The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-02
STOP BREEDING DETECTIVES
By pr. Edwin F. Bowers.)

Those sentimental, but ill-advised individuals who hold that heredity is one. of the last matters that the hu- man race should concern themselves about would do well to read the very able article, based upon an expert ence of upward of four thousand cases by Dr. Martin W. Barr, chief physi- elan of the Pennsylvania Training School for Feeble Minded Children as reported in a recent issue of the A1ientst and Neurologist.
 Dr. Barr cites the case of a half- witted father, aged 3s with 19 de fective children to his credit His wife and willing helper was consid- cred fully his equal in mental equip ment-
 There was, however, nothing wrong with their provocative abilities. and pr. Barr fguratively pins the leather medal upon them for all round gen. eral obnoxiousness.
 Next in line is a couple with only nine imbeci1e chiIdren-which, how ever, the most ardent sentimentalfst and anti-race suicidist will admit is a. fair quantam for one family.
 Then an idiot, mother of seven idiot children, followed by 8 father with two daughters and an illegitimate grandchi1d, all feeble minded; next a prize package family of seven genera tions of 138 t.sou1s," with a total sane members, 7 imbeciles, epilep- Q,
 slaves to a neurotic heredity; then fair procession of 15 imbeciIe girls. 8 of whom were prostitutes, had i1Ie- gitimate offspring-two were epilep- tics and had idfotic children
 Then a motley group of four fec tai of 40 feeble minded children pretty good record, considering. Next a feeble minded woman who was a star boarder in the aImshouse from early life, and who had six iIIegiti- mate children. who inherited their mothers plentiful lack of wit. Next an inbecile drunkard, proud father of three feeble minded children one of whose daughters bore an ilIegiti- mate, feeble minded child before she was 6 years of age, one son a harm less inbecile, the other a thief and a pervert. Then a fine, old fam fly who traced their lineage back to Ararat or the Heidelberg geological formation-I forget which. This band of miserab1es comprised three sub-normaI generations, with at least 12 imbeciles to bIazon the bar. sin ister on the family 'escutcheon. Bringing up the rear guard is a jib- .bering Iunatic, whose brother and sis ter shielded, who boasted 5 sons, I feeble minded and drNnkard. one insane, who begot three imbecile chil- -dren, one epileptic, with three hope lessly epdleptic sons. and one insane, who unfortunately died without issue, and one apparently. normal, who was blessed with an innbeciIe son and an epileptic daughter.
 And thus they'll stretch out till the crack O doom-un1ess the American public develops a modicun of intel ligence and prevents it.
 Mark you well. In the foregoing we, are considering the experience of only one physician in the State of Pennsylvania Wouldn't it cause a jackass to indulge in g1eeful hyster- ics if he could only. get it through his thick head that our solicitude for the potential posterity of these incu- bi prevents us (excepting in a very few states, states conspicuous for the quality and quantity of brains posses sed by their physicians and 1awmak- ers) from interfering with the rights of these incom mpetents-their 'rights" to perpetuate their scum and riff raff upon us and our descen dants for ever and ever-Amen.
 It's a subject which it is difficult to discuss with the patience and frankness demanded sn a purely aca- -denaic matter. It is so obviously, so manifestly absurd, so grotesquely un- just, to permit this ho1 poIlof to breed that there can be no reasonable ar gument against stopping it.
 I say reasonable. I don't consider sentiment, or a nawkisk conserva- tism ,or a tin1id fear to interfere, a reason. It is not even an excuse
 We know as we can know any bio-