The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-22

system. A tllpdIlSol u SuNi q |
group made up of tramps. conv1cts,
fallen women, and what are known
in the English nomenclature as casual
dodgers showed that no group OF the
undesirables approached aver
age Of the highest class investigated
within 40 per cent. and that some or
the undesirables fell 20 per cent be-
hind. Yet these inferior people are
those whom we punish for the COM
mission of crimes and whom we criti-
else and penaliZe for not working egg
ularly and we'll.
Thus it has been fully established
that the criminal is a man below
physical par, and this makes the gen.
orally accepted theory that policemen
must be abnormally big men in order
to cope with him an amusing thing.
AS a matter Of fact, criminals average
125 pounds in weight. while police
men average 165 to 10 pounds in
weight. Law and order certainly have
all the better Of it when il comes to
physical strength.
THE physical weakness of criminals
saves us much trouble. The mortality
among them is high. Criminals &C
down at a tremendous rate. 1t is not
at all the fact that the sO-called Grim
inal element may rightful1y be con-
Sldered a menace to society. The
menace lies rather in the stupidity Of
the police II courts which deal with
us.
cit has been found to be impossible
to fix upon any physical charaCteris-
tic or psychological reaction and say
accurately that this is what makes
this man a criminal For a long time
the criminal tendency was believed to
be an evidence of insanity, but while
it is true hat perhaps 10 per cent of
the inmates Of a penitentiary may be
found to be mentally unbalanced.
while not so large a proportion OF the
members of the average church would
be found TO be similarly afflicted, the
fact that SO per cent. Of the peniten-
tiary inmate are not insane diSprOveS
the theory.
cit was after many things had been
disproved that study began along
what seems to be the right lines
relations Of feeble-mindeoness to
criminality.
Good Work at Vineland.
"The best work Of this sort has been
done at V%ineland, N. j., and has been
detailed in The Times. Here investiga-
; tons were started which have had
amazing and illuminating results. 1t
!, has been found hat it is possible to
link up by means Of family histories,
One-third Of the inmates Of New Jer-
sey's criminal and pauper institutions
wv 1dlllIllC u lIOtOI lOuS I11SlOI y
t in the sane barrens Of the State.
'It was this New Jersey experiment
1 which started US along the right
: track, I think. Systematic work upor
predetermined children appearing ir
e the schools followed.
! The question began to be gener.
0 ally asked. What should be done with
: the school children who can't keeI
| up? Indiana studied 10000 in her in.
Il stitutions. of whom about 10000 ha6
been born in Indiana. Careful pedi
greeting Of this group showed that 3;
e per cent. Of it had sprung from abOu
$50 families.
Now let us return to the worl
done by the two young men Of whom
K [ have spoken. Having started witt
the Binet-Simon rest, which is wei
e known, they went on to other genera
and special tests of the men in thei
charge.
"The Kansas man, who is a hare
e and earnest worker, had about 900 o
< them, whites and negroes, above tn,
| age Of %, and in one and one-haI
n years found hat only 5 per cent O
- them were normal human beings, tina
s is, he found that 95 per cent of then
were minus individuals.
H. "Although education had been opel
practically to all of them, only 5 pc
II cent. Of them had entered high school
OF because their ambition had given GU
> before they had gone that far.
y His work established the menta
e age OF every man under his charge
le and while the actual age of the pris
= oners ranged from % to so, four Q
re the whites failed to pass tests devise
~ for children of the mental age Of
Only IL per cent. out of 100 pasSe
as the 1~5-year-old tests, while three
Sc quarters of the whole fell below tn
S mental age of IL.
Here is proof enough. These ar
ST the kind of people whom we have bee
furnishing, aiming by means of tort
ae ure, more or less acute, to reform
We than, into hecominp GOOD citizanC
q, would be as wise to try to cure Clu
ne feet by means of penal servitude an
ly the cat-O'-nine-tailS.
= Most Criminals Stupid.
"This investigation is of real in