INTELLIGENCE OF IMMIGRANTS 



Dr. H. H. Goddard Finds Indications That Large Part of Those Who Arrive in the 



Steerage are Feebleminded— Low Grade of Intelligence May 



Possibly Not Be Hereditary in This Case 



THAT the average steeraj^e immi- 

 j^Tant has a low ^radc of intelli- 

 gence — perhaps is even feeble- 

 minded — is the conclusion sug- 

 gested by H. H. Goddard, director of 

 research at the Training School, Vine- 

 land, N. J. Dr. Goddard and his as- 

 sistants examined six small groups ar- 

 riving at Ellis Island. Two of the 

 groups — twenty Italians and nineteen 

 Russians — were selected because they 

 appeared to the investigator to be 

 feebleminded. The other four groups 

 were selected as being representative of 

 their respective nationalities, and com- 

 prised 35 Jews, 22 Hungarians, 50 

 Italians and 45 Russians. In every 

 case the immigration officers had pre- 

 viously culled out all whom they 

 recognized as mental defectives. Very 

 obviously high grade intelligent immi- 

 grants were also passed by. Those 

 examined are probably a fair sample of 

 the bulk of the steerage immigration. 



Nimicrous tests were given. "Each 

 test taken by itself seems to indicate a 

 very high percentage of feebleminded- 

 ness. There is no exception to this." 

 Little attempt is made by Dr. Goddard 

 to establish the exact amount of feeble- 

 mindedness, because of uncertainty as 

 to the projjer standards to be used for 

 scoring some of the tests. With the 

 Binet scale, only two of 14<S immigrants 

 scored as high as twelve years, which is 

 usually taken as the dividing line 

 between feeblemindedness and normal 

 intelligence in adults. When liberal 

 allowances are made for every ])ossiblc 

 case where the scoring may be too high, 

 it yet apjiears that more than half of 

 these immigrants test feebU-mincUd, and 

 none shows superior intelligciKc. Dr. 

 Goddard' discusses the results as follows: 

 "Doubtless the thought in every 



reader's mind is the same as in ours, 

 that it is impossible that half of such a 

 group of immigrants could be feeble- 

 minded, but we know that it is never 

 wise to discard a scientific result because 

 of its apparent absurdity. Many a 

 scientific discovery has seemed at first 

 glance absurd. We can only arrive at 

 the truth by fairly and conscientiously 

 analyzing the data. 



"First it .should be noted that the 

 immigration of recent years is now 

 longer representative of the respective 

 races. It is admitted on all sides that 

 we are now getting the poorest of each 

 race. This makes them a highly se- 

 lected group from the start. For ex- 

 ample vSalmon says of every 1,000 Polish 

 immigrants all Ixit 103 are laborers and 

 servants. 



"Of the twenty-two in the Jewish 

 group who classify as feeble-minded, 

 nineteen, or 60% of the whole, classify 

 as morons. It will be recalled that the 

 English College of Physicians define a 

 moron (what they call feebleminded in 

 the specific sense) as 'One who is capable 

 of earning his living under favorable 

 circumstances but is incapable from 

 mental defect, existing from birth or 

 from an earh^ age, (a) of competing on 

 equal tenns with his nonnal fellows, or 

 {b) of managing himself and his afi"airs 

 with ordinary j^rudcnce.' We have now 

 to ask the questitni, is it i)ossible or 

 reasonable that 40^/(, of the immigrants 

 in such groui)s as we have examined are 

 morons according to this definition^ 

 Let us examine critically the definitioti. 

 and bring to bear upon the problem 

 what we know of the nature, character 

 and work of this class of immigrants. 



"First, the definition admits that 

 they are cai)al)le of earning a living 



'Goddard, Iknrv II. Mtntal Tests and tlic Immigrant. Joitrual of Delinquency, ii, pp. 

 243-278, Sept., 1917. 



554 



