IE GREATEST PROBLEM 
: THE: .RACE ~~ 
S OWN CONSERVATION THE GREATEST PROBLEM OF THE 
RACE-ITS OWN CONSERVATION Compiled, edited, and mostly written by J. W. Jones, Superintend- 
ent of the State School for the Deaf, Columbus, Ohio, under the direc- 
tion of the Ohio Board of Administration. 
Dedicated to higher ideals, and purer living. 
Printed at the Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio, and 
bound at the Ohio State Bindery, Columbus, Ohio. 
Copyright 1917 by the Ohio Board of Administration 
Columbus, Ohio. 
Anyone desiring this book can secure it by sending name and 
address to the Ohio Board of Administration, Columbus, Ohio, and 
enclosing fifteen cents to cover cost of printing, binding, and postage. Introduction 
The State of Ohio expends approximately four millions 
of dollars annually for the maintenance of her State Institu- 
tions. She pays out for lands, new buildings, equipment, 
repairs, and betterment on an average of at least one million 
more per annum. 
If we could take into consideration, and reduce to fig- 
ures, the loss in time, private expense, trouble, and sorrow 
of the families immediately involved, this vast sum would 
be multiplied. If the private hospitals and sanatoriums, 
almshouses, county infirmaries, jails and workhouses, and 
private charitable institutions were all brought into account- 
ing, many millions more would be added to this sum. 
If the State of Ohio may be taken as a fair average 
among the civilized people of the world in the care and 
treatment of its so-called state, county, township and pri- 
vate wards, at least three dollars per capita is expended for 
every one of the world's population; or, in other words, five 
billion dollars are expended annually for this purpose, a 
sum almost equal to the amount necessary for carrying on 
the great European war. 
This war which has shocked the world and horrified 
mankind with its destruction of the human race is doing no 
more toward that end than the unnecessary, inherited, and 
self inflicted diseases are doing. 
In battle we have the slain, the wounded, the missing, 
and the captured. In the social struggle we have the same 
classification of injured people: the killed from unnecessary 
diseases; the wounded (deaf, blind, feeble-minded, insane, 
criminal); the captured (incipient cases of tuberculosis, 
temporary insane, prisoners, drunkards); the missing (es- 
3 caped criminals, deserters, tramps, footpads, and all those 
who are at liberty and a dangerous burden to society). 
Those in charge of State Institutions have a rare oppor- 
tunity for investigating and studying the causes of this 
great human waste. The results of their investigations have 
been set forth in annual reports for many years. These 
annual reports have been printed in limited numbers, and 
filed in the archives of the state and given out to any who 
may be interested enough to call forthem. But the general 
public has never been made acquainted with the true condi- 
tions of its social fabric, simply because these reports have 
not been placed in the hands of the people in a form that in- 
vites reading. 
The Ohio Board of Administration feels that its 
duty is only half done when it furnishes custodial care and 
treatment to the state's wards. It owes a greater duty also, 
namely, the education of the people concerning the causes 
and prevention of deafness, blindness, feeble-mindedness, 
criminality, insanity, tuberculosis, intemperance, and gen- 
eral immorality. It believes that by better sanitation, purer 
living, and more careful mating that much of this human 
waste may be prevented. 
The several stories set forth in this book are filled with 
information and instruction w7hich the people ought to have. 
Ignorance is the bane of our national life. People do not 
wish to live on a low plane, or to bring weak and diseased 
children into the world. They do so only because they do 
not know what they do. 
No parents want their child to be blind, but because 
they have not known the dangers attending childbirth this 
great misfortune has come to them. 
No one wants tuberculosis, but because of a want of 
understanding of the dangers of infection, this disease is 
4 unwittingly passed from mother to child, brother to sister, 
neighbor to neighbor, and stranger to stranger. 
No one would be willing to marry into a family where 
disease is lurking with the possibility of transmitting it to a 
probable offspring, but for the lack of education on this sub- 
ject such marriages are being solemnized daily all over the 
world. 
The various chapters in this book acquaint the people 
with these dangers. 
The effort has been made by the Superintendents to 
speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth 
as the knowledge has come to them in their wide experience 
in studying the various classes of people, and their diseases. 
There is no commercial enterprise behind this publica- 
tion. It is a mere matter of voluntary service to the people 
of Ohio on the part of those who have contributed to it. 
Prompted by the enormity of the unnecessary sin,immoral- 
ity, intemperance, self abuse, and the untold expense of 
maintaining and caring for the products of these undesirable 
things, and with the hope of eradicating much of them, and 
aiding the people to take a step forward in higher and bet- 
ter living, the Ohio Board of Administration endeavors 
to place this book in the hands of all of Ohio's citizens. 
5 CHAPTER I 
1HAD occasion to spend several days in Columbus, Ohio, 
in September of 1914, while my wife was an invalid in 
Grant Hospital. In the mornings while she was having the 
attention of a nurse, I often walked about the city. 
Oftener did I walk by the grounds of the State School 
for the Deaf, only one square away, for the large lawn fac- 
ing Town Street was green with well-kept grass and beauti- 
ful with large beds of red geraniums, cannas and other 
flowers. 
It was vacation time, and the five hundred deaf children 
who attend that school were at their homes, so the man in 
the yard told me. 
He said that these pupils would return for school on the 
16th of the month, and suggested that if I wished to see an 
interesting sight, to be on hand in the Superintendent's 
office on that morning from eight o'clock till noon and even 
afternoon, for they would be coming in all through the day. 
I thanked him for the suggestion and told him I should try 
to be there. 
About_8:3O on that morning I walked up the steps of 
that school (generally known, but wrongly so, as the Deaf 
and Dumb Institution), and sat down in a large swinging 
seat on the front veranda. Already a number of pupils, both 
boys and_girls, had arrived and were lively talking in the 
sign-language and finger-spelling, their^faces bright and 
shining, indicating their enjoyment in being back "home" 
for that is what they call the school, and meeting one another 
again. Of course, I did not know what they were talking 
6 about, but I dare say they were exchanging their summer 
experiences. It was wonderful and interesting, as it was 
all new to me. 
In a few minutes a large number of children, probably 
forty or more, came into the yard, walked rapidly to the 
main entrance, up the large stone steps, passed me by, and 
entered the main office. When the last one passed in, I fol- 
lowed, for I was quite curious to see what was going on in 
there, and why they appeared so excited in approaching it. 
I saw these children, many of them young men and 
women in their teens, lined up in fairly good order and 
being received by a gentleman, who I afterwards learned was 
the Superintendent. He was greeting one after another 
with a warm handshake and a call of the given name after 
this fashion: "Hello Elizabeth; how are you, Frank? Here's 
Mary; Glad to see you, Chester; Good morning Florence'', 
and so on all down the line. He seemed glad to see each 
and every one and apparently knew the name of each child. 
A gentleman across the table had a large register before 
him and checked each child as it passed by. From the office 
the pupils passed to their departments, I was told; greeted 
their matrons or their supervisors, deposited their hand 
baggage, and then returned to the yard to meet other pupils 
who had already come. Their talk appeared to be vigorous, 
even violent to a new onlooker, but surely intelligible and 
interesting, for there was no let-up all day. 
Group after group of children kept coming by twos, 
tens, fifteens, more or less, and all went through the same 
procedure, until by noon more than one-half of the pupils 
had arrived. I was so interested that the forenoon was 
gone before I knew it. 
I ate a hurried lunch with my wife at the hospital, and 
with her permission, I returned to the school. My curiosity 
had been aroused as never before, and I wished to know 
7 more about these children. Where did they come from? 
What caused their deafness? What can be done for them? 
Can deafness be prevented? All of these and other ques- 
tions were knocking at my intellectual door, but it could 
not open, for I did not know. 
When the Superintendent was at leisure for a few mo- 
ments between the arrival of squads of pupils, I sought him. 
He was most cordial and refused to let me apologize for ap- 
pearing to be a spy in his camp, saying that the school, 
grounds, and buildings all belong to the people of Ohio, and 
he was glad to welcome any one who was interested enough 
to come. 
"One thing,'' he said, "the people lack is an expressed 
interest in their great educational, benevolent, and penal in- 
stitutions. I shall be more than glad to show you every- 
thing about the place and answer any questions you may 
care to ask.'' 
I thanked him and said I should like some information 
to relieve the tension which the sights of the day had caused 
in my mind. 
"In the first place, where do all of these children come 
from?'' I asked. "I scarcely ever see or hear of one in ray 
county. ' ' 
He reminded me that there are 88 counties in Ohio, and 
that the attendance represented an average of 5% to a county. 
But Cuyahoga, Hamilton, and Franklin each have 30 to 
40. So the number in the smaller counties could be very 
small. In fact, two counties have no representation at all. 
"What causes children to be deaf and dumb?'' was my 
next question. 
He said that ' 'dumb' ' is no longer applied to the deaf, 
and the educated deaf resent it. They prefer to be called 
"deaf'' only. He continued,"But lack of speech is caused 
from lack of hearing. Speech is a matter of imitation. If 
8 a child has never heard speech, he cannot imitate it, and 
therefore cannot talk." 
''Well, what causes deafness?" I inquired. 
''There are two classes of deaf people-those who were 
born deaf and those who became deaf after birth. I shall 
have to discuss these classes separately, if you care to hear 
the whole story, which is quite lengthy," said he. I 
assured him that I should like to know it all, and if he 
would be kind enough to enlighten my mind, he would find 
me a very interested listener. 
''In the first place," he said, ''about forty per cent of 
deaf people are born that way, and are called congenitals. 
The other sixty per cent lose their hearing after birth from 
sickness, disease, or accident." 
''What causes children to be born deaf?" I asked next, 
as I was surprised that so many should be born ''deaf and 
dumb." 
"There are several well-known reasons," he replied, 
' 'such as heredity from deaf parents, parents related by blood, 
intemperate parents, those afflicted with venereal disease, 
and parents who are physical and mental degenerates." 
"Are all children born deaf from some of those classes 
of parents?" I inquired. 
"Oh, no. Some parents who come from a long line of 
strong ancestry and who themselves are mentally, morally, 
and physically clean, may have born unto them a deaf child. 
This has not been accounted for up to date; but most of the 
congenitally deaf children can be traced to some parental 
weakness." 
"Are the children of deaf parents liable to be deaf?" 
"Yes, but not always so or even generally so. But if 
deaf parents have inherited their deafness, they run great 
risk that most of their offspring will be deaf. Do you see 
that fine-looking young man talking in the sign-language 
9 with the boys' supervisor at the foot of the'"steps? |His 
father and mother are deaf, and all of their^children, seven 
in number, are deaf. Their father and mother were edu- 
cated here, and all of their children are being educated in 
this school. 
"There are several such families of children in school. 
Some have one, some two, some three, some four and even 
seven children. Sometimes a part of the family only will 
be deaf. People who are deaf, but not from heredity, run 
some risk in marrying that their offspring may be deaf, but 
not very much. Generally their children are sound in every 
way, and are above the average in intelligence and character.'' 
"You said something about parents of blood relation- 
ship having deaf children. This is news to me, and I should 
like for you to tell me about it.'' 
Just then a sweet little girl, about eleven years old,came 
bounding up the steps to shake hands with the Superintend- 
ent. She said in speech but of an unnatural and somewhat 
uncertain tone, "I am glad to see you.'' He returned. "I 
am glad to see you, Mary; where is your brother Albert?'' 
Again she spoke and said, "He will come soon. He is talk- 
ing with the boys.'' The Superintendent then told her to 
go into the office and register, and she passed on. 
"She is, indeed, a fine child, and so is her brother a fine 
boy. Their parents are first cousins. We have several 
children in school whose parents are related by blood. The 
question, 'Are the parents related by blood?' is in the ap- 
plication blank for the parents to answer when they apply 
for admission for their child. Sometimes they answer 'yes,' 
and sometimes they answer 'no', when I fear they are 
mistaken. Parents do not always know whether they are 
related or not. They may be related and not know it. We 
have had children in school whose parents were sure they 
10 were not blood relatives, and I felt sure that they were half 
brother and sister." 
''Why would that produce deafness in the child?" 
''It is usually accepted that family characteristics and 
family weaknesses are multiplied in the child when born of 
blood relations. There was doubtless sufficient weakness in 
the delicate organs of hearings in these two parents to en- 
tirely obliterate the sense in their children." 
"You do not think it is sent on them then as a punish- 
ment for violating the laws of consanguinity?" 
''No, only it is the result of violating a natural law." 
''Did you say that intemperance, venereal disease, and 
degeneracy in parents are liable to produce deafness in the 
children?" 
''Yes, deafness, blindness or feeble-mindedness or any 
two or all of them. That young lady sitting on the grass 
yonder in the yard, talking to other girls, is totally deaf, and 
sees only twenty-four per cent of normal. She has a brother 
in school who is deaf and almost blind. Their mother, I am 
told, was a very beautiful and pure woman. She was 
courted by a temporarily reformed drunkard who was also 
infected with a loathsome disease. Of course, he would 
seek out some clean innocent woman to be his wife. He 
won her. The result of the marriage is these children. 
The mother died of the effects of the disease communicated 
to her by her husband. Her own family has these two 
children to keep now, and the state or county will, when 
they are older, and their friends are gone. If either of 
them should ever become a parent, the offspring will like- 
wise be diseased, defective in some way, and a charge on 
society, for truly 'The sins of the fathers are visited upon 
the children unto the third and fourth generation. ' 
"Is that what the Bible means?" I asked. 
11 "That is what it means and the truth was never better 
spoken. Other beautiful children here are afflicted as that 
girl is. They are perfect in every other way. They are 
the fruits of sin and disease for which they are in no way 
responsible.'' 
"Do the fathers of such children support them?'' 
"Rarely. On the contrary, they desert the wives they 
have burdened with disease and the poor unfortunate chil- 
dren they have brought into the world. These are then left 
to the kind care of charity. 
"The physical and mental degenerates that marry always 
leave a weak posterity. Some of them are sent into this 
School. Because they cannot talk, people think they are 
'deaf and dumb' but they are not. They are feeble-minded. 
We cannot keep them for they have normal hearing. They 
do not talk for lack of mind, and the reason they have no 
mind is because of weak parentage. Such people should 
never be permitted to marry.'' 
I then asked the Superintendent to tell me something 
about the sixty per cent who became deaf after birth. ' ' Well, ' ' 
he said, "much of this could be prevented if parents would 
give quick and intelligent attention to children's diseases, 
such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, spinal meningitis, measles, 
whooping cough, colds, inflammation of the membranes of 
the head, and catarrh. Every home should have a hand- 
book on the care of children, and a physician should be 
called in when sickness appears. Many a child must go 
through life deaf or blind because of ignorance and uninten- 
tional neglect on the part of the parents. Sometimes a 
child born with the germs of disease in it loses its hearing 
when attacked by sickness while growing. If parents could 
only be clean, and good, and healthy, and wise, much of the 
affliction and sorrow and misery of the world would disap- 
pear." 
12 I said that these stories were both pitiful and interest- 
ing. I did not think the people knew the great dangers 
before them or they would be more careful in marriage and 
more intelligent in bringing up a family. 
I thought the facts should be given to the public, and 
that as soon as possible. 
His reply was that the story had been told time and 
again in his annual reports, and in the reports of other su- 
perintendents of State institutions, but that people were not 
interested in public documents and would not read them 
I asked him if I might put the facts he had told me in 
story form, and give them out. 
"Yes," he said, "with this statement also, that there 
are many strong, vigorous, intelligent, healthy children in 
this school who are in no way the products of sin or disease. ' ' 
I asked him if he thought that blindness, feeble-mind- 
edness, insanity, and crime were caused in the same way. 
He thought so, but referred me to the various superin- 
tendents of their own people, who would be glad to give me 
all the information they have. 
As a parting question, for I had taken much of his time, 
I asked what he would recommend besides a general educa- 
tion of the public of the effects of heredity. 
He unhesitatingly answered "a law requiring a physi- 
cal, mental and moral examination of every man who offers 
himself for marriage. 
"The purest girl is none too good for him, no matter 
what he is or has been. Any man who asks so much of a 
wife should be the first to have her assured that he is as 
clean as he asks her to be. When a man applies for a 
license, the law should say to him, 'You will have to stand 
the test of true manhood, and if you pass the test, the state 
is glad to license you; but if you are found unfit, you will 
13 be rejected. And if you marry contrary to law, or become 
the father of an illegitimate child, the state will hang you 
higher than Haman." 
I asked him if that punishment would not be a little too 
severe. 
He thought it might appear so to me because I have 
never known of the easy transmission of incurable dis- 
eases, and the awful misery that follows; but in fact, im- 
mediate death to one who so sins against himself and society 
would be a luxury compared with the long suffering the 
woman he deceives and imposes upon must endure, to say 
nothing of the suffering of his own children who must go 
through life without ears or eyes or mind, or with a maimed 
body, and so on through the succeeding generations. 
With this I left him, feeling that the day had been well 
spent. 
14 CHAPTER II 
A FEW days after my visit to the State School for the 
Deaf I walked over to the School for the Blind on 
Parsons Avenue which is about a mile east of the State House. 
The school is housed in a large and imposing stone build- 
ing, erected in 1874, and evidently cost several hundred 
thousand dollars. 
A lady with a musical voice answered the door bell 
and invited me in. She told me that the Superintendent 
had just gone to conduct the morning exercises in the chapel 
on the second floor, and if I would be seated he would re- 
turn in about twenty minutes and would be glad to see me. 
I asked if I might not take a rear seat in the hall and 
witness the exercises and she assured me I would be most 
welcome. She conducted me thither with apologies for not 
having invited me to go there in the first place. On the 
way I noticed that she was blind. She said she had been 
blind since childhood from an attack of spinal meningitis, but 
that she could go to any part of the building with ease and 
liked to show seeing people around. 
The children were opening their services by singing 
"Tell me the old, old story''. The singing was much like 
that of any group of young people as I stood in the door 
and listened. But when the Superintendent gave me a seat 
on the platform, where I could look into the children's 
faces and realize the absence of vision, I confess the tones 
seemed to take on a richer melody than I had ever heard 
before, and the songs meant more to me. 
As I recovered from my first feeling of sadness and pity 
I thought, "What an important organ of the body the eye 
is! How it adds to the uplifted face and crowns it with 
15 beauty! How it gives form and symmetry to the whole body 
as it looks about over the earth to see and to know. 'In the 
name of heaven', I thought to myself, is there no way to 
restore sight to these children and to prevent blindness 
coming to others?" 
Prompt Treatment Saved this Child's Sight 
The exercises were most interesting throughout. 
After dismissal I asked the Superintendent to tell me 
about blindness, its cause and prevention. 
As might be expected, most of hereditary blindness was 
traced by him to the same causes which produce deafness, 
already discussed. But the thing that surprised me most 
was his assertion that a very large proportion of the children 
16 One of Many Children Whose Sight 
Might Have Been Saved 
had lost their sight in infancy and from a disease which, even 
though the eye is infected, can be overcome if proper atten- 
tion is promptly given to it. 
17 When I asked the Superintendent if anything could be 
done to iestore or help the vision of these children, he re- 
plied, "Not much. Everything that medical and surgical 
science can do is being done, but it is only a rare case that 
can be helped. Much can be done for their happiness and 
usefulness by educating the mind, hand, and heart, and we 
are doing all we can in that direction.'' "But,'' he said, 
"at least forty per cent of all blindness is preventable.'' 
"Do you mean,'' I asked, "that nearly half of these pu- 
pils are blind because somebody failed to care forthem prop- 
erly at some time in their lives?'' 
"No,'' said the Superintendent, "I do not mean that 
forty per cent of the children here are needlessly blind, but out 
of the total blind population reliable authorities tell us that 
nearly half of the blindness is unnecessary. In schools for 
the blind throughout the country, between twenty-five and 
thirty per cent of the pupils are blind from a preventable 
disease which is commonly called babies' sore eyes. 
"While the medical profession has known for years 
that if prompt and efficient curative treatment be given to a 
child's eyes, when infected at birth, thesight can be saved, it 
is only in recent years that the general public has become 
aware of this fact. 
"Strange as it may seem, blind children had been 
educated in schools throughout the country for nearly 
three-quarters of a century before much serious attention 
was paid to the elimination of this great cause of blind- 
ness among infants. In 1906 Massachusetts established a 
Commission for the Blind and in. 1908 Ohio did the same 
thing. Since that date many states have formed such Boards 
and one of their chief functions has been to con- 
duct campaigns for the 'Prevention of Blindness.' The 
Ohio law, which created the Commission, stated that it 
should co-operate with the State Board of Health in this 
18 effort and in 1915 the Commission for the Blind, recogniz- 
ing the ineffectiveness of the old (ophthalmia) Prevention of 
Blindness Law, was instrumental in having a new law pass- 
ed which makes it the duty of any physician, surgeon, 
obstetrician, midwife, nurse, maternity home, or hospital 
of any nature, to report any inflammation which may ap- 
pear in the eyes of the new born child to the local health 
officer. 
"Also a parent, relative, or any person who observes 
inflammation in the eyes of any newborn babe is called upon 
to report it to the local health officer. It is the duty of 
this officer to investigate immediately, and to see that the 
necessary preventative furnished free by the State Board of 
Health, is applied. He is required to keep a record of the 
several cases that come under his observation, and to report 
the same to the State Board of Health. 
"The present law now directs that if notice is given 
and nursing service has not been provided then the State 
Board of Health is expected to take steps to see that a nurse 
is sent to the home to endeavor to save the sight of the 
child. Furthermore, the State Board of Health has done 
a great deal of publicity work to secure the enforcement of 
this law, furnishing each physician, health officer, and mid- 
wife of the state with a copy of the law, and the set of rules 
and regulations adopted to enforce it. It has also issued 
bulletins of advice to parents and supplies them, free of 
charge, to any one making an application to the local health 
officer or to the State Board of Health in Columbus. It is 
anxious to circulate these bulletins and will welcome any 
assistance toward this end. 
"From this you will see, so far as statutes can go, every- 
thing is being done that can be done to check the loss of 
sight from this cause. But the great need is for the public 
to become intelligent upon this subject.'' 
19 "Is it true that some blindness like deafness may result 
from specific disease?'' 
"There can be no doubt," answered the Superintendent, 
"that a deplorable amount of blindness results from this 
cause. If it is self inflicted, of course, it could have been 
prevented by cleaner living. If it has been inherited, as is 
so often the case, the inflicted one is not to blame. It is the 
cruel work of some ignorant or thoughtless ancestor. As 
the State Board of Health, the Commission for the Blind, 
and the School for the Blind are doing everything in their 
power to arouse the public to the fact that much blindness 
can be prevented, we are not over-emphasizing this cause 
leaving that work to eugenic societies. 
"So long as a considerable proportion of blindness 
is not caused in this way, we wish to avoid giving the 
impression, which seems to exist among so many, that all in- 
fantile blindness results from gonorrheal infection. So we 
are insisting that the attending physician should use all the 
means which are available for the prevention of blindness 
from infection at birth. 
"There are in the United States more than 10,000 
persons wrho are totally blind because their eyes were neg- 
lected during the first few hours or days of their life. 
Think of it! A city of 10,000 people needlessly blind, all 
because our so-called professional experts in charge of child- 
birth are ignorant or negligent. Besides these there are many 
other thousands sore-eyed and half blind, a misery to them- 
selves and an offense to others. These people would all 
have normal vision if their eyes had been properly cared 
for." 
"Is blindness also avoidable from other causes besides 
that resulting from babies' sore eyes?" 
"Yes, indeed! Accidents of many kinds are a large fac- 
torin bringing children to this School. For example, care 
20 less persons at home leave scissors, button hooks, or forks 
where a little child can get them, or children play with sharp 
sticks, stones, bows and arrows, guns, etc. Every family 
should realize the danger that arises from allowing little 
children to play with such things. I could show you quite 
a number of pupils in this school blind from this careless- 
ness. 
"While entire blindness will not result immediately 
from abuse of the eyes nevertheless many people are over- 
straining their eyes by reading in a poor light, facing the 
light, or upon the cars. 
"In the adjoining state of Kentucky there are thousands 
of men, women and children suffering from trachoma or what 
is commonly known as 'granulated lids'. This disease is 
passed from one to another by the use of the so-called 'family 
towel', and we can not urge too earnestly that no one 
should ever wipe his face on a towel that has been used by 
some one else. 
"If you ever hear of a person, old or young, having 
trouble with his eyes, you will be helping him if you send 
his name and address to the State Commission for the Blind, 
Columbus. If he happens to be a child of school age, and 
it appears upon investigation by one of the eye inspect- 
ors employed by the Commission for the Blind that the 
child's sight can not be restored, arrangements will be made 
for sending him to this School. If the patient is an adult 
and his eyes can not be helped, the Commission's agent 
will see that some form of assistance is secured for the needy 
blind person." 
The Superintendent invited me to go with him through 
the School and industrial departments and I gladly accepted 
his invitation. It was very interesting throughout. 
There was regular school work, such recitations as 
you hear in a school of seeing children: arithmetic, algebra, 
21 history and literature in the upper grades and from that 
to kindergarten for the little ones-singing, marching danc- 
ing and games. Here was a class of a dozen learning type- 
writing and by the clicking of the numerous machines they 
must have been experts. There a number of boys were learn- 
ing piano tuning and over here others making brooms, can- 
ing chairs or weaving. Some of the larger girls were learning 
to cook while others were crocheting, sewing, knitting, and 
embroidering. Much of the finished product of their hand- 
work was on exhibition and was a revelation. The pupils 
seemed to be proud of their work, and the Superintendent 
was proud of the children. Both had a right to be. But 
while all were happy, I myself felt sad and thought that the 
public should at once take steps to save the sight of future 
citizens. 
The Superintendent of this Institution is Charles F. F. 
Campbell. I was anxious to know what preparation he had 
had for this work, and so I asked him. 
