The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-11-24
BIRTH BONUS PLAN
URGED BY WOMAN
Mrs. S. ]. Holmes Of Berke.
ley Sponsors Idea
BUILD UP THE BRAINS
Imperative Social Duty To II
nancially Aid Parents, De-
clares Terman
GENE CONN


Berkeley, November 22.-Birtl
bonus to encourage the breeding O.
brains!
From Professor Samuel j. Holmes
national authority on eugenfcs anc
heredity, head of the zoology. and
biology departments or Ltne Unfver
sity of California, author of The
Trend of the Race" and "A dozeI
other works, comes this careful
considered proposal to governments
bodies and society in general.
That it is an imperative socia
duty to financially aid or. reware
parents of superior intelligence, as
means of encouraging them to brins
children into the world, is not only
gehists throughout the nation whs
are issuing warnings that brain pro
duction is falling OF.
Here are some of the somewhat
startling discoveries that brought
from Professor Holmes his sugges
ton:
That groups of young college pro-
lessons wives are being forced b..
economic pressure to practice birtB
control.
That only about SO per cent of col
lege women are marrying.
That the people of inferior intel
ligence are having too many chill
dren and those of superior heredity
too. few or none at all.
That some eastern colleges have
actually urged unmarried men to
take teaching positions because OF
poor pay.
Encouraging chiIdlessness
In other words we are actually
putting a premium on childlessness,n
declares Professor Holmes. "A
group of University of Californis
budgets showing that they cannof
decently rear children on the money
received. Many of them can scarce
ly dress in the fashion their posi-
tons demand. Yet these are the
very people who should be produc-
ing our future intellectual classes.
The greatest national possession
is its best blood. That is what stats
and national governments should
realize and those intellectually ssu-
perior ones who bear children
should be financially rewarded
as charity or gratuity, but because
it's as much of necessary invest
ment as anything else they spend
money for, and a greater invest
ment than 80 per cent of their 9th
ers
1T is a critical situation and in
noting its seriousness do not speak
alone but the voice of the leading
eugenists and biologists echo what ]
say. 1t calls for remedy. We can
not let it pass unnoticed unless dire
consequences come.
hst~&
"Unless something is done the best
blood of the nation will be eliminat-
ed within a few generations.
I'VE are literally breeding out our
brains"
A similar situation is seen by Pro
fessor Louis Terman. famed psy
chologist of Sanford University.
whose researches show that the
chances for unusual children who
might become great men and women
are growing gradually less.
Just what the wives of professors
have to cope with is outlined by
groups of University of California
women
Eight of these wives have com
piled budgets, based on reports of
many others. They include Mrs.
Dorothy Hart Bruce. wife of Prof
E1dTOlQ BRUCE, OF the EnSuSQ lie
partment: Mrs. G. p. Adams, Mrs
C. H. BeH,. Mrs. e. c. Tolman and
others who have married men I'm
portant in college life.
Their conclusion is:
"The only economy which in time
enables us to live on our salaries is
to have no babies"
Strict Economy Needed
The report continues: One col
lege couple, witha baby, cooks, eats
and sleeps in the same room. One
faculty woman has worn the same
winter hat for seven years. Two
have worn the same cape for ii
years. A woman with child of II
Is still wearing her wedding trous-
seau. Wives of professors are doing
all their own washing and that of
their children. Many can't afford
the books they need for research
and entertainment. Many have to
use substitutes for butter; others
cannot afford eggs for months at a
time when prices are high.
And yet,' sums up Professor
Holmes, 1--WE hear of the government
and state carrying on campaigns for
better babies. We get neither guam
tity nor quality.
"This sort of propaganda has been
carried much too far, for while the
people that should be having fami
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