Newspaper Page Text
4 T
-WANTEDatONCE-
ew York Scientists Offer Money Prizes to Any Man or nJ
Woman Who Fulfills Their Ideas of Soundness of
Body and Mind and Who Will Agree to
Marry Each Other and Make a Practical Test of Eugenics
S CIENCE has found the laws of Nature whir' enable u» to (trow
bigger and better beef cattle, horu and poultry and more
attrartlre, delicious and perfect frulta, refetablea and flowers.
The secrets of the animal and vegetable world hold true for
human beings. Eugenics is the name of the spc'lal science which
Bims at the development and improvement of the human raca,
Science has now arrived at the point where it desire* to make
practical experiments In breeding Improved human brings—in
scientifically mating men and women who have especially high
qualities of body and mind In the hope of producing children
which will be still finer specimens than their parents.
Is there any reader of this page who would like to he the
father or the mother of the eugenic baby which scientists are
eagerly waiting for?
1 What Science Hopes to Do
A MOST interesting proposition swerefl by Mr. Robinson. He point*
is now put before the people of ' out that the selected candidates must
$500 for Your Wedding Gift
$500 for Your First Baby
Send In Your Name and Photograph to the Editor
To the Editor:
I N the experiment in eugenics which the Medical Re*
view of Reviews Sociological Fund desires to make
there will be no discrimination against any appli
cant. The lists are open to any man or woman who is
willing to be examined physically and mentally and to
facilitate us in searching hit or her ancestry for physical
or mental blemishes.
We welcome the wide publicity M this newspaper in
making known the needs of science in this matter; and
any names of your readers, accompanied with photo
graphs and statements of their qualifications in mind
and body, we shall be glad to have turned over to us as
applicants for the reward we have offer-*' 1
FREDERICK H. ROBINSON,
President Medical Review of Reviews Sociological Fund.
1 America. It is to find a man
And woman, practical Iy perfect, who
will marry with the object of pro
ducing eugenlcally perfect children
In accordance with the precepts ot
the new science of eugenics.
Eugenics, n term derived from the
Greek word “eugenos,” meaning “well
born,” Is, It Is scarcely neopssary to
explain, the science of breeding a flue
nee. This science has lately come
“to occupy n foremost place In the
minds of social reformers ns well as
of scientists on account of the alarm
ing growth of feeblemindedness and
the wide-spread signs of physical de
generacy seen In the great centres of
imputation of the world.
The proposition now under discus
sion Is a preliminary experiment in
engenlc science In America. The
(Medical Review of Reviews of New
York, representing a committee of
•Well-known scientists and social re
formers. offers prizes to the eugenl-
meet one another and desire
marry. This, he thinks. Is equivalent
to saying that they aro la love with
one another. Scientists have argued
that Jove In the best sense H a
natural ntDnlty between the germ-
plasm of two Individuals of opposite
sex.
In the present state of eugenic
sclanco It ffiUot be admitted that
there are many views of nearly equal
authority as to how It should be ap
plied and how far it should be car-
died. Thus the proposal to prevent
feeble-minded persons from Laving
children flnda many distinguished ad
vocates and also many opponents.
The proposal to mate selected persons
of tine physique muit also be the
subject of strong controversy.
The Idea behind the plan under
discussion Is thnt persons of Hue
physique should be mated In order
that ♦heir good qunlltles may be pre
served and Intensified In their
cally perfect man and woman who ^descendants. To this it may be ob-
will marry after they have been ap
proved by the committee.
A prize of $500 will be given to the
Ideal man and woman when they ore
selected and marry, and a second or
$500 will bo given when the first child
Is born. -
Scientists and Social
Leaders Interested.
The author of this project Is Fred
erick IT. Robinson, publisher of the
Medical Review of Reviews. He Is a
leading member of the Sociological
Fund Committee, founded by tills
publication, and bis fellow members
are Norman Hapgood, chairman;
Eugene Brieux, Mrs. Charlotte Per
kins Gilman, Rev. John Htynes
Holmes, Dr. Frederic C. Howe, Mrs.
StoabT Dr- ^nlsht/Si*!, expert In heredity"
gTrederlck Nathan, Dr. William
Robinson, Mrs. William K. Vender
jeoted that If all finely endowed per
sons marry one another the Inferior
ones will be left to create a rnoe of
degenerates.
This objection, however, does not
affect the ultimate aim of eugenics,
which Is to create a fine race. With
tills every good citizen must agree,
and It follows that he must support
any plan to encourage a finely en
dowed Individual to marry early and
leave descendants possessing his or
her qualities.
We can look over the genealogical
records of the world and see how the
fine qualities of one Individual hart
been transmitted and reproduced for
hundreds of years during almost
countless generations.
Dr. Charles B. Dnvenport. of the
Carnegie Institution of Washington, s
blit, 8r.; Dr. James P. Warbasse.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox find Dr. Ira 8.
