Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1911-11-30
GIVE CHILD A CHANCE.

DR.. Woods Hutchinson, author and
lecturer, addressed the Peoples lnstl-
tnte at the Jersey City High School
last Saturday afternoon, on The Myth
of Aristocracy," and we are sure our
readers will be interested in what he
said. He ridiculed the idea OF here
dity as the cause of disease, and laid
blame upon environment and sarcas-
tically referred to snobbish ideas II
aristocratic birth by saying: The
new born child has lived 95 per cent.
of its life before birth. Our parents
have contributed but per cent to
our heredity. The 95 per cent. may
go back beyond the period of the Nor
man Conquest and this whether we
claim we are daughter of thousand
earls, or only the child of one OF our
useful citizens.
rs there, or has there ever been an
aristocrat?s he asked. Each child
is the apex of a pyramid whose found
alton is in the very beginning OF
time. Behind it are 10,000,000 years
of progress. We all like to think well
of our ancestors and we are all en-
titled to think well of them. We like
to point with pride to some ancestor
whose name shines brightly on his
fory's pages, but any of rus may have
had king for ancestor in the remote
ages. and if we went back far enough
we might find some ancestor who was
hanged. Queen Victoria may have
been descended from King Solomon,
but this is not remarkable considering
his vast establishment.
1--WE are ali pretty well born. The
original aristocrats were those VINO
thought themselves descended from
the gods. For instance, even in en-
lightened Japan, the Mikado is called
The Heaven Born.
@There is no excuse from biologi-
cal standpoint for the transmission OF
wealth from parents to children It
is an artificial right conferred by the
community to have property descend
to the children.
The more carefully we conside-
this the more we will see that the
best interests of the community and OF
the children of the rich would be
conserved by abolishing the system Of
transmission of property and star
each child out in life with equal OPP
portunity, decent environment and
equal advantages.
rs there, from a biological stand
point, such a thing as selfmade
man Greatness is to a large degree
an inborn quality, the genius is the
child of the race, and the creates
men recognize this and try to pa.
oIx 1rJ,k y. 4.
the generations of the past and tt
present generation
So we must seek to give every
child a chance One can't specialize
in breeding men as in breeding ami
mails. When animals are bred it is
generally for some special purpose,
in one case for speed, in another for
milk, in another for eggs, and SO on.
Remove the fostering care and the
special excellence and one particular
function disappears. Nature main
tains an equilibrium.
tThe best way to increase the num-
ber of geniuses and great men is to
give the children an honest, fair, clean,
happy and decent environment. We
are killing third of our geniuses
by poor environment, discrimination
and inequality of opportunities. say
give every child fair, square, white
mans chance.
If a mans resources were more
equitably distributed there would be
dawn of an era when the working
day would not need to be longer than;
four hours When the community is
willing to face the problem of stop
ping transmission Of great wealth, the
standard of society will be raised.
Biologists have great hopes for the
future of the race. The great major
1ty are improving mentally and physi-
rally and the vox populi may now be
truly considered the yox Del Good
food, sunshine, fresh air, work, play,
good environment are the great RENEE
dies of the diseases of the race.
There is no such thing as hereditary
disease. tuberculosis is not heredi-
tary disease. Eighty per cent. of all
tuberculosis is due to infection To
a limited degree children of tubercular
parents are affected. Heredity is
ninety-five per cent to the good. and
as FIVE per cent Our debt to the race
is enormous The majority of us wish
the kind of Immortality that lives in
the good we have done.'
The doctor affirmed that polygamy
has scarcely been productive of a
single instance of greatness, and that
polygamy offered no opportunity to
produce the best physical specimens
of the race
A Thanksgiving Wedding.
A wedding of interest will take
place on Than ksgiving Day, at Allen