210 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



minded men. Nevertheless, the 50 per cent, of the offspring 

 who were feeble-minded or criminal, even in these cases, consti- 

 tute a menace which should be considered. Another case was 

 from a criminal, alcoholic family and possessed both of these 

 traits. He migrated to another state and married a woman 

 who had more intelligence than either of the normal husbands 

 (before mentioned). Only one of their children shows the crim- 

 inal tendencies of the father, though the two youngest are neu- 

 rotic, and backward in school. After the mother found out the 

 real character of her husband and his family, she left him. 

 While such repression of defective traits in the progeny by mar- 

 riage into normal strains is beneficial to the community, it in- 

 volves a great sacrifice on the part of the normal consort. How- 

 ever, the consort is only one ; the progeny many. The more fre- 

 quent result of the migration of a feeble-minded individual is 

 his marriage into another defective strain in a different part of 

 the countrj'. The change in locality usually means that two 

 different kinds of feeble-mindedness are united instead of two 

 similar types. 



Looking at the relation of the Hill families to society on the 

 financial side, we see the three chief ways in which they have 

 been an expense to the public are through town relief, court 

 and prison charges, and their maintenance as the State wards. 

 The town of about 2,000 inhabitants in which the original an- 

 cestors settled has had to bear most the burden of the petty bills 

 for relief. The poor records of this one town have been used to 

 get an estimate of the cost of these families to the town, and these 

 records run back only to war time. From 1863-64 to the present 

 time, some families of the Hill have had partial or entire public 

 support. In the first decade 9.3 per cent, of the town's bill for 

 paupers was paid for the Hill families. In the second decade, 

 29.1 per cent of the total bill was paid for the same families or 

 their descendants. During the thirty years covered by these de- 

 cades, the total aid given to paupers increased 69.4 per cent., but 

 that given to the Hill families increased 430 per cent. It is 

 probable that more than 9.3 per cent, of the $15,964 expended 

 from 1879-89 went to these people, for in some instances the 

 names of those aided were not recorded. Besides the usual bills 

 for rent, provisions, fuel, and medical attendance, the last decade 



