Arizona republican., 1919-02-23
OVER THREEPERCENT
 OF SOLDIERS WERE
 MENTAL DETECTIVES

For the first time in the history of the world it is possible to form some definite idea of the extent Of feeble mindedness. The army draft revealed the presence among the drafted men of something more than per cent ot mental detectives. About 1 per cent were of the imbicle class, that Is Of mental endowment which would en- able them to advance as far as the first or second grade in the pubic schools. About 2 per cent were of the moron" class, that is, capable of ad- vancing to the fifth or sixth grade, but incapable of developing judgment suI- ficient to meet the demands of life.
 Feeble -mindedness is known to Dc a biological defect in nearly all cases, due to imperfect nervous tissue ana quite incurable. It is also known to behave as @ Mendelian 'recessive," so that if two feeble minded people mar ry the offspring will all be feeble minded; that is, a pure strain of eeble-mindedness can be established in this way. What percentage of the feeble minded come of these establish ed strains, and what percentage are occasional is not known. Those who are most familiar with the subject are of the opinion that a majority of feeble-minded people come of feeble minded stock.
 It is no longer questioned that the 1 Predetermined figure very largely in all social problems. An overwhelming ma 1 jority of prostitutes are feeble-minded; a high percentage of criminals and de- 1 linquents; and many of the pauper and 1 me CT well" class. The hobo is fre- ! Quently if not always a mental defec- ! tive. The honest workman out of a job ! suffers unjustly because the ranks of 1 the unemployed vitiated and dis credited by the considerable number l of uncomfortable always found in this group.
 The feeble-minded are about three times as prolific as the intelligent classes. This fact furnishes one of the most appalling problems of race wei fare. What can be done? Schemes for promoting eugenic marriages are as yet impracticable, but cannot some thing be done to prevent what we might call "dysgenic' marriages? The writer knows personally of number of feeble minded women of low grade who have married in Arizona ano borne good sized families of children Some cases the family have tried tc prevent the marriage, but ne law coulc be invoked and their efforts failed. If the feeble minded keep up th' present rate of increase for anothe
 90 years the problem will assume sucl proportions that it will appear almos insoluble. The question of eXpens' naturally comes up. The feeble minded are already costing every common
 wealth sums of money running up int the hundreds of thousands of dollar
 in court fees, destruction of property assistance to destitute families, car
 of neglected children, taxing the pub
 lie school system with the retarde' and unteachable child, the cost o Venereal disease, and in almost un numbered and unrecognized ways. Tn
 last ite malone amounts to thousand 7 of dollars of industrial loss in ever . state Ninety per cent of venereal dis
 ease can be traced to the prostitut | class. and the prostitute class is 9
 per cent feeble minded. That is tn
 proper care of the feeble-minded gil
 that cannot take care of herself is no
 only dictated by common humanity an
 by the Christian religion, but by ordi
 nary self-interest.
 The consideration of some practics
 means to check the increase of tn
 feeble minded cannot much longer b
 ignored or postponed. It would seer
 that the medical profession shoul take the initiative in this matter. The federal government has request
 ed special legislation in each stat
 looking towards the control of veneres disease. One of the measures asked flo is state care of the feeble-minded- l
 the states where this public duty
 not repudiated, the first step toward
 control of race degeneracy is bein | taken