He replied with a great deal of enthusiasm and apparent 
pleasure, "I was born in a great School for the Blind where 
my father was Superintendent. I have devoted my whole 
lifetime to serving the blind in one capacity or another. 
Before taking charge of this school I was for several years 
in charge of the work of the Ohio Commission for the Blind. 
I have been Superintendent here only a few months. The 
credit for what you see about this Institution which pleases 
you belongs to my able predecessors; but there is still a 
great work for me to do, and I look forward to much pleas- 
ure in doing it. I hope you may visit us again in one or 
two years." 
I assured him that I would be glad to come back for I 
was greatly interested in his work. 
I bade them all good-bye and told them I wanted to 
come again and hear them sing. 
22 CHAPTER III 
I DID not return to Columbus until the following April. 
In the meantime I studied eugenics and read everything 
I could find on the subject. 
My attention had been called to an interesting piece of 
Ohio legislation which requires the owner of any male 
animal offered to the public for breeding purposes to adver- 
tise with the description of such animal any blemishes or 
defects it may have, the object, of course, being to prevent 
the transmission of such defects and to improve the stock. 
I thought if it is important to improve the brute animal 
in order that it may serve man better, how much more im- 
portant to improve man that he may serve himself and his 
God better. 
So my interest grew and my determination to give to 
the public all of the information I could get on the subject 
drove me to greater efforts. 
I read in the proceedings of the National Educational 
Association an interesting address by the Superintendent of 
the Institution for Feeble-Minded Youth. 
In connection with that address he exhibited charts of 
families in which either the husband or wife, or both were 
feeble-minded. These charts were a kind of family tree, 
and clearly showed that feeble-mindedness is transmitted to 
the offspring through several generations, and apparently 
grows worse and worse, and when adulterated with alcohol 
produces all sorts of criminals and idiots. 
I was anxious to see those charts and to hear from the 
Superintendent himself what lesson they teach. 
It was on Easter morning when I reached the Institu- 
23 tion located in the west end of the Capital of Ohio, and one 
of the largest in the world. 
I could not have gone at a better time. An excellent 
program had been prepared to please and interest the 
children, or such of them as had mind enough to understand. 
The school specializes in flowers and music and both 
were much in evidence at that entertainment. 
The orchestra was composed of twenty-five pupils, and 
the band of twenty-eight pupils. I do not expect ever to 
hear sweeter music than they produced on that occasion. 
Music which has soothed the world from its founda- 
tion has its gentle effect on the feeble-minded as well, and 
evidently they love it, as it had a prominent part in the en- 
tire program which consisted largely of marching, folk 
dancing, and plays, all being given in exact time, and with 
more enthusiasm and zest than would naturally have been 
expected from feeble-minded children. 
It was a real pleasure to sit and watch their movements, 
and one almost forgets their unattractive faces. 
The children appeared to be happy enough, and I was 
assured by the Superintendent that the feeble-minded are 
the happiest people in the world. I could almost believe it 
as I noticed their smiles, and hand waving to the Superin- 
tendent and his wife when the entertainment was over, and 
they were passing to their departments. 
The physical education of these children is taken care 
of to a remarkable degree. Everything is done which has 
a tendency to straighten up their bodies, and give them an 
erect posture. Their movements naturally loose and slov- 
enly have been greatly improved under the hand of the 
physical director, and teachers. 
The hand has likewise been trained to work by an ex- 
tensive system of manual training. 
24 It would be interesting indeed to discuss all of these 
features at length, but we must return to our real theme. 
What is the cause of feeble-mindedness, how may it be les- 
sened, and finally prevented? 
After the entertainment was over, the Superintendent 
willingly consented to show me his charts, and to explain 
them fully. I shall give them to the reader as he gave 
them to me. 
These charts are made on long strips of muslin from 
which photographs are taken as presented in this book. 
Dr. Emerick began his explanation by saying that all 
names were necessarily omitted, and that we must consider 
these as typical families of a certain class, although, in fact, 
they represent specific families whose children are now, or 
have been inmates in this Institution. 
He called my attention to this key to the charts, and I 
found it very helpful to me in studying the charts after the 
Doctor's lecture on them. 
It will also be necessary for the reader to familiarize 
himself with this key, and to begin in his study with the 
person indicated usually by the hand with the extended 
forefinger. 
Key to the Charts 
Symbols 
Square indicates male-circle female. Where the 
squares or circles are plain it indicates that they are normal 
and where they are black, it indicates that they are defective. 
The small black circles indicate miscarriages. 
A capital letter indicates disease, habit or condition as 
follows: A.-alcoholic, C.-criminal, T.-tuberculosis, 
E.-epileptic, F.-feeble-minded, I.-insane, d-inf.-died 
in infancy, Sex. P.-sexual pervert, P.-prostitute, Morph. 
-morphine habit, S.-syphilis, Ind.-Industrial School, 
25 Broken lines,-illegitimacy. Pen.--Penitentiary. Hydro. 
-hydrocephalic. The hand indicates child in institution. 
Chart i 
Chart i shows the effect of feeble-mindedness in the 
mother. The father is normal, although from a shiftless, 
easy-going family. The results of this man's marriage with 
a feeble-minded woman are four feeble-minded and five 
normal children, one of whom is blind and a subject of 
charity. This shows a clear case of feeble-mindedness of 
three generations transmitted through the mother. 
26 Chart 2 
In chart 2, while the parents and the maternal grand- 
parents and great grandparents are themselves normal, we 
have evidence of a neurotic taint in the family. This shows 
itself on the maternal side by a feeble-minded uncle and great 
uncle and one feeble-minded second cousin and two feeble- 
minded third cousins. On the paternal side, there is a feeble- 
minded aunt. This illustrates the danger of marrying into 
a family where there is a morbid heredity, although the 
parentage on both sides, as far back as we can trace, be 
normal. 
27 Chart 3 
Chart 3 shows a combination of almost every form of 
morbid heredity, namelyinsanity, feeble-mindedness, al- 
coholism, tuberculosis, syphilis, sexual-perversion, prostitu- 
tion. Another interesting factor is that alcoholism runs 
through every generation. The maternal greatgrandfather 
and grandfather were alcoholics and a maternal great uncle, 
tubercular. There were three maternal uncles alcoholic, 
one of whom was insane, due to syphilis. Also another 
maternal uncle who had syphilis, and one maternal aunt 
who had tuberculosis. All through the father's family im- 
morality exists, the father being alcoholic, a sexual pervert 
and syphilitic as well as a criminal. He has one sister a 
prostitute and one sister feeble-minded. The boy in the 
institution was the only child from this union. The mother 
has married a second time and has had one child, which 
died in infancy from inanition. 
28 Chart 4 
Chart 4 shows a combination of feeble-mindedness, in- 
sanity, alcoholism and the drug habit. The result of the 
marriage of this feeble-minded woman with an alcoholic and 
shiftless man, who has served three terms in the workhouse, 
is three feeble-minded children, two of them now in the in- 
stitution, the third being too young for admission. The 
maternal grandparents were addicted to the morphine habit 
and while the maternal grandfather was not violently insane, 
yet he was sufficiently unbalanced to be committed to the 
asylum and died there. The paternal grandparents were 
supposed to be normal, although they had four sons who are 
chronic alcoholics, one daughter insane, and one normal. 
29 Chart 5 
This chart shows the offspring of a union in which both 
parents were feeble-minded. Twelve children were born, 
ten of whom are feeble-minded. The other two, who are 
normal and twins are, undoubtedly, illegitimate, as both par- 
ents are white and these two children, colored. The chart 
is so drawn because we have no history of the illegitimacy, 
and which, were it not for the color, would be unsuspected. 
This chart clearly shows how the impossible event of nor- 
mal offspring of feeble-minded parents is often apparently 
shown. 
30 Chart 6 shows the effect of intermarriage of cousins, where morbid heredity exists. The parents of 
the child in the institution are first cousins, the mother being feeble-minded and the father alcoholic. The 
result of this union was four feeble-minded girls, one of whom is a prostitute and one a sexual pervert. 
There is a maternal aunt who is feeble-minded and a great uncle who was a bigamist. The maternal grand- 
father was feeble-minded and alcoholic. The maternal great grandfather was a half-breed Indian and the 
great grandmother a full blooded Indian. There are two paternal uncles and one paternal aunt who are 
alcoholics. The paternal grandmother was alcoholic and the paternal grandfather insane and alcoholic. 
An interesting factor of the morbid heredity is a combination of alcoholism through the paternal side with 
feeble-mindedness through the maternal side. 
Chart 6 
31 Chart 7 
Chart 7 shows the decendants of an alcoholic man who served a term in the penitentiary and who was married three 
times. His tirst and second wives were sisters, both normal. By his first wife, he had fourchildren all normal but one 
daughter, who married twice, had an epileptic, hydrocephalic son by her first husband. By his second wife he had six 
children, fournormal, one feeble-minded and one insane. For his third wife he married a woman whohad been an inmate 
of an Industrial School and who afterwards became insane, being in the asylum three different times. The result of this 
marriage was two feeble-minded girls who are in the institution, one boy who is a patient in the Ohio Hospital for Epi- 
leptics and one boy in the Industrial School. The man has died and the woman has married a second time. The third 
wife has a half sister who is insane. She was also an inmate of the Industrial School. This woman married a tubercular 
and alcoholic man, and to them were born six children, one of whom, a boy, is syphilitic and the remaining five, three 
girlsand two boys, are feeble-minded, and inmates of the institution. These children are half cousins to the two children 
by his third wife who are also shown as inmates of the institution. 
32 Chart 8 
Chart 8 shows the result of a feeble-minded woman 
being left at large, she having had seven illegitimate chil- 
dren, all feeble-minded. After her marriage, she had four 
children, three of whom diedin infancy before their mental- 
ity could be determined. The other child, a girl, is feeble- 
minded. 
33 Chart 9 
The grandparents of the children in the institution 
were both feeble-minded. They had three feeble-minded 
children, one son and two daughters. The youngest daughter 
married a man who was not only feeble-minded but an alco- 
holic and the results of this union are just what we would 
expect, the entire family feeble-minded. The six older ones 
are inmates of the institution. The three younger ones are 
not old enough to be admitted. The father also had an 
illegitimate child by his wife's sister, who is also in the 
institution. 
34 Symbols and Abbreviations Used in the 
following Charts 
Squares indicate males. 
Circles indicate females. 
Diamonds, sex unknown. 
Dotted lines indicate illegitimacy or illegitimate relations. 
A number within a square or circle indicates that number 
of males or females. 
A alcoholic 
B blind 
b born 
C criminal 
Ca cataract 
d died 
d.inf died in infancy 
E epilepsy 
F feeble-minded 
gon gonorrhoea 
I insane 
N . . .... . .normal 
P paralysis 
Prost prostitute 
S syphilis 
Sx sexually immoral 
T tuberculosis 
Ch. Home Children's Home 
Ch. Hosp .Children's Hospital 
B. I. S Boys' Industrial School 
G. I. S Girls' Industrial School 
J. C Juvenile Court 
P. C Police Court 
Pen Penitentiary 
Ref Reformatory 
State Hosp State Hospital for the Insane 
W. H Workhouse 
|-* Infirmary Inmate 
: .. . Helped by Charities 4 
L Institution for Feeble-Minded 
35 CHART I 
CHART SHOWING FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 
AND CRIMINALITY 
36 CHART I 
CHART SHOWING FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS AND CRIMINALITY 
Data Secured by Miss Mary Storer 
Fieed Worker for I. F. M., 1913-1914 
The central mating (indicated by double horizontal 
line) is that of a man who was immoral and a gambler, 
with a woman below par mentally, who steals, is immoral 
and is insane at times. (Since the man's death, the woman 
has married again-a fair sort of a man.) 
Of the man's family we know-that his father was ar- 
rested for burning his own barn, though acquitted for lack 
of evidence; that a brother's daughter is immoral; and that 
the wife and oldest child of another brother have been in the 
County Infirmary. He has four other married brothers and 
four married sisters, whose family histories we have not in- 
vestigated. 
Of the woman's family we know more. She has a 
brother who served a term in a Federal prison as a deserter 
from the United States Army; this man robbed his own 
feeble-minded brother and had to leave town. Another 
brother becomes intoxicated periodically, but is quite decent 
when sober; five brothers and sisters have died young; one 
brother, a feeble-minded degenerate, married a feeble- 
minded woman, previously an Infirmary inmate (and with 
many relatives who have been in the Infirmary), who had 
an illegitimate daughter; this daughter was at the Girls' 
Industrial Home for stealing and immorality, and has since 
married her cousin, a rough fellow, who has been in the work- 
house. This feeble-minded man's wife died as a result of his 
brutality; he lives alone with his feeble-minded daughter, 
with whom, neighbors are convinced, he has incestuous re- 
37 lations. Besides these, the woman (of the central mating) 
has three married sisters and one married brother, whose 
histories we do not yet know. The brother is described as 
not very bright. 
The father of the woman with whom we started was a 
blind beggar. He has a sister who was twice married, each 
time to an alcoholic husband. Her descendants by the first 
husband, show a high incidence of drunkenness, immorality, 
tuberculosis, epilepsy, feeble-mindedness, and blindness; 
those by the second husband show a marked degree of im- 
morality and petty thieving. Another sister of the blind 
beggar married an alcoholic. The descendants of this couple 
show alcoholism among the men, and gross immorality 
among the women, almost without an exception. The in- 
cidence of syphilis here is high. Still another sister of the 
beggar married. Her descendants show feeble-mindedness 
and degeneracy to a marked extent. Many of the women 
are prostitutes. 
The father and uncle of the beggar were thieves, and, 
like most of their descendants, were of the ignorant, illiter- 
ate type. 
Going back to the central mating, we find that it re- 
sulted in eleven children. The oldest of these, a feeble- 
minded, immoral woman, said to be insane at times, married 
a shiftless fellow, "not any too bright,'' and they have five 
little children. The parents have separated several times. 
Formerly they lived in a one-room shack at the rear of the 
wife's father's lot. Their two oldest children show mental 
deficiency; the other three are yet quite young. 
The second child, a boy, has been mixed up in several 
serious affairs--one, a shooting affair that sent another man 
to the penitentiary. He is a thief, and has served time in 
the workhouse. He married a gypsy woman, who is known 
as a thief, and suspected of being immoral. They have 
38 five little children. The oldest is not bright, and has a 
marked speech defect. 
The next two children died young. Next comes a 
pretty girl, now 22, a thief and immoral, who was committed 
to the G.I.H. at Delaware, for larceny. She was under 
the Home's control over seven years. She has had incestu- 
ous relations with her next younger brother. She has re- 
cently been married to a rich man's son. 
This younger brother served two terms at Lancaster, 
was later in the Mansfield Reformatory for burglary, and is 
now out on parole. This boy tests feeble-minded (high 
moron). 
Next comes a girl who is now on parole from the 
G.I.H., at Delaware. She has been under the control of 
the Home for nearly five years. She is said to be the best 
of the lot -yet has stolen on several occasions. She tests 
feeble-minded (middle moron). She was placed in a fine 
home, but failed to make good. She is soon to bear an il- 
legitimate child. 
Her next younger sister is also a thief. While on pa- 
role from the G. I. H. at Delaware, under whose care she 
has been for nine years, she ran away, contracted syphilis, 
and was returned to the G. I. H. for treatment. This girl 
is grossly immoral. She has recently been sent out again. 
She tests feeble-minded (middle moron). 
Next are two boys: one has just completed his second, 
the other, his third term at the B. I. S. at Lancaster. The 
older one tests feeble-minded, and the younger one is re- 
tarded. These boys were sent up for stealing, truancy, and 
shooting at neighbors. 
The youngest child is about eight years old. She 
has been in a Children's Home for four years. She shows 
no mental retardation as yet; but is given to untruthfulness 
39 and petty stealing. Since her mother's marriage, the child 
has been released to her parents. The stepfather says that 
she is the most stubborn child he ever knew. 
On one side the family is descended from the H-'s, 
who came into Ohio from Virginia and North Carolina, a 
hundred years ago. These H-'s in turn, were descendants 
of the thieves, criminals, and convicts, unloaded upon our 
eastern shores from England, during the 16th and the first 
half of the 17th centuries. The other side of the family 
comes from New Jersey stock of the same origin. Thus, 
although surrounded by the stimulating influence of a new 
country, these people have remained unambitious, illiterate, 
unprogressive-a drag upon our civilization; and the traits 
which made their ancestors socially undesirable, reappear in 
the descendants-a problem for us to solve. 
*CHART SHOWING FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS, 
CRIMINALITY, IMMORALITY AND PAUPERISM 
Data Secured by Miss Margaret Burr, 
Field Worker for I. F. M., 1913-1914 
These people are characterized by all who know them, 
as that "awful family", and as a "bad lot". One man who 
knows both sides of the family says they have tendencies 
toward everything that is bad. 
We start with a girl in the Institution for the Feeble- 
Minded. This girl, who is a moron, had very strong im- 
moral tendencies, and is almost totally blind, owing probably 
to occlusion of the pupils by scars on the cornea, due to 
ophthalmia neonatorum. She has a violent temper, which is 
uncontrollable at times. She was sent to the G. I. S. at 
Delaware, for incorrigibility. Her teachers and principal 
say she is a girl who is very immoral in her conversation 
♦The chart is necessarily omitted because it is too large for a book of this 
size. 
40 and actions. She gave a great deal of trouble while in school, 
and her influence was very bad. 
The condition in which her family live is very un- 
wholesome, ignorance being the prime factor. The parents 
are very obstinate and abusive to anyone who consults 
them in regard to the welfare of their children. They refuse 
to allow this girl to attend the Blind School when the school 
authorities advise it, and also refuse to allow an operation 
upon a tubercular hip of a younger sister of this girl, even 
when it would cost them nothing. This family has had 
charity, but is self-supporting at the present time. How- 
ever, the dirty and filthy condition of their home and per- 
sons, and the very undesirable neighborhood in which they 
live, are not such as normal people would be satisfied with, 
or even endure. The home life is not conducive to good 
health and high morals. 
This girl at one time worked in a shoe factory, black- 
ing shoes, and earned three dollars a week. 
This girl's oldest brother, of whose mentality and 
morals nothing is known, has been married twice, his first 
wife coming from a family .of the same name, the same 
part of the country, and probably related. She died of 
tuberculosis. 
The second brother has been in the B. I. S. at Lan- 
caster; has since married. The third brother (feeble-mind- 
ed) was sent to the B. I. S. for truancy and incorrigibility. 
The fourth brother (feeble-minded and possessing an un- 
governable temper) died at the age of fourteen as the result 
of a shooting accident. He was, at that time, on probation 
from the Juvenile Court for disorderly conduct. He was in 
the fourth grade when fourteen years of age. 
This girl has two sisters, one of whom is feeble-minded, 
and has congenital hip-disease, and who has recently been 
sent to the G. I. S. at Delaware for immoral relations with 
41 a married man-a neighbor of theirs. She is very slovenly 
and dirty in her appearance and has a most disagreeable 
odor. It has been necessary at times to take her to the 
Detention Home for a bath, this odor becoming so strong as 
to be unbearable to her schoolmates. Her principal, who 
has had nearly all of the children of this family in school at 
various times, says that this one is the brightest of the lot. 
Yet she is feeble-minded and is very much retarded in 
her school work. The youngest sister is yet too young to 
show much retardation. 
The father of the girl with whom we started is a very ig- 
norant man who is self-opinionated, stubborn and abusive. 
It is said that he is an illegitimate child of a woman, now 
dead, who called herself his sister. He has gone by the name 
of the man supposed to be his father, at various times, al- 
though he, at present, uses the maiden name of the woman 
said to be his mother, and who called herself his sister. She 
was married to a feeble-minded epileptic, now dead. His first 
wife was a hunchback and feeble-minded. The so-called 
"sister," has several brothers and sisters of whom nothing 
much is known except that they have married, have had 
families, and that many of them have received charity. This 
family bears a very unsavory reputation in the vicinity where 
they formerly lived. 
This man-the father of our girl-has a second cousin 
who has six children-four boys and two girls. The 
cousin's wife is a woman of no force of character, and she 
has no control over her children. When they would not 
obey her, she took them down to the Juvenile Court for dis- 
cipline. This family was on charity for years. The two 
daughters are both married and both have children. One of 
them has had her children taken away from her, has been 
separated from her husband, and has been in court at differ- 
ent times on account of her marital relations or troubles. 
42 The oldest son of his cousin is alcoholic and worth- 
less. He has served time in the workhouse, and was in 
Juvenile Court for contributing to the delinquency of a 
young girl. He wasted all his earnings upon a woman of 
notorious reputation, who had an illegitimate child by him 
and whom he afterwards married. This woman is insane 
and has been in the State Hospital. The second son of this 
cousin was in Juvenile Court for vagrancy (he would not 
work) and is at present in the Mansfield Reformatory. While 
in jail he had to marry a young girl of sixteen years (of 
doubtful mentality) and she very soon after gave birth to a 
child. The next son of this cousin has speech defect, was in 
Juvenile Court for drunkenness and was placed on probation. 
He was arrested in 1910 for stealing and was given a sentence 
to the workhouse, which sentence was suspended on ac- 
count of his youth. He and his younger brother have re- 
cently been arrested for burglary, and are in jail awaiting 
trial. The youngest son of this cousin has been in Juvenile 
Court several times for incorrigibility, and was finally sent 
to the B. I. S. Their home is dreadfully dirty. These 
people are shiftless and improvident. The principal of the 
school which they attended, says they hadn't mentality 
enough to be leaders in mischief, but were of the kind to be 
lead into almost anything. They were always dirty, always 
tardy, often absent, and were very much retarded in their 
school work. 
The mother of the girl with whom we started, is a coarse, 
profane, alcoholic, and immoral woman who has an ungov- 
ernable temper. She comes of a very low type family. No 
one has anything good to say of any member of this family. 
They are ignorant, shiftless, dishonest, immoral, and pov- 
erty-stricken. They sometimes are industrious, but they 
fail to be self-supporting and are always dirty and always 
poor. 
43 "The mother of this girl has a brother, who has a large 
family of children. One of his daughters was immoral, and 
died as a result of a miscarriage. She was not married. A 
son and a daughter are feeble-minded. This family has re- 
ceived charity. This man's wife, two of whose sisters mar- 
ried two brothers of her husband, comes of a low family. 
A sister of this girl's mother is feeble-minded and 
has gonorrhoea in its worst form. This woman had two 
illegitimate children by two different men before marriage. 
She then married an old man, too old to support himself, 
and during his lifetime had three children, the paternity of 
these children being questionable. Her husband died three 
years ago, since which time she has had two more illegiti- 
mate children, the father of one of them being a very bad 
alcoholic man. One of her children, a girl, has been in the 
Children's Home, where her record was not of the best. She 
is not up to the average mentally, and gave the Children's 
Home people as well as several people who tried to give her 
a home, a very hard time to keep her within bounds. She 
is married now and has three children. 
Two of the children of this feeble-minded woman died 
in infancy. A son, whom her husband taught to steal, is 
feeble-minded and has been at the B. I. S. Two of her 
children are now in the Children's Home, and the baby is 
in the Children's Hospital being treated for infected eyes. 
The woman herself is in the Infirmary. This woman and 
her family have been charges upon the community for years. 
She is perfectly contented with her dirt and her poverty, 
and will live in any kind of a hovel. Yet she is an able- 
bodied woman. At one time she and her family lived in a 
two-room shack made of odd pieces of boards and sticks. 
To return to our original feeble-minded girl, her ma- 
ternal grandfather was feeble-minded. He was mar- 
ried twice, the second wife being a hunchback and coming 
44 from a very bad family. He was industrious, so some of 
his neighbors say, but could not get ahead. He finally 
died in a shack almost starved to death. He had been living 
on charity for years and yet he was not a very old man. 
One of his neighbors said that he never went to see this 
man, that he did not take him something to eat or wear. 
After his death, his wife went to the County Infirmary and 
died there. 
The maternal grandfather of our girl had several sis- 
ters, all of whom are described as an immoral, bad lot. One 
of them feeble-minded, had an illegitimate daughter, 
(feeble-minded) who had four illegitimate children and was 
never married. Another sister of this man married a 
man from a bad family and had five daughters and three 
sons. Every one of these daughters was immoral. One of 
them, feeble-minded, went blind, and after receiving 
charity for many years was finally sent to the infirmary 
where she died. She was married and had one son who 
was alcoholic and immoral and who married an insane, syph- 
ilitic prostitute who was arrested several times for vagrancy, 
was in the infirmary many times, and was finally sent to 
a Hospital for the Insane. The mother of this man was 
at one time found living in one room with her son and five 
other men. The son was afterward murdered. 
This blind woman had a blind sister, also feeble- 
minded, who had four sons who were at one time in the In- 
stitution for the Feeble-Minded; and nearly all of her children 
have been cared for at the Children's Home. These four 
sons ran away from the Feeble-Minded Institution. The 
oldest of them has been married three times since then, and 
has been on charity frequently. By his first wife, he 
had three children-a daughter and two sons. These chil- 
dren after having been abused at home by their father, were 
put in the Children's Home. One of them is at present an 
45 inmate of the Institution for the Feeble-Minded, and the 
other boy has served a term at the B. I. S. at Lancaster. 
Nothing is known of what has become of the girl. After 
the death of his first wife, this feeble-minded man married 
again, and not very long afterwards deserted his wife and 
left the city. He was afraid to return because he had been 
implicated in some thieving. He did return eventually, and 
a few years later it was found that he has wife number three, a 
woman with a bad record and several very degenerate 
children. 
The second of the four feeble-minded sons who ran 
away from the Institution for the Feeble-Minded also 
married, and deserted his wife when she was ill. She had 
pneumonia and was left alone in a shack for several days to 
care for herself, without anything to eat and without any fuel. 
