The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page New York 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 SCIENCE has found the laws of Nature which enable us to grow bigger and better beef cattle, horses and poultry and more attractlre, delicious and perfect fruits, vegetables and flowers. The secrets of the animal and vegetable world hold true for human beings. Eugenics is the name of the special science which alms at the development and improvement of the human race. Science has now arrived at the point where It desires to make practical experiments in breeding improved human beings 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 be the father or the mother of the eugenic baby which scientists are eagerly waiting for? What Science A MOST Interesting proportion Is now put before tho people of America. It Is to And a man and woman, practically perfect, who will marry with the object of pro ducing ougcnlcally perfect children In accordance with the precepts ot the new science of eugenics. j Eugenics, a term derived from the Greek word "eugenos," meaning "well born," is. It Is scarcely necessary to explain, the science of breeding a One race. This science ha? lately come to occupy a foremost placo In the minds ot social reformers ns well as of scientists on account of tho alarm ing growth of fecblo-mlntledncss nnd tbe wide-spread slgn-j of physical de generacy seen In the great centres of population of the world. Tho proposition now under discus sion is a preliminary experiment in cngcnlo, science In America. Tho Medical Review of Reviews of New York, representing a committee of well-known scientists nnd social re formers, offers prizes to tho cugcnl cally perfect man and woman who will marry after they havo been ap proved by the committee. A prize of $500 will be given to tbe Ideal msn and woman when they aro selected and marry, and a second of $600 will be gives wbca the first child Is bora. Scientists and Social Leader Interested. Tho author of this prpject Is Fred crick II. Robinson, publisher ot tho Medical Review of Reviews. He is a leading member of tho Sociological Fund Committee, founded by this publication, and his fellow members aro Normnu Ilnpgood, chairman; Eugene Drlcux, Mrs. Charlotto Per kins Oilman, Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Dr. Frederic C. Howo, Mrs. Charles II. Israels, Dr. Abraham Jacob!, Dr. E. Helen Knight, Mrs., Frederick Nathan, Dr. William H.v Robinson, Mrs. William K. Vander bllt, Sr.; Dr, James P. Warbasse, Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Dr. Ira a Wile. It Is not yet certain that all these distinguished persons approvo nil the details ot tho project, but that will be no bar to Us execution. The actual selection ot tho successful can didates will bo made by a Jury of sen and women doctors. This newspaper will be pleased to assist In carrying out this Interesting project. All our men and women readers who aro cllgtblo tor the con test and wish to enter It may scud their photographs to this newspaper stating tbclr name, address, age, weight, physical measurements, con dition of their health, color ot tbclr complexion and hair and so forth. They must be free from all bodily de fects ondall disease, Inherited or acquired. " Tbe scientists will no doubt require that tbo ancestors of tbe successful candidates shall have been strong and healthy They should at least be able to prove that their parents and grand parents were physically sound and free from constitutional disease, de fect or abnormality, Qualifications of the Ideal Parent Tbe photographs and Information will be promptly turned over to the committee. Tbe candidates must, ot course, be prepared to furnish what ever further Information is required by tbe committee. Tbe candidates should be reason ably young. The Ideal age for mar riage has been defined by some eugenic authorities as between twenty-five and thirty years for a woman and between thirty and thirty-live for a man. Physical comeliness will be given - due consideration, but this will not be a beauty coutest In any ordinary sense. First consideration will be given to tbe physical health and measurements of the candidates, since it is established as a 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 be good. Certainly the committee will take care that tbe successful candi dates have a good mental equipment, a good moral character and a good family history. Some criticism ha-s already been aimed at tbe scheme because it ap pears to disregard the beautiful senti ment t love and make the marriage of n man and woman subject to the cold-blooded calculations of a body of sclenUts. This objection is an Scientists Offer Money Hopes to Do swered by Mr. Robinson. He point out that the selected cnndldntcs must meet ono another nnd desire tc marry. This, he thinks, is equivalent to saying that thoy aro in love with ono