Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-16

| government make a scientific study O
boys and girls in reformatories. o.
whom he finds % per cent feeble.
minded. colonize these latter and pre-
vent them from reproducing THEN
| kind,
To the shame OF this great progress
| sive nation is the fact that although il
is almost certain that the offspring of
| a feeble minded parent will be defec-
| tive. few states have had the moral
courage to accept their plain duty and
act accordingly
Editor Devine of the Survey COM
ments: From feeble mindedncss
comes a very large part of all our
prostitution, alcoholism. crime. pauper-
/ ism and disease. BY segregation in
comfortable and well managed insti-
buttons and colonies, we attack these
evils at their source. BY negleeting to
provide such care and by treating the
feeble minded as if they were respon-
sible for their acts, we exhibit the
most astounding folly, the most com
pIete disregard of all sound prinei
reverse the fatuous policy which has
condemned to prisons and reformato-
ries thousands of unfortunate children
of mature years but of immature
minds; which has left at large in the
community tens of thousands to be
come harlots, drunkards, and paupers
who should have been recognized even
i'm childhood as incompetent and ten
DERBY cared for, if necessary at pub
lie expense; and which has entailed
upon US and upon our posterity =
grievous burden of illcGitimaeS. and
dcgeneracY tenfold more expensive
than all the hospital and institutional
care for which state boards of chart
ties and state conferences of charities
have been making their vain petit
tons.
The question before the public
seems TO be the extent to which the
personal liberty" of the individual
may be sacrificed in the interest Of
society at large. Most of rs of aver
age intelligence profess to be Mortified
in contemplation of such facts as
quoted above when brought to oRr at
tention. How much longer VIII our
selfish tendencies toward looking after
our immediate affairs and letting the
old world wag ia its way. prevail
When may we reach a point where
the principle of selective reproduction
will be applied to human beings?
What is the first practical remedy
This problem of keeping the race
clean has many complexities. 1t IS
growing more important as we realize
more and more the evils of natural
selection and all the ramidcations of
{ personal liberty" in a free coun-
try. With our developing sense of So
eial obligation we see, also. the differ
ence between punishment, restraint
and public vengeance. The inebriate,
the degenerate, the feeble minded, and
the human vultures who prosper fl
nancially on the augmentation and
perpetuation of the three first classes
all these evils must be looked
souarely in the face and handled for
the best interests of society as
whole. But when will we be ready to
spare the time and effort from our
own narrow ambitions to begin the
work?
The problem of the degenerate is
called to notice by another writer of
the month, Charles b. Davenport,
who says:
"A study has been made of a rural
community of New York state. This
community lives in a valley which
may be called Mans Hollow. In this
community the study showed 30 Ii
centious women and 1893 licentious
men. and only 155 chaste women and
eighty-three thaste men. Fifty-four
have been in cuStodial care either in
aSylums or county houses, twenty
four have received outdoor aid, and IN
addition private aid has been given
them by charitable persons for years.
Forty have served terms in state s
prison or Jail. There are 49, persons
who use alcohol in extreme quantities.
j. e., are sotS,
No one should deceive himself by
thinking that because this is happen
ing in a faraway rural district it does
not affect him The imbeciles and har-
lots and criminalstic are bred in the
Hollow. but they do not all stay there
| Not few cases are known where har-
| lots from the hollow have become
prostitutes in the cities. even in New
York and the tendencies to commit
arson, assault and burglary have gone
| with the individuals which they ten
| ant To remote parts of the country.
| Would you rouse yourself If you
| learned there We're ten cases of bu-
| bonnie plague at a point not 200 miles
| away Is not breeding spot of UNI
| controlled animalism as much of a
| menace to our civilzauon?''
| On these things we can move only
as fast as the great mass of people
are educated up to conditions and ne
cessities. But Investigators and
writer's are fulfilling their mission and
preparing the way for real advance
ment when We fully understand, and