The Measurement of Intelligence | Page 7

frequented by the militia he met a
feeble-minded girl, by whom he became the father of a feeble-minded
son. In 1912 there were 480 known direct descendants of this
temporary union. It is known that 36 of these were illegitimates, that 33
were sexually immoral, that 24 were confirmed alcoholics, and that 8
kept houses of ill-fame. The explanation of so much immorality will be
obvious when it is stated that of the 480 descendants, 143 were known
to be feeble-minded, and that many of the others were of questionable
mentality.
A few years after returning from the war this same Martin Kallikak
married a respectable girl of good family. From this union
496 individuals have been traced in direct descent, and in this branch of
the family there were no illegitimate children, no immoral women, and
only one man who was sexually loose. There were no criminals, no
keepers of houses of ill-fame, and only two confirmed alcoholics.
Again the explanation is clear when it is stated that this branch of the
family did not contain a single feeble-minded individual. It was made
up of doctors, lawyers, judges, educators, traders, and landholders.[2]
[2] H. H. Goddard: The Kallikak Family. (1914.) 141 pp.
The Hill Folk. The Hill Folk are a New England family of which
709 persons have been traced. Of the married women, 24 per cent had
given birth to illegitimate offspring, and 10 per cent were prostitutes.
Criminal tendencies were clearly shown in 24 members of the family,
while alcoholism was still more common. The proportion of
feeble-minded was 48 per cent. It was estimated that the Hill Folk have
in the last sixty years cost the State of Massachusetts, in charitable
relief, care of feeble-minded, epileptic, and insane, conviction and
punishment for crime, prostitution pauperism, etc., at least $500,000.[3]
[3] Danielson and Davenport: The Hill Folk. Eugenics Record Office,
Memoir No. 1. 1912. 56 pp.
The Nam family and the Jukes give equally dark pictures as regards
criminality, licentiousness, and alcoholism, and although
feeble-mindedness was not as fully investigated in these families as in

the Kallikaks and the Hill Folk, the evidence is strong that it was a
leading trait. The 784 Nams who were traced included 187 alcoholics,
232 women and 199 men known to be licentious, and 40 who became
prisoners. It is estimated that the Nams have already cost the State
nearly $1,500,000.[4]
[4] Estabrook and Davenport: The Nam Family. Eugenics Record
Office Memoir No. 2. (1912). 85 pp.
Of 540 Jukes, practically one fifth were born out of wedlock, 37 were
known to be syphilitic, 53 had been in the poorhouse, 76 had been
sentenced to prison, and of 229 women of marriageable age 128 were
prostitutes. The economic damage inflicted upon the State of New
York by the Jukes in seventy-five years was estimated at more than
$1,300,000, to say nothing of diseases and other evil influences which
they helped to spread.[5]
[5] R. L. Dugdale: The Jukes. (Fourth edition, 1910.) 120 pp. G. P.
Putnam's Sons.
But why do the feeble-minded tend so strongly to become delinquent?
The answer may be stated in simple terms. Morality depends upon two
things: (a) the ability to foresee and to weigh the possible consequences
for self and others of different kinds of behavior; and (b) upon the
willingness and capacity to exercise self-restraint. That there are many
intelligent criminals is due to the fact that (a) may exist without (b). On
the other hand, (b) presupposes (a). In other words, not all criminals are
feeble-minded, but all feeble-minded are at least potential criminals.
That every feeble-minded woman is a potential prostitute would hardly
be disputed by any one. Moral judgment, like business judgment, social
judgment, or any other kind of higher thought process, is a function of
intelligence. Morality cannot flower and fruit if intelligence remains
infantile.
All of us in early childhood lacked moral responsibility. We were as
rank egoists as any criminal. Respect for the feelings, the property
rights, or any other kind of rights, of others had to be laboriously
acquired under the whip of discipline. But by degrees we learned that

only when instincts are curbed, and conduct is made to conform to
principles established formally or accepted tacitly by our neighbors,
does this become a livable world for any of us. Without the intelligence
to generalize the particular, to foresee distant consequences of present
acts, to weigh these foreseen consequences in the nice balance of
imagination, morality cannot be learned. When the adult body, with its
adult instincts, is coupled with the undeveloped intelligence and weak
inhibitory powers of a 10-year-old child, the only possible outcome,
except in those cases where constant guardianship is exercised by
relatives or friends, is some form of delinquency.
Considering the tremendous cost of vice