OF A CERTAIN PENNSYLVANIA FAMILY. 77 



XII. GENERAL SUMMARY OF LINES. 



Both networks comprise widely divergent lines. As we follow the 

 history of these lines, their trend appears to be determined by the 

 combination of traits carried by their various founders, taken in con- 

 junction with the leading traits of the strains into which matings 

 occur. In all the founders and their consorts there was a noticeable 

 presence or absence of socially effective traits. In the four better lines, 

 namely. A, B, C, G, whose founders, though weak in certain traits, 

 were superior to the founders of the remaining lines, there has been, 

 through advantageous mating in successive generations, improvement 

 in the grade of trait and in the combinations of leading traits. In 

 every generation there is a sifting out; where weakness marries 

 strength, the defect may appear in the following generation, but it 

 appears in a lessening degree and in a smaller proportion of the off- 

 spring. This has resulted in the practical elimination of defects char- 

 acteristic of the founders, in increased efficiency, in an advance in 

 economic worth and welfare. With slight exception all living repre- 

 sentatives of these lines are self-supporting, self-respecting citizens, 

 measuring up to the standard of their several communities and con- 

 tributing materially to economic advancement. 



Of the remaining lines, one, namely Line E, is marked at its begin- 

 ning by the absence of socially effective traits; matings with equally 

 defective individuals have produced a continuous line of defectives 

 receiving institutional care, which fortunately is ending with this 

 generation. 



The Lines D and F continue to be varied in character: both show in 

 the thu-d generation, through the bringing together of complex strains, 

 a mixture of defectives, degenerates, and socially fit individuals. The 

 last named, by marriage into fair strains, are repeating the history of 

 the better lines of these networks. The defective and degenerate 

 members, however, outnumber the fit, and by union with similar 

 members of their own or other socially unfit strains are giving rise to 

 branches whose characteristics are shiftlessness, alcoholism, petty 

 criminality, sexual immoraUty, and imbecihty. Left to themselves, 

 the degenerate offshoots of these lines have gravitated toward the 

 degenerate members of other bad strains, and their mating has pro- 

 duced nothing but degeneracy. 



With one exception, representatives of these branches are all at 

 large. Tracing them as they have drifted from place to place has been 

 like following the trail of a serpent; in every community they con- 

 stitute its dregs; the petty thief, the clandestine prostitute, the ignor- 

 ant ne'er-do-well depending on private charity; many of them, too, 

 are frequent candidates for county aid and a continuous drag on the 

 community which harbors them. 



