174 



The Journal of Heredity 



In this connection, however, it is 

 interesting to note that statistics in- 

 dicate that the American born children 

 of immigrants exceed the children of 

 natives in relative amount of crime. 

 It also appears from data bearing on 

 the volume of crime that juvenile 

 delinquency is more common among 

 immigrants than it is among Americans. 

 There are, however, two factors affect- 

 ing these conclusions. First, immi- 

 grants arc found in greater proportion 

 in cities than in rural communities, and 

 the criminahty of the children of 

 immigrants is largely a product of the 

 city. Second, the majority of the 

 juvenile delinquents are found in the 

 North Atlantic states, where immigrants 

 form a larger proportion of the popula- 

 tion than in anv other section of the 



countrv 



EFFECTS OF THE WAR. 



Just what the eugenic result of the 

 medical examination of aliens has been 

 during the last five years is not known 

 for the reason that census statistics 

 along these lines are lacking. The 

 European war, however, has divided 

 the observation periods, so far as the 

 results of the medical examination of 

 aliens is concerned, into three parts, 

 the first part ending with the commence- 

 ment of the European war, and with the 

 almost shutting down of immigration 

 from Europe. The second period we 

 are passing through at the present 

 time; that is, the period of duration of 

 the war. The third jjeriod will begin 

 with the ending of the war and the 

 resumi)tion of immigration, which it is 

 predicted will be greater than we have 

 ever before experienced. 



As a consequence of the war many 

 undesirable persons are not being ad- 

 mitted to our countrv. If the war con- 



tinues for a long time we may expect a 

 gradual decrease in our institutional 

 mental and physical defectives, now 

 being cared for at the expense of states 

 and municipalities, but what will be 

 the result when the war ends? Shall we 

 have an influx of physically and men- 

 tally deteriorated men, drawn from 

 among the survivors of the great con- 

 flict, and from the non-combatants who 

 are sufl^ering as much from privation as 

 the soldiers are from shot, shell and 

 disease ; and what will be the ]jermanent 

 character of the defects which these 

 immigrants will present? Will there be 

 more insanity amongst them, or will 

 they present a larger proportion of 

 syphilitic infection , or both ? During the 

 second period, or war period, that is to 

 say, the period through which we are 

 now passing, almost the same number 

 of medical ofhcers of the Public Health 

 Service are engaged in examining aliens 

 as were engaged prior to the commence- 

 ment of the war, although the number 

 of immigrants arriving is very much di- 

 minished at all stations, and in certain 

 places, for example. New York and the 

 large ports generally, the volume of im- 

 migration has diminished to one-fourth 

 or one-fifth, so that the quality of the 

 medical examination being given at the 

 present time is much ahead of what it 

 has ever been before. As a consequence 

 statistics at the end of this fiscal year will 

 show a large increase in the percentage of 

 rejections from all causes. If the war 

 lasts a considerable length of time, it 

 will be i^ossible to obtain sufficient data 

 as to the results of the preventive 

 eugenic work which has been accom- 

 plished to enable us to make intelligent 

 preparations for meeting the increased 

 demands to be made upon the country 

 when immigration from Europe is again 

 resumed. 



Breeding Sugar Beets 



The Utah state agricultural cxpcrimcnl station has l)een l)reeding sugar beets 

 for increased sugar content for many years. After the first seven years of the 

 ex])eriment, all of the large number of strains tried were discarded excei^t one, the 

 progeny of which is now widely grown. "The manager of our local comi)any." 

 Director E. D. Ball writes, "has just recently made the statement that he could 

 tell to the row in the field where our local seed was used, by the uniform character 

 of the beets, and that the average sugar content was from one to two percent, 

 higher than that of the best Euroj^ean seed obtainable." 



