SOCIAL PARASITES 637 



was possible to trace the family. The " Jukes " family is a noto- 

 rious example. " Margaret, the mother of criminals, is the first 

 mother in the family of whom we have record." Up to 1915 

 2094 members of this family had been traced; 1600 were feeble- 

 minded or epileptic, 310 were paupers, more than 300 were im- 

 moral women, and 140 were criminals. The family has cost the 

 state of New York more than S2, 500, 000, besides immensely 

 lowering the moral tone of the communities in which members of 

 the family live. 



Another careful investigation concerned the so-called ''Kallikak" 

 family. This notorious family was traced to Martin Kallikak, a 

 young soldier of the War of the Revolution, and a feeble-minded 

 girl, who have had 480 known descendants. Of these 33 were 

 sexually immoral, 24 confirmed drunkards, 3 epileptics, and 

 143 feeble-minded. The man who started this terrible line of 

 immorality and feeble-mindedness later married a normal Quaker 

 girl. From this couple a line of 496 descendants was traced, and 

 in no instance were there any cases of feeble-mindedness. The 

 evidence and the moral speak for themselves. 



Parasitism and its cost to society. Hundreds of families, such 

 as those described, exist today, spreading disease, immorality, and 

 crime in all parts of this country. The cost to society of such 

 families is very great. Just as certain animals or plants become 

 parasitic on other plants or animals, these families have become 

 parasitic on society. They not only do harm to others by corrupt- 

 ing, by stealing, and by spreading disease, but they have to be 

 protected and cared for by the state out of public money. It is 

 estimated that between 25 per cent and 50 per cent of all prisoners 

 in penal institutions are feeble-minded. Largely for them the 

 poorhouse and the asylum exist. The}' take from society, but 

 they give nothing in return. They are social parasites. 



The remedy. One unfortunate fact is that feeble-minded 

 people have little sense of morality, for they do not have a normal 

 mental development. Feeble-mindedness is a very serious prob- 

 lem, for it is estimated that at the lowest figure there are probably 

 300,000 feeble-minded persons in this country, most of whom are 

 free to breed their kind. The only real remedy seems to be to 



