l defect is not concealed even in such
dignified bodies as state legislatures and among those leaders who are
urging men and women to reckless and irresponsible procreation.

I have touched upon these various aspects of the complex problem of the
feeble-minded, and the menace of the moron to human society, not merely
for the purpose of reiterating that it is one of the greatest and most
difficult social problems of modern times, demanding an immediate, stern
and definite policy, but because it illustrates the actual harvest of
reliance upon traditional morality, upon the biblical injunction to
increase and multiply, a policy still taught by politician, priest
and militarist. Motherhood has been held universally sacred; yet, as
Bouchacourt pointed out, "to-day, the dregs of the human species, the
blind, the deaf-mute, the degenerate, the nervous, the vicious, the
idiotic, the imbecile, the cretins and the epileptics--are better
protected than pregnant women." The syphilitic, the irresponsible, the
feeble-minded are encouraged to breed unhindered, while all the powerful
forces of tradition, of custom, or prejudice, have bolstered up the
desperate effort to block the inevitable influence of true civilization
in spreading the principles of independence, self-reliance,
discrimination and foresight upon which the great practice of
intelligent parenthood is based.

To-day we are confronted by the results of this official policy. There
is no escaping it; there is no explaining it away. Surely it is an
amazing and discouraging phenomenon that the very governments that have
seen fit to interfere in practically every phase of the normal citizen's
life, dare not attempt to restrain, either by force or persuasion, the
moron and the imbecile from producing his large family of feeble-minded
offspring.

In my own experience, I recall vividly the case of a feeble-minded girl
who every year, for a long period, received the expert attention of a
great specialist in one of the best-known maternity hospitals of New
York City. The great obstetrician, for the benefit of interns and
medical students, performed each year a Caesarian operation upon this
unfortunate creature to bring into the world her defective, and, in
one case at least, her syphilitic, infant. "Nelly" was then sent to a
special room and placed under the care of a day nurse and a night nurse,
with extra and special nourishment provided. Each year she returned to
the hospital