CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS IN EUGENICS IN A RURAL STATE 



H. F. PERKINS 



Burlington, Vermont 



Some of us up in Vermont are finding that we started something when we 

 conceived and organized the Commission on Country Life as a background 

 for Eugenics. The publication a year ago of the results of this undertaking 

 appear now to have been only the beginning. Having found out what to 

 do to improve the setting for future generations of Vermonters it now ap- 

 pears that the two hundred Vermonters who studied themselves and their 

 surroundings for three years must proceed to put their own advice into prac- 

 tice. The title of the book is "Rural Vermont: A Program for the Future, 

 by 200 Vermonters." What bearing does it have upon Eugenics? 



The Eugenics Survey was responsible for the begetting of this child which 

 soon put its parent in the background in size and vociferousness. It was 

 planned as a means of clearing up some of the complications of conserving 

 the good old Vermont stock in the rural parts, and now that the material has 

 been gathered it proves to have accomplished its purpose to a notable degree. 

 Studying pedigrees of harmful or of helpful families, the problems of racial 

 groups or occupational classifications, or whatever questions of eugenical 

 import, is now, because of this background material, a far less haphazard 

 and complex undertaking. 



The more intelligent and socially minded people of all walks of life in all 

 parts of Vermont were gathered in committees according to their various 

 interests and abilities. There was a surprising amount of enthusiastic sup- 

 port and hard, continuous thinking and working on the part of these thirty 

 committees and subcommittees. 



I. Committee on the Human Factor 



1. Eugenics Survey 



2. Population Changes 

 II. Topography and Climate 



HI. Soils 

 IV. Agriculture — With six subcommittees on Apples, Potatoes, Dairy Problems, 



etc. 

 V. Forestry and Woodworking Industries 

 VI. Summer Residents and Tourists 

 VII. Fish and Game 



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