Semi-weekly herald., 1914-01-12
Noted Men Advocate
Race Betterment

that 20 per cent of the married wom-
en- in America are unable to bear
children. OF the higher class "a per
d, cent are sterile. Twenty-seven per
cent of the women who are college
graduates are sterile.
He cites the fact that in some
places the death rate exceeds the
birth rate. Sex hunger, he designates
as the dominating passion which is
the cause of the most frightful crime
of the age, infanticide. He declares
that unless the bodies of American
women are more perfectly developed
| to meet race needs, we surely face de-
| terioria ton.
BATTLE CREEK, Mich, Jan 10.
-Denouncing as" the worst form of
infidelity' denial of the possibility
of race betterment, DR.. Victor c..
Vaughn, president-elect of the Amer
lean Steel Medical association and
president of the Michigan state board
of health, today pleaded for the uni
versal adoption Of sane system of
eugenics to be taught every person
and especially young people of the
United States. DR.. Vaughn was the
principal speaker on today's program
of the national conference on race
betterment which opened five days
}meetirg here Thursday with scores Of
internationally prominent physicians,
sociologists, educations and divines,
attending as delegates.
1.-The most distressing matter with
which eugenists are concerned is in
heritance of defective mentality"
said DR.. Vaughn. america is threat
ened with a spread of mental and
moral degeneracy through the multi
plication of the unfit. 1t is the plain
duty of those who perceive this
threatening disaster to study how it
may be averted.
at is mans nervous system which
makes him the lord of creation. The
superman will not radically differ
from his progonitors in size, height,
muscularity or blood supply, but his
nervous system will be more highly
developed. 1t is fallacious and dang
erous to think that race regeneration
is to be found in athletic training.
With the growth in intelligence the
| birth rate falls, but this is quite
compensated for by lessening death
rate and increased longevity. The
eugenist is concerned with quality
more than quantity.
"The eugenist does not propose that
marriage selections shall be determ-
ined by statute, but it does propose
to educate the young that selections
shall be made on more rational
grounds than is now too frequent the
case. The eugenist does not aim to
abolish or degrade the institution of
marriage, but does aim to inculate
the idea that marriage is the highest,
holiest of institutions, so holy that
he who dishonors it shall be counted
worse than an infidel. 1t is no free
love scheme, for that would lead to
physical, mental and moral debase-
ment. 1t does not propose to abolish
the family, but to bind it's members
together by stronger ties of more
rational love.
| Another impressive address of to-
day was that on "The Function of the
Dentist in Race Betterment," by DR..
C. N johnson, editor of the Dental
Review, of Chicago. DR.. johnson
dwelt upon the ruinous effects of de-
cayed teeth in children especially as
regards inefficient mastication
without mastication, we cannot have
good Digestion he said, without di-
gestion we cannot have assimilation
and without assimilation we cannot
have nourishment. And the child
who is lily nourished develops a crav.
ing for stimulants. Observation has
proven that children suffering with
defective teeth cannot masticate anG
will consume enormous quantities OF
tea and coffee. 1t may seem far
|. cry from defective teeth to drunken.
ness and yet 1t is possible and per.
fectly logical sequence. 1t has beer
proven that cavities in decayed teeth
breed tuberculosis germs. A recent
scarlet fever epidemic in the Chicago
schools was discovered to have devel
oped and kept up through germs be
, ing carried in decayed teeth. Wher
) the teeth were treated the epidemic
was stamped out"