Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, November 02, 1913, PART TWO, Image 24

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    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
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