298 



The Journal of Heredity 



Although 83, or 14.3%, of the total 

 number of feeble-minded are in various 

 institutions, only 20, or 3.4%, are prop- 

 erly segregated in an appropriate insti- 

 tution, the institution for feebleminded. 

 If we assimie that 1% of the popula- 

 tion of the entire State is feeble-minded, 

 it means that Ohio has within its borders 

 some 47,000 feeble-minded persons, 

 of whom only 2,200 are now properly 

 segregated. However, a fairer way to 

 estimate the total number in the State 

 would be by other surveys in other 

 representative parts of Ohio. The 

 county which has been surve^-ed is 

 probably representative of the hilly 



counties in the southeastern part of 

 the State. The fact that one feeble- 

 minded man left at large five genera- 

 tions ago is responsible for seventy-five 

 feeble-minded persons living at the 

 present time makes one pause to 

 wonder what the condition of things 

 will be five generations hence, if the 

 present generation and their descendants 

 are allowed to reproduce their kind. 

 However one looks at the matter, it is 

 evident that if the problem of control 

 of the feeble-minded is to be met by 

 segregation, provision in Ohio must be 

 made on a much more extended scale 

 than is at present contemplated. 



Some Eugenic Aspects of Military Registration 



Selective draft in the United States 

 will produce such far-reaching effects 

 that everything connected with it should 

 be scrutinized carefully by eugenists. 

 It is of the utmost importance that men 

 should not be sent to the front who will 

 be more useful at home, and this means 

 that many of the best educated men of 

 the nation should be exempted. These 

 men, however, having less frequently 

 dependents, are the least likely to claim 

 exemption, as is shown by the figures 

 for registration in Pittsburgh. In four 

 of the wards that arc among the poorest 

 in the city, eugenically, the proportion of 

 exemptions claimed is 58.2%, while 

 in four of the best wards it is 50.5%. 

 Of the total white registration, 60.5% 



claimed exemption, whereas of the total 

 colored population 66.7% claimed ex- 

 emption. In such a case, the attitude 

 of the exemption boards is all-important, 

 and it is to be hoped that men will be 

 appointed who will realize the eugenic 

 as well as the military needs of the 

 country. In this connection the atti- 

 tude of some of the registrars was very 

 offensive: Three men of my acquaint- 

 ance were bulldozed out of making a 

 proper entry of their occupation. For- 

 tunately, the stupid rather than the 

 intelligent men would be most often 

 victims of such tactics. 



RoswELL H. Johnson, 

 University of Pittsburgh. 



Eugenics and Military Pensions 



The question of pensions after the 

 war was discussed by Major Leonard 

 Darwin, ]jresidcnt of the Eugenics 

 Education Society, at the Galton Anni- 

 versary meeting in London, Feb. 16. 

 He pointed out that the soldiers and 

 sailors are in many respects a superior 

 lot of men, on the average; and that 

 those who were wotmded are likely to 

 be, eugenically, sujjerior to those who 

 were not. These two facts, ho thought, 

 should be borne in mind when ])ensions 

 are allowed. He commended the ])ro- 

 vision which awards an allowance for 

 each child of a pensioner, but condemned 

 the limitatif)n which excludes children 



born after the pensioner left service. 

 In the interest of eugenics, he thought 

 an allowance ought to be given for 

 each child, no matter when born; and 

 for this purpose the allowance given to 

 a childless wife might be reduced. 

 Fiu-thermore, he thought that those 

 who were pensioned because of tuber- 

 culosis and similar defects should be 

 given less encouragement, ])rovidcd it 

 were shown that such defects had a 

 hereditary basis. In short, one of the 

 objects of the pension system should 

 be to encourage the better men, and 

 those only, to have large families after 

 the war. 



