The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-02
PsychOpsthlc lnfeFiOrity.

Among the classes excluded from
admission to this country under the
provisions Of the Burnett immlgra-
ton bill. passed by tho House of Rep
reeentatiycs ON Thursday by Il vote
Of 3OS to 81. are 'all persons Of con-
stitutiOnai p>ychopa,,iic infcriorlty."
As Congress is deplorably short Of
recent Harvard graduates. this dis
tinctively twentieth century dc>crip-
ton of q certain type of alleged undo
sifables caused so much comment and
discussion In the House that Mr.. BrE-
NETT. sponsor for tho bill. was obliged
TO confess that no himself had been
Obliged to consult alienists In order
to obtain enlightenment upon the
phrase above quoted. Expert tcs,i-
mony is TO the effect. according TO
Mr.. BURNETT. that ''psychopathic in
feriority" Is the afiliction of such per-
IONS us have ~ c%ongenital defect in
the emotional or %vOlitional fields of
mental activity which results in in.
ability to make proper adjustment to
their environments
BY the application of intensive
methods of ratiocination IL this ,leti-
milton, the startled layman cannot
avoid I'm emotion Of mingled amaze.
uaeut and jubilation a. he realizes the
possibilities suggested by the hostility
If the House Ia "psyChopatliic in
fertority' rs an external menace 10
the welfare Of the nation. Surprising,
for example, that our national lc-is-
lators, having entered upon the prom.
Using path Of psychological differenti-
alton between individuals. should vote
TO deport all native Americans who
are so emotionally and vo%litlonally
defective that they cannot make
proper mental adjustments to their ~.
spective environments. There might
be, Of course, 80 large I'm exodus from
this country that our census returns
would presently lead TO II general
feeling Of extreme p~esSimism. And
are there not Oembers Of Congress
who. under such circumstances. would
be forced to emigrate? Can ii be as
serted truthfully that every Senator
and Representative now in Washing
ton Is SO emotionally and v%olitionally
adjusted TO his present environment
that the roll calls in Congress offer
M clues To experts In search of
psychopathic phenomena illustrating
mental inferlority?
But the above questions are unim.
rOrtant compared with the query re-
garding the fate of ultra-pacifists
II deportation were to he made the
punishment for mental maladjust-
ment to what may be called our M
tl0nal environment. They display nm
intellectual inability to realize where
they and their country stand at this
moment. Their emotions may he
praisewOrthy, but their volitlon Is IN
plOyed in the wrong direction. The
only environment that could save
them from chronic exhibitions of psy-
chopathic inferioriiy would demand
the advent of the millennium.
In Its larger aspects the whole mat
Ter comes to this: II Congress In
sists upon applying the new science
Of psychometry to aliens knocking AT
u doors, Is there any logical reason
why 1t should hesitate to divide our
own countrymen into the sheep nnd
the goats? Experts might give us,
after nationwide tests, the mental
measurements of our small army and
small navy advocates, the psychomet-
ficaI DATA regarding the men and