IS THE ABNORMAL TO BECOME NORMAL 195 



In our own Illinois the latest figures of the state statistician show that in 

 1928 the thrifty people of this state were taxed for these undesirables confined 

 in institutions, as follows : for the care of defectives, nearly seven hundred 

 thousand dollars ($683,452.38); for the feebleminded, over one million ($1,- 

 031,189.44); for epileptics, over one hundred thousand ($120,000); for the 

 deaf, over three hundred thousand ($332,615); for the blind, over two hun- 

 dred thousand ($219,621.38) ; for the insane, over six million ($6,104,077.35) ; 

 for new institutions and for improvements in those already existing, over 

 five million ($5,267,155.44). An additional million a year is spent by the 

 state in directions other than institutional — a grand total of over twenty-two 

 million dollars, the tax of the thrifty for the great army of defectives and 

 criminals in this one state alone. We spend only five times this amount on 

 our public schools. Think of it: one-fifth as much money spent on d fec- 

 tives and delinquents as for the support of the public educational institutions ! 



The tragedy of it all is not that we are spending these enormous sums this 

 year, or even that we shall continue to do so during the lives of these unde- 

 sirables who today are incarcerated or who are otherwise wards of the com- 

 munity, but rather that we and our children's children must continue to do 

 this for untold generations, unless something is done about it; for mental 

 defectiveness, which is at the bottom of it all, is directly inherited. As long 

 as these individuals are allowed to propagate their kind without let or hin- 

 drance, the demand for the expenditure of these vast sums will not only con- 

 tinue at the present rate, but will increase from year to year in alarming 

 proportions. 



There is a startling relationship between vice, crime, and drunkenness, and 

 poverty and feeblemindedness. Recent psychic studies show that crimi- 

 nality as such is not hereditary ; that which is inherited and which is associated 

 with crime is mental disorder. Eighty-five per cent of the youth brought 

 into the Boys' Court of Chicago are mentally disordered, and over 50 per 

 cent of all criminals everywhere are mentally sick. 



In Illinois alone, if our criminals increase each year at the present rate, 

 we shall have an additional 10,000 inmates of penal institutions to deal with 

 in just seven years. The prison population of Illinois for seventy years has 

 shown a tragic growth; the last ten years has witnessed an increase greater 

 than that of the previous sixty, and 1931 exceeded that of any previous ten- 

 year period. The feebleminded at Lincoln and Dixon increased 5 per cent 

 over 1930. 



The modern civilized races are proud of their ability to control nature. 

 What an insult to our intelligence to intimate that we cannot control human 

 reproduction so as to deliver society from the burden and disgrace of having 



