The Athens daily herald. (Athens, Ga.) 1912-1923, January 01, 1914, Image 6

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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.