they breed criminals. but be-
cause they may kill of classes which.
II nourished. might become strong
and healthy stocks. What is wanted
Is a more painstaking and scientific
study of the germ plasm that de-
yelops a healthy or unhealthy strain.
rather than more asylums and
prisons for the correction and punish
ment Of offenders. A philanthropist
who will wisely donate 10 the cause
the funds which would otherwise
find their way TO the Golfers of
charitable institutions should earn
everlasting fame. Greater than any
political issue. greater than the
building of more universities and
Libraries. greater even the abolition
of standing armies. is any movement
which has for its object the direct
improvement of the human race
Only a beginning has been made,
but a beginning that has shown that
behind the phase race suicide"
which was banded about a few years
ago. there looms a danger far greater
than most of Us realize. Il is be-
coming increasingly evident that
good blood means not simply decent
from an aristocratie race, but de-
scent from a race physically and
mentally and morally strong.
When We consider that, according
TO the latest available census reports.
there are among u 100000 peo-
pie at least 200 900 who are insane
and feeble minded; 100000 who are
blind: 100000 who are blind and
deaf and dumb; $4,000 who are pau
pers in Institutions, tvothirds of
whom have children physically or
mentally deficient; 100000 prisoners.
several hundred thousand more who
ought TO be prisoners; $4,000 juve-
nile delinquents in institutions; o.
600, 900 who are in hospitals. dis
p~ensaries. and homes" of various
kinds; and lastly. 5000. 900 defec-
tiyes capable of transmitting their
tainted protoplasm TO the next gen
Grafton. there is indeed room for the
new science of race Improvement.
and room. too. above every asylum
and prison portal. for R%entotoul's
epigrammatic u%tterance:
The hand that wrecks tn. cradle
wrecks the nation"