When she was found in a dying condition by some neigh- 
bors the house was in such a filthy condition that the dogs 
refused to enter. She was taken to the Infirmary where 
she died in a few days. They also received charity. 
The other two of the four boys who ran away from the 
Institution for the Feeble-Minded have not married. One 
of them is a junker with a push cart, and the other is too 
feeble-minded to work. One of his relatives said, 'He ain't 
right in the head.' 
This same blind woman had another son who served a 
term in the Penitentiary for immorality, and another son 
who is alcoholic. The son who was in the Penitentiary 
was afterwards forced to marry a woman, and has a child 
by her. 
These two blind women have a feeble-minded brother 
who is alcoholic. This man has been married three 
times and divorced twice. He has received charity and has 
been in the Infirmary several times. He has two daughters, 
one of whom married a man who was recently killed in a 
drunken brawl. 
46 Another brother of these two blind feeble-minded 
women was himself feeble-minded and married a feeble- 
minded women. They had one daughter, feeble-minded and 
alcoholic. She neglected her children until the authorities 
took them away from her. She has been in the workhouse 
several times for drunkenness. One of her children was 
placed in the Children's Home; the other died. This 
woman's husband, a feeble-minded alcoholic, has also been 
in the workhouse several times for drunkenness. 
This is essentially a family of degenerates. Almost every 
available correctional and charitable agency has labored for 
their betterment, but wTith little or no success. The follow- 
ing data on this family, though necessarily incomplete, will 
give some idea of the problem presented by such a group: 
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 
Number of individuals on whom some data were secured, 405 
Feeble-minded 37 
Insane 2 
Epileptic 1 
Alcoholic 16 
Blind 4 
Immoral 42 
Tubercular.,.; 3 
Normal 1 
Juvenile Court 10 
Police [Court 3 
B. I.S 5 
G. I. S 2 
O. S. Ref 1 
Workhouse 4 
Penitentiary 1 
(Murdered) 2 
Helped by Charities 8i 
Infirmary inmates ■ 13 
Children taken from parents 4 
Children's Home inmates 17 
Children's Hospital 2 
State Hospital for Insane 2 
Institution for Feeble-Minded , 6 
After this long and interesting discussion by the Super- 
intendent, he straightened up and with a smile of relief as 
though turning from a disagreeable task he pulled out an- 
47 other chart with the expression: ' 'I do not want you to think 
that all of humanity is bad, and that there is danger in any 
kind of a marriage. 
Let us turn from this field of criminality, immorality, 
insanity, feeble-mindedness, and other filth to the larger, 
better and happier life of clean and wholesome living. 
Here is a chart of several generations of a family with- 
out an apparent flaw. I always take pleasure in showing 
it. It gives one a feeling of having had a bath. How 
happy the world would be if all the people in it could be 
bred after the manner of this family." 
I myself felt a great relief and return to normal condi- 
tions after he recited the great men and women this family 
has given to the world. Listen to his story: 
''The history of this family was secured and tabulated 
by the Eugenic Record Office of Cold Spring Harbor, New 
York, of which Dr. Davenport is the moving spirit," said 
Dr. Emerick. 
''You will note that while most of the families repre- 
sented in this chart have a large number of children they 
are all normal, and have made themselves generally useful 
in service to mankind. 
''It contains ten college presidents, nine college pro- 
fessors, four college instructors, three with special scholastic 
attainments, and one interested in higher education. 
''If the original parents of this long line of clean and 
useful posterity could only know what they left the world 
what a joy and pleasure they would have in it; and likewise, 
how proud the latest of this posterity must be of an illus- 
trious ancestry, and thankful for the clean blood that courses 
their veins; and how careful they should naturally be that 
the blood of this great strain should not be infected or adul- 
terated with anything below its equal. 
48 Fragment of Dwight Family-Inherited Scholarship "Beginning with the marriage of i and 2 at the top it 
produced four chidren. Family 3 and 4 produced eleven 
children, three sons and eight daughters. One son became 
a college president, and another had special scholastic at- 
tainments. Daughter 8 married a college president, but no 
children are indicated. 
"The daughter on the left of family 1 and 2 married, 
and to that marriage were born seven children,all normal. 
No further history of this special family is indicated. 
"The son of the first family marked 5 married a daugh- 
ter of the second family marked 6. 
"To this union were born thirteen children, nine sons 
and four daughters, all normal. One of the sons marked 8 
was a college president. 
"The daughter marked 13 of the second family married, 
producing a son marked 19 who married a daughter of the 
large family marked 18. The result of this marriage was 
one daughter and four sons, all normal, two sons being col- 
lege professors. The daughter married a college professor. 
"The daughter marked 21 of the large family married as 
indicated, and her union brought forth four daughters and 
three sons, all normal, and one a college president. The 
last daughter marked 29 married and three sons and three 
daughters were born, containing two college professors. 
"The son marked 8 of the very large family married with 
the result that eight sons were born, one was a college presi- 
dent, one a college professor, two were college instructors, 
one had special scholastic attainments, and one was inter- 
ested in higher education. 
"The third son of this generation married producing two 
sons, one of whom was a college president, and the other a 
college professor. 
' 'The fifth son married bringing forth three sons one a 
college professor, and the other two college instructors. 
50 "It will be observed that each generation of this wonder- 
ful family descending on one side from a college president 
rose in attainments. This is as it should be, because each 
generation has the benefit of the experience and training of 
the preceding, and it is rightfully to be expected that it 
would add something to the standard already attained." 
After expressing my pleasure in seeing this chart and 
how refreshing it was to hear his discussion of it, I asked 
Dr. Emerick what was being done to prevent these feeble- 
minded people from going out into the world to reproduce 
their own kind. 
He informed me that a number of years ago the state 
made provision for segregating the adult feeble-minded from 
the general public, and for caring for them throughout life. 
For this purpose a large tract of land was purchased at 
Orient about fifteen miles southwest of Columbus, and build- 
ings erected thereon for the custodial care of the males. 
This custodial farm is under the control of the Super- 
intendent of the Institution for Feeble-Minded Youth. The 
adult females are being kept in the parent institution. 
In this -way they are entirely kept from each other as 
well as from the public. 
This large custodial farm has proved to be highly bene- 
ficial to the State from an economical standpoint, because 
nearly all of the labor is done by the 500 feeble-minded men 
living on it. 
Just as we were closing this interesting discussion Mrs. 
Emerick appeared to invite us to another part of the build- 
ing where the brothers and sisters were visiting each other. 
They have a visiting day once a month when members of 
the family, inmates of the school, are brought together to 
renew acquaintance, and to enjoy each other's company. 
51 The large dancing hall was filled with families of feeble- 
minded, both children and grown folks. 
They were sitting around little tables amusing them- 
selves at flinch, and other interesting games, and seemed to 
be very happy. Some families had two, some three or four, 
and one had eight. 
The Doctor informed me that there was one more feeble- 
minded child to join its eight brothers and sisters as soon as 
it is a little older. 
In charge of these children were officers giving them 
the necessary attention, and serving refreshments. 
One could not help but be pleased when he saw what a 
great service this institution is rendering to these unfortu- 
nate children, and how wise the state has been in providing 
for their care in such a way as to prevent their increase. 
Yet, the Doctor informed me that almost every community 
has in some of its citizens who are not considered feeble- 
minded all the possibilities of producing feeble-minded chil- 
dren. 
I felt glad again that I had entered upon this work, 
and longed for the ability so to present this information to 
the public as to interest it and instruct it to the end that 
the general average in morality and intelligence might 
be raised by reason of more care being taken in the selec- 
tion of husbands and wives. 
52 CHAPTER IV 
ON my return home from the visit to the Institution for 
Feeble-Minded, I spent much time in studying the 
charts given in Chapter III, and in talking with my friends 
and aquaintances about them. 
When we came to think of it we could all recall the 
development of family traits, both good and bad in the.off- 
spring of people in our own circle of acquaintances. At the 
same time I was not prepared to learn without profound 
astonishment the dangers to society by careless and thought- 
less breeding. 
In the course of my investigation and reading, I learned 
also that many children well born were carelessly brought 
up, and that their families and society suffered much for 
that reason also. 
Some one mailed to me a program of the meeting of the 
State Conference of Charities and Corrections to be held at 
Dayton, Ohio. 
In looking it over I discovered that Dr. James A. 
Leonard for many years the able organizer and Superintend- 
ent of the Ohio State Reformatory was to deliver an address 
on the subject, "Why These Broken Vessels?'' 
I had read much of Dr. Leonard's great work, and had 
discovered it was of international importance, and by reason 
of his broad and humane ideas the institution over which 
he presides has attracted the attention of the civilized na- 
tions of the world. I therefore determined to attend that 
meeting, and hear his address. 
He spoke for more than one hour holding the concen- 
trated attention of every person in the audience, and not a 
few were deeply moved as he recited in a most interesting 
53 way, case after case of fallen young men of unintentional pa- 
rental neglect. 
As he was compelled to hasten for a train at the close 
of his address, I was unable to speak to him. 
My interest was so aroused that I felt I should have 
his story for the general information of the public. I there- 
fore took a train in a day or two for Mansfield. 
Dr. Leonard received me most cordially, and took great 
pleasure in showing me the surprise of my life. I found 
that his work is not the ordinary state institution, but on 
the other hand a great manufacturing and agricultural plant 
which furnishes the other institutions of the State, shoes, 
clothing, printing, furniture, and farm, dairy, and poultry 
products. 
On approaching the Reformatory, there is nothing to 
indicate its nature. The buildings are not pretentious, but 
on the other hand constructed along safe and economic lines 
of architecture. 
The high wall surrounding the buildings in the rear is 
not visible from the front, and one gets the impression of 
entering a school building. 
The farm consists of about 1000 acres to which are 
added 200 acres of leased land, making 1200 acres in all. 
All farm work appears to be carefully and scientifically done, 
and the best evidence of this is that during the past year, 
the total value of all farm, poultry, fruit, dairy, and other 
products amounted to $60,000.00, of which $30,000.00 was 
net profit. 
The work is so organized that all of the time of a great 
many of the prisoners during the farming season is used on 
the farm, and in the winter when but little farm work can 
be done this labor is transferred to the Manufacturing De- 
partments. 
54 Dr. Leonard said, "This is the work of the State, and 
the economic nerve is the most sensitive one in the State's 
entire nervous system. The State wants to know how much 
it costs, and if it pays financially, and the people of the 
State are entirely justified in being interested in this matter. 
"It has therefore been my great study along the lines of 
reformation and reclamation, so to distribute the work as to 
make it most effective, both from an economic standpoint, 
and from the greater consideration of making good men out 
of wayward ones. 
"When I was invited to the Reformatory to become its 
Superintendent, my first sight was that of a few young men 
cutting ice off this pond out in front. They were surrounded 
by a lot of guards with shining steel guns. 
"I thought it was proper that the boys should cut the 
ice, but the steel guns made it very expensive, and I won- 
dered if they were really necessary. 
"Later on in the season, I observed a boy plowing corn, 
and on a high piece of ground overlooking him was a guard 
with a shining steel rifle. I thought it was right that the 
boy should plow the corn. It was good for him. It brought 
him close to nature. It gave him a chance to meditate, and 
this is good for anyone; but the steel gun made the corn 
costly, and could not help but prevent the boy from enjoy- 
ing the impulses for a better life which would otherwise 
have knocked at the door of his soul. 
"I therefore decided to change the plan, to put boys upon 
their honor, to appeal to their manhood, to make them sure 
that I was their friend, and that I desired above all things 
to help them. 
"Of course, to change a plan like this would take some 
time for preparation. It would hardly be expected that a 
crowd of young men, heavily guarded to prevent their run- 
55 ning away, would do otherwise than run away after the 
guns were suddenly removed. 
"In my daily contact with them, in addressing them in 
chapel, and in frequent meetings with the officers of the 
institution, we gradually prepared for the change, but not 
without many misgivings on the part of most of my co-labor- 
ers. 
"At first, thirty were trusted out on the farm alone; of 
these eleven ran away. But this did not discourage us. 
In fact, it was a much smaller per cent than those who had 
been in charge of them for many years prophesied. 
"Others and greater numbers were placed upon their 
honor, and sent alone with teams to work on the farm. 
Each year the percentage of those who violated their trust 
has grown smaller and smaller until out of 300 men last 
trusted only two attempted to run away; and hence we no 
longer need the expense of guns and extra guards, and our 
farm work is very profitable as already stated. And out of 
3500 trusted out in the past fifteen years only thirty-two 
have attempted to escape. 
"On this farm are 200 acres of bottom land which was 
considered waste for want of tiling. In the winter we man- 
ufactured our own tile, and placed twenty miles of it in this 
waste land, thus completely draining it. It is now very 
fertile and productive. While the prisoners were reclaiming 
this land, the matter of reforming themselves, and each 
other must have been frequently in their minds. 
"We make our own brick, and construct all of our 
buildings. 
"We have one of the finest dairy barns in this country. 
The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives 
placed its value at $45,000.00. It doubtless could not be 
erected under contract for less than $60,000.00, yet by 
56 utilizing our prison labor without expensive guards, as al- 
ready stated, it cost the state only $19,000.00." 
I want my readers to know that it is very inspiring to 
one interested in farm life, or knowing anything about it, 
to visit this dairy. It has a capacity for 160 cows, besides 
ample room for calves, young stock, males, and an abun- 
dance of storage room for all necessary feed. Connected 
with it is one 500-ton brick silo, and a smaller one. 
It is built on modern plans. A perfect record is kept 
of what each cow produces, and all of her feed is weighed 
to her, so her profit can easily be determined. 
The cows are thoroughly washed each day, and both 
they and their surroundings are kept in first class sanitary 
conditions. All kinds of machinery for preparing their food 
such as shredders, corn and cob crushers, conveyers, etc., 
are there. 
While the dairyman, of course, is a trained expert in 
his work, and a salaried man, the labor is all done by the 
prisoners, and not a guard is in evidence. 
From the dairy barn, we proceeded to the poultry plant. 
On the way were great ricks of brick, and piles of tiling 
which the prisoners had made when their services were not 
needed on the farm. These are ready, however, for the 
new work which is to be done the coming summer. 
Like the dairy barn, the poultry plant, including all the 
houses, is constructed on modern plans, and yielded, includ- 
ing the fruit and berries, which are operated in connection 
with it, a net profit the past year, after paying all expenses, 
including the salary of the poultryman, of $2,949.28. 
It hatched, and brought to maturity more than 10,000 
white leghorn chickens, besides a lot of ducks and geese. 
A number of prisoners devote their entire time to this busi- 
ness, and are like others upon their honor. 
57 It is needless to say that this Reformatory is turning 
out everyday expert dairymen, poultrymen, and farmers, as 
well as redeemed men, and doing it by the breadth of the 
spirit of love and interest in our fellow man. 
After our most interesting visit to the farm, I was con- 
ducted through the manufacturing departments. All of the 
products of these departments are for State use. 
This labor no longer comes into competition with the 
labor that generally supplies the public demand for manu- 
factured goods. 
Everything made here goes into the use of state depart- 
ments and public institutions. That this provision of the 
law is wise, there can be no doubt, for it gives employment 
and training, and even an education to these wayward young 
men, and at the same time turns the products of their labor 
to the service of the state, thus greatly reducing the expense 
of maintaining her institutions. 
And what do they manufacture? I found several hun- 
dred men busy in the manufacture of furniture, and beauti- 
ful and substantial it was too. The Governor's office, and 
nearly all of the State Offices and Departments have recently 
been furnished from the reformatory, and a great deal of 
the furniture of State Institutions has also come from there. 
Likewise, in the shoe department several hundred men 
were engaged in turning out attractive and substantial shoes 
which are to go to all State and County Institutions need- 
ing them. 
A large number of men were engaged in making cloth- 
ing, and one is reminded on a visit to this department of a 
large wholesale clothing establishment. Long rows of suits 
are piled up, tables are laden with cloth from which other 
suits are to be made, some young men are learning cutting 
and fitting, others the making of pants, and others whole 
suits. 
58 This clothing also is to go to supply the State and coun- 
ties who must purchase for the inmates of the institutions. 
A large printing department, well equipped, and giving 
employment to many young men is doing the work for the 
State and counties. Again, one is reminded on entering 
this department of the surroundings found in a high class 
printing house with presses running and machines clicking. 
Then there is the educational department, a school with 
its principal and its teachers. Those whose education has 
been neglected can be educated as other young men are 
being educated on the outside. 
The time of these prisoners is divided between school 
and work, each complementing the other, and thus round- 
ing out with excellent opportunities the days these people 
spend in the Reformatory. 
The visit was most interesting and delightful, and is 
well worth the time of any citizen of Ohio to make. 
I am justified in dwelling so long upon what is being 
done in the Reformatory, and the manner in which it is 
being done only because of the authority it gives to Dr. 
Leonard when he answers our questions, "Why These 
Broken Vessels?'' "Why must we have a Reformatory; 
what is fundamentally wrong with Society that young men 
must be imprisoned?" Anything Dr. Leonard says on these 
subjects must be taken as authority in view of the great 
study he has given them in order to work out such a com- 
plete and effective plan of operation as prevails. 
When these questions were propounded, Dr. Leonard 
assumed the attitude of one bearing profound responsibility. 
He waited a few seconds before beginning his answer, 
as though he were entering upon an unwelcome task; but as 
he proceeded his deep seated earnestness and quiet eloquence 
soon relieved me of my first impression, and I readily under- 
stood that the task was not unwelcome; but that he fairly 
59 reveled in the joy he felt that an opportunity waspresenting 
itself for him to say to all people who will read this story 
what he so much felt should be said; and then calling to his 
aid the spirit of the poet, he said: 
'Three roots bear up Dominion-Knowledge, Will- 
These twain are strong, but stronger yet the third, 
Obedience. 'Tis the great tap root that knit round the 
rock of duty is not stirred. 
Though Heaven-loosed tempests spend their utmost skill.' 
"But let society fail to train the individual to cheerful 
obedience to all proper authority, and it begets an egotist, 
fosters an anarchist, and develops a criminal. 
"For the training of successive generations society has 
evolved and cherished the fundamental institutions of civil- 
ization, i. e., the Home, the Church, the School, the Play- 
ground, and Government. These, in the order named, may 
for the sake of illustration, be regarded as the fingers of the 
social hand-the hand that moulds the destiny of the race. 
"Splendid institutions are these and all-sufficient for the 
purpose for which intended, but they are all-sufficient only 
when each is highly efficient in itself and in co-operation 
with the others. If this hand were directed by knowledge, 
wisdom, and skill, inspired by love, and stimulated by altru- 
istic, enthusiasm, its ministrations would be so potent that it 
would be well-nigh impossible for a normal child to become a 
criminal. 
"The home is the index finger of the hand of society. 
To the home, the divinely instituted fundamental institution 
of society, the child is born of the loins, to be nourished and 
cherished in the home as a social being until he experiences 
a new birth into citizenship with all its possibilities of worthy 
accomplishment. 
"Unfortunately there are many children who from one 
cause or another never experience in full measure the stim- 
60 ulating helpfulness of this beneficent hand. A careful 
record was kept in a large reformatory for felons for the 
home conditions of thirty-five hundred (3,500) inmates. It 
was discovered that 75 per cent of these young men were 
homeless or came from broken or extremely defective homes. 
Fifty per cent (50%) came from homes that were broken 
by divorce, separation or death. Many of these homeless 
boys had been knocked about as waifs, but more had been 
committed to children's homes, orphanages, or other insti- 
tutions for neglected children. 
"I am led to believe that the average American home 
of today as a factor in character-building is inferior to that 
of the average home of any period of our past history. 
This is not due so much to a deterioration of the home-mak- 
ers as to the practical elimination of the male parent from 
the life of the child, due in some degree to changed social 
conditions, but in a larger measure due to a change in eco- 
nomic and industrial conditions. The family formerly con- 
stituted an industrial group with intimate daily association 
in which the children were brought in contact with both 
parents. The home under these conditions was also the 
center for moral and religious instruction both by precept 
and example. 
"In the average home the father is absent during most 
of the waking hours of his children. As a bread winner he 
goes abroad sometimes for the day, sometimes for weeks or 
even months. Under these conditions the child is deprived 
of proper discipline and moral training. This results in 
very distinct loss to the child in opportunities for character 
development. The mother is burdened with a double re- 
sponsibility that Nature never intended her to bear. The 
father under these conditions is apt to fall from the high 
privilege of fatherhood to perfunctory parentage or perhaps 
61 become a mere progenitor. (See Drummond's "Evolution 
of the Father.'') 
"There is no period in a boy's life when the presence 
of the father is not required for his proper development; but 
in the period of adolescence his need of intimate association 
with his male parent is imperative. This is a critical time 
for the boy, but it is a no less critical time for the father. 
Statistics show that the men who make shipwrecks of their 
lives after winning an honorable place in society-men who 
wreck banks, railroads and institutions, men who prove 
false to the home, who turn traitor to ideals and prove 
recreant to trust are between the ages of forty and fifty. 
This would indicate a second period in man's life no less 
critical than the period of adolescence. The average man 
at this period has sons in the adolescent period who need 
the sympathy and close companionship of their father to 
tide them safely over this dangerous period. It seems to be 
a beautiful reciprocal arrangement of Providence that the 
man in saving his boy should save himself. 
"Dr. Stanley Hall points out the fact that it is in the 
adolescent period that the youth reaches his maximum 
susceptibility to religious influences. Seven-tenths of the 
conversions and acceptance of religion as a dominating force 
in the life of men occur m this period. 
"The church, which is the central figure in this social 
hand to mould character of men, seems to fail to appreciate 
or to profit by this important truth pointed out by Dr. Hall. 
Young children and adults are found in the church and 
Sunday School in great numbers, but where is the adoles- 
cent youth and what provision is made by the church for 
discharging its full measure of responsibility to him? These 
young fellows should be taken from among the small chil- 
dren and the older people of the church and placed in a large 
62 group to be taught, instructed and appealed to by Christian 
men of knowledge, experience, imagination, and eloquence. 
To these qualities the adolescents readily respond and to 
such a man they give ready allegiance. 
"We are all familiar with the fact that the boy drops 
out of school during this same period and very largely for 
the reason that the school-curriculum is not made to meet 
his special needs and insufficient care is taken to provide 
him with instructors especially gifted in directing him and 
holding him to the true course in self-development. 
"When the youth at this age drops out of the home, 
church and school there is no place left him but the street, 
and here he meets temptations that he never knew before. 
Childhood, happily, is panoplied in its own innocence and is 
thus protected from corrupting influences, but the adoles- 
cent lacks this shield of innocence and his greatest danger 
comes from new-born forces within himself. 
"At this time at least ninety per cent (90%) of crimi- 
nals begin their career. 
"Could we but add ten per cent(io%) to the present 
efficiency of the home, the church, the school and the play- 
ground, and to a like degree give power to the social hand 
as a whole, safely to keep these adolescent youths, and wise- 
ly, lovingly, but firmly hold them and mould them, allowing 
none to slip away between the fingers, the problem of the 
prevention of crime would be solved and the criminal, if not 
eliminated would become a negligible quantity. I would 
therefore welcome an agitation for the increased efficiency 
of those time honored agencies as a substitute for the long 
and disappointing search for the cure for crime and criminals 
in the so-called sciences, ranging from phrenology to eugen- 
ics. 
"Society has always had this problem. One can well 
imagine that Solomon, so reputed for wisdom, would be 
63 consulted as to the best methods of preventing crime. The 
question must have arisen in his own active mind, at least, 
and he gave an answer that seems final- and sufficient for 
all time--'Train up the child in the way he should go and 
when he is old he will not depart from it.' 
"The question of the cure of the criminal was brought 
home to greater than Solomon, when the Psalmist realized 
that his soul was fouled and polluted by vice and sin and 
that he was a criminal in the eyes of God and man. He 
knew that only He that made the human heart can cleanse 
it, and cried out, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 
renew a right spirit within me.' In this way only can a 
criminal be cured. 
"I have seen many men go out from reformatory insti- 
tutions, who, because of deterrent influences, increased in- 
telligence and higher industrial efficiency, have refrained 
from the commission of crime; but I never knew one to go 
out in the world who did righteousness and abounded in 
good works who had not first experienced 'a broken and 
contrite heart,' made clean by the same process invoked by 
the Psalmist. Why not, then, devote our best energies to 
producing a generation of men characterized by pure hearts 
and clean hands? To paraphrase a familiar quotation- 
'Vice and crime from no conditions rise, 
Train the child and youth, there the issue lies.' 
"Would we eliminate crime and criminals we must lay 
the emphasis upon the subjective forces of the human soul 
rather than the influence of material environment. 
"A strong man who had been not only a sinner but 
a criminal, but who had experienced regeneration, did not seek 
justification or even explanation of his wrong doing in the 
unfavorable environment of early pioneer days in the Sierra 
64 Nevadas; but late in life lie stood on a mountain top over- 
looking the scene of his life's vicissitudes and wrote: 
'There is no ill in all the earth, 
There is no thing that hath not worth. 
There is no evil anywhere 
Except man wills it there.' 
I asked Dr. Leonard what specifically are the influences 
in society which cause the fall of young men. He said, 
"There is the saloon with all of its attendant evils, yet as a 
direct cause it has not ruined so many young men as the 
public generally believes; but indirectly it plays havoc in 
homes, separates fathers and mothers, breaks up the family, 
scatters the children, many of whom can find their way only 
into an evil environment, as already indicated. 
"They are not under control, they are not obedient to 
any mandate or law, and consequently they break the law, 
are brought before the courts, and sent to the Reformatory. ' ' 
I suggested to him that most of the population of his 
institution must come from the cities He replied, "On 
the contrary the entire state is represented in proportion; 
only people are sent from the different parts of the state for 
different crimes. 
"Most of them coming from the southern part of the 
state are for fighting, cutting, shooting, chicken stealing, 
and burglary. 