Wile. It h not yet certain that all
distinguished persons approve
nil the details of the project, but that
.•will be no bar to its execution. The
nctu.nl selection of the successful can
didates will be made by a Jury of
gnen and women doctors.
This newspaper will be pleased to
: In carrying out this Interesting
project All our men and women
readers who arc eligible for the con-
and wlan to enter it may send
their photographs to this newspaper
Stating their name, address, age.
weight physical measurements, con-
SHIvb of thetr health, color o # taels*
complexion and hair and so forth.
r must be free from all bodily de
fects end-all disease, Inherited or
acquired.
The sdMttrts will no doubt require
that tbo ancestor of the successful
anildr.tes shall have been strong and
healthy. They should at least be able
to prove that their parenta and grand
parents were physically sound and
9 from constitutional disease, de-
t or abnormality.
of the
Parent
The photographs and Information
be promptly turned over to the
Committee. The candidates must, of
coons, be prepared to furnish what
ever further Information la required
& by the committee.
Tbs candidates should be reason
ably young. The Ideal age for mar
riage has been defined by some
eugenic authorities as between twen
ty-five and thirty years for a woman
and between thirty and thirty-five for
man.
Physical comeliness will be given
due consideration, but thta will not
be. a beauty content In any ordinary
sense.. First consideration will be
, given to the physical health and
measurements of the candidate?-, since
it is established as n general rule
that when these factors, which in
clude brain and nervous system, are
good, then the mental and moral de
velopment of the Individual will oe
good. Certainly the committee will
take care that the successful candi
dates have a good mental equipment,
a good moral character ard a good
family history.
Some criticism ha-4 already been
aimed fit the scheme because i? ap
pears to dUrcgard the beautiful *c*ntt
ment of love and mate the marriage
aid woman subject t»* the
_jd calculations of a body
scientists. Till*' objection U au-
beth Tuttle, a Massachusetts woman
of great beauty and brilliant attain
ments, who married in 1667. F*rom
her have descended over thirty
Americans of high Intollectual gifts,
Including Jonathnu Edwards, Timothy
Dwight, General U. 8. Grant, Presi
dent Cleveland, Chief Justice Waite
and Winston Churchill, the Americcu
author.
Society's Burden of
Bad Marriages.
Strange to say, Elizabeth Tuttle
had distinctly criminal traits, but, her
husband being a man of good char
acter, her fine qualities have pr»
dominated in her descendants.
Oa the other nsnu, science can pnt
It* finger on one feeble-minded in
dividual of a few generations past
and show thnt he has left hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of defective de
scendants who are a constantly grow
ing burden and menace to society.
There Is, for Instance, the notorious
case of Ada Juke, a feeble-minded
woman living In New York State,
who. In three generations, left forty
nine feeble-minded and criminalistic
descendants ns a burden to the com
munity. Her sister Bell left a similar
heritage. A*. the present day their
defective i ’ ndants are said to
number thousands.
The good qualities of some dead
individual, fortunately preserved be
cause he made n suitable marriage,
are responsible for the most valuable
men and women In public life
throughout the world. We can find
whole families In which all the mem
bers are exceptionally tail or very
handsome or remarkable for Intel
lectual activity.
An Interesting case Is that of Sirs.
Mary Washington Bond ' Morosini
Phe is a areat-grent-grandemughter of
Samuel Washington, the elder brother
of George Washington, and a great
great-grand niece of our first Presi
dent. Mr*. Moroslnl counts In her
uncestral stock, not only the Wn*.i-
Ington family, but practically alt the
best families of Colonial Virginia, a
stock of fine diyslnl and mental en
dowments who married usually In
their own class.
Coming of good old English stock
and reared In the free life and favor
able conditions of old Virginia. fhare
ancestor* should, according to the
laws of eugenics, produce children of
exceptional gifts and attract Irene*-
This Jar }■* well exemplified In Mrs.
Mnrv Washington Bond Moruslid.
Never has a more finely dr*e w lnped
specimen of American womanhood
been seen.
She Uaa a superbly developed
fua-ro
The Lovely Mr*. Mary Washing
ton Bond Morosini, a Descendant
of George Washington’s Brother
and the Best Families of Old Vir
ginia, Who Would Be Chosen by
Eugenists as an Ideal Mother of
American Stock.
And the Countess of Warwick,
with Two of Her Children, an
Ideal English Mother, One of
Five Sisters Who Have All In
herited Beauty and Fine Physical
Development and Transmitted
These Qualities to Their Children
physique, .1 beautiful fnce, a ruddy,
yet delicate complex**m». anti blond
imlr verging upon red. She embodies
the best traits of the oljl English and
Virginia stock*. She' Is a woman
whom the eugenists would select to
perpetuate the American type. Her
husband, Mr. Morosini, comes from
an old Italian family and represent*
a distinctly Italian type. This Is a
union which many of the eugenists
would not approve, n* husband and
wife represent such very different
types. They have one little girl who
Is of attractive appeftrnnee. ,
Many European aristocratic fami
lies offer good opportunities for
eugenic study, ns the family records
have been kept for so tunny years.
