Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-06
Why WASHINGTON Society Women Are Studying Eugenics

Eugenics impresses upon us that our irnmi.
grafton laws should restrict the immigration
of stocks unfit to blend with the American pop
ulation. The representative of enc of the
Powers is quietly working to keep the unfit
of his nation at home for that reason. He
told me So
The characteristics of children show ma,
many defects are tTaceable to parents who are
either too old or too young. Thirty-seven per
cent of all swindlers are the children Of parents
who are more than forty-one years old. ma.
jority of the crimes of violence against prop
erty, as incendarism are committed by the
children of too young parents Yet the chill
dren of the young parents show the greater
intelligence Fifty-two per cent more than
half of the assassins are the children Of ED
erly parents.
We should all know that consangutneous
marriages chose of close relatives, as cous
ins) may have disastrous results II only be-
cause cousins are liable to have the same
traits and marriage and parenthood would
cause these traits to become more marked, they
should be avoided because Of intenstfying fam.
ily faults which might disappear in genera
ton or two of remote matings. The anti
eugensts point to Cleopatra as proof OF the
value of inbreeding. She was the daughter of
a welded brother and sister, for It was the
custom then for brothers and sisters to wed
and so keep the throne of the Ptolemies in the
family. True, Cleopatra was wonderfully beau
tiful, but beauty is not the chief purpose OF
the eugenists The truth is that if she we're
living to-day Egypt's beautiful queen would be
in the ward of Matteawan or some other asy
lum for the criminally insane. Consanguineous
marriages between persons of weak mentality
are a source of both crime and insanity.
A second principle is that those unable for
bodily or mental reasons to earn a living WILL
if permitted to marry, bequeath other charges
to the state. Germany and Austria have pro-
vided that no person living upon charity or
receiving state assistance shall be permitted
to marry.
If an insane or imbecile person marries
normal one, one-half or at least one-fourth OF
their children usually inherit the abnormality.
If two epileptcs marry, their children will
all be epileptics, and if two imbeclles marry
they will produce imbeciles.
A woman may be more safely trusted to
marry above her station than a man. Most
mesalliances are nfede by men. 1t is a wom-
ans instinct to raise herself in the marriage
scale.
The tendency of nature is to slump. If
fit and unfit person marry, the children are
liable to be more like the unfit than the I'll
person. This is a regrettable truth which we
cannot evade.
The fear is in some minds that a knowledge
of eugencs will Danish romance. Far from H.
1t will make marriages happier as well as bet
ter There will always be love, and by making
the race better we will make love more per
manent 1t comes back to our watchword'
study to Make the stock better"
We do not believe in the elimination of the
infant unfit. When children have come into
the world let us take care of them. The Greek
idea of numbering the weaking infant does not
accord with our civilization The world would
have been deprived of much of its greatness
had we adopted this law. Goethe, for instance,
was a weakling infant. But, once again, say,
let study how to make the stock better.