"While those coming from the black land region north 
of the center of the state are for horse stealing, and crimes 
of that kind.'' 
I told him I could understand the fighting, shooting, 
and other tendencies in the southern part of Ohio, because 
I had grown up there, and personally knew by the State's 
close proximity to Kentucky and West Virginia that there 
is a spirit for these things which has long prevailed, and 
from my earliest memory I had heard these things discussed 
65 around our fireside, and at all public gatherings where men 
were. Also that dwellers in shanty boats which ply the 
Ohio River had always been accused of chicken stealing. 
He said, " That is it. Likewise in the early days before 
the northern part of the State was settled, horses were stolen 
from the southern part of the State, and run into this black 
belt for safe keeping. 
"These people naturally settled there, and the boys of 
that section have heard discussed all their lives the early 
enterprise of horse stealing. 
"Tell me the folklore of any community, and I will tell 
you what kind of lives to expect from the young people 
growing up in that community. If the people dwell in 
their conversation upon quarreling, fighting, and litigation, 
the children are very liable to become pugnacious and quick 
to carry their troubles to court. 
"If the people are interested in education, maintaining 
debating societies, have a little library of good books, live 
peacefully and happily together, the children will become 
law abiding, literary and professional men and women. 
"If the conversation is of the grog shop, bar room, sa- 
loon, and brothel kind, not much may be expected from the 
children when they grow to be men and women.'' 
I suggested that there is surely much room for reforma- 
tion in the folklore of most communities, and asked him 
what suggestions he had to bring it about. 
"It is a matter of long and tedious education of the 
people. All fathers and mothers want their children to 
grow up to be honest and capable men and women. They 
may be feeding them on a daily diet of conversation and ac- 
tion which will make their hopes impossible of realization. 
"If they can be made to understand that all they do and 
say furnishes food for the building of character in their own 
children, and those of their neighbors, they will act and 
66 speak differently, but they must be furnished something to 
talk about. 
"It is not enough to put away the old, but something 
new and different must be substituted. As most of these 
people are ignorant, and unable to inform themselves, it 
becomes the work of the school and churches in every com- 
munity to furnish them such subjects for thought, investi- 
gation, and discussion, as will interest them, and do them 
and their children good. 
"Every community in the State may secure books free 
of all charges from the State Library. 
"Every school teacher should be a leader in setting his 
community on fire for new and elevating engagement of the 
thoughts of his constituents. His duty is only half done 
when he has given daily instruction to their children. He 
owes it to the parents and others in the community quietly 
and affectively to lead and to educate them also. 
"Then the newspapers and magazines which are a great 
educational force could well afford to devote a little space to 
instructing fathers and mothers in the dangers to their chil- 
dren of the environment in which they live. 
"It is true that the class of people in which -we are 
most interested are not financially able to subscribe for mag- 
azines and newspapers. They do not read much. Some of 
them are illiterate, but under the leadership of the school 
teacher spoken of above, and with the support of the State 
Library a great deal more reading matter could be placed in 
the hands of these people than they now have.'' 
I told Dr. Leonard that I was very much interested in 
all these wise suggestions, and could now readily understand 
why something must be found to take the place of the daily 
association with the father, grandfather and wise neighbors 
which the boys once enjoyed, but which are denied the boys 
67 of today. It was a new thought, and I considered it a very 
important one. 
Dr. Leonard said, "Yes, even on the farm the compan- 
ionship is not so close as it was once, because most of the 
work is now done on riding implements, and each fellow is 
alone. Why, I remember a little incident that took place 
in my boyhood days which has proven to be a daily lesson 
ever since. The lesson was given me by my grandfather 
with whom I was hoeing potatoes. We had been working 
together all day, and I felt that my work was very creditable; 
but occasionally when I glanced over to his row, I was im- 
pressed with the skill with which he cut the weeds, and drew 
the moist dirt around the potatoes, and leveled it up. 
"When quitting time came he advised me to drive a stick 
down in my row where I left off. Without asking any 
questions, I obeyed him, sought a stick, and sunk it deep 
into the ground. 
"When we returned to our work the next morning, the 
stick was still there, and I was curious to know why he had 
me do such a thing. I said, 'Grandfather, why did you 
want me to drive this stick in the ground?' 
"He replied, 'So you would know where you left off.' 
"I looked back over the two rows, and felt the justice 
of his quiet and kindly criticism. I resolved that hereafter 
I would do my work better, and ever since I have endeav- 
ored to hoe my row so well that no one could have any 
doubt as to where I left off. 
"You know there are prisoners being brought into the 
Reformatory almost every day. Here is an example of un- 
intentional parental neglect, and it is paralleled to a greater 
or less degree quite often. 
"I was told that a man was in the hall waiting to see 
me. I went out and found him walking the floor in great 
68 mental distress. I told him that I was the Superintendent, 
and asked him what I could do for him. 
" 'I am afraid there is not much anyone can do for me. 
The Court has sent my son over here to prison. He has 
brought disgrace upon the family, his mother is at home 
heartbroken, his brothers and sisters feel the shame, and I 
have come along with the sheriff, hoping I may be able to 
do something to reclaim him. 
" 'I do not know why he ever did such a thing. He 
has had the best family instruction. He was brought up in 
the Sunday School. He has had everything that heart can 
desire. I have been busy in the transaction of large business 
interests which has occupied all of my mind and time, but I 
have seen to it that he would not be neglected in any partic- 
ular. 
" 'He has been permitted to travel. He has lived in the 
midst of a good library. An automobile has been at his dis- 
posal, and all the money a boy could honestly use. 
" 'I have given him everything, hoping his sense of ap- 
preciation would be sufficient to protect the family from a 
disgrace like this.' " 
Tears were streaming down his face, and I was indeed 
sorry for him, but I said, 'Hold on, dear friend. You say 
that you have given him everything, but I discover one thing 
lacking, the most important of all; the one thing that would 
have saved him, and that is yourself. You never gave him 
yourself. 
" 'You never went fishing and swimming with him. 
You never became his companion on trips around through the 
country to bring him in touch with nature. You never 
walked and talked with him. You never pointed out the 
lovely and beautiful things in this old world. 
" 'You never sat around the fireside, and talked with 
him about your business, and about good men with whom 
69 you were acquainted. You have not been particular to meet 
him at the table, and to discuss events transpiring on a large 
scale throughout our country, pointing out to him the de- 
structive effects of wickedness, and the lasting and enduring 
work of the good. Now, honor bright, my friend, am I not 
telling you the truth?' " 
" 'I see!' he said, 'I see! but it is too late, and I turn 
him over to you, hoping and praying that you may do some- 
thing for him.' 
" 'No, it is not too late. I doubt not that he will soon 
come to a full understanding of himself, I want you to 
come and see him, and when the time comes for him to go 
home, I want you to come and take him home. 
" 'He will need your companionship, and he will yet 
be an honor to you and his family.' By and by his father 
took him home, made him his business partner and com- 
panion, and the boy was restored not only to his family, but 
to a useful life. 
"That is a most interesting story," I said, "and the out- 
come is beautiful. Do you think the boy's early training 
had anything to do with the outcome, or would you have 
expected the same result from a boy whose training had 
been neglected from babyhood?" 
"I like to back up everything I say by the Bible," said 
Dr. Leonard. "It would seem unnecessary to enlarge upon 
that biblical injunction already quoted about bringing up a 
child in the way he should go, except to say that had this 
been a boy in whose heart and mind no good seed had been 
planted when young, but whose mind had been strewn with 
tares of all kinds, his reformation could not have been so 
readily predicted. In fact, it would have been necessary to 
build up a character including the foundation rather than 
to clean up one fairly well established." 
70 I suggested to Dr. Leonard that he is so deeply inter- 
ested in the reformation of the young men under his care, 
that his whole thought is given to that work, and to the 
improvement of the environment in which children are 
reared; that in all this lengthy discussion, no reference had 
been made to breeding. Should we close this discussion 
now, I feared the wrong impression might follow from what 
had already been said, and asked him if he had any message 
of caution to young people who are considering the question 
of marriage. 
He, at once, responded, "Surely, I have. Everybody 
knows that breeding is important; that the stock is full 
either of good or evil, and that these tendencies are trans- 
mitted and remain in the blood 'even unto the third and 
fourth generations'. 
"Anyone considering the question of marriage which 
means parenthood should consider first his or her own 
physical, mental and moral condition, and when these are 
found sound, should demand an equally high standard of 
cleanliness in the other contracting party.'' 
It is not easy to get away from a man like Dr. Leonard. 
He is so full of his subject, and so interesting in presenting 
it that one naturally feels a desire to hear him again and 
again. 
As a parting question, and as I mentally surveyed the 
whole scope of his work, I said to him "What is the great- 
est thing you have done for the reformation of the thou- 
sands of young men who have been placed under your care?'' 
His reply was, "The establishment of the bankruptcy 
court. This is a court before which the wayward boys may 
appear, and under certain circumstances and conditions have 
their sins against the Institution forgiven. 
"Not all of these boys are good. In fact, a great many 
of them are bad, are willfull, headstrong, impetuous, and 
71 often willfully mean; and when they trespass against the 
order of business, rules and regulations of the Reformatory, 
time is charged up against them. That is they are punished 
by adding to the time they are to remain in prison. 
"Some of them often get several hundred days against 
them, and the time of their freedom becomes a matter of dis- 
couragement. They see this long list of debits which they 
must settle by good conduct. They know their own weak- 
nesses and their probable inability to pay this debt. They 
are therefore inclined to act as though they were saying, 
'It is no use, I shall not try'. So this court is for the purpose 
of remitting these debts when the prisoner reaches a state of 
mind and heart that he would really like to do something to 
show himself worthy of parole. 
"We therefore say to them, " 'Though your sins be as 
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow''. Have a clean rec- 
ord for thirty days, then come before the bankruptcy court 
complying w'ith its simple requirements, and these days 
charged against you will be remitted' ''. 
"This gives them hope and courage. Most prisoners 
look upon it as a very humane act, and appreciate the be- 
nevolent spirit which is behind it. 
"Again my authority for this court is found in the 
Bible. It was always the custom of the Jewish people to 
have a jubilee at fixed intervals. Sometimes they occurred 
every ten years, and there was the fifty-year jubilee. On 
these occasions the prisoners were set free, debts of all kinds 
were forgiven, and every offender of whatsoever kind took 
a new lease on life because of the new courage and bright 
hope which he then had. 
"This is the way these things work out in the Reform- 
atory. Early in my administration, two men started to run 
away. One was pursued by a guard, captured and brought 
back. Two prisoners pursued the other runaway, although 
72 not ordered to do so. They caught him, and brought him 
back, and when the guard came up with his man, he found 
the other offender lying on the ground, held tightly by the 
prisoners who were strongly condemning him for 'knocking' 
this system by trying to run away. 
"Another boy ran away, but was caught and brought 
back. He naturally supposed all of his liberties would be 
taken away from him. I told him I was very sorry for he 
had made it impossible for me to parole him which I was 
considering doing. Before he could be paroled, I had to 
sign a statement that I believed he was an honorable and 
upright man who could be trusted to go out into the world 
and refrain from crime; but in the place of that he had 
shown me that he could not be trusted. 
"The boy went back to his cell evidently very sad. 
But later the guard ordered him out on the farm again. 
"He was suprised. He thought it must be a mistake. 
By and by I came along and saw him at work. He said, 
'Dr. Leonard, do not blame me for being out here. The 
guard sent me. I knew I had no business out here. I 
knew I was no longer worthy of your trust, and I know 
there must be some mistake, but the guard would not listen, 
so do not blame me.' 
"I told him that I must have signed some paper autho- 
rizing the guard to trust him again, and he had better act 
as though that had been done. 
"The boy remained faithful, and never gave me any 
more concern. 
"Another boy was hurt by a falling derrick, and was 
unconscious. After his recovery I said to him, 'My boy, 
you talked about your mother when you were delirious, and 
you had told me that you had no mother. I think we had 
better talk over your whole life; that you should tell the 
73 whole truth, so that with a full understanding of your case 
I can be of more service to you.' 
"He therefore told me his whole story,-that he came 
from good people, that his father was engaged in a Navy 
Yard, and that his mother was living. 
"I sent him out with a team to haul gravel. He was 
advised to run away, but he said, 'No, I can not do it. I 
am trusted. I am held by some sort of a spirit. I am 
pinned as it were to a pine board wTith knives thrown all 
around me. I can not get away without injury to myself. 
I know it is better for me to play fair, and so I will.' 
"Later on this prisoner was paroled, but had some 
trouble, and was about to fall again. He came to me and 
wanted me to take him back into prison saying that he was 
wasting his money in riotous living, and that he was not 
fit to be on the outside. 
"I told him that he was a better man than he thought 
he was; that he should save his money for future needs; 
that the time would come when it would be of great help 
to him, and so he went to work again. 
"By and by his mother was taken sick, and sent for 
him. He came to see me about going to her, and told me 
he had saved quite a sum of money. 
"I congratulated him on that, and told him now, that 
as he had a long trip he should go in sleeper, and to go 
feeling that he was as good as any man. He was quite 
puffed up with the idea, and obeyed my instructions. 
"The last I heard from him he had passed the Civil 
Service examination to enter some department of the Navy, 
and invited me to visit him in his home in New York City. 
However, I do not wish you to get the impression 
that all of our boys are like these. 
"From the best information obtainable, I would give 
as my best judgment and belief after making liberal deduc- 
74 tions, that sixty-five per cent. (65%) of the young men who 
go out on parole from this institution live free from crime 
and their success in life and usefulness as citizens is above 
the average of the people of their class and circumstances; 
this because cf the education and industrial training re- 
ceived at the Reformatory. 
"Another twenty-five per cent. (25%) are weak in 
character and of low value as citizens and liable under spe- 
cial temptation to stumble into delinquency. The remain- 
ing fifteen per cent (15%) recommit crime of varying degrees 
and upon the whole are of little value in the social fabric 
and should be classed as delinquents and a burden upon 
society and are apt to be returned to the Reformatory or 
find lodging in some other prison or place of detention. 
If there is any mistake in this estimate it is in placing too 
high the number that revert to criminal conduct. We feel 
that a much smaller measure of success in the re-establish- 
ment of young men would justify the existence of this 
institution. 
"At the risk of repeating a twice-told tale I shall ven- 
ture to quote in reply to this question an answer made by 
me a year or more ago. 
"Were the winning of these young men from bad to 
good or from good to better or the best, reducible to a 
scientific formula, our task would be comparatively easy, 
but the fact is, in the task before us, we are called upon to 
exercise what has been called the divine art that no man or 
group of men can hope to fully master. 
' 'We have had enough of failure to sober us and make us 
tolerant of the cynic's pessimistic sneer and our success has 
been so large as to cause us to rejoice with modified zeal with 
the optimist, who believeth all things and hopethall things. 
"We are inclined to believe that it is better, more 
wholesome for all concerned, for us who are charged with 
75 the practical administration of a reformatory to lean to the 
optimistic; otherwise we might be disposed to minimize our 
efforts by absolving ourselves from responsibility by attrib- 
uting our failures to the total depravity of the offenders 
rather than to find the explanation largely in our own lim- 
itations as to means and methods, the want of resourceful- 
ness, or the lack of experience, knowledge, or wisdom. We 
can with reasonable modesty claim that the degree of suc- 
cess attending our efforts thus far justifies the existence of 
the institution, and the failures should not discourage, but 
stimulate to more strenuous and more wisely-directed effort. 
"Those of us associated in the administration of the 
Ohio State Reformatory have ventured along experimental 
and untried lines with sufficient misgiving to render us con- 
servative, but with sufficient faith to render our efforts 
effective. 
"Asi contemplate the work accomplished and compare 
it with what we hold in ideal, we have only been measur- 
ably successful, but what has been accomplished is at least 
an earnest of greater things that may be done if those 
charged with the work will be earnest-purposed and pa- 
tiently persistent.'' 
76 CHAPTER V. 
THE people are more or less familiar with Ohio's big 
prison. Almost every community at sometime in its 
history has furnished one or more inmates. 
These have gone back to their friends when they were 
released, and told its story. 
Besides, almost all the visitors to the capital city make 
a visit to the Penitentiary. Great crowds pass though it 
daily. There is no Institution in the state so well known 
as this one. 
I visited it when a boy and saw the prisoners in stripes 
marching lock-step fashion, each man with his hand on the 
shoulder of the one in front of him, to their noonday meal. 
I went though its manufacturing plants, and saw the 
prisoners hard at work in the midst of severe heat, and fly- 
ing sparks forging their daily tasks. 
Eater I visited this place when the stripes were almost 
abolished, being left only for the third grade prisoners, and 
the gray suit was substituted. The lock-step had likewise 
disappeared. 
I have sat on the stage in the chapel during the Sunday 
morning services, and looked into the 1800 faces, each of 
which was a study. I have seen and heard them join in 
the songs, "Nearer My God To Thee", "My Faith Looks 
Up To Thee", "Blessed Be The Tie That Binds", and other 
sacred music, 
I have engaged many prisoners in conversation, and 
have heard them tell of their fall, the disgrace they have 
brought upon their families and friends, the sorrow it has 
all caused them, and have heard them repeatedly resolve, 
that the evil influences which dragged them down would 
never again be countenanced by them when they were set 
free. 
77 The last few years I have had an opportunity to observe 
the great reform in prison management. 
The old modes of punishment, such as the electric 
buzz, the water cure, and the paddle have passed away. I 
do not pretend to know whether prisoners of the early day 
were more desperate in character than those of the present 
time; whether the contract labor system which was once in 
vogue was calculated to develop the worst in men or not; 
whether the idle house drove men to vicious and uncontrol- 
lable states of mind, so that all of these old punishments 
were necessary at that time. 
I do know, however, that the present system of trust- 
ing a large percentage of the prisoners on public work in 
various parts of the state is largely successful in their re- 
formation. 
It gives them new life and new hope. It occupies their 
hands, and their minds, gives them rest and sleep at night, 
and brings them in contact with the savings influence of 
the state's best endeavors. 
It makes quite a different impression on a prisoner's 
mind whether he hammers a forge for a contractor whose 
only desire is to make a profit, or whether he lays a tile floor 
in a State Institution which will make better sanitary con- 
ditions for the unfortunate insane who must live there. 
It would be most interesting to investigate all of these 
matters, to think upon them, and to discuss them, but this 
story as has already been stated in a previous chapter is to 
answer the question, "Why Prisons and Prisoners?'' 
I called on Warden P. E. Thomas for the answer to 
these questions. He has had a wide experence in penal 
Institutions. He was employed in the Mansfield Reform- 
atory for many years as a guard. Later, he wras appointed a 
parole officer in that Institution in which positon he had 
a chance to observe the effect of prison reformation. 
78 He became Warden of the Ohio Penitentiary May i, 
1913, and has given the best of his mind and heart to the re- 
formation of such men and women as are sent to the Prison. 
He readily consented to an interview, and spoke frankly, 
and with a great deal of intelligence upon all phases of the 
question. 
He gives four classes of criminals: 
1. The criminals by choice. 
2. The imbecilic criminals. 
3. The criminals by environment and association. 
4. The criminals by virtue of circumstances. 
"Criminalsby choice are those who were started wrong 
in life, and liked it,'' he said. "They are enthusiasts. 
Whatever they might engage in they would pursue with zest 
and earnestness. They might as well have been great preach- 
ers as great thieves. 
"This does not apply to all of them, because some are 
too lazy and indolent to be enthused. They are criminals 
because they think it is the easiest way to make a living. 
It beats work. We may say that they are crazy, but in 
turn they would say that we are crazy for working. They 
are like the drunk man who thinks everybody else is drunk. 
"But generally speaking, they need not to have been 
criminals had their start been different, or had they not 
chosen to be. 
"This puts upon Society, as it should, responsibility of 
all the boys in the community. It is closely allied to envi- 
ronment, yet they form a different class of prisoners from 
those who yield to bad environment. 
"These prisoners of choice help make environment 
which drags others down. There is nothing that can save 
a prisoner of choice, but a complete reformation, a change 
79 of heart, a putting away of old thoughts, and a substitution 
of new and good thoughts. 
"Work is only half done when a man is reformed. He 
must be given a new work in the opposite direction. His 
enthusiasm for the new work is liable to outdistance those 
who have pursued it for years. 
"This again places upon churches a great responsibility. 
They should find some means in making a church environ- 
ment either in connection with the regular churches, or 
separated from them, which would appeal to these men, 
and interest them to halt long enough to take a thought. 
"Jesus came to 'Rescue the Perishing'. These men 
surely belong to that class. They will not attend a church, 
and it would not likely do them much good if they did. 
They must be reached through the kind of an organization 
which is especially working for them. 
"In the absence of a church influence they accept the 
evil influence which is always available and easy of access. 
There is a great work here for the church to do. The men 
who might be its best defenders and supporters and surely 
its greatest enthusiasts, are spending much of their time as 
prisoners. 
"If you could prevail upon the churches to see this 
point, and adapt themselves in part to the work of saving 
these men, you would be a philanthropist of the rarest 
value.'' 
I told the Warden I was very much interested in all he 
had said, and could readily understand wherein society by 
reason of its lack of knowledge, and churches by reason of 
a failure to appreciate their greatest opportunities, were per- 
mitting boys to become criminals when they might be made 
useful and valuable citizens. It is clearly evident in this 
case "that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a 
pound of cure." He said, "That is it exactly." 
80 He turned then to a discussion of imbecilic criminals. 
He said people usually thought they were insane, but his 
experience led him to believe that many of them would 
make good and safe citizens. 
"They have found their way", he said "into prison 
unconsciously. They did not intend especially to violate 
the law. In fact, many of them did not know of the law, 
or if they did, when once started in an act of violating the 
law, they had no mental check which the sound-minded 
person has. Consequences did not appeal to them because 
they had lost control of what little mind they had, and 
went wherever impulse directed. 
"There are both good and bad imbecilic criminals. 
They are easily cultivated, and more may be done for them 
sometimes than for the criminal by choice. This also con- 
stitutes the class known as degenerates. 
"When people have advanced into a knowledge of 
correct propagation of children, the percentage of imbeciles 
will be greatly reduced, and if their early training is prop- 
erly looked after the percentage of imbecilic criminals will 
be reduced. 
"By far the greatest number of prisoners belong to 
the third class-criminals by environment and association. 
Most of these are preventable. 
"It is the most fertile field in which society, home, 
school, church, clubs, secret orders, social workers and 
others can employ all of their forces for good. It is surely 
a grave charge against society that I have just made by 
saying it is the cause of criminality, but it is the truth. 
"Almost every neighborhood tolerates within its midst 
conditions which are as bound to produce criminals as other 
institutions are to produce good men and women." 
I could not help but agree with the Warden for every 
word he was saying is true. And while I could recall 
81 many a wicked influence in communities in which I have 
lived I was anxious to have the Warden enumerate the things 
that he thought had the greatest tendency to start young 
men in the wrong direction. I asked him from where most 
of these prisoners had started on their unfortunate course. 
He promply replied, "In general loafing places which 
are found in every community, such as livery stables, barber 
shops, haymows, billiard rooms, pool rooms, gambling 
houses, brothels, wine rooms, dance halls, and saloons. 
"Of course, I do not mean that all of such places per- 
mit young men to start wrong in them. Some of them are 
very careful in the regulation of their business, and do no 
harm to any one. 
"But in poorly regulated communities good people in 
charge of such things see no harm at all in boys spending 
their idle time around them, or if they do, they do no pro- 
test. 
"A life of loafing without anything whatever to do, or 
without any disposition to do what could and should be done 
around their homes has started more boys to the penitentiary 
than any other cause. Loafing begets bad habits, and bad 
habits rapidly multiply when hands, mind, and heart are 
empty of good work, good thoughts, and good deeds. 
"At least 90% of the prisoners will tell me, if I ask them 
the cause of their downfall, that drink brought them to the 
penitentiary; and that they learned to drink because they 
learned to loaf when they should have been learning to work. 
"Some of these may be mistaken, but it is my opinion 
after a long experience with criminals that if booze were en- 
tirely abolished in the United States for a period of one hun- 
dred years criminality would be reduced 75%, and if it were 
abolished for ten years criminality would be reduced 50%. 
' 'Seven-nineteenths of the prisoners in the Ohio Peniten- 
tiary are repeaters, that is they have been in the penitentiary 
82 before. At least 75% of these have not been cured entirely 
of the drink habit, and when they are released or paroled 
they soon go to drinking, and consequently to crime. 
"It is not enough for the state to punish such people 
for a term of years, and then turn them out expecting them 
to stand. The state should take up the additional respon- 
sibility of putting them in an environment which will en- 
courage them to work, and support such feeble resolutions 
as they may have to live better lives. When they are per- 
mitted to go back to their old environment, it is a most 
natural thing that they shall again become its victims. 
"If counties sending prisoners to the penitentiary were 
required to pay for their maintenance it would open the 
eyes of the taxpayers to the necessity of removing from their 
midst an environment which will cause these prisoners when 
set free to return to the penitentiary at their expense. 
"It is therefore a county work rather than a state 
work, although the state could well afford to help the coun- 
ties in any work for the general good. 
Then there is the criminal by circumstances. 
"Here is Mr. A. who is naturally ambitious himself, 
and has a family even more ambitious. He is employed in 
a Banking Institution or in a Building and Loan Company. 
"He has not the money, and does not draw sufficient 
salary to permit him and his family to live like a few of 
their neighbors with whom they are good friends. 
"His mind turns to speculation. He thinks he sees a 
great opportunity to make money, but he lacks a few hun- 
dred dollars necessary to make the first investment. 
"He takes out of the bank, or the building and loan 
company. He does not intend to steal it. He will return 
it when his profits are realized, or if he should be disappoint- 
ed in the realization of his profits, he expects to replace it 
out of his salary. 
