46 Heredity and Child Culture 



600 feeble-minded, and over 300 prostitutes. 

 If simply bringing large numbers of children 

 into the world is admirable, certain social and 

 ecclesiastical lawgivers might think that the 

 older Jukes, reprobate though he was, did his 

 duty by the State. It is quality not quantity 

 that is to be sought in children. 



If parents cannot properly raise large 

 families, they should not be encouraged to pro- 

 duce them. It is actually found that the poorest 

 and frequently the least desirable elements in 

 the population are apt to have the largest num- 

 ber of children, for which they frequently 

 receive undeserved praise. I once made a 

 study of the size of families in connection with 

 1000 children who came under my hospital care 

 in the lower East Side of New York. There 

 were 557 large families (more than five mem- 

 bers) and 443 small families (less than five mem- 

 bers) on the list. An interesting point was that 

 the families earning the higher wages were 

 small; while the large families were 

 almost invariably in the low-wage class. In the 

 latter, the income was always insufficient to 



