The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-01-05
Rural Deseneracy

One of the most serious OF yer
mont's problems today is how to deal
properly with what appears to be a
growing tendency toward vice and
crime in some of the remote rural
districts of the state. III general
/ estimate of conditions in the country
1t is apparent that more OF the COM
/ forts and refnements OF lie are 10
he found on the farms and that great
err prosperity prevails there than ever
before. Notwithstanding this encour-
aging fact there are altogether too
many communities where conditions
are bad and growing worse.
The increase of crime in rural
/ towns among native American stock
is appalling.
( That similar condition of affairs
prevails in the hill towns OF Massa-
chusetts is indicated by an article
| contributed to a recent number OF
the Boston Transcript, which des-
cribes the work done in the vicinity
of Northampton by the Society Tor
the Prevention OF Cruelty to emil
dren. The writer says:
In the valley of the Connecticut
river are rich agricultural lands pro
ducing tobacco and onions The PEG
pie who populate this region are des-
cendants OF old New England famil-
ies-some of the Oldest and bluest
blood in the state-as well as men
and women of German, English, IT.
ish extraction, and French Canadians
Slavs. Italians and Greeks In the
communities thus constituted the So
ciety has found conditions as desper-
ate as those in the great cities. In
a sense they are more so, for the iso
lation and the distance to be Travelled
handicap the work.
THE cases OF these poor whites
to borrow the concisest word-fall
naturally into two classes, first, the
cases which occur in the hill towns
and cities. OF sthe former since per
haps the most important, let us treat
first The following is a typical in
stance:
"In one of the prettiest and most
picturesque villages nesting in the
foothills OF the Berkshires there was
till recently a family which is direct
ly descended from the blood OF a May
flower voyager For three or four
generations the representatives oil
this house have been idiots They
have intermarried with idiots whose
ancestry is as fine and pure as their
own. The children who have again
intermarried, have been also feeble
minded. Apparently there has never
been any power OF town or state able
even had it tried-to put an end TO
this perpetuation OF tragedy. At
least when the case came TO the not
ice of the agent of the Northampton
branch of the S p. c. c. and when she
investigated it there was no evidence
that anything had ever been done or
would be. Clearly such a condition
must not continue. Here were men
and women peopling the New Eng
land hills with their crazy kind; here
we're children running to waste and
worse. Common humanity demand
ed that the thing be terminated
"The s. p. G. c. terminated IT,.
Armed with the prosecuting powers
which a fortunate law has given II
the organization took away the chill
dren from their homes, sent the
mothers who were likely to give
, birth to more children TO Waverly
, for life, cleaned up the children. took
stock of their abilities and placed
them either in houses where they
could be brought up intelligently or
else in hospitals suited to their var
ious conditions. The net result is
that the western part OF Massachu-
sets is rid forever OF a dangerous
plague spot, lives which might have
gone out in living darkness are given
a chance to shine; the countryside is
morally purged; a job without price
has been we'll done.
up in the hill towns and on the
farms idiocy and feeble.mindednes is
the fundamental problem which must
be attacked The policy is that OF
prevention and cure--the prevention
of the birth Of more idiots by placing
the collaborating mothers in confne-
ment and the curing OF such OF the
children as can be made whole by
the best medical treatment that the
valley town affords. Frequently II
happens that seemingly foolish
child is mentally and physically re-
furnished by having his teeth clean
ed. his eyes examined and his ade-
noids removed. One boy, for in.
stance. who seemed absolutely good
for nothing recovered not only his
quick intelligence, but even his men,
DRY. after he had been fitted out with
J the proper glasses. Always the idea
. is to reach family reunion when II is
feasible, and always to put things in
, to such excellent and wholesome or.
der that they will stay sound and
sweet.
THE second class OF cases which
the society handles-and here, again
there is no other agency to handle
them-comprises those that arise
from economic conditions in aud
about the mill towns The agent
soon found, for example. that sur.
prisingly large number OF delinquent
girls were coming to their attention.
| and that one Of the worst breeding
| places for this sort of vice was the
| local railroad station. The situation
was studied and petition OF four
| hundred citizens requested that the
railroad place a matron there. from
four o'clock in the afternoon till mid
night The railroad did so. The re
suit has been almost immediate i'm
proved conditions. IL Is another case
Il of UrnXputinn Than thor. 1, A..