83 "His investment is lost. His salary is too low to re- 
imburse the bank, or building and loan company. He be- 
comes desperate. He withdraws more money, and takes 
another risk, and another, and another until all hope of 
ever reimbursing his employer is gone. 
"The inspector comes to look over the accounts. He 
finds that the figures have been juggled, there are erasures, 
and false entries. 
"Mr. A has disappeared, but is pursued by the law, 
brought to account, and sent to the penitentiary. 
"He was not a criminal at heart, but over-zealous to 
provide for his family as his neighbor was providing for his, 
and his family not knowing the dangers or of his work per- 
mitted him to take chances. There are many such men in 
prison today. 
"Here is Mr. B. As a boy he was well raised and well 
educated. He had a good position, was married, and the 
father of three children. His employment threw him in 
with prominent people where there was good fellowship, 
drinking was indulged in by the crowd, and although he 
had never drunk when a boy he began, 'going the pace', 
with these good fellows. 
"Then he fell in with bad women. It is strange how 
booze and bad women go together. His family was broken 
up. He went to another city, but could not give up the 
drink habit. He remained a companion to the lewd woman. 
She was false and deserted him for another man. In his 
frenzy, he killed her with a knife and was sent to the pen- 
intentiary for life. 
"Not long ago I went with him to see his aged mother 
who was nearing death. The man is now fifty years of age. 
He was her baby. He knelt with his head in her lap while 
she stroke his hair and exclaimed, 'Oh! My baby, my baby!. 
84 "He is a faithful prisoner, and an honest man, and 
there is not a symptom of criminality in his heart; but his 
life was ruined because of the circumstances under which he 
was employed, and because of the people with whom he 
associated. 
"Mr. C. was raised well. He was a Sunday School 
boy, well educated, and fitted for business. He was popu- 
lar in his community and trusted. He married a belle in 
the community, and one child was born. 
"He was elected to a county office. This threw him 
in with the good fellows of the county. They taught him 
to drink and gamble. Liquor caused him to desert his wife 
for other women. 
"Gambling caused him to use the county money for 
private purposes, and he was sent to the penitentiary. 
"He was paroled and trusted again, but he broke his 
parole by drinking whiskey and was sent to the penitentiary 
again. He was again paroled, but could not resist drinking, 
and is now again a prisoner. 
"He is a fine fellow, and not naturally a criminal. On 
the other hand, I believe if he would let whiskey alone he 
could yet succeed in an honest business, and would be glad 
to do so. 
"When asked what his motive was for breaking his 
parole by drinking whiskey, he studied for a moment and 
said, 'No one knows. It can not be explained. I have 
been reading my Bible a great deal since I came to the pris- 
on the last time, and have been thinking upon life from a 
different standpoint. I have gotten much good out of my 
Bible reading, and out of meditation on the Christian life of 
which I have heard since a baby, but to which I have given 
but little thought until recently!' '' 
I thanked the Warden for his most interesting story, 
and told him it could not help but have a great effect on 
85 the regeneration of Society, if the information he had given 
me could only be placed in the hands of all the people. 
His story is interesting enough to read, and surely is full of 
instruction. 
Before I left, he said, "You have asked me many ques- 
tions, I would like to ask you one. We are paroling men 
seemingly reformed, but weak. Booze is their worst enemy. 
I know when they leave the prison that it is only a matter 
of a few days, or weeks, or months at most when temptation 
will overtake them; a few will fall before the demon rum, 
breaking their parole, and be sent back to prison. And yet 
the state of Ohio is licensing saloons and drinking places in 
large numbers in our cities from which most of these men 
come to the Penitentiary. Are we morally right in re-in- 
carcerating men for falling before these legalized tempta- 
tions" I told him that I do noc know, but I'll put his 
question to the people for answer. 
86 CHAPTER VI 
PURCHASING a morning paper from a very busy 
"Newsie," on one of our city's crowded streets, I en- 
quired the whereabouts of little Mike a bright little fellow I 
was accustomed to meet on this particular corner. 
"Oh he is pinched and up in court this morning," re- 
plied the boy. 
I expressed my surprise and wondered what Mike had 
been doing. My new acquaintance said, "Nothing, only 
he ain't been goin' to school. You see his father don't do 
much and Mike has to sell papers to help the folks at home, 
and that keeps him out of school; he's only fourteen." 
Having been really attracted by the boy's activity, and 
having amused myself on a few occasions with watching 
him ply his trade, I decided to drop into the Juvenile Court 
and look the ground over, possibly something of interest 
might develop in this clearing house of humanity. Any- 
how, I'd never been in this particular court and it was high 
time I took an interest. 
On entering, it took me some time to adjust myself to 
the thought of being near a court at all, nothing in the sur- 
roundings suggested the dignified presence of His Majesty 
the Law, though several people, mostly women and chil- 
dren, were about the room in waiting, and these gave some 
evidence of being affected more or less seriously, and paid 
close attention to those entering and leaving an adjacent 
room, where, I rightly considered, His Honor was holding 
court. 
Expressing my desire to visit the court to one who ap- 
peared to be assisting in the direction of things, I was 
87 ushered into the "Court Room'' and introduced myself and 
explained my presence to a rather kindly appearing man, 
the Judge, who very pleasantly, in response to my inquiries, 
acquainted me with somewhat of the purpose and character 
of the Juvenile Court, and suggested that I remain and ob- 
serve its workings in a few of the cases he was hearing that 
morning. 
I did so, and found the time very w7ell spent, indeed. 
What a wonderful insight of the rudiments of home life and 
the social surroundings of a very large portion of his fellow 
citizens has this one earnest man, and what a knowledge of 
human nature must be his to see and understand the needs 
and judge the faults, direct and dispose of the action of 
"just plain people'' in their most intimate social relations. 
First came two young girls of apparent intelligence and 
neat appearance, the complaint was that they had been 
frequently seen on the streets late at night. All that could 
be judiciously said to them on the error of their conduct 
and the evils consequent upon "street walking" w?as care- 
fully and kindly explained by the Court and the parents 
were brought in and plainly told their duty and admonished 
to take the proper steps to forestall further and more serious 
trouble. 
Next came a worthless sort of a fellow who plainly 
showed dissipation to be his habit. Had a family; had 
been in court time and again, accused now of non-support 
and abuse; wyorked spasmodically and spent what little he 
earned for "booze." The last straw it seemed had been 
added and the Court recognizing the necessity of doing 
something effective, sentenced the derelict to the work- 
house, observing as he did so that the family would, for 
awhile at least, realize something from his labor, so much 
per day being paid to the wufe by the County during his 
detention. 
88 Now came the case of my friend Mike, and I was 
soon given a view of home conditions that I fear is all too 
common in our congested districts, and again other condi- 
tions frequent in all communities. Many children are cursed 
with parents having no conception of their responsibility. 
Ignorance, lack of training, or no training at all, stamp too 
many as totally unfit to direct the young life they have 
brought into existence. Along with these is that numerous 
class of children of divorced parents, forced to accept instead 
a disinterested step-father or step-mother, stunted in their 
moral development at the very threshold of life; often left 
to their own devices and to shift forthemselves. Mike had 
been shifting for himself for some years; had been before 
the Court several times for truancy and it had become quite 
evident if anything was to be done for his permanent good 
it must be from sources outside his "home." 
The Judge has exhausted his resources and decides the 
best he can do for the boy will be to send him to the Boys' 
Industrial School, and Mike, with visions of new worlds to 
conquer, readily agrees. 
I remained through the hearing of other cases, one 
proving to be that of a distinctly imbecile youth, and was 
startled to learn from the Court that the marriage regula- 
tions of the State failed utterly to prevent an appreciable 
increase in this troublesome element. 
Still having the case of our young friend' Mike in mind 
I left the court with a determination to visit the Industrial 
School at the earliest opportunity, and did so a few days 
later. . Upon research, I found this school to be the first of 
its kind in the United States, being established in 1856 un- 
der the name of the Reform Farm, the purpose being set 
forth in the name, a place of reform, the improvement of 
the moral, physical and intellectual condition of boys under 
seventeen years of age (from ten to eighteen, since July 1, 
89 1914) who, because of petty crimes and delinquencies, had 
been finding their way into the county jails and workhouses, 
and to prevent their certain ruin from evil associations there 
formed. To further emphasize the character of the School 
and identify it as an agent not only of moral uplift, but for 
vocational training as well. In 1885 the name was changed 
to that of the "Boys' Industrial School.'' I learned that 
the school "farm'' consisted of something over twelve hun- 
dred acres of hill land in Fairfield County and that the in- 
ventory of lands, buildings and permanent improvements 
disclosed a value of upwards of one and a half million dol- 
lars, which would indicate that the State had been quite 
liberal in its appropriations for this branch of public service. 
Arriving at my destination by the electric line from 
Lancaster, I was soon negotiating a difficult, but rather in- 
teresting, walk up to the School, a few buildings coming 
into view over the crest of the hill. Like many othes no 
doubt, I was beginning to wonder what led to the location 
of the School in such an inaccessible place. This was to 
appear later on. The car, all the way out, had been 
crowded and I learned that this happened to be the regular 
"visiting day," which accounted for the numerous baskets 
and packages with which the ladies seemed to be provided. 
Yes, most of the company were women and it is usually the 
mother that shows deepest interest in her boy,however 
wayward. Perhaps the very indifference of the father has 
much to do in bringing about the delinquency of the boy. 
This is a matter about which we men may, with profit, 
think seriously. I had noticed a neat young cadet in blue 
uniform meeting the visitors at the station and was directed 
by him to follow the walk to the large main building and 
after some perspiring from the climb, reached the receiving 
office. Stating my desire to look about the School, was told 
90 pleasantly to rest for a minute and a guide would soon be 
furnished me. 
In the meantime a couple of gentlemen came by, and 
one stopped to ask if I was being waited upon. I told him 
I was waiting for a guide. He introducted himself as 
"Hastings, Superintendent of the School.'' 
I had a pleasant talk with him, and found that he had 
been in charge of this school for about four years. When 
he was younger he was a teacher in the Public Schools of 
Auglaize County, and was later Principal of the School De- 
parment in the Mansfield Reformatory, and still later was 
assistant superintendent in that institution. 
I was pleased to know that he had had this ample prepa- 
ration for the great work he is now doing, and what I saw 
of the school later constantly reminded me of the old peda- 
gogical saying, "As is the teacher so is the school." 
It is to the credit of the people of Ohio that their in- 
stitutions are generally managed by men of satisfactory ex- 
perience either in their special line, or kindred work. 
Captain Hastings was most cordial in his desire that I 
see all of the institution I cared to, and also told me that if 
I had any questions to ask him after my visit he would be 
more than glad to hear them. 
When my guide appeared, the Captain putting his 
hand on the lad's shoulder assured me that I was in safe 
and reliable hands at which statement a smile of apprecia- 
tion appeared on the boy's face and he said, "I thank you." 
He was in cadet uniform, well set up in appearance, 
soldierly and intelligent. If I would go with him he would 
be glad to show me the School. I was somewhat surprised 
at the utmost trust that was appearantly placed in the boy 
and naturally much of my interest centered in him and we 
were soon in conversation. I found him willing to talk and 
he was soon telling me frankly about himself, his comrades, 
91 and things in general about the School. He had been 
rather a wild colt at home and having developed a habit of 
running away had been so incorrigible that he had been 
sent up "up here.'' Run away from here? Oh, yes, boys 
sometimes did. For a little while at first things were so 
different and strange to them, most of them went through a 
period of homesickness; once through this all right and be- 
coming habituated to the regularity in all their daily 
duties, and having found that things were not nearly so 
"bad'' as they thought, most of the boys decided to stick 
it out and earn a parole as soon as possible. 
Here was a bunch of new boys on the way to the quar- 
termaster to be fitted out with their kit, uniforms, etc. I 
had noticed the arrival of one of these boys particularly as 
he had come in hand-cuffed to the transfer officer. I had 
mentally observed that he must be rather a bad young scamp. 
Here they were, however, going along, with the young cadet 
in charge, as docile as lambs, bent on the one purpose of get- 
ting rid of those "cits'' and into something that would make 
them look and feel other than a "rookie" and I thought, 
"If your dadies could see you now." From the quarter- 
master they would go to the bath and thence to the hospital 
for a thorough going over by the physician. No contagion 
must be permitted to spread, and a temperature of 100° is 
certain to insure a berth in the hospital until all danger is 
passed. Samples of sputum are taken of each arrival, and 
forwarded by first mail, to the laboratories of the State Board 
of Health for analysis, suspicious cases are held at the hos- 
pital and all others sent to the receiving cottage, there to 
remain through the incubation period of two to three weeks 
before being permanently assigned to a cottage. A great 
deal is learned about the recruit, during this period, relative 
to his general disposition, temperament, intelligence and 
tastes which aid materially in his final assignments. He is 
92 thoroughly examined by the School Superintendent and 
Disciplinarian and assigned to grade in school, industrial 
department and transferred to a family. My young guide 
told me that the Superintendent visited the receiving cottage 
frequently, talked to the boys about their various relations 
to the school work, explained what was expected of them 
and advised them how to adjust themselves and get the very 
best the school could give. Yes, the boys all felt free to 
talk to him most anytime and whenever they met. 
I inquired about the family organization and was shown 
through a cottage. The twelve hundred boys are organized 
into seventeen families, assigned first according to age, and 
in a few cases according to the nature of their employment. 
A man and wife are in control of each family and live in the 
cottage. The family quarters consist of a large general 
purpose room, bath and toilet in the basement; large assem- 
bly or recreation room on the first floor and two dormitories 
above. A watchman is on duty in the cottage and near the 
dormitories throughout the night. The recreation room is 
equipped with a well selected library and many of the boys 
are subscribers to magazines. Each family has its repre- 
sentative military company and base ball team, and each new 
recruit soon learns that family loyalty is a virtue and that 
he will be much happier as a "booster" of the company and 
the team. 
I learned further that each family holds its cottage Sun- 
day School and that several of the employees assist the 
family officer in teaching. I estimated later that this would 
account for one officer in every five as a Sunday School 
teacher, in my opinion, a pretty good percentage. Compare 
it to your own church membership. A visiting priest 
ministers to the Catholic boys each Sunday morning, a Jew- 
ish teacher intsructs his class, and the resident Chaplain 
holds chapel services for all. 
93 I found that in the rear of each cottage is a large play 
ground and that baseball and horseshoe pitching are the 
prevailing outdoor sports. Yes, there is an annual Field 
Day for Athletics, each family being represented by a team; 
prizes are offered for the various events in the different 
classes. Enthusiasm runs high and it is a "great day.'' 
Another annual event is the Military Day when various 
companies contest for the honors. 
I have learned since my visit that B. I. S. Regiment is 
considered one of the best drilled organizations in the country. 
The military training is on the schedule early in the day, 
before breakfast, an opening exercise from which only the 
physically unfit are exempt. School and work consume 
half a day each. A short period is given over to play at 
noon, and all are on the playgrounds from supper until sun- 
set. Saturday afternoons are set aside for base ball; during 
the summer season, teams being brought in from neighbor- 
ing towns and schools. During the winter season there 
is an entertainment of some kind in the chapel each week, 
lectures, concerts, entertainments from some lyceum bureau, 
picture shows and home talent productions. 
I decided to visit the school. The young man took me 
to what they call the Ohio Village, where the boys thirteen 
years and under are quartered. 
I had pictured the school as made up of "nuts" as 
folks on the outside think of these boys. I imagined the 
pupils would either be in an uproar of disorder or severely 
disciplined, with their mouths open and their eyes lusterless; 
but think of my suprise when I found the pupils alert, 
eyes bright, intense with interest and full of snap, the same 
freedom of expression as is found in the best public school, 
and better attention. And the work these little fellows 
were doing was a revelation to me! The reed, raphia and 
loom work was of the highest order. They were making 
94 hand bags, sewing baskets, farm baskets and hammocks 
that were selling from 25/ to $2.00. Farm baskets and 
chair caning and large shawls that would do credit to ex- 
perts. The grades were also doing the regular school work. 
These children attend school all day with intervals of play. 
I supposed these were all the boys in school but my 
guide took me to the West Side Central School where I 
found several hundred more boys in school a half of each 
day. 
The principal showed me the methods of grading, course 
of study and special work and again I was surprised, The 
character of the work required was of the highest type. 
The principal then took me to the various grades to see 
the pupils in action. In one grade I found vocational arith- 
metic being taught that gripped the attention of all the 
pupils. They were calculating the cost to produce a pair 
of shoes, the cost of every article that entered into the con- 
struction of the shoe being given in large quantities In 
another grade, the food value of milk was being discussed; 
in another, much interest was aroused over the subject of 
"Bluing" a material used in the laundry. I began to 
notice that many of the topics under discussion were upon 
those products that pertained to the various activities at the 
Boys' Industrial School. Seeing some text books in the 
room I asked the principal if they were used. "They are" 
he replied, "we do the regular text-book work and these 
subjects are given to show that there is a relation between 
school work and real life." 
I wTas satisfied that there was life and interest and effi- 
ciency in the school work and expressed a desire to go on, 
but I was asked to visit the Commercial Department. I 
went and received the greatest surprise of all when I stepped 
into the room. A regular "beehive" for work. There are 
fifty boys in this department, twenty-five each half day. 
95 Twelve typewriters were ringing under the rapid strokes of 
the pupils, some were taking dictation in shorthand and 
others were doing their work in Commercial Arithmetic. 
The following sentence was on the blackboard; "Behavior 
is a mirror in which every one shows his image.'' Upon 
inquiry I was told that it was their topic for their next lesson 
in English. 
I have never in all my experience seen so much real 
work done in the school room. No suppression, oppression 
or restraint; on the other other hand cheerfulness, interest, 
eagerness and appreciation seemed to pervade the entire 
school. I left the school feeling that if there were any 
feeble-minded they would get what they needed for the work 
was so arranged that it was adapted to the capability and 
interest of the pupils. Here is a place where education has 
its connection with vocational training and vocational train- 
ing such as a boy would meet in the pursuits in life. 
I was next shown through various industrial depart- 
ments, the paint shop, smithy, tailor shop, plumbing, and 
tin shops, bakery, laundry, shoe shop and printery. Each 
employed several boys, all busily engaged in the various oc- 
cupations supplying the needs of the institution. No prod- 
ucts are sold outside the school and I was informed that the 
boys here and there would be attending the school of letters 
in the afternoon, others taking their places at work. We 
visited the Manual Training and Wood Working Depart- 
ment. A large number of boys were here employed; some 
were engaged in mechanical and free-hand drawing, others 
at wood carving, a squad were at cabinet work and still 
others at plain carpentering. 
Idleness was nowhere; wherever we went officers and 
boys were working together and there was a general air of 
industry. I had seen hundreds of boys and had not ob- 
served a frown of discontent. In the green house they 
96 were potting plants and propagating; in the garden attend- 
ing the hot beds, plowing and preparing ground; everywhere 
there was "something doing. " 
A whistle blew and soon were to be seen squads march- 
ing from all directions to one of the center buildings and I 
was told that this was the "Detail"; that all assembled in 
the detail hall, families were formed and all went to their 
respective cottages to prepare for dinner. 
I was advised I could be accommodated at the lunch 
hour and was an interested visitor in the boys' dining hall. 
The room is large, airy, well lighted and inviting. There 
were white linen table cloths and silver on all tables: the 
boy at the head of each table served and they all talked, at 
least I felt sure they did, it sounded very much like it. I 
observed mentally that it must take a pretty substantial 
bank account to provide for so large a family, and the food 
must have been satisfactory for all apparently went for the 
purpose it was intended. Here, at least, they were per- 
fectly normal boys. 
From lunch they went to their respective play grounds 
and for half an hour the happy voices of children at play 
could be heard in all directions. At one of the play grounds 
I met the Superintendent and we talked of what I had seen. 
"Well", he said, "you have been pretty well around but 
there are still some other things I wish to show you." 
Inquiring how he accounted for so many boys being 
sent to the School he gave several reasons. Delinquency 
was, of course, the immediate cause of all commitments, But 
what leads all these boys to become delinquent? He believed 
the underlying causes could be traced in almost every case 
to home conditions. The most unfortunate and prevalent 
error of parents is their failure to cultivate in their children 
a taste for clean, wholesome amusement. Having brought 
the youngster into being they at once proceed to forget him. 
97 The sole desire of all normal children is to be amused, and 
it is in their entertainment the parent is given his first golden 
opportunity to forever secure, the affection and regard 
of his offspring and to direct his play into channels that will 
lay the foundation for his character to be. Too many boys 
miss this attention at home and necessarily shift for them- 
selves and the result is usually disappointing. The parent 
has been either too busy or too lazy. In either case his in- 
fluence is lost and the boy grows up to be a bully at home 
and a disturber at school. He is sure to be a delinquent. 
He grows to manhood and becomes a father. What hope 
has a child of such a parent of receiving correct attention 
during his susceptible age? The chances are against him. 
It will not require many generations of such training to ex- 
tinguish the moral spark and crime follows. 
Foreign laborers in large manufacturing centers usually 
live associated together for obvious reasons. They adhere 
to their old customs of speech and living. Their children 
however, compelled to attend our schools, progress, and 
soon the home fails to attract, the parental influence wanes 
and the result is often unfortunate. 
Again there is that dangerous element, the feeble- 
minded cursed with a taint incurable, permitted by a dis- 
interested public and woefully lax marriage laws to wed and 
produce their kind. Histories of many such families dis- 
close a starting number of delinquents, paupers, and crim- 
inals, the prevalence of feeble-minded progeny, wards of 
the public, not only a menace to society, but the direct 
occasion of great expense to the State. Some of the off- 
spring of such parentage find their way to the school and for 
these little improvement can be expected. It would seem 
that society owes to itself the segregation of all such to 
prevent their opportunity for reproduction. 
98 Here the Superintendent observed that the boys were 
again at work and we would drive out to the orchards. I 
found that though not adapted to usual farming operation, 
the school farm offered unusual opportunities for fruit 
growing. Acres and acres were covered with healthy young 
peach and apple trees and a large force of taoys were at 
work pruning and planting, It occured to me that no oc- 
cupation could be more wholesome and that without doubt 
many a boy would here "find himself.'' 
We next visited the poultry yards and the boys here 
were enthusiasm itself. It appeared that the hens had 
made a record, on this day and another hatch was coming 
off. I was informed that this department was providing 
for its own improvements and giving the School a nice 
profit. The energetic squealing from the pig lots nearby 
gave promise of future sausages. 
Next we came to the dairy. The School owns an ex- 
cellent herd of Holsteins and is justly proud of it. At the 
time of my visit the cement and concrete class was at work 
finishing the interior of a milk room nearby and I remarked 
to my companion that every place everybody seemed to be 
doing something. He laughingly replied that he would 
now introduce me to a buuch that were not working today, 
but were happy just the same. 
This it seemed was the day on which boys paroled to 
go home were being fitted out in "Cits.'' He made it a 
point not to miss talking to them, to sort of give them a 
last word of cheer and advice. We met them at the office 
and they were as neat and attractive a bunch of boys as one 
would wish to see. They certainly did not impress me as 
being "lame ducks.'' They had done their stunt and were 
going home on the morrow. What it must mean to them! 
And what will be the result? From my impressions of the 
day I felt certain that their year or more at the School had 
99 added much to their general equipment and that their friends 
must see in them great improvement. 
It being my car time I was compelled to leave, well 
satisfied with one of the State's great institutions. I had 
not, indeed, run across my little friend but I felt that here 
Mike would finally have an opportunity to develop the very 
best in himself. 
100 CHAPTER VIL 
PASSING up High Street in the city of Columbus in the 
summer of 1916, my attention was called to a streamer 
reading as follows: 
"One in every eight deaths in Columbus is caused from 
Tuberculosis. What are you doing to stay the hand of this 
disease?' ' 
This is one of the many means of publicity and educa- 
tion inaugurated by the enterprising State Society for the 
Prevention of Tuberculosis. 
In order to acqaint myself more thoroughly with the 
causes, care and prevention of this dread disease, I visited 
the Ohio State Sanatorium at Mt. Vernon. 
This is the latest Institution to be founded by the state, 
and is devoted to the care of incipient cases of Pulmonary 
Tuberculosis. Almost 2,000 patients thus far have been 
instructed and treated. 
It was opened in December 1909 with a capacity of one 
hundred and sixty beds. It represents the latest thought of 
the scientific and social workers of the state, and surely does 
credit as a beginning to the benevolent spirit of our citizen- 
ship. 
This Institution is located about three miles northeast 
of the prosperous little city of Mt. Vermon almost 1200 ft. 
above the sea level, and on one of the highest points in the 
state. 
The tract of land contains 350 acres, 180 of which are 
woodland. The rest is used for crops and pasture. In size 
and appearance, the buildings present more the appearance 
of a suburban resident section than that of a State Insti- 
tution, but on entering it, it takes the air of the latter with 
this difference, that the patients appear to be in normal 
health. 
101 I was surprised to note this for I had expected to see 
emaciated and sickly patients. 
I had the pleasure of standing in the threshold of the 
dining room, and observing them while at their evening 
meal. Their physical condition indicated not only the ex- 
cellent care which they receive, and the substantial food on 
which they subsist, but also the ability of the management 
to diagnose and select incipient cases. 
Dr. S. A. Douglass is the Superintendent, having been 
connected with the Sanatorium since its opening serving 
one year as Assistant Superintendent under Dr. Clayton 
Conwell, and since that time as Superintendent. 
He is young for such a great responsibility, but his in- 
terest, enthusiasm, and intelligence more than make up for 
lack of years, and everything about the Institution speaks 
for efficient management. 
When I made known to him the purpose of my visit, 
he was at once interested and placed at my disposal all the 
information available on the subject of Tuberculosis, its 
care, prevention and treatment. 
