The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-08-22
THOUSANDS OF
WOMEN SEEK
STERILIZATION
Great Number Voluntarily
Go Under Knife, EugeniCS
Congress Told.
BIZ Science Sercice

ton by surgical operation is being
sought voluntarily for both medical
and eugenic reasons by many
women, DR.. E. S. GoSney of Pasa-
dena, Cal, told the Third Interns.-
tional Congress of Eugenics at its
meeting here today.
A recent estimate from Germany
is that at least 100000 women are
sterilized there in private practice
each year, he said; and it seems
likely that the number sterilized in
private practice in the United States
is greater.
The surgical procedure of Sterili-
cation is major operation for
woman, requiring at least two weeks
in bed, with medical care after
ward.
Legal sterilization was advocated
as the best and most practicable
method for checking the rapid in
crease of mentally unfit persons by
Sir Bernard Manett, K. c. B., of
London, speaking before the con-
greSs.
Pauper Population Grows
However, Sir Bernard pointed
out, as beyond reasonable dispute.
that the race of chronic paupers,"
breeding in and through successive
generations, has a definite existence
and that the community would be
we'll rid of such undesirable heredi-
tary stocks.
Signor MusSolini never may be
able to review whole brigades of
6-foot grenadiers, such as used to
delight the military eye of the
father of Frederick the Great; but
the troops who salute him today
are taller than those who fought
for Italian liberation in the sew
enties.
The increasing height of Italian
men during the last half century
was one of the points brought out
in a statistical study presented at
the meeting by Professor Marcello
Boldrini of the Catholic University
of Milan.
Italians not only are becoming
taller, but the height of the male
population is becoming more uni
form.
Negroes Make Some Gain
Professor Boldrini ascribed this re-
suit partly to the complete blending
OF the three diverse racial stocks
that constituted the original popula-
ton OF Italy, and partly to better
economic conditions in the country
during the recent past.
Negroes from Dixie, going Moth
during the postwar decade, made
a gain from the eugenic standpoint,
but probably only temporary one.
This summarizes in a sentence the
conclusions of study by Professor
S. j. Holmes of the University of
California, presented at the congress
today.
Before the great wave of Negro
migration from the South, Negro
death rate was higher than Negro
birth rate in northern states.
During the last few years, births
have shown a marked gain, and
northern Negroes apparently are in
creaSing through their own birth
rate. This fact is due, Professor
Holmes said, largely to the ex-
ceptionally favorable age COM
position of the Negro population.
However, the long-range prospects
are not so bright for the Negro.
Migration to the north brings the
Negro into an unfavorable environ
ment the speaker pointed out.
Colds Have More Children
The climate is against him and
tends to aggravate the lung trou-
bles to which he seems to be pc
culiarly subject.
Graduates of coeducational col
leges have more children, and come
nearer to replacing themselves as a
population group than do graduates
of colleges for men alone or for
women alone.
This conclusion, reached by Caro-
line H. Robinson of Tunkhannock,
Pa, after a statistical study of mar
riage and birth rates among 765
graduates of a co-educational col
lege, was presented here today be-
fore the Third International Con-
gress of Eugenics.