The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-12-08
PERFECT BABY
FROM THE SLUMS
Father Was a Drunkard, Moth
er Was Overworked. But
the Child is q
Wonder.
EUGENICs GETS A BLOW
Little Edward Dean, Found In Mater.
nifty Hospital, Won First
Prize at tho
Contest.
EUGENICs GETS A BLOW
by Alice Robe. staff correspondent
Of the United Press

of the United Press.l
JERSEY CITY, N. j., Lee. s.
Edward Dean is but fourteen months
old, yet with mis- chubby little fists he
forces eugenics into corner, and
With a cherubic smile that banishes
scientific bodies has forced open the
door of one of Jersey City's exclusive
homes. Edward moved into this home
today and excepting one day this
week, whea he will reappear to re-
tceive gold medal in recognition OF
his 100 per cent OF perfection, has
dropped the curtain forever on an
ancestry which he bellies.
This husky little shaver who walk
ed away with the first prize in New
Jersey better-baby contest last week,
scoring a figure that Is about as near
perfection as baby ever gets, went
to the scene of his conquest from the
Jersey City maternity hospital where
for several months he has been star
boarder following his desertion by a
wretched, over-worked, i'll nourished
woman who had been deserted by
drink-wrecked father. In the light of
his prenatal history and his present
day condition, Edward had passed a
problem up to scientists and human
Iitarians which promises to call for
isome extensive figuring. It is not
Ibothertng the foster parents who
have promised to transplant the little
4 life into an environment which they
feel certain will more than Offset any
prenatal Influences.
i Interest in the little prize winner
from the Jersey City slums has reach
ed out from the hospital where he has
been living for the past four months
land engaged the attention of the big
ger realm of science and eugenics.
4 The fact that Edward drew the spot
light In better-baby contest where
the winners are supposed to be finely
bred, of healthy parent, won despite
the fact that his own family tree had
gone down with crash before the
winds of adversely, has proven some
thing of a stickler for those who in.
sist upon beginning our life histories
several chapters back before the ar
rival of the stork. 1t would be q
fiinty hearted eugenic expert who
could look at little Edwards perpetual
smile, his perfectly formed little body
and his beautiful head and face and
not admit that he Is about as nearly
. porfao+iop oc could ho hopod for avon
after generations of eugenic practices
In the opinion of Miss e. M. Brede
, supervising nurse in the maternity
hospital and the one person directly
responsible for the baby's present
state of health, Edward is the best
argument that can be put forward to
prove that 1t is environment, scientific
care and proper feeding that are the
important elements in the develop
ment Of perfect children which will
! bring out any latent good points in
; herited from several generations back
Edward is undoubtedly the finest
specimen of babyhood any of us have
ever seen, said Miss Brede today as
she talked disconsolatedly Of the little
chap who had gone to his new home
HE could not have poorer start ol
greater handicaps. When he came t.
us last July from a fresh air camp he
was sickly, impoverished and suffer
: ing with bronchitis. He had nourish
: ing food, regular hours, plenty of fresi
3 air and exercise. I do not think tha
( Edwards case disproves the theory 0
/ eugenics. am rather inclined t.
+ think that there must have been SOM
. good stock in his ancestry after al
Y in spite of his immediate parentage
, But good food and constant care coun
t for much. Edward weighs twent.
| pounds and twelve ounces, is twenty
nine inches in height and is ever,
' ounce and every inch prize
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