He said, "In fact, it is one of the fundamental purposes 
of founding this Institution that it may be a center for the 
collection and dissemination of information on this very 
subject. It is high time that the State of Ohio is taking an 
advanced position in this great work for 7000 of her citizens 
die each year from tuberculosis. Just think of it! A town 
the size of Mt. Vernon wiped off the map each year. The 
State of Pennsylvania expends nearly as much money in 
looking after tuberculosis as Ohio spends on all her twen- 
ty-one institutions. But Ohio has made a good start, and 
will do more. The State will eventually develop, in addi- 
tion to the Educational propaganda now carried on, a sys- 
tem of state Tuberculosis Dispensaries, Sanatoria and 
Hospitals. The Sanatorium alone distributes in excess of 
102 iooo pamphlets and booklets yearly on all phases of tuber- 
culosis prevention. 
"Ohio has a wide awake Society for the Prevention of 
Tuberculosis and it will doubtless be glad to know that all 
the Superintendents of the State Institutions and the State 
Board of Admistration are to aid it in the education of the 
people on this and other diseases destructive of the human 
race. 
"This disease is the most destructive and universal 
which afflicts mankind. Wherever human beings are con- 
gregated, there tuberculosis is to be found. The yearly 
mortality in the United States is in excess of 150,000. 
Throughout the whole world the number of deaths resulting 
daily from tuberculosis doubtless exceeds the number 
slaughtered in the great European wars. It is rightfully 
known as the great white plague, although it effects the black 
man as well, and even more so. One death in nine is due to 
tuberculosis. The deaths from it in the third decade of life 
are almost exactly one in three. Thus we see tuberculosis 
striking hardest at young manhood and womanhood." 
I asked him for a general classification of tuberculosis 
cases in order that I might understand more fully where to 
place the emphasis in the preparation of this article. 
"There are four recognized stages, as follows: 
1. The incipient or beginning. About 20% of all the 
cases admitted to this Institution are in that stage, and of 
these 85% are soon so far restored to good health as to go 
back to their work. 
2. Moderately advanced. About 65% of all cases ad- 
mitted here belong to this group, and of these 40% recover, 
so as to return to their work. 
3. Far advanced. Very little can be done for them, 
and they are not retained for the reason, as already stated, 
the Institution is intended for incipient cases; but they are 
103 brought here for examination and are kept only long enough 
to instruct them in the means of preventing the spread of 
the disease to their families. 
4. Acute cases of tuberculosis. They are practically 
hopeless. Very few of these cases find their way here even 
for examination because it is easily determined at their 
homes their true condition. 
"The great difficulty in the arrest of tuberculosis in its 
earlier stage is that doctors are unable to diagnose it. Too 
much emphasis perhaps is laid by them upon the sputum 
(spit). If tuberculous germs are not found, the patient is 
considered to be free from the disease, and the treatment 
for other troubles is adopted, such as colds, bronchitis, in- 
fluenza, la grippe, etc. Only about 30% of Incipient cases 
show a positive sputum. 
"It is not an uncommon thing to find the absence of 
tuberculous germs in the sputum of the patient, but later 
on the disease bursts forth with all of its destructive power 
in the advanced stage. It is then too late and the patient 
dies. 
"Therefore it is very important where there is not a 
clear diagnosis of any throat or lung trouble, that the pa- 
tient be examined by an expert in tuberculosis.'' 
I asked him concerning the beneficial effect of the 
change of climate to a higher and drier atmosphere. "That 
is often advisable, not that a great deal of emphasis is placed 
on climate itself, but because of the fact that the patient 
will obey orders away from home and under new conditions 
when he will not at home. 
"Fresh pure air is always very important, but it can be 
had in Ohio as well as in Colorado or North Carolina. The 
only trouble is, as already stated, the patient will not adapt 
himself to new and necessary conditions while in his native 
environment. 
104 "He has slept in a room with closed windows all of his 
life, and as long as he remains at home will likely continue to 
do so. He has eaten a certain quality of food which no 
longer nourishes, but he is used to it and likes it, and there- 
fore will not break away from it unless his location is 
changed, and he is put in an entirely new environment. 
Much depends upon the physician, his ability to diagnose 
the condition early, and his ability to compel his patient to 
obey instructions. 
"Tuberculous patients are most hopeful. They suffer 
no pain and always underestimate the gravity of their sick- 
ness, and daily report that they are improving. As the 
disease advances from bad to worse, their hope increases, 
and the evidences of their early recovery are abundant in 
their own minds. The physician must cope with this diffi- 
culty in securing obedience, and his work is the more diffi- 
cult on account of it.'' 
I asked him if tuberculosis is contagious, as people 
generally understand the meaning of that word, like the 
measles or small-pox. He said, "It is infectious, that is, it 
can be communicated to others when they come in contact 
with the germs from it. Sufferers from this disease, after 
they have begun to cough and expectorate, are liable to 
communicate it to others. The germs of the disease are 
conveyed in the spit (sputum) of the patient either in mi- 
nute globules of moisture floating in the air immediately 
after it is coughed up, or by sputum collected by skirts and 
boots from the pavements or floors, or as dust after it has 
dried.'' 
I told him that I could understand this because I know 
of a young woman marrying a man who later developed 
tuberculosis. There was none of it in her family, and she 
was a hardy woman; but after the death of her husband 
tuberculosis developed in her. She made her home with 
105 her sister who was also a strong woman, but who evidently 
did not know how to take care of the disease. She also 
became infected, and both women died of tuberculosis. 
I know also of a man almost a physical giant who cared 
for his wife afflicted with tuberculosis, and who contracted 
the disease. He went to Colorado and recovered from it. 
He returned to his old environment, slept in a closed room, 
worked hard on the farm, was exposed to the severe winter 
weather, and the disease returned taking him of in a hurry. 
Dr. Douglass said, "That is an every day occurrence in 
every part of the state, and all because people do not know 
how to care for tuberculous cases, so as to prevent the care- 
takers from contracting it. 
"Yet there is no legal quarantine against its spread. 
Measles, mumps, whooping cough; scarlet fever, and small- 
pox, all insignificant as compared with it are quarantined, 
but this, the most destructive of all diseases goes free and 
unrestrained. Its victims roam about, coughing, sneezing, 
spitting, and spreading within their zone countless bacilli, 
capable of infecting others. 
"As long as this condition lasts, the disease will con- 
tinue to spread, and as long as individuals suffering from it 
are allowed to remain at home without adequate instruction, 
supervision, and nursing care, there will be continued in- 
fection within the family, and others who closely attend it. 
If tuberculosis ever is to be eliminated, the problem must be 
attacked first in the home, just as yellow fever was limited 
to the single room, and the mosquito which carried its poison 
was forbidden to enter, or if by any chance got in, was de- 
stroyed before leaving. Once this fever was considered the 
most contagious and the most dangerous of all diseases. It 
is now extinct. This was brought about by so carefully 
guarding the patients that the poison could not be carried 
106 by the mosquito to others, and therefore could not reproduce 
itself. 
"If all the tuberculous patients in existence today 
could be so carefully restrained, and kept from mingling 
with others, and their tuberculous germs destroyed as fast as 
produced, the disease would end when the patients were 
gone. However under existing conditions the problems of 
child labor, city congestions, low wages, long hours, bad 
factory and home conditions must be solved before this can 
occur. 
"People in charge must remember that the danger lies 
in the sputum, and never permit the patients to spit on the 
floor, or on any piece of furniture. They should require 
the patient while in the house to use a cuspidor or spit cup 
containing a disinfectant. It should be scalded out two or 
three times a day. Better still is a paper sputum cup which 
can be burned. 
"When the patient is away from the house, he should 
carry a folding spit cup, and a supply of paper handker- 
chiefs on which to wipe the mouth. He should provide a 
paper bag into which he can put these handkerchiefs, and 
all should be burned. 
"If cotton or linen handkerchiefs are used, the sputum 
will dry on them, and the germs be brought in contact with 
other people. The patient should not swallow the sputum 
for there is danger in reinfecting himself. He should al- 
ways wash his hands, and clean his teeth and nails before eat- 
ing for the same reason. 
"He should occupy an outdoor room, well ventilated, 
open to the sun with no curtains, draperies, or carpets. He 
should sleep by himself, and the bed clothing should be 
washable, and washed often. He should sleep, winter and 
summer, with windows open, but screened against flies, 
mosquitoes, and other insects. It would be better for him 
107 to sleep out doors entirely. He should use individual tow- 
els and toilet articles. No dust should be permitted to arise 
in the room, because it is a good distributor of tuberculous 
germs. The floors should be wiped up with a damp cloth 
or mop, and the water for cleaning should have four tablets 
of bichloride of mercury to the gallon. Bichloride of mer- 
cury is poison and should be carefully kept out of the 
children's reach. 
"Aman afflicted with tuberculosis should keep close 
shaven. Any one afflicted with tuberculosis should avoid 
kissing because by it the germs are easily transferred from 
one to another. Other precautions are as follows: 
Avoid all consumptive cures. 
Take no liquors or tobacco. 
Do not not wear chest protectors or tight corsets. 
They interfere with the free use of the lungs. 
Keep the feet dry and warm. 
Keep the skin active by taking a warm bath often. 
Do not eat when fatigued, but take a rest before the 
meal, and then eat heartily. 
Never exercise to exhaustion. 
Clothes should not be sent to a public laundry until 
they are boiled thirty minutes. 
' 'And speaking of fresh air, it is a well known fact that 
for centuries the Indians lived an outdoor life. They were 
generally a hardy race, and free from tuberculosis, but as 
civilization encroached upon 'their modes of living they 
copied from it, and lived more in sheltered places. The 
result has been wide spread of tuberculosis among them 
with a tendency to civilize them off the face of the 
earth. In nations where the living conditions are the 
poorest, with streets the narrowest, rooms the smallest, and 
ceiling the lowest (as in China), tuberculosis finds its most 
fertile field of operation. 
108 "It is true it comes to the rich and the poor alike, but 
in a much larger proportion to the poor. This is doubtless 
because of their inferior means of sanitation, their frequent 
lack of nourishing food, the crowded quarters in which they 
live, and their lack of knowledge as to the dangers of living 
under such conditions. To these reasons also should be 
added, the working conditions that many laborers are com- 
pelled to endure, to close confinement of their families, es- 
pecially the wife, co the narrow limits of their home, and 
the lack of expert medical advice which the more wealthy 
can afford.'' 
I asked Dr. Douglass if tuberculosis is hereditary. 
"No, that is, the tubercular germs are not transmitted from 
parent to child, but the tendency to tuberculosis is, and the 
child of a tuberculous family is always in danger or tuber- 
culosis resulting from impaired physical condition, a run 
down system, and constant exposure in an infected environ- 
ment. 
"There are sufficient tubercular germs in all of us to 
overwhelm us in the hour of weakened physical condition. 
Tuberculosis may be in the system thoughout life, but lie 
dormant awaiting for the condition to be right for an attack. 
If these conditions never arise, the germs remain inactive. 
"It therefore behooves one in whose family tuberculosis 
is common to keep an eye on his physical condition, taking 
plenty7 of exercise, eating good food, and breathing night 
and day, pure air, avoiding hardships, overwork, and worry, 
keeping sweet, happy, and full of resisting energy. 
"Many people think that tuberculosis is directly inher- 
ited because it often makes it appearance in several mem- 
bers of the family, but that is not the reason, for, as already 
stated, it is an infectious disease that is capable of being 
communicated through germs from one person to another. 
109 When a parent has tuberculosis these germs are often com- 
municated in handling their children. 
"The children may have sufficient resistance to ward 
off the disease while growing and until young manhood or 
womanhood. We often see a whole family of children 
taken one at time at that period of life. Had parents or 
others of the family been separated from these children as 
soon as tuberculosis made its appearance, the germs would 
not have been communicated, and their lives would have 
been spared from their attacks. 
"In the cases you have mentioned of the strong woman 
nursing a tuberculous husband, becoming infected, and then 
infecting her sister, and the sturdy man being infected from 
a tuberculous wife illustrate the point.'' 
I asked him to mention some of the dangers of under- 
mining the health so far as to encourage tubercular germs 
to rise in their might, and make the attack. 
"Anything which lessens the resistance, such as the 
drinking of intoxicants with resultant exposure which usu- 
ally goes with it should be avoided. As long as the liquor 
has control of the system there is no danger; but when the 
stimulation has died away, and the body is weakened and 
depressed, there is danger. If this condition exists often, 
or for a long time, there is great danger to those who have 
a tendency to tuberculosis. 
"Venereal disease is another wicked source of lessening 
the resistance. Exposure and continual fatigue should be 
carefully guarded against. 
"In fact, as already stated, the service of all of our in- 
telligence, education, information, and good judgment 
should be constantly on guard to keep our physical condi- 
tion in the best state of preparedness.'' 
110 "Doctor, there is just one more question which doubt- 
less I should have asked earlier. What are the early 
symptoms, of consumption?" 
"Generally a dry cough, gradual loss of weight, loss of 
strength, slight fever in the afternoons, and a general run 
down condition. Sometimes there is spitting of blood, and 
this sign always sends the sufferer to a doctor. He should 
have gone before, but as you know it often takes an optical 
demonstration to excite most people. 
"Sometimes the patient thinks he has stomach trouble, 
malaria, bronchitis or catarrh when, in fact, he has incipient 
tuberculosis. 
"I can not insist too strongly on people whose physical 
condition has departed from normal to see a good doctor, 
one who knows his business, who will take an interest, and 
who will give the patient careful study, observation and re- 
peated examinations. 
"After an examination should he say that tuberculosis 
is present, it is no time to surrender; but a time for courage 
and wisdom, for under favorable conditions a large percent 
of incipient cases of tuberculosis recover. 
"Any one needing further information on this subject 
should write to the Ohio State Sanatorium. It will be glad 
to furnish it free of all charges. It desires to render all of 
the assistance it can, and is at the service of every citizen in 
the state." 
111 CHAPTER VIII 
THERE are eight Hospitals for the Insane in Ohio located 
in the following cities: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincin- 
nati, Dayton, Toledo, Massillon, Athens, and Lima. 
On an average there are 13,000 patients treated at these 
hospitals every year at a cost of $2,000,000.00. Besides the 
state has invested in lands, buildings, and equipment for 
caring for the insane $13,569,812.73. This enormous invest- 
ment and this outlay annually for expenses of maintaining 
these hospitals ought to interest the taxpayers to investigate 
the causes of insanity and if possible remove them. But 
our reason for attempting to educate the people on this and 
kindred subjects i.s not economic, but social. In this story 
we are not interested in the expense account. 
The question that interests us most is the cause of in- 
sanity and how it may be prevented; what part of it is the 
result of heredity, and what part the result of disease. 
I went first to Massillon for the purpose of gaining all 
the information I could on the above questions from Dr. 
H. C. Eyman, Superintendent of the Massillon State Hos- 
pital. 
Dr. Eyman has spent thirty-two years in this work, 
being for a long time physician at the Athens State Hospi- 
tal and assistant superintendent at the Toledo State Hospi- 
tal, and for eight years Superintendent at the Cleveland 
State Hospital. 
When the time came to erect a new Institution for the 
Insane in the eastern part of the state, he was selected with 
Dr. A. B. Richardson for that work. Largely to their 
genius and ability, one of the most complete, attractive, and 
up-to-date Hospitals is due. 
112 It is located on the terrace and crest of a hill about a 
mile out of Massillon, and overlooks one of the most beauti- 
ful pieces of scenery of hills and valleys in the state. 
Dr. Eyman has served as Superintendent of that hos- 
pital since 1899, has taken a very active part in the profes- 
sion of neurology, and out of his field of experience can 
speak with authority on any question pertaining to insanity. 
He is justly proud of the Institution which he helped 
to erect, and over which he presides. He took great pleas- 
ure in showing me through it before he would permit me to 
engage him in a discussion of the question in which I was 
interested. Nor did I object to being shown because his 
enthusiasm spreads to all people with whom he comes in 
contact, and soon had me as deeply interested as he was 
himself. 
I spent the night there. After our return from an auto- 
mobile ride over that beautiful country, and had partaken of 
the evening meal, the center of which was roast duck reared 
on the Institution farm, he gave me a chair by a table, and 
told me he was now ready to answer any questions as far as 
he was able that I might wish to ask him concerning insan- 
ity. 
I told him that I should be very glad to know the main 
causes of insanity, and to have his suggestions as to how it 
may be prevented. 
' 'The tw7o overwhelming factors, ' ' he said, ' 'are heredity 
and dissipation, the latter including intemperance in drinks 
or drugs, and venereal disease. If these two great causes 
could be removed, insanity would be rare indeed. It is true 
that insanity is not directly inherited, yet the tendency to 
it is inherited. 
"Insanity is not an entity; that is, not any particular 
thing. It is a manifestation of a diseased or disturbed brain, 
and it is only when these manifestations become so marked 
113 as to endanger the family and society, that the one so afflic- 
ted is called before the Probate Court for an examination. 
"There are many persons at large with diseasd minds 
who have not reached the stage requiring public care. 
They are in a sense insane, but not to the degree that they 
may be later on. 
"The border line of insanity is very obscure and has 
never been established. The progress of the case is so very 
gradual that it is not unlike the development of the baby's 
brain. There is a time when the baby does not recognize 
its mother, but after a while it does, yet the mother can not 
tell when the transition from not knowing to knowing took 
place. Neither have we any clear cut line drawn between 
sanity and insanity, except such as the Courts establish in 
individual cases. 
"In this work they are, of course, aided by expert 
medical advice, but even this is irregular, and far from 
exact. If it appears for the public good and that of the 
individual, he is adjudged insane, and sent to a hospital for 
care and treatment. 
"Certain unusual traits are quite well known in most 
communities, but not seriously regarded until the dangerous 
stage is reached. 
"These are the melancholy who are depressed in spirits, 
and who can give no cause for their trouble; the paroniacs 
who are suspicious, egotistic, revengful, and under certain 
conditions altogether dangerous; and there are other people 
who are subject to great fits of anger, changeable in their 
disposition and attitude toward even their friends, and who 
wre often say 'have spells.' 
"These all live near the border line, and are liable by 
some overt act to step over at any time, and be classed with 
the insane. We all know7 that a number of these people are 
tramping the streets of every large city, and that they will 
114 go unmolested until attention is called to them by some 
horrible tragedy, such as the murder of a Garfield, or a 
McKinley. 
"Many of these people are useful citizens most of the 
time, and are not even suspected of delusions; but the time 
is liable to come when their condition will grow worse, and 
they are then sent to a State hospital. 
"Men of genius, because of their finer moulds of brain, 
are mostly very sensitive and emotional. When their phys- 
ical condition is at low state by overwork, or for other 
reasons, they are subject to great depressions of mind; but 
when the clouds have passed away, and their physical con- 
dition is at par, their minds may go to the other extreme, 
and they will live on the mountain peaks. In either ex- 
treme, they may be near the border line." 
I suggested that I had often observed these character- 
istics in people with whom I had been associated, and es- 
pecially had I observed them in the writing of some of our 
best authors, but had never thought of them as being in 
danger of insanity. 
I asked if such people have any warnings of approaching 
danger. "A great many persons feel that something is 
wrong, they have a sense of impending danger, in a vague 
uncertain way they realize the insecurity of the future. 
Like the mariner on the quiet waters a short distance above 
Niagara, there is a fleeting feeling of uncertainty, and an 
apprehension which he can not explain. The dim forebod- 
ing of coming evil frets and worries him, and yet he does 
not see the awful chasm almost beneath his feet. 
"And it is not these persons only who live so close to 
this border line. The professional man, who drives his fag- 
ged brain to greater efforts by the use of drugs and stimu- 
lants; the business man who carries his business and business 
troubles to his home, to his bed, who dines with his worries 
115 and anxieties; these people are making straight toward this 
dire line, and some day without previous warning, they will 
realize that 'there hath passed a glory from this earth.' 
They will be on the other side of this border line. I am 
not an alarmist, but I would that every professional and 
business man, who so abuses himself might be warned in 
time to check his course in this direction, for he may be 
closer to danger than he thinks. 
"But to turn to hereditary causes. I had at one time 
three generations under my care, the grandmother, mother, 
and the son. The grandmother had been a woman of con- 
siderable force of character, but by reason of dissipation in 
various forms had a mental breakdown, and was sent into 
the hospital. 
"The daughter had inherited the mother's weakness, and 
became insane at an early age. She became the mother of 
a son who was an imbecile so stunted in body that he was 
absolutely powerless to reproduce his kind. 
"If left to themselves, this class of defectives would 
soon be eliminated through the law of the survival of the 
fittest. It would not take them more than three or four 
generations to become impotent; but unfortunately these 
children of subnormal parents frequently marry persons of 
stronger heritage, and so the taint is carried farther and 
farther along the line of decent, reproducing itself and pre- 
venting extinction. 
"At another time, three sisters were brought to the 
hospital at the same time. Two of these were afflicted with 
what we call imitative insanity due to the tendency which 
seems to be inherent in our race to ape those around us. 
"One sister became insane with delusions which were 
constantly manifested, and the other two became unbalanced 
because of the association with her. This shows the family 
tendency. 
116 "They were all placed in different departments, and the 
latter two were soon restored to good health. The third 
remained in the hospital for several months, and finally 
made a complete recovery. 
"It is, indeed, a usual condition to have two members 
of one family as patients, and it is not an uncommon thing 
to have other relatives. This indicates also that insanity 
may be a family trait or tendency. 
"The actual percentage of hereditary cases can not be 
accurately determined, because of the difficulties in obtain- 
ing a truthful family history, and also because of the large 
number of persons with diseased minds who have not been 
brought to the public notice, and therefore not properly 
classified. 
"Frequently when relatives are asked concerning the 
existence of mental trouble in the family, the answer is very 
positive in the negative; but upon a close inquiry, it is 
learned that the mother, father, or some other member of 
the family had at some time been confined in a Hospital for 
the Insane, the family insisting that it was a case of nervous 
prostration, insomnia, or some term preferable to insanity''. 
I was very much interested in the doctor's discussion, 
because as we passed through various wards he had pointed 
out to me similar cases. 
I could not help but feel a sense of sadness to see so 
many people in apparently good physical condition, and 
many of them as far as I could see entirely rational in mind, 
shut up in these cottages, as beautiful and well equipped as 
they are for the comfort of these patients. The fact that 
the patients appeared to be generally happy, busy, and en- 
joying themselves did not lessen my feeling of depression. 
I longed to know what could be done to prevent the 
disease which had brought these people under state care. 
117 It would surely be a wonderful blessing if the public 
could be so well instructed and educated, as to make the 
possibilities of such a great calamity as insanity almost im- 
possible; so I asked the doctor for a remedy. Is eugenic 
marriage the answer? 
He promptly replied, "No. The answer is not eugenic 
marriage. The question of eugenics is a large and impor- 
tant one, though up to the present time it has not been 
legally worked out satisfactorily. The law can do much, 
but it can not control unknown and obscure conditions. 
"The law should be preceded by a long period of edu- 
cation of all the people, and then when the people are so 
wise, as to be carefully interested, the intervention of the 
law might not be necessary. 
"Solomon said, Tn all thy getting, get wisdom,' and 
if the people were all wise, an interest in the preservation 
of their offspring would be a sufficient stimulus to make 
them investigate thoroughly before taking life partners. 
Without this wisdom, young people, normal in body, mind, 
and character both from inheritance and practice are often 
hopelessly wedded to one filled with disease and dangerous 
tendencies. I can give you a good illustration. 
"In the days of Horace Greeley when he sent found- 
lings from New York City out West to be placed in homes, 
a brother and sister were placed in an excellent family, and 
brought up under the best of influences. They were very 
brilliant children, passed through the Public Schools, grad- 
uated with honors from the High School, College, and from 
a Medical College. They were attractive young people, 
and appealed to others as desirable in every way. 
"The sister soon, however, developed a passion for men, 
and became insane on the subject. The brother married, 
but like his sister soon developed traits of insanity, and the 
family wffiich he started with such brilliant prospects was 
118 soon found to be impossible for in a fit of jealous insanity 
he killed his wife. 
"No effort was made to look into their family history. 
In fact, it would have been impossible to do so. But doubt- 
less their breeding would indicate a tendency to insanity. 
"People often marry in haste, and begin their investi- 
gations after it is too late. 
"A poor boy became an employe of a very wealthy 
railroad man in the far west. He fell in love with his 
employer's daughter, and she with him. The young man 
had graduated from college, and had made good in every 
sense of the word, and had the full confidence of the father 
of his sweetheart; yet he hesitated to offer himself as a son- 
in-law to this man of wealth for he was without financial 
means. When he finally did make their intentions known 
to the girl's father, he emphasized the fact that he was poor. 
"The wise old millionare looked at him for a moment, 
and said, 'I care nothing for your poverty. My daughter 
has an abundance of money, and will have more, if she takes 
care of it. What I want to know about you, since you 
desire to marry my daughter is, are you morally and phys- 
ically clean, and have you come from a family of such people? 
Are you willing to submit to an investigation, and even the 
Wassermanu test to determine whether your blood is free 
from the germs of loathsome diseases?' 
"The young man said, that he would be only too glad 
to satisfy him and his daughter in all of these matters, and 
when the tests were completed, the wise old father felt that 
his daughter had for her husband a real man. 
"If all people who desire to marry would so carefully 
emphasize the real things which are worth while, and which 
are truly passed on from generation to generation, hospitals 
for the insane would be rare. 
119 "Usually the first question asked the world over when 
a young woman's engagement is announced is, 'Does the 
fiance have means, and how much?' Both parents and 
friends are interested in his financial prospects. 
"We all know it is desirable to have money if honestly 
obtained and properly used, but it should never be taken 
into consideration in comparsion with character, health, in- 
dustry, and brains. These are the important things. 