another. Scientists have nrgued that love In the best sense h a natural affinity between the germ plasm of two Individuals of opposlto sex. In tho present state ot eugenic Bdcnco it must bo admitted that there aro many vlows of nearly equal nuthorlty as to how it should be ap plied and how far it should bo car died. Thus tho proposal to prevent feeble-minded persons from having children finds many distinguished ad vocates nnd also many opponents. Tho proposnl to mato selected persons of fine physique must also bo tbo subject of strong controversy. Tho Idea behind tho plan under discussion Is that persons of lino physique should bo mated In order that their good qualities may be pre served pnd Intensified In their descendants. To this It may bo ob jected tlint It nil finely endowed per sons murry ono another tho inferior ones will bo left to create a race ot degenerates. This objection, however, does not affect the ultimate aim of eugenics, which Is to crcato a lino rnco. With this every good citizen must ngref, and It follows that he must support any plan to encourago a finely en dowed Individual to marry early nnd lcavo descendants possessing bis or her qualities. ' Wo can look over tho genealogical records of tho world and seo how tho fine qualities of one Individual have been transmitted nnd reproduced for hundreds of yenn during almost countless generations. Dr. Charles B. Davonport, of the Cnrneglo Institution of Washington, a leading American expert In heredity, has traced tho descendants of Eliza beth Tuttle, a Massachusetts woman of great beauty and brilliant attain ments, who married Jn 1607. From her have descended over thirty Americans ot high intellectual gifts, Including Jonathan Edwards, Timothy Dwlght, General U. S. Grant, Presi dent Cleveland, Chief Justice Wnlto , and Winston Churchill, tbo Amcrlcau author. Society's Burden of Bad Marriages. Strange to say, Elizabeth Tuttle bad distinctly criminal traits, but, her husband being a man of good char acter, her flno qualities havo pre dominated in her descendants. On the other hand, science can put Irs finger on ono feeble-minded In dividual of a few generations past and show that be has left hundreds, perhaps thousands, of defective de scendants who are a constantly grow ing .burden nnd menace to society. There is, for Instance, tho nqtorlous case of Ada Juke, a feeble-minded woman living In New York State, who, in three generations, left forty nine feeble-minded aud criminalistic descendants ns n burden to the com munity. Her sister Bell left a similar heritage. At the present day their defective defendants are said to number thousands. The good qunlitles of some dead Individual, fortunately preserved be cause be made a suitable marriage, are responsible for tho most valuable men and women in public life throughout the world. We can find whole families in which all the mem bers aro exceptionally tall or very handsome or remarkable for intel lectual activity. An Interesting case is that of Mrs. Mary Washington Bond Moroslnl. She Is a great-great-granddaughter of Samuel Washington, tho elder brother of George Washington, and a great-great-grandnlecc of our first Presi dent. Mrs. Moroslnl counts In her ancestral stock, not only the Wasn Ington family, but practically all tue best families ot Colonial Virginia, a stock of fine physical and mental en dowments who married usually In their own class. Coming ot good old Eugllsb stock and reared In tho free life and favor able conditions of old Virginia, these ancestors should, according to the laws of eugenics, produce children of exceptional gifts and attractlveuess. This law Is well exemplified lu Mrs. Mary Washington Bond Moroslnl. Never has a more finely deovloped specimen ot American womanhood been seen. She ba a superbly developed WANTEDatONCE $500 for Your Wedding Gift $500 for Your First Baby Send In Your Name and To the Editor: IN 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 wiling to be examined physically and mentally and to facilitate us In searching hli or her ancestry for physical or mental blemishes. KTK tiAKTIf physique, a beautiful face, a ruddy, yet delicate complexion, and blond hnlr, verging upon red. She embodies the best traits of tho old English and Virginia stocks. She Is a woman whom the eugenists would select to perpetuato tho American type. Her husband, Mr. Moroslnl, comes from an old Italian family and represents a distinctly Italian type. This Is a union which many of tho eugenists would not approve, as husband nnd wife represent such very different types. Thoy have one little girl who is of attractive appearance. Many Europeau aristocratic fami lies offer good opportunities for eugenic study, ns the family records have been kept for so many years. A remarkable case is that of tho Countess of Warwick, the former English society leader who now de votes herself to philanthropic