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The Journal of Heredity 



Girard College, 

 Philadelphia, Pa., 

 Sept. 25, 1917. 

 Dr. R. \V. SHtrr.i.DT, 



.vvS6 Eit^litet-nlh Street, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Dear Sir: 



Your letter of Sept. 19th has caused me to 

 send by separate package a collection of 

 "tandems." These were selected Sent. 25, 

 1917, from the same tree described in my letter 

 of S.-pt. 17, 1917. 



While there are many plane trees here about, 

 I have not noticed the multiple balls on any 

 others. This tree, described in my former 

 letter, is so full of balls that from the sjround 

 one is lead to believe that dozens are in a 

 cluster. 



On a spray twelve inches long you v/ill find 

 thirty balls arranged upon rcsjiective peduncles 

 as follows, proceeding toward the tip of the 

 brancrh : 3 - .^ - 5 - 5 - 4 - 5 : also within four inches 



4 - 7 - 5 or a total of sixteen balls; then within 

 seven inches on another 4-5-5-6; and again 

 witliin the same distance 4-5-6-5; then a 

 peduncle with 4 balls beside one with seven 

 balls; a tandem of five and a tandem of seven. 

 This shows the balls grow odd and even to a 

 respective peduncle. 



Yours truly, 

 (Signed) R.alph L. Johnson-. 



I have requested Professor Johnson 

 to obtain the history of this tree, if 

 possible, and I trust he will succeed in 

 doin^ so. 



Should any reader of this article be 

 so fortunate as to meet with a "tandem 

 of ei^'ht balls," I would certainly like 

 to hear of it. Seven on a string is the 

 largest up to date. 



Babies Not Banished from Washington Apartment Houses 



Ajiartment houses are jjoor places in 

 which to bring up children, but many 

 children in large cities must be brought 

 up in them , or not at all . The rule made 

 by some apartment house managers, not 

 to rent apartments to families with 

 small children, is dangerous to eugenics, 

 as encouraging childless families in a 

 sujK'rior part of the poj^ulation. It is 

 therefore of importance to know how far 

 such limitations are enforced. 



The Journal of Heredity has inves- 

 tigated the policy of forty of the im- 

 portant houses of Washington. It is 

 gratifying to find that thirty-nine of 

 them do not object to children. As the 

 demand for ajxirtments in Washington 

 greatly exceeds the supply, at the jjres- 

 ent time, an ai)artment house owner 

 could hardly sufTer any i)ecuniary loss 

 if he (li.scriminated against families with 

 children, for there are ])lent>' of childless 

 families who would fill up his building. 

 The fact that there is no discrimination 

 against children cannot, therefore, be 

 laid to a fear of lositig money. 



Only in one case, and that a relatively 

 small apartment house, was it statefl 

 that families with small children would 

 be barred. The manager explained that 

 the same tenants had occupied the 

 building for many years; that all of 

 them were childless; and that the acci- 



dental presence of a uniformly childless 

 set of tenants had led to his decision 

 not to permit any intruders who would 

 mar the harmony. The rule had re- 

 cently been broken in one instance, he 

 admitted, when a long-time tenant had 

 violated the conventions by giving birth 

 to offspring; but in view of the many 

 years in which she and her husband had 

 occupied the apartment he did not pro- 

 test or evict them. 



At this apartment house dogs were 

 barred as well as babies. Of the whole 

 list, twenty-nine apartment houses made 

 no objection to dogs, if they were prop- 

 erly cared for; eleven refused to allow 

 them . 



liKjuiry was made as to whether baby 

 carriages were obliged to use the 

 freight elevator. This was found uni- 

 formh' to be the case, except in a few 

 small buildings where there was no 

 separate freight elevator. 



Owners and lessees of apartment 

 houses in the District of Coltunbia are 

 to be congratulated on their attitude. 

 It would be interesting to have similar 

 investigations made in other cities, 

 particularly in New York city, where it 

 is commonly stijjposcd that there has 

 been much discrimination against babies 

 on the part of real estate men. 



