220 



The Journal of Heredity 



Section 4 of the l)ill i)rovides that, 

 "Except as authorized by this act, 

 every person who shall perform, en- 

 courage, assist in or otherwise permit 

 the performance of the operation for 

 the purpose of destroying the power to 

 procreate the human species or any 

 person who shall knowingly permit 

 such operation to be performed upon 

 such person unless the same shall be a 

 medical necessity, shall be guilty of a 

 misdemeanor." ' 



BILL ONCE VETOED 



Those familiar with the recent history 

 of restrictive eugenics will observe that 

 this is almost identical with the bill 

 which passed the Nebraska legislature 

 two years ago. The only changes are 

 that the former bill included criminals 

 among the classes which might be 

 sterilized, and made the offense in 

 section 4 a felony instead of a mis- 

 demeanor, a penitentiary instead of a 

 jail offense, so to speak. Governor 

 John H. Morehead in vetoing the 

 former bill on April 14, 1914, said: 

 "This act is so far-reaching in its 

 consecjuences and so intimately related 

 to the social life of mankind, that legisla- 

 tive action should not be taken thought- 

 lessly or hurriedly. This proposed legis- 

 lation is new and practically untried; 

 at best it is only an experiment and it 

 seems more in keeping with the pagan 

 age than with the teachings of Chris- 

 tianity. Man is more than an animal." 

 The governor further remarked that he 

 thought the act might be unconstitu- 

 tional, and pointed out, "There is no 

 valid reason why this should be made to 

 apply to wards of the State. These 

 wards are under the care and control of 

 superintendents appointed by the State, 

 the different sexes are segregated and the 

 danger sought to be obviated by this 

 act is already well guarded against." 



If the sexes are properly segregated in 

 Nebraska institutions, and detained 

 until they have passed the reproductive 

 period, if not for life, then the writers 

 agree with Governor Morehead's action 

 in vetoing the bill, although they do 

 not agree entirely with his reasons for 

 doing so. The newly introduced meas- 

 ure applies only to the feebleminded, 



epileptic and defective wards of the 

 State, omitting criminals as such. But 

 Governor IMorehead says these wards 

 are already effectively segregated. The 

 proposed sterilization measure therefore 

 seems unnecessary, and should not be 

 passed. 



Several weaknesses in the measure 

 might be pointed out; the writers will 

 refer only to section 4, which would 

 make it a misdemeanor for anyone to 

 perform a sterilization operation, except 

 on a ward of the State. In his veto 

 message, the governor said, "I am 

 heartily in favor of the provisions of 

 section 4 of this act and would be 

 pleased to sign a law making it a felony 

 for any person to perform any operation 

 for the purpose of destroying the power 

 to procreate the human species and 

 making it a felony for any person to 

 pennit such an operation to be per- 

 formed." In the judgment of the 

 writers, this attitude, which is unfor- 

 tunately widespread, is a menace to 

 eugenics. If the interests of society 

 are best served when a man with given 

 characteristics, in a state institution, is 

 sterilized, then the interests of society 

 will be served equally well when a man 

 with the same characteristics, outside a 

 State institution, is sterilized; and 

 certainly no one will contend that all 

 the cacogenic stock in the state of 

 Nebraska, or any other State, is ^vithin 

 the walls of the State institutions. It 

 should be possible for any adult person 

 in possession of his faculties to submit 

 to the operation of sterilization if, in 

 his judgment, it is to the interests of the 

 race that he should not procreate. 

 The Nebraska bill would legalize steril- 

 ization when it is for the i^hysical well- 

 being of the individual: is the physical 

 well-being of the race less important 

 than that of the individual ? Cases 

 constantly occur where high-minded 

 persons seek sterilization in the interests 

 of the race, knowing themselves to be 

 carriers of defects or anti-social traits; 

 it is to the interest of eugenics that 

 such cases continue to occur. As for 

 the low-minded persons who may seek 

 sterilization to avoid the economic or 

 social con.sequences of ]3arenthood, it is 

 certainlv not to the interests of eugenics 