work. Lady Warwick and all her four sisters are remarkable for personal beauty and fine physique. The sisters are tbe Duchess of Sutherland, the Counters of Westmoreland, Lady Algernon Gordon Lennox and Lady Angeln 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 one father and three of them another. This predominant physical type has In varlubly been transmitted to the chil dren and grandchildren of tbe live sisters. This fine type has been preserved, because tho individuals belonging to It were of the wealthy classes and able to marry early with all condi tions favorable. The eugenists tell us that when such Individuals are found among the poorer classes ot society they should be encouraged to marry at a suitable age and raise families. It would clearly be possible to breed a race ot giants by selecting parents of great height In whose families this has been a marked Copyright, 1913. Prizes to Any Man or Photograph to the Editor We welcome the wide publicity of 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 offered. FREDERICK H. ROBINSON, President Medical Review of Reviews Sociological Fund. trait ror several' generations. We might, perhaps, breed a race of men averaging over seven feet In height by matching the Russian glnnt Ivan Mnohnow, who is 7 feet 9 inches high, with one ot the many giantesses now before the circus-going public. Scientists assure us that these ex ceptional giants arc victims of n dis ease, and therefore It is not desirable to perpetuate the type. Nevertheless, great stature is within certain limits an advantage, aud most people think that it ndds to a man's attractive ness. Thoro is n former New York policeman nnmed Archibald Tnggart who stands over 0 feet 514 Inches, who is one of six brothers and five sisters, among whom all tbo men are well over six feet. Eugenic selonce assures us that It those men should mate with correspondlugly tall women who have Inherited this trait their descendants would tend to bo as tall as themselves. There is, in fact, a vast mass of ev(dence Indicating that fine quali ties ot mind and body may be trans mitted and Intensified by inheritance, and Unit undesirable qualities may be similarly transmitted or perhaps eliminated. It has been eloquently pointed out by tbe leading American cugenlst. Dr. Davenport, that tbe qualities of our most valuable men, such as the late William James, Benjamin Alt man and hundreds ot others, are lost through tbo lack of a suitable mat ing, while the number of inefficient persons brought Into existence through unfit mating continues to In crease. The number ot defective per sons born in this country, according to Dr. Davenport, is literally appall ing. "It Is a reproach to our Intelli gence," says Dr. Davenport in his latest work, "that we, as a poople, proud in other respects ot our con trol of Nature, should have to sup v h Star Company. Oreat Britain Rights Rei "ed. port about halt a million .Insane, feoble-mlnded, epileptic, blind and deaf, eighty thousand prisoners and one hundred thousand paupers at a cost of over 1100,000,000 per year. A new plague that rendered four per cent of our population, chiefly at the most productive ago, not, more ly Incompetent, but a burden! cost ing 1100,000,000 yearly to support, would instantly attract universal at tention. But that we havo become so used to crime, disease and degeneracy wo take them as necessary evils." Eugenic experts seek to lay down rules as to who aro fit to marry, who should wait until they are certain thnt ancestral defects will not de velop, who should be prevented alto gether from marrylug, how good traits may bo preserved, and how bad ones may be eliminated. They say they havo proved that the transcendent ability ot one Indi vidual may, by suitable matlug, be transmitted for unnumbered genera tions, while, by an unfit matlug, it may be entirely lost to the world. Those who feel that they have beauty, talent nnd other flno qualities are now urged to transmit them to posterity and save them to the world. Thoy nro asked to do so under the vigilant eyes of science and under conditions that will be extremely in structive to the whole world. This is a remarkable opportunity to be useful to mankind. All readers of this pge 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 condition of health and such other facts as they may desire to state. This should be mailed to EUGENIC MARRIAGE, P. O. BOX 208. NEW YORK CH" I Mm.'miesmm ll I It Would Be Possible to Breed a Race of Giants Over Seven Feet High by Mating This Russian Giant Ivan Machno w, Seven Feet and Nine Inches High, with a Woman of Sltnilar Proportions. The Lovely Mrs. Mary Washing ton Bond Morosini, a Descendant of George Washington's Brothel 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 Havo All In herited Beauty and Fine Physical Development and Transmitted These Qualities to Their Children 4 n