76 THE RIGHT TO BE WELL BORN 



will get "fool horses," but, if "intelligent 

 horses" are mated, "intelligent foals" re- 

 sult. Like produces like, or a likeness of a 

 former ancestor. This same law applies 

 with equal accuracy in human heredity. 

 Brain power, like gold, is of different de- 

 grees of fineness — it may be 1 carat, 14 

 carat or 21 carat, and can only be secured 

 from its source. Neither brains nor water 

 will rise higher than their source. To ex- 

 pect to produce a great or eminent man 

 from the mediocre strata of the race is as 

 foolish as to expect to secure a world's 

 champion trotter from the mating of scrub 

 horses. 



Not so many years ago, a few of us be- 

 came interested in eugenics, and started 

 a campaign of enlightenment. C. B. Dav- 

 enport was our leader. Since that time, 

 laws relating to the marriages of defectives 

 have been passed in some 12 Western 

 States; and laws for the sterilization of 

 those who are hopelessly unfit to produce 

 have been passed in some six "Western 

 States. In Indiana, alone, 900 defective 

 men recently were sterilized. Our Eastern 