"He who has money today may lose it tomorrow, and 
he who has none today may have it tomorrow. There is an 
old adage, that it is only three generations from broadcloth 
to shirt sleeves, and three generations more from shirt 
sleeves to broadcloth again. Character, health, industry, 
and brains are passed on through generations, unless per- 
chance through an unwise selection of a life partner the 
blood producing these may be contaminated.'' 
I was much pleased with the doctor's sincerity in pre- 
senting this important phase of our life, because he spoke 
so earnestly. 
A long experience in observing these things had filled 
him with an irrepressible desire to make known to the world 
at large the dangers to coming generations of the tainted 
blood in the present. 
He seemed to long for the day when every family 
should be clean and pure, when hospitals and asylums for 
the insane and feeble-minded should practically disappear 
from the earth. 
We now turned to a discussion of other causes of in- 
sanity to which he had referred, namely, alcohol, opiates, 
and venereal disease. "What per cent of insane persons 
are made so from the use of alcohol?" I asked. "About 
twenty per cent is generally accepted by the neurologists in 
charge of Hospitals for the Insane; yet I doubt not that a 
120 great many more people who become insane are made so 
indirectly by alcohol. 
"For instance, an innocent young man from the rural 
community visits relatives in a city, or goes to the city for 
other reasons, and falls in with young men who want to 
'show him.' They propose a trip to a well known street 
to see the girls who live there. The young man promptly 
refuses. He says, 'Never. My father has posted me on 
what is liable to happen to any one who visits such places.' 
His friends respect his feelings in this matter, and suggest 
that they go in and have some soft drinks. He did not want 
to play the baby on every proposition, and he goes with them. 
By and by they take stronger drinks. He begins to feel 
heroic, and is easily convinced that his father belonged to 
the old school, that things have changed, and he is now 
ready to accompany them to the place first proposed. His 
blood becomes contaminated. He is in great mental distress. 
He goes to a physician who treats him, and tells him that 
there is no permanent cure. His health is undermined. 
"In the course of ten or fifteen years, he becomes insane 
and is sent into a hospital. In the medical examination, the 
determining cause is marked syphilis. Alcohol does notap- 
pear in the record, but it was alcohol as a primary cause 
which made him disregard the instruction of his father, set 
aside his own good resolution, and expose himself to the 
worst of all diseases. 
"Again, a married woman is brought into the hospital. 
Under careful treatment and rest her mind is restored to 
normal conditions, her health is improved and she is ready 
to go back to her family. The records show that the insanity 
is a result af a nervous breakdown. The Superintendent 
desires to investigate further before she leaves for home. 
She tells him that when she was a young girl, she fell in 
love with Mike. He was a moderate drinker, but she thought 
121 she could reform him after they were married, and so she 
accepted him. But he persisted in his bad habit. 
"When the first child was born, he promised to give 
drink up. but did not keep his promise. The second and 
third child came. Mike's drinking grew worse and worse. 
He lost his position, was unable to work, and it devolved 
upon her to make the living. 
"She remained constantly at home, because she was 
ashamed to go anywhere. She worried and worked, and 
worked and worried. Her appetite left her, and she could 
not sleep. Her mind became unbalanced, and she was sent 
into the hospital. 
"Alcohol does not appear in the record as one of the 
causes, but it is the real primary cause of her insanity. Had 
Mike been a good clean man, supported his family, clothed 
his wife, accompanied her to places of amusement and en- 
tertainment, had been her companion at church, and helped 
her to bring up the children as a good and interested father 
should, she would never have been in an insane hospital. 
Mike would do none of these things. He yielded to alcohol, 
and could not break its chains. 
"A young man recovers from temporary insanity. Be- 
fore leaving the Superintendent calls him into his office, and 
asks about what he had been doing that brought on his 
trouble. He wanted to advise him so he would not have to 
be sent back to the hospital. 
"Without hesitation he explained that he had gone into 
town one day, and imbibed too freely of intoxicating liquors. 
On his way home he fell off his horse, and lay all night in 
a fence corner. Alcohol died in him before he awoke and 
he caught a terrible cold. He was unable to recover entirely 
and his head was never without pain. By and by he could 
not think clearly, and was sent into the hospital. 
122 "Alcohol does not appear as a cause, yet had he come 
home in normal conditions, he would not have fallen off his 
horse, nor slept on the ground all night, nor taken such a 
cold, nor been adjudged insane. 
"It is quite well established that fifteen to twenty per 
cent of the cases of insanity are results of syphilis. Some 
authorities place it even higher, because, like alcohol, it is 
responsible for a great many cases where it does not appear 
in a court record. 
"Before science established reliable means of accounting 
for this disease in the blood, it was not known to be such 
a predominating factor, and therefore has not been given 
credit for all the devilment that it has done in sending peo- 
ple to insane hospitals. 
"The more thorough the investigation, the more the 
finger of condemnation points to it. It takes a long time 
for its infection to develop. It may lie apparently dormant 
in the system ten to fifteen years, and then awake to do its 
work. 
"A young man often feels that he has recovered from 
such sins, when by and by ugly manifestations begin to ap- 
pear. He rushes to a doctor, and finds that he is just now 
beginning to reap the harvest of what he thought was heroic 
and secret sinning. But 'murder will out,' and nature has 
so established it that they who violate this sacred law will 
pay the penalty. 
"Depressed spirits, a broken body filled with disease, a 
shattered nervous system follows, and the road is short and 
sure to a hospital for the insane, unless the victim is inter- 
cepted by death on the way. 
"The results are the same for the woman as for the 
man, but I have used the latter for convenience. 
"Self-abuse is a factor in leading to insanity, but often 
a symptom of insanity rather than a cause. It shows a 
123 morbid condition of the mind with a weakened will power, 
and a disposition to yield to the animal of our nature rather 
than to exalt the spiritual. Boys should be very carefully 
instructed against such a dangerous tendency. ' ' 
I asked Dr. Eymau as to the old belief that a larger 
per cent of the people afflicted with insanity were women on 
the farms. He replied, "Not now. Perhaps that was once 
true when a much larger population lived in the rural dis- 
tricts, and the women were overburdened with hard work, 
and much worry by reason of the intemperance and abuse of 
their husbands. They were compelled to remain at home 
and live a very narrow life. 
"The women of today even in the country districts have 
their freedom; the magazines, the daily newspapers, the 
railroad, traction lines, and automobile, to say nothing of 
the telephone, bring them in touch with the whole world. 
They are better educated, dress better, and have more en- 
joyment than the women of fifty years ago. 
' 'At present, there is a larger percentage of insane people 
from the cities, and a larger percent of men than of women 
which may be accounted for in the causes already given, 
intemperance and venereal disease.'' 
I asked the Doctor what conditions of life people should 
seek to lessen insanity. He replied, "They have already 
been indicated in the causes. I would recommend modera- 
tion and temperance above all things with a reasonable 
amount of work, recreation, and entertainment; to read good 
literature; to think kindly and charitably toward the things 
that would disturb; to assist the weak and the downtrod- 
den and help to restore them to their rightful place in life, 
and in fact, to live the kind of a life that common sense 
would teach one to live.'' 
"Briefly, doctor, what has been done within your profes- 
124 sional life to reform and improve the administration and 
care of the insane in the hospitals?" 
''We are proud to say that the last thirty years have 
witnessed pronounced and substantial advancement. The 
crib, the camisole, the muff, the strait jacket, straps, 
buckles, and other means of restraint formerly in use are 
now out of service, and are kept around Hospitals for the 
Insane merely as a relic to indicate the progress in humane 
treatment which has been made. The massive three and 
four-story buildings which were once thought to be the acme 
of perfection in resraining patients, and which were erected 
at vast expenditure of money, are giving way to the one 
and two-story cottages. The Superintendents have come 
to believe with Ingersoll in the 'restraining influence of 
liberty,' and the old maxim, 'The only safe lunatic is a 
restrained lunatic,' has no friends. 
''Suitable employment, recreation, music, and all kinds 
of pleasant and proper diversions have been substituted for 
physical restraint. Insane persons are treated exactly like 
sane persons, and those in charge of the former are 'looking 
through the lunatic to see the man rather than looking 
through the man to see the lunatic'. A mechanical restraint 
is used only as a last resort, and that happens so rarely as 
to be negligible. We have learned that other and better 
means appeal to nearly all of the insane, and when I fail to 
find a substitute for mechanical restraint, I feel the limita- 
tions of my resourcefulness. ' ' 
One could not help being pleased to note these changes 
for the better, and to be thankful for the law of love. I 
had seen many evidences of it in passing through the cot- 
tages. Could there be a better way? I wondered, and with 
a certain amount of trepidation I inquired if we had now 
reached the highest and best way of caring for the insane. 
125 "Not at all," he promptly replied. "There are yet 
visions pointing in the direction of the ideal, and I shall re- 
fer you to an address 1 delivered before the American 
Medico-Psychological Association, Sixty-Second Annual 
Meeting, Boston, Mass., June, 1906. 
I read this address and found it most interesting and 
instructive. I am sorry that there is not room to produce it 
here; but it is out of the line of our investigations and we 
must hurry on. 
126 CHAPTER IX 
FOR lack of time I was unable to make a visit to the 
Cleveland State Hospital, one of the largest and oldest 
in the state. Upon request, however, its young and vigor- 
ous Superintendent, Dr. Arthur G. Hyde, prepared and 
sent to me the following able discussion on "The Causes of 
Mental Diseases.'' 
He has been a special student of this subject while act- 
ing as Assistant Superintendent in special charge of the 
insane. Upon the transfer of Dr. Charles H. Clarke from 
this Hospital to the new Hospital for the Criminal Insane 
at Dima, Dr. Hyde was promoted to the Superintendency. 
He therefore speaks with the vigor of the new and up to 
date student in the following interesting article: 
"Taking up.the causes of insanity I think it proper to 
classify them under two headings: first, predisposing; second, 
contributing. 
"Under the first must necessarily be placed heredity, 
syphilis, alcohol, drugs and traumatism. The second, or 
contributing causes are many. Almost any of the disturb- 
ing elements may precipitate an attack and more especially 
in the presence of any of the factors in the first group. 
Among the more important may be mentioned the infectious 
diseases, autointoxications, pregnancy, and the emotional 
states such as fright, grief, worry and domestic troubles. 
Few, if any, of us go through life without encountering 
some of these; while, however, the strong are immune, the 
susceptible or weak are liable to suffer. 
"Heredity: An inherited predisposition to mental 
disease is found in from forty to eighty per cent of cases 
according to different authorities. Hospital records show 
us that it plays a most important part as a cause of insanity. 
Our nervous system, like any other system of the body, bears 
127 the stamp of our ancestors upon it. If our parents or 
grandparentshave had an unstable nervous system, the ten- 
dency is that we shall be unstable in the same direction. 
"Degeneracy in the parent may be evidenced by insan- 
ity of all kinds, epilepsy, alcoholism, and the like, and the 
presence of any such element of degeneracy in the parent is 
apt to engender in the offspring similar defects, or a state of 
general instability. On the other hand the children of such 
a parent may be apparently healthy, but in turn their off- 
spring may exhibit symptoms of mental disorder. In deal- 
ing with the subject of heredity, however, we must not 
forget that our ideas are of necessity largely founded upon 
theories, as biological science has not yet revealed a suffi- 
cient number of facts to make it possible for us to tell just 
how much, in any case, must be attributed to hereditary in- 
fluences and how much to the influences of environment. 
The fact that heredity plays a part in the causation of in- 
sanity, should create a public conscience regarding marriage. 
Marriages should not be contracted by two persons who 
have insanity or feeble-mindedness in their immediate fam- 
ilies, without first seeking the advice of a competent phy- 
sician. 
"Alcohol: Alcohol stands in the first rank as a factor 
in the productions of insanity. It is the concensus of opin- 
ion among alienists that alcohol is a direct and unmistak- 
able cause of insanity in a large number of cases. Statistics 
show that thirty per cent of men and ten per cent of women 
admitted to hospitals for the insane are suffering from condi- 
tions due to alcohol. During the last biennial period thirty- 
one per cent of the cases of men and nine per cent of women 
admitted to the Cleveland State Hospital were suffering from 
troubles due to this poison. New York statistics for 1910 
showed that twenty-eight per cent of the insane under care 
owed their insanity to alcohol asthedeterminingcau.se. In 
128 the individual, alcohol acts as a direct poison, and sooner or 
later leads to impairment of the mental faculties, or maybe 
definite brain disorder. Further, in the families of alcoholic 
parents, nervous disorders of all kinds appear; the child may 
be imbecile from birth, or may early develop epilepsy, and 
in time may help to swell the already large number of in- 
sane. The fate of an individual is probably largely decided 
by his inherited tendencies. Alcohol attacks the weakest 
system of the organism. If the nervous system is unstable, 
it will be early affected. Alcohol not only lowers the pow- 
ers of resistance of the organism to certain diseases, but it 
seriously complicates almost every malady. It is an im- 
portant factor in the causation of general paralysis of the 
insane and arteriosclerotic degeneration leading to dementia. 
To sum up: we find that alcohol is so far reaching in its re- 
sults that in the individual we find a progressive tendency 
to mental and bodily deterioration and a lowered resistance 
to disease; in the offspring, a proneness to idiocy, epilepsy, 
and criminality; and in the race a higher disease rate, a 
higher mortality rate, and a lower birth rate. 
' 'Syphilis: This disease is second only to alcohol as a 
cause of insanity. It is probably one of the most potent 
factors in the production of all degrees of congenital feeble- 
mindedness, and by most physicians it is recognized as the 
sole cause of general paralysis, locomotor ataxia, cerebro- 
spinal disease, and as a contributing factor in the develop- 
ment of many other organic conditions. Statistics show 
that from fifteen to twenty per cent of our State hospital 
admissions are due to this disease. The records of the Cleve- 
land State Hospital for the year 1915 show that fifteen per 
cent of the admissions were suffering with general paralysis. 
As stated above, we now recognize syphilis as the sole 
cause of this disease which undoubtedly is one of the most 
dreadful forms of insanity that we are called upon to care 
129 for and it is incurable by any means known to the medical 
profession at the present time. 
"The organic changes of the brain with the accompany- 
ing mental symptoms do not usually begin until from ten 
to fifteen years after the original infection. So that an in- 
discretion of youth, probably long since forgotten, may be 
the cause in after years of cutting a man off at the height 
of his career. Thus, it will be seen if we could eliminate 
the two causes, alcohol and syphilis, we would diminish the 
annual commitments to our state hospitals by about forty per- 
cent. If one stops and considers for a moment what a large 
percentage of the inmates of our state hospitals, infirmaries, 
and feeble-minded institutions are syphilitic as a result 
either of acquired or of hereditary syphilitic disease, one may 
form some estimate of the cost to the state for the upkeep of 
these hopeless victims. 
"Drugs, and the habit of drug taking, are a cause of in- 
sanity and are a public danger. When once the habit has 
been formed, it is practically outside the limits of human 
power to overcome it. The victims are usually the cultured, 
the artistic, and the best brain workers of the community. 
"Traumatism: Traumatism or head injury plays but 
a small part as a cause of insanity. Direct injuries to the head, 
such as bullet wounds and fractures, may be the immediate 
cause of mental trouble, while more indirect injuries, such 
as concussion from falls transmitted through the spine, may 
also be the starting point of mental trouble. Covering a 
period of five years with over 2800 admissions to the Cleve- 
land State Hospital, not more than two per cent could be 
traced to this cause. The relatives are prone to lay much 
stress upon this factor, and there is scarcely an admission 
but sooner or later we get a history of injury from some 
relative or friend quite sure that it has some important bear- 
ing upon the cause. 
130 "Under the second division or contributing causes, it is 
not generally understood that many cases of insanity follow 
the infectious diseases. Tyhoid fever, pneumonia, influenza, 
head the list of acute fevers which superinduce insanity. 
Disturbances of nutrition, high fever, and toxic changes in 
the blood are responsible for the symptoms developed. 
Debilitating influences may develop from disease or from 
any one of the multitude of mental or bodily vicissitudes, 
and either co-operate with other active causes, or depress 
the mental stability below normal. In this way a hem- 
orrhage however induced may cause a derangement of 
the mind. Enfeeblement in any form may predispose to in- 
sanity. Pregnancy and lactation reduce the vitality of 
women thereby weakening their nervous systems to such an 
extent that we have many cases of mental trouble develop- 
ing, especially in women with unstable nervous systems fol- 
lowing the strain of this period. Autointoxication is a 
cause that is being more appreciated than formerly. Every 
year brings more convincing evidence of the importance of 
recognizing that autotoxins derived from the alimentary 
tract play no small part in the production of insanity. 
Constipation is not only a common symptom in the insane, 
but it is the rule rather than the exception to find a history 
of prolonged constipation before the mental trouble super- 
vened. 
' 'Physiological events precipitate insanity, especially in 
predisposed persons. Senility, puberty, and the climacteric 
are instances; the periods lending characteristics more or 
less to the different kinds of insanity induced. Middle life 
is the time when there is the greatest liability to insanity, 
because exciting causes are most frequent during those years 
of major activity. Stresses of various kinds, mental or phys- 
ical, induce an exhaustion upon the basis of wrhich mental 
trouble may develop. The mental strain may be from over- 
131 work, overstudy, loss of sleep, and the like; the physical 
from masturbation, sexual excesses, and hardships. Over- 
work is a cause which must be received with caution. No 
doubt some individuals, from necessity or choice, spend their 
days in steady work. In predisposed persons this may re- 
sult in a mental breakdown. About twenty per cent of all 
cases of insanity are ascribed to moral causes, among which 
are classed domestic troubles, grief over death of friends, 
business worries, anger, religious excitement, love affairs, 
fright and nervous shock. The percentage is greater in 
women than in men. There are no factors so prone to pro- 
duce insanity as worry and constant anxiety. Domestic 
troubles perhaps fall more heavily upon women, whereas 
financial difficulties and pecuniary losses chiefly affect the 
male sex. 
"Certain occupations seem more favorable for the devel- 
opment of mental diseases than others, and especially highly 
speculative businesses. Successful work, so long as it is not 
too successful, seldom leads to mental disorder; but unsuc- 
cessful work shows a very different record. 
"The question of education and its relationship to in- 
sanity has received considerable attention. In educating a 
child we must remember that the mind and body should be 
developed together. Wise education where this plan is fol- 
lowed, developed together, but neither at the expense of 
the other, is undoubtedly one of the best preventatives of 
insanity. 
"As will be recognized, the causes of insanity are many 
and varied, and it has been our wish only to mention those 
that are met with most frequently. Insanity is no longer 
a disgrace to be concealed, but is recognized as a disease to 
be attacked with the same rational procedures as any other 
disease.'' 
132 CHAPTER X 
THE Toledo State Hospital, founded in 1883, is located 
in the suburbs of the city of Toledo on a farm contain- 
ing 583 acres of good rich land. Ninety-seven acres of this 
are used for the building and campus. 
This is the first Hospital for the care of the Insane to be 
built in this country on the cottage plan. 
The idea of such plan was originated by General R. 
Brinkerhoff of Mansfield, Ohio, for many years an able 
member of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. 
In this enterprise, he was ably assisted by Ex-Governor 
Charles Foster who became a member of the Board of Trus- 
tees after the Hospital was founded, and rendered valuable 
assistance in its development. 
So successful has this plan been in giving proper care to 
the insane that it has been copied in many parts of the 
world. 
At present there are twenty-six cottages and twenty 
other buildings located in the form of a parallelogram in a 
beautiful maple and elm grove ornamented here and there 
with shrubbery and beds of flowers. A well-kept lawn 
surrounds these buildings on all sides and is perhaps the 
most extensive and attractive one in the state of Ohio. 
The hospital is located on Detroit Ave., which was the 
military trail of General W. H. Harrison between Detroit, 
Michigan, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was also the old 
Indian trail for many centuries and General Wayne passed 
this way in pursuit of the savages. 
Dr. George R. Rove is the Superintendent, having been 
connected with the hospital almost continuously since his 
graduation from medical college. 
133 For six years he was Assistant Superintendent in which 
position he got most excellent training from his chief, Dr. 
H. A. Tobey. Ten years ago he was elected Superintend- 
ent, and has continued in that position since. 
I spent the day with him and was much pleased with 
the excellent condition in which all the buildings and 
grounds are kept and the care which the patients receive. 
In fact, a casual visitor passing that way would take the 
Institution for an aristocratic suburban resident district. 
Dr. Love was much interested in our effort to educate 
the people on this most important subject, the causes and 
prevention of insanity, and gladly discussed them for me 
after the following manner: 
"Fully 50% of mental disorders are inherited. The 
immediate ancestors need not necessarily be insane, but they 
may transmit to their offspring certain nervous tendencies 
which under adverse conditions may bring about insanity. 
' 'Some so constituted may become addicted to the use of 
alcohol, others become victims of the depravity of the street, 
and still others may fall victims of the social evil. To these 
also should be added criminals, tramps, beggars, and im- 
postors. 
"When by reason of becoming so vicious in any of these 
particulars as to differentiate clearly between them and the 
normal person they are said to be insane. But when a sep- 
aration is less marked they pass through the world unloved, 
unpitied, friendless, and often in poverty with always a 
possibility of the poorhouse, the jail, or even the electric 
chair before them. 
"One of the greatest problems facing the social workers 
of today is, How can we prevent the production of defective 
and neurotic human beings? Shall we go to the marriage 
courts, or shall we render the individual incapable of repro- 
ducing his kind? At the present time, we are devoting our 
134 energies to the care of these people. This, of course, is 
right and proper, but it is not enough. We should find the 
cause and if possible remove it. Until we do this, we must 
continually face the expense of caring for larger and larger 
numbers. 
"Law makers should recognize the universal law of 
heredity, and the people should be educated to support them 
in any reasonable legal restraints which may be thrown 
around the marrage of people whose offspring are bound to 
be public charges. . 
"The mentally enfeebled patients of our hospitals are 
the end products of sin which lie far back of where our 
work now reaches. The insane hospitals take charge of the 
individuals after the harm has already been done, and we 
are expected to cure them. These defectives should never 
have been born, because it is largely from this class that our 
population is recruited, and I am sorry to say it is increas- 
ing from year to year. 
"The perfectly normal person, unless he has some ac- 
cident or severe illness or infection never becomes insane. 
So it is very easy to see that insane people, to a large extent 
must have some defective, undefined element in their nerv- 
ous organization as the basis for their insanity. 
"I believe there should be a Commission of competent 
men and woman appointed in every state to study this great 
problem, and devise means to eliminate the sources from 
which our insane and defective classes spring. Some day 
the problem must be solved; but it is very difficult to arouse 
the public to its perils and duties in this particular. 
"Again, you ask me if there are any other forms of 
preventable nervous disease. Yes. It is a very sad thing 
to contemplate that at least 30% of insanity is preventable. 
About 15% or niore is brought about directly by the exces- 
sive use of alcohol and the various drug habits. Fully 15% 
135 can be traced directly to that awful scourge of civilization 
known as syphilis. This disease not only works havoc with 
the individual, but can be transmitted to the next genera- 
tion. It is bad enough for the individual to be infected 
with syphilis, but to pass it on to the new-born child is 
terrible. 
"Ohio has about 13,000 insane people. Deduct thirty 
per cent from this and estimate for yourself the number that 
should have been prevented by the right kind of habits and 
normal way of living. A syphilitic prostitute can infect a 
whole town of young boys, causing untold misery; and the 
same applies to a syphilitic man who can infect some inno- 
cent girl or his own pure wife. 
"We isolate a case of smallpox, in order to protect the 
community. Very rarely do you hear of a case of insanity 
caused by an attack of smallpox. Do we isolate our syphi- 
litics? No, they are permitted to roam at large, seeking 
whom they may devour to bring untold misery to future 
generations. 
"Again you ask me if certain abnormal practices in 
young boys and girls may bring about insanity. Yes, such 
habits may cause certain mental diseases, especially in the 
young defective. I have seen cases of insanity as a direct 
result of self-abuse; but it is more a byproduct of weakened 
will-power and lack of inhibition. It is every father's duty 
to take his son in hand at the age of puberty, and have a 
heart to heart talk with him concerning possible habits the 
boy may acquire. If this cannot be done, have the family 
physician give the boy some good advice. 
"Nothing is so prone to contaminate under certain cir- 
cumstances, even to exhaust the source of all noble and ideal 
sentiments, which arise of themselves from a normally de- 
veloping sexual instinct, as a practice of masturbation in 
early years. It despoils the unfolding bud of perfume and 
136 beauty, and leaves behind only the course, animal desire for 
sexual satisfaction. If an individual thus depraved reaches 
the age of maturity, there is wanting in him that aesthetic, 
ideal, pure and free, impulse which draws the opposite sexes 
together. The glow of sensual sensibility wanes and the 
inclination towards the opposite sex is weakened. This 
defect influences the morals, the character, fancy, feeling 
and instinct, of the youthful masturbator-male or female- 
in an unfavorable manner, even causing under certain cir- 
cumstances the desire for the opposite sex-to disappear, or 
perverting the nervous system and mental fiber to the point 
of insanity. 
"You ask me whether disturbed emotions may bring 
about insanity. Yes, to a certain extent. I have seen nu- 
merous causes of insanity caused by what might be called 
emotional religion. The world has long been taught con- 
cerning the awful horrors awaiting them in the next world, 
and those susceptible individuals who are more or less sub- 
ject to a disease known as hysteria are almost always affected 
by any emotional crisis, especially of a religious nature. 
We are all familiar with the old-time country camp-meeting 
and so called revivals, where the people were almost dragged 
to the mourner's bench, in order that sudden conversion 
might take place, and to escape the awful torment of hell- 
fire. Religion should not be considered an emotion, but a 
belief, and this belief should stand for the uplift of the 
individual rather than impairing the individual's emotional 
life. The worship of God, in my opinion, should not be 
taught by fear; but man should understand the great love 
that God bears to him individually, and the great desire 
that He has for man to work out his own salvation in order 
that he may become a servant of God and a part of the great 
scheme of redemption." 