A remarkable case is that of the
Countess of Warwick, the former
English society leader who now de
votes herself to philanthropic work.
Lady Warwick and nil her four
sisters are remarkable for personal
beauty and fine physique. The sisters
are the Duchess of Sutherland, the
Countess of Westmoreland, Lady
Algernon Gordon Lennox and Lady
Angela Forbes. They are all very
tall and of the same physical type.
Their qualities have evidently been
Inherited through their mother, since
two of the sisters had on** father
and three of them another. This
predominant physical type has In
variably been transmitted to the chil
dren and grandehlldren of the five
sisters.
This fine typo has been preserved,
because the individuals belonging to
It were of the wealthy classes and
able to marry ear'y with all condi
tion* favorable. The eugenists tell
us (hat when such Individuals are
found among the poorer classes of
so* l<• 1 y* they should he encouraged 10
marry st u suitable age and raise
'e.nllie-s.
!t would clearly hp possible to
breed a race of limits by ."electing
parents of great height in whose
families this has been a marked
trnit for several generations. We
might, perhaps, breed a race of men
averaging over seven feet In height
by matching the Russian giant Ivan
Maohnow, who la 7 feet D Inches
high, with one of the many giantesses
now before the circus-going public.
Scientists assure us that these ex
ceptional giantii are victims of a dis
ease, and therefore It Is not desirable
to perpetuate the type. Nevertheless,
great stature ia within certain limits
an advantage, and most people think
that It adds to a man's attractive
ness. mere is a former New Voik
policeman named Archibald Taggart
who stands over 6 feet 5*A inches,
who la one of six brothers and five
sisters, among whom *11 the men are
well over six feet. Eugenie science
nssures us thnt If these men should
mate- with correspondingly tall
women who have Inherited till* trnit
their descendants would tend toxbe
ns tall as themselves.
There Is, In fact, a vast mass of
evidence indicating that fine quali
ties of mind and body may bo trans
mitted and intensified by inheritance,
and that undesirable qualifies may be
similarly transmitted or perhaps
eliminated.
It has been eloquently poll fed out
by the leading American ougentst,
l>r. Davenport, that the qualities of
our most valuable men. such as the
late William James, Benjamin Alt
man and hundreds of others, are lost
through the lack of a suitable mat
ing. while the number of, inefficient
j*ers*ins brought into existence
through unfit mating continue* to In
crease. The number of defective per
sons born in this country, according
to Dr. Davenport, U liberally appall
ing.
“It Is a reproach to our Intelli
gence," says Dr. Davenport In hi3
latest work, “that we, as a people,
proud In other respects of our con
trol ot Nature, should have to sup
port about half a minion insane,
feeble-minded, epileptic, blind and
deaf, eighty thousand prisoners and
one hundred Ur -jsand paupers at a
cost of over $lo0,(-00,000 per year.
A new plague tlu t rendered four
per cent of our population, chiefly
at the most productive age, not mere
ly incompetent, but a burden, cost
ing $100,000,000 yearly to support,
would Instantly attract univorsal at
tention. But that we have become so
used to crime, disease and degeneracy
we take them tie necessary evils/*
rules as to who are fit to marry who
* should wait until they are certain
that ancestral defects will not de
velop, who should be prevented alto
gether from marrying, how g«K>d
traits may be preserved, aud how
bad ones may be eliminated.
They say they have proved that
the transcendent ability of one Indi
vidual may, by suitable mating, be
transmitted for unnumbered genera
tions, while, by an unfit mating, It
tuny be entirely lost to the world.
Those who fee! that they have
beauty, talent aud other fine qualities
are now urged to transmit them to
posterity and save them to the world.
They are asked to do so under the
vigilant eyes of science and under
conditions that will be extremely In
structive to the whole world. This
>3 a remarkable opportunity to be
useful to mankind.
Alt reader* of thl* pa;e—any man
or any woman—who would like to be
selected as the husband or the wife
In the eugenic marriage may send
In a photograph, with name and ad
dress and brief description of their
cend'tion of health and such other
f*cts as they may desire to state.
Tnis should be mailed to
c ’GENIC MARRIAGE,
P. O. BOX 208,
NEW YORK CITY.
It Would Be Posrible to Breed • Race of Giant* Over Seven Feet
High by Mating This Russian Giant Ivan fttaebnow, Seven
Feet and Nine Inches High, with a Woman of
Similar Proportions,
Copyright. 1913. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved.