5 6 THE KALLIKAK FAMILY 



gent associates plan for them. Because of their stupid- 

 ity, they are very apt to be caught quickly and sent to 

 the reformatory or prison. If they are girls, one of the 

 easiest things for them to fall into is a life of prostitu- 

 tion, because they have natural instincts with no power 

 of control and no intelligence to understand the wiles 

 and schemes of the white slaver, the cadet, or the in- 

 dividual seducer. All this, we say, is what is to be 

 expected. These are the people of good outward ap- 

 pearance, but of low intelligence, who pass through 

 school without acquiring any efficiency, then go out into 

 the world and must inevitably fall into some such life 

 as we have pictured. 



Let us now turn to our public institutions. These 

 have not yet been sufficiently investigated, nor have 

 we adequate statistics to show what percentage of their 

 inmates is actually feeble-minded. But even casual 

 observation of our almshouse population shows the 

 majority to be of decidedly low mentality, while care- 

 ful tests would undoubtedly increase this percentage 

 very materially. 



In our insane hospitals may also be found a group 

 of people whom the physicians will tell you are only 

 partially demented. The fact is they properly belong 

 in an institution for feeble-minded, rather than in one 



