The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-18
Frederick Haskin's Letter
Leaving 1t to EugenicS.

New York City, March 17.-FreC
advice in the matter of choosing
wives and husbands is soon to bt
available in Vienna for people who
wish to observe the principles o.
eugenics, according to a news re
port recently received from thai
city.
Vienna has lately had occasion
to become alarmed at the large
sums which the municipality has
had to spend on treatment for chill
dren born idiots; and DR.. Tandler
the chief sanitary officer, has de-
cided to introduce this pre-matri-
monial service as sort of hope
full experiment.
You cannot prevent people from
having children" says DR.. TandleT
by merely imposing conditions OF
marriage any more than you car
make people pay taxes if they are
really determined to evade them
You must cultivate sense of re-
sponsibility in the individual.
! propose, therefore, merely to give
people an opportunity of consulting
a doctor gratis before they are
married. In the future there will
be a municipal consultant on we'd
lock who will be a doctor with a
good knowledge of human nature
over and above his medical quail
fications. He will simply tell the
people the truth about themselves
and the prospects for their children
if they marry. The aim of the in
stitution will be to educate the pub
lie to a point where it will be a
matter of common sense to consult
a doctor before marriage"
The rendering of scientific opin-
ions to young couples contemplate
ing marriage as to the probable
characteristics of their offspring,
as well as the establishment of
parentage in case of disputed legit-
imacy, are among the new practi-
cal uses of eugenics. We already
have a well known eugenics record
Office at Cold Spring Harbor in this
country, under the direction of Dr.
Charles B. Davenport, leader of the
eugenicS movement over here,
which supplies advice similar to
that proposed for the citizens of
Vienna. Such advice is more in de-
mand than might be expected. and
many romances have been bIighted
or aided by the coldly scientific
analyses of eugenics experts con-
nected with the Davenport labora-
tory.
More Serious Views Certain.
Eventually there will come a
widespread realization of the i'm
portance of heredity in marriage"
says DR.. Davenport. Young per-
sons to whom marriage is so ser
ious a matter will be led to stop
and consider when they feel they
are falling in love, and inquire con-
corning consequences to offspring.
Already there is being develop
ed a well defined conscience in the
matter of cousin marriages, for eX-
ample, and of matings into families
with grossly defective members.
This is shown by the extensive cor
respondence that the eugenics Of
fee has been obliged to enter into
with persons who are contemplate
ing marriage.
They are quite willing to sub
NIT an extensive account Of their
family traits, and they write to
learn what is known about the in
heritance of some family weakness
or defect The people who make
these inquiries are often unusually
and not at all radical:
some of them stand high in the So
cial world.
at is a high idealism and a for
ward-looking one which leads them
to seek the desired knowledge. and
one can only respond to these re-
quests by telling what is known,
or highly probable, in respect to
the recurrence of the family defects
in offspring Whatever the con-
illusions that one is able to give
are always very valuable or not, at
least the custom of considering
children and their inheritance of
family traits is one to be encour-
aged. Normal persons marry to
beget normal children, and it is
natural for them to seek informa-
ton concerning the inheriting of
particular traits
The only trouble with this high
idealism" at present is that the sci
ence Of eugenics is still in its in
fancy. and eugenists show an
alarming tendency to contradict
each other on various important
points. There is the question of
cousin marriages, for instance.
Some authorities, including DR.
believe that such mar
riages are always unwise. but there