RURAL AMERICA 



168,000 insane and epileptics. Every time we double our popu- 

 lation we quadruple our mentally defective." 1 



Now, the attitude of Rural America on eugenics is some- 

 what different from that of Urban America because of one 

 important fact. In recent years much attention has been 

 given by farmers all over the country to the matter of pure- 

 bred live stock. Today thousands of farmers in almost every 

 state, compared with only a handful just a few years ago, are 

 giving their best thought to the matter of producing the finest 

 type of all kinds of farm animals through intelligent breeding. 

 Farmers have learned from experience that it pays to pro- 

 duce such stock, and the only reason why the number already 

 engaged in the business does not increase more rapidly is 

 because of the large outlay of money necessary in the begin- 

 ning. But in spite of this handicap each year the number 

 increases. At the present time the collective sentiment of 

 Rural America is favorable to and enthusiastic for pure-bred 

 live stock. In fact, there is little doubt that agricultural 

 America is entering upon a period when pure-bred live stock 

 will be the rule rather than the exception. 



With the sentiment in the matter of breeding farm animals 

 so universal throughout the length and breadth of America, 

 it is quite natural that some thought should be given to the 

 subject of human stock. So along with the movement to 

 produce the highest type of farm animals of all kinds, there 

 is beginning to develop a sentiment favorable to the produc- 

 tion of a finer human stock. It is the universality of this 

 sentiment that has led to its crystallization in the laws of a 

 number of states. People have progressed sufficiently in this 

 country to enable them to give attention to matters other than 

 those having to do almost solely with making a living. They 

 have begun to realize that if further advancement is to be 

 made the average American citizen must be a finer specimen 

 of humanity, since the nation is no better than the sum of 

 one hundred million individuals, and the only way to make 

 a finer composite man is to make a finer individual man. 



1 See The Mountain State Bulletin. 



89 