137 CHAPTER XI 
I HAVE been a frequent visitor at the Columbus State 
Hospital for a great many years, and have learned that it 
is one of the largest in the world. 
It was founded in 1835 as the "Lunatic Asylum of 
Ohio.'' "Lunatic'' means moonstruck from the word, 
Luna meaning moon. It is one of the old traditions of 
civilization that insane people were in some way the victims 
of the moon. 
Dr. William H. Pritchard, Superintendent of this Hos- 
pital took great interest in this book and furnished some 
very valuable observations on insanity. This would nat- 
urally be expected of him because of his long acquaintance 
with the care and management of State Institutions. 
After his graduation from medical college he became a 
member of the medical staff of the Columbus State Hospital 
in 1901, and later served for a number of years as Superin- 
tendent of the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics at Gallipolis, 
Ohio. When a vacancy occured in the Superintendency at 
the Columbus State Hospital in 1916, and it became neces- 
sary to select a new Superintendent from the eligible list 
furnished by the State Civil Service Commission, Dr. Prit- 
chard was chosen on competitive examination. 
It would be interesting to discuss the history of this 
remarkable hospital because it has had an unusual career, 
and to point out its manifold equipment for caring for the 
insane, but it is not necessary to our main theme. 
Needless to say that Dr. Pritchard warmly received me 
as a visitor, and ably discussed the subject. 
"The gravity of the situation confronting the citizens 
of Ohio and of the nation' ', he said, ' 'can not be too strongly 
emphasized. You have rightly named your symposium 
138 upon these subjects. Here in Columbus, almost under the 
shadow of the dome of the State Capitol, and within the 
sound of the hum of great industries, are gathered together 
in two great institutions, placed side by side, more than four 
thousand derelicts. On the one hand are more than two 
thousand youngsters who through no fault of their own 
have come into the world hopelessly handicapped by men- 
tal defect; on the other hand are almost as many unfortu- 
nate, victims of the sins of themselves or their forebears, 
who have fallen by the wayside in the battle of life, and are 
now for the most part hopelessly stranded in mental dark- 
ness. In the one case the light of reason has never existed 
or has burned but dimly; in the other the light has failed. 
"You may well ask 'Why do these conditions exist?' 
It is high time the question was being asked generally and 
most earnestly. The answer is simple. To quote some 
wag, fully eighty percent of these people were extremely 
'unwise in the choice of their ancestors'. Bad heredity is 
the one great factor in the production of feeble-mindedness, 
and the most important factor in the production of insanity. 
Hereditary predisposition to mental disease or defect is the 
direct and inevitable result of unsuitable marriages or of 
prostitution. 
"The union of persons with unstable nervous organiza- 
tions; of persons one or both of whom are imbeciles or 
morons or have had some form of mental disease; the union 
of persons who are the offspring of parents or grandparents 
who have been deficient in these ways; the union of persons 
one or both of whom have been victims of syphilis or who 
are children of persons who have had syphilis; the union of 
persons one or both of whom were victims of chronic alcohol- 
ism or who were descendants of alcohlic parents; and the 
union of persons one or both of wThom were effected during 
the child bearing period of life with any chronic wasting 
139 disease, such as tuberculosis-these and many others are the 
more common forms of unsuitable marriages which result 
in defective offspring. 
"What is the remedy? Should such marriages be pre- 
vented by law? They surely should be prevented, but in 
my opinion they can not be prevented by legal prohibition. 
The American Citizen is very jealous of his personal rights 
and no law requiring the so called 'Eugenic Marriage' will 
be effective because it will not now at least have the backing 
of public sentiment. The remedy lies in education, in the 
dissemination of the knowledge of good and evil. Eet these 
vital questions be kept before the public. Teach the 
people that public vice must be suppressed; that prostitutes 
and habitual criminals are for the most part feeble-minded 
persons who must be segregated in such manner as will 
prevent marriage or illicit conception. Prevent the mar- 
riage of feeble-minded persons by compelling their retention 
in state institutions which shall be real homes for them, but 
where the maximum of useful training, employment and 
recreation shall be provided; call syphilis by its right name; 
teach the young men and woman how it is contracted, what 
the results are and mpress upon them the vital importance 
of early and drastic treatment. Finally stamp out alcohol- 
ism by means of National prohibition. There is no other 
effective way. 
"You have doubtless heard these or similar sentiments 
expressed many times during your investigations. They 
can not be repeated too often nor proclaimed too loudly. 
"Syphilis and alcholism have been mentioned as im- 
portant factors in the production of hereditary tendencies 
toward insanity, feeble-mindedness and epilepsy in the off- 
spring of those so affected. They are also the direct cause 
of very many mental diseases in the individual himself. 
About thirty per cent of persons admitted to the Columbus 
140 State Hospital are the victims of syphilis. They have some 
form of mental diseases due to syphilis. In most cases there 
is no help for them and there they will remain, a blot upon 
our civilization until some means of prevention can be de- 
vised. Suppression of vice, the stamping out of commer- 
cialized prostitution and the abolition of the liquor traffic 
are means to this end. 
"About ten per cent of these sent to the hospital are 
insane as a result of their own over-indulgence in alcohol. 
Moreover, in many cases syphilitic infection would not have 
occured if the individual had not when drunk put himself 
in contact with the usual source of this infection-the com- 
mon prostitute. In many cases also where there is an 
hereditary tendency toward mental disease, insanity would 
not have occurred had not the individual in his condition of 
weakened resistance taken upon himself the added burden of 
syphilitic infection or alcoholic intoxication. As stated 
previously, the only remedy, in my opinion, lies in absolute 
nation-wide abolition of the liquor traffic by national con- 
stitutional amendment. Without doubt this remedy will be 
applied within a few years. 
"I am frequently asked if insanity is increasing. 
Probably it is, although the increase may be more apparent 
than real. Conditions in the state hospitals have greatly 
improved in the past quarter of a century. Patients and 
their friends do not now so greatly dread being sent to these 
institutions and therefore do not conceal their affliction as 
they once did. The public is becomming slowly enlightened 
regarding the danger and injustice of concealment. I sin- 
cerely trust that your efforts may materially aid in this 
enlightenment. 
"We have a great deal to say about the improved 
conditions for the care of the insane, and we close our eyes 
and see visions of the future when man's humanity to man 
141 shall have reached perfection and the state hospital service 
shall have become ideal. It is right that we should do this 
for we are a forward-looking people. But we must remem- 
ber that we are only taking care of the end product of the 
forces of intoxication and disease. The stream must be 
purified at its source. Therefore the State must see to it 
that ample provision is made for the protection of society 
against the imbecile, the moron, the prostitute, the habitual 
criminal, the inebriate and the epileptic, and that the sources 
of pollution are destroyed. In this way only will the prob- 
lems of insanity be really solved." 
142 CHAPTER XII 
THIRTY-SIX years in the service of the insane! More 
than half the three score and ten years allotted to man 
and more than a third of a century! 
This is the record of Dr. Frank W. Harmon, the able 
Superintendent of the Tongview Hospital of Cincinnati. 
Yet he is in the bloom of life, in the best of health, full of 
enthusiasm for his work and looks to be good for many 
more years of efficient service. He met me at Winton Place 
in his new seven passenger Buick of which he is modestly 
proud, drove me to the hospital and discussed with interest 
and with full knowledge the subject of insanity. 
The Hospital is about eight miles north of Fountain 
Square and was founded in 1821 under the name of the 
Southwestern Lunatic Asylum. In those days it was not so 
necessary to hunt for a location as now for nature abounded 
everywhere and forests would lie around almost any spot 
chosen. But the "Asylum" was located on a hill overlook- 
ing the Mill Creek Valley and the forests that grew within. 
Later when woodmen had felled the trees, cleared 
away the rubbish and converted the forest into green fields, 
and when the city of Hamilton made its appearance fifteen 
miles up the creek, those interested saw how well the build- 
ers had chosen this site and proposed a new name-The 
Longview Hospital for the Insane-because standing on the 
west veranda or in the front yard one can see up Mill Creek 
Valley for fifteen miles and down it for ten. 
Unlike the other hospitals for the insane Longview be- 
longs exclusively to Hamilton County and is managed by a 
board of trustees chosen in part each by the Probate Judge 
and County Commissioners, the Common Pleas Court and 
143 by the Governor of the State. This plan was intended to 
prevent the introduction of politics into the management 
and it has worked admirably. Improvements are made 
and new buildings are erected at the expense of Hamilton 
County but the State furnishes the money for salaries and 
maintenance. 
Concerning insanity, its cause and prevention, Dr. 
Harmon readily endorsed all that other superintendents 
have said, and it is not necessary to repeat; but he added a 
few observations that are important. 
"Heredity," he said, "is the important element; the 
exciting cause a mere incident. It is only the match to the 
fire. If the tendency to insanity is in the system almost 
any unusual occurrence hardship or self imposed abuse may 
bring it out. As long as the body is well and lives within 
certain limitations the disease may be held in check. But 
sickness or even slight breaking over of simple living may 
be followed by disastrous results. 
"A, who is from hardy stock and free from neurotic 
tendencies, and B, who appears to be strong but who has 
the germs of disease within, may go to drinking for in- 
stance. The former can drink when he wishes and as much 
as he likes and apparently go unhurt, while the latter can- 
not refrain when once having put his lips to the bowl and 
never stops short of an insane hospital. 
"But look out for the children of A. They will, in all 
probability be neurotics with weaker tendencies than their 
father, and so will fall victims to some of the vices, and be 
easy marks for mental disturbances. 
"It is beautiful to be strong, but more beautiful to be 
both strong and wise. The wise man is interested not only 
in himself but in his offspring and will protect it by a clean 
life. But the trouble is people do not know although they 
mean well-I am glad that they may be told. 
144 "There is syphilis, a damnable disease and very pro- 
ductive of insanity. What is more pitiable than to see an 
innocent girl become the wife of a man doomed to be an in- 
sane syphilitic, and to become the mother of his children 
with notched teeth, inflamed and swollen glands and a 
blotched skin. 
"We have inmates in this hospital of the second and 
third generation. People who so far recover as to justify 
the belief that it will be safe to give them their freedom, 
forthwith seek a companion and marry. The result is more 
insane. Or a wife may be an inmate. Her husband in the 
name of his children appeals to the court and secures her 
release before she has sufficiently recovered. She becomes 
impregnated, with a strong probability that the child will 
some day become an inmate of a hospital. Moreover the 
mother is soon sent back for care and treatment. Such people 
are prolific and should be carefully guarded by the law. 
A superintendent of an insane hospital ought to have final 
authority to say when patients may be released. He is the 
only one who knows, and he may always be counted on to 
be just to the patients and to the state. But so long as 
friends may appeal to courts, and judges of the courts are 
elected, and have the ordering of persons to and from hos- 
pitals, insanity will keep pace with our population. The 
personal liberty idea is very strong in this country. Every 
man claims the rights to marry whom he pleases if he can 
gain her consent, have as many children as he wishes and 
if he is not able to care for them and his wife, or even him- 
self, the public must do so. If any one disputes his right 
in these matters it will be an issue in the next election. 
The election is 'the nigger in the wood pile,' and in a re- 
public everything is referred to it. 
"The next best thing to giving a superintendent the 
final word in the release of inmates is the forming of After 
145 Care Societies. They are quite common in the eastern 
states, but Ohio and other central and western states have 
not established any organization of the kind. They will no 
doubt soon do so. 
"These societies take charge of persons as soon as they 
are released from hospitals and aid them in every way, se- 
curing suitable employment for them if necessary, visiting 
them in their homes and seeing to it that their environment 
is conducive to health and happiness. For instance, a mother 
becomes an inmate of a hospital, leaving her little ones at 
home. She becomes homesick and longs to see them. 'Be 
it ever so humble there's no place like home' is as applicable 
to her as to any one. To deny her a parole would only ag- 
gravate her malady. An After Care Society could be a 
great blessing to her and her family and every state should 
have them. My hat is off to the Jews. They care for their 
own and you never hear of a Jewish Society being hard up 
for money. What is necessary to be done for their people 
they do. The Gentiles can sit at their feet and learn lessons 
in philanthropy and ought to do so. 
"The Gheel Colony plan for caring for the insane as 
practiced in Belgium is interesting and doubtless effective. 
Insane persons are sent to this colony and are cared for in 
families. Suitable work is given them to do, recreation is 
provided for with the necessary rest, sleep and proper food 
to build up the body and if possible restore the mind. Their 
patients are looked after when released. Belgium is a small 
country and may be better adapted to this system than a 
large country like ours but we can learn something from it. ' ' 
"While Dr. Harmon was discussing this subject a sheriff 
from Tennessee came in with requisition papers approved 
by Governor Willis for an inmate who was a forger of checks 
both in Tennessee and in Ohio. His attorney had made the 
146 plea of insanity and he was sent to Longview rather than to 
the penitentiary. 
I asked Dr. Harmon if there is an element of insanity 
in all criminals. He said, "No. That question has been 
discussed pro and con for centuries and many good people 
think so. I do not. When you say a criminal is insane 
you absolve him from responsibility and he is no longer a 
criminal and he cannot be punished. You strike at the very 
foundation of law, order and government, when you say a 
criminal is first insane. Too many criminals hide behind 
that now. Many a man is sent to the hospital for treatment 
when the stone pile, workhouse or penitentiary would be a 
more fitting place. 
As no other Superintendent has discussed insanity, its 
prevalence, care and treatment in other countries, I asked 
Dr. Harmon concerning it. 
"Dr. William A. White, Superintendent of the Govern- 
ment Hospital for the Insane at Washington, D. C.," he said, 
"has recently written an able article on Hospitals and Asy- 
lums of Europe. He can speak with authority on this sub- 
ject for he has personally visited and inspected hospitals for 
the insane in England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, 
Russia and other European countries and the Gheel Colony 
in Belgium already mentioned. 
"Generally speaking, Dr. White finds them built and 
operated much as in the United States. 
"But concerning insanity and its care and treatment in 
the more backward nations like China and those of the 
other Asiatic countries, a more pitiful story may be told. 
There are no hospitals and each family is left to the care of 
its own. This requires chaining or other restraint which 
would not be tolerated in this or other progressive coun- 
tries. 
I asked Dr. Harmon what advice he had for young peo- 
147 pie liable to marry and become fathers and mothers. He 
promptly replied. "They should use all care and scrutiny 
touching the ancestry of the one to be selected for a life 
partner and also the habits and inclinations of said life part- 
ner. But they are compelled to take a chance. To be too 
exacting and particular might work to a disadvantage and 
to a life of discontent with someone whom they love less. 
"Efforts are being made to regulate marriage by law 
requiring the contracting parties to stand a physical exam- 
ination for the purpose of determining the presence of a 
loathsome, lurking disease. The intentions of such reform- 
ers are good but good results under such a system -would be 
difficult to realize. You have chosen a better course, namely: 
to educate the people on these important subjects to the 
end that people who are diseased either from inheritance or 
self imposition will refrain from marrying; those w'ho know 
themselves to be qualified under the rules of sanitation and 
correct living will voluntarily offer testimony to convince a 
proposed life partner of that fact.'' 
Note-Three Hospitals in Ohio for the Insane are omitted in this 
book, not because there was an absence of spirit, willingness, or 
capability to present a discussion, but because the subject matter has 
been so thoroughly discussed by others. 
These Hospitals are as follows: 
The Athens State Hospital, Athens, Ohio, Dr. O. O. Fordyce, Super- 
intendent. The Dayton State Hopital, Dayton, Ohio, Dr. E. A. Baber, 
Superintendent. The Lima State Hospstal for the Criminal Insane, 
Lima, Ohio, Dr. Charles H. Clark, Superintendent. 
These Institutions are as well known for their good work, and for 
their able management as any of the Institutions in the state. Each 
Superintendent is thoroughly alive to his work, and interested in the 
purpose of this book. 
It is with regret that we must close without a ringing article from 
each of these Superintendents. 
Also the new Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville, Ohio, 
opened in 1916 is omitted with regrets for the same reason-the subject 
matter having been discussed from four different standpoints. 
This Institution is ably presided over by Mrs. Louise M. Mittendorf 
as Superintendent. 
148 CHAPTER XIII 
TEN miles south of Delaware on the west bank of the 
quiet Scioto River is located the Girls' Industrial School. 
The buildings, twenty-nine in number, stand on the crest 
of a long terrace overlooking this river. 
At the bottom of the terrace, and near the bank of the 
river, bubbles up a great sulphur spring which furnishes 
drinking water for the entire school. The genius who paid 
a tribute to the lonely tree along the roadside under whose 
spreading branches the weary and foot-sore traveler could 
rest and protect himself from the broiling sun or the dash- 
ing rain, could find a theme in this spring for another out- 
burst for his eloquence. 
This is not black sulphur water, but tinctured just 
enough with sulphur to make it most desirable for drinking 
purposes. It is clear pure water, and no doubt furnished 
many a delightful draught to the Indian hunter, and even 
to people of the prehistoric races. 
This school was founded in 1869 for the purpose of 
giving care, instruction, and employment to incorrigible 
girls with the hope of accomplishing their reformation. 
The school is located about six miles from the Hocking 
Valley Railway, the nearest station being Hyatts. Doubt- 
less it was the hope of the Commission which located this 
school that the Railway Company would soon extend a 
branch, so as to make it easily accessable. But up to date 
this enterprising road has not found it profitable to fulfill 
the expectation of the founders of this school. 
The attendance runs between 450 and 500 girls. The 
day I visited this school, the matron, Mrs. Margaret E. 
McNamara told me that the State Board of Administration 
had just released 466 girls who had been occupying useful 
149 positions in families in various part of the state. She was 
justly proud of this record. 
A part of the business of the school is to find good 
homes for such girls as the matron may recommend. She 
had been putting them out into families as fast as she could 
prepare them for it. Nearly all had made good to the ex- 
tent that she could recommend their complete release, and 
the State Board of Administration concurred in her judg- 
ment. Still there are 453 left in the school. 
I was invited to visit the schoolrooms, and, of course, 
accepted the invitation. I found them not unlike public 
schools generally, except the boys were absent. The 
school work is like that in the public schools, and is con- 
ducted mostly by teachers who began their work there. 
In the first schoolroom I visited, I asked the question, 
"How many of you girls live in the cities when you are at 
home?'' All the hands went up, but one. She came from 
the farm. In the next school room two came from the 
farm, and in the third, three. 
From this showing one can readily conclude that it is 
the temptations of the city which play havoc with society, 
dragging down fathers and mothers, breaking up homes, 
scattering children and despoiling them of their character, 
making truants and delinquents of them. 
The city authorities of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Day ton, 
Columbus, Toledo, and Youngstown would surely blush to 
see the number of girls in this school belonging to them. 
But the parents who own a little farm, and have their 
children with them doing their daily duties in the making 
of the living, who breathe pure air, eat wholesome food, 
and sleep all through the night would surely rejoice to 
know what safety there is in this kind of a life and 
would be contented to remain there, and be happy in 
150 their work, even though it sometimes seems a little monot- 
onous. 
When I asked Mrs. McNamara the cause of so much 
delinquency among girls, she at once replied, "A large ma- 
jority of it is caused from broken homes." But what 
breaks up the homes? I asked. Again she replied, ''In- 
temperance, or immorality on the part of one or.both of the 
parents and the poverty of the home which these things pro- 
duce. Occasionally a girl goes astray, even though she may 
have good parents, but not very often. In a very large 
majority of the cases, the fault is with the parents. 
"When immorality and intemperance are not the influ- 
ential factors, then it is lack of control. Sometimes the 
parents lack force, judgment and discretion. The children 
soon learn it, and readily set their own wills up against that 
of their parents, well knowing the parents will yield. The 
child thus slips away, goes on a course of its own, yields to 
all sorts of temptations, gets into the net of the law, and if 
a daughter, lands in the Girls' Industrial School." 
You say that a girl occasionally goes astray even though 
she may have good parents. Tell me something more of 
this class of girls. "Sometimes a girl falls into the hands 
of a disreputable man, and becomes diseased. She at once 
seeks out a physician; and learns from him what a terrible 
condition she is in. She looks upon her life as without hope, 
and thinks all she can do is to remain in her sins, conse- 
quently she becomes a part of the lower stratum of society, 
and is finally brought to the attention of the court, and is 
sent here as a fallen girl. 
"We always have quite a number of them, but they are 
housed in a cottage by themselves, and mingle with the 
other girls as little as possible. We never place these girls 
out in homes like we do the girls whose virtue has not been 
despoiled; but we prepare them as rapidly as we can to re- 
151 turn to their own homes. If they have no homes, we aim 
to get work for them in as good a place as we can find. 
They often return to moral recitude, and sometimes marry 
and live decent lives. ' ' 
How does heredity manifest itself in producing inmates 
for this school? I asked. "Here, as elsewhere, you will 
doubtless find that our worst cases w7ere born into their con- 
dition. They are neurotics with bad tempers, and tenden- 
cies to evil. We never know the whole story of this class 
of girls who find their way into this school because so much 
of it is covered up. But my belief is that such girls as can 
not be reformed and made trustworthy are unable to over- 
come the tendencies that were born in them through perhaps 
several generations. 
"The girl who has only stepped aside from good breed- 
ing can be brought back quickly, but the one who is bred 
into evil has'nt anything to which to be brought back. The 
work in her case is a complete building process. In her 
quiet moments she is reasonable, and can be made to see 
the right quite easily, and to acknowledge it. In fact, she 
knows right from wrong when she is in a normal state, but 
when the spell comes over her, and it may be brought on 
by very insignificant matters, she flies to her natural tend- 
ency, and as long as the spell is on it is hard to dissuade her 
from her evil purposes.'' 
You believe in breeding then, I said. "I surely do. 
Any one in charge of a lot of childen who necessarily must 
become familiar with their records, dispositions, and tend- 
encies, and the results of effort to reform them will quickly 
understand how the effects of sin can be transmitted, and 
how7 hard it is to combat. 
"Likewise the effects of a noble, highminded, and pure 
life are transmitted. 
152 "If parents would have their children, and their grand 
children be an honor and a pleasure to them, the building 
process must begin with the parents, grandparents, or even 
the great grandparents. 
"If we could eliminate from our society the most strik- 
ing causes of evil, this building process would be easier. 
It might take two or three generations to accomplish what 
we would all like to see in the social fabric, but the begin- 
ning could be made with the present generation. The 
longer we delay this beginning, the more people there will 
be to go astray, and who will become the parents of chil- 
dren with tendencies to go astray''. 
You think then that the people as a whole have a work 
to do, a clearing of the rubbish as it were from the land they 
expect to cultivate? "That is it. It is a work for the 
strong. The weak can not do it. Well known forms of 
vice, and the opportunity to practice it must be taken out 
of our cities and towns. If the people of Ohio do not wish 
to maintain a Girls' Industrial School it must remove the 
causes which make such a school necessary. 
"These girls have good impulses, and many of them 
are high minded girls. They never expected to go so far 
wrong as to necessitate their confinement in such a school. 
But these vices already referred to not only ruin them when 
they overtake them, but they go out into the streets and 
hunt them up. Society appears to look on passively, and 
yet I see signs of an awakening; and it may be sooner or 
later the people will rise in their might and strike down 
every evil which has a tendency to destroy children, young 
men, and young women." 
I asked Mrs. McNamara for any special cases to which 
she might wish to call my attention. She replied, "Almost 
every one is a special case, and has an equally interesting, 
but sad story. 
153 "We have here a daughter of a very good family, but 
the father took to drinking, became outrageously dissipated, 
and worthless. The mother was unable to control the child. 
She did as she pleased, and went when and where she pleased. 
The authorities took control of her, and sent her into the 
school. She is a very bright girl, and appears to be honor- 
able in every way. It is not her fault that she is here. 
Had her parents given her half a chance, she would have 
made good at home, and even made the home, but a dissi- 
pated father is very discouraging to a young girl growing 
into womanhood. She feels the shame and disgrace of her 
father's conduct, and does not wish to be held responsible 
for it. If the mother is not able to make a very strong fight 
to offset the father's worthlessness, the daughter breaks 
away and goes out to make her own living. She is young, 
credulous, and easily deceived, however good her intentions 
may be. It is only a short time from leaving home until 
she lands in the Girls' Industrial School. 
"Here is another girl apparently of good parents, and 
surely of a good home. She has many well-to-do relatives 
on both sides. The father died and left the family in good 
circumstances. They owned a large and well stocked farm, 
but the mother was lonely there. She conceived the idea 
of selling the farm, and moving into the city. The daugh- 
ter would have more advantages, and could receive a High 
School education. The whirl of the city was too much for 
the girl and the mother had no control over her. The 
daughter although very bright, and naturally a good girl, 
failed. She was here for thirteen months. Her mother 
was much interested in her, and gave her everything she 
needed. The Judge who committed her recommended that 
she be released, and be tried in college for her mother was 
able to pay her college expenses. The girl is in college 
now, and her mother is with her. We believe the lessons 
154 she has learned here are sufficient to carry her through. 
We hope so at least. 
"We have several cases where the mothers are more or 
less feeble-minded, and unable to control their children. 
The daughters find their way readily into this school, and 
the sons into the Boy's Industrial School. You doubtless 
have seen a great many evidences of feeble-mindedness more 
or less inherited as you pass though the school rooms." I 
told her that I had made this observation and asked about 
what per cent of the pupils in this school could be classed as 
feeble-minded. She replied, "Dr. Thomas H. Haines of 
the Bureau of Juvenile Research has made a test of all the 
pupils, and has discovered that about 25% are feeble-minded, 
and would naturally belong in the Institution or feeble- 
minded, at Columbus. That institution has been so much 
overcrowded that the Ohio Board of Administration has not 
been able to make the transfer it would otherwise have 
made." 
I asked, What do you recommend should be done to 
make the home life of families in cities more secure to the 
end that the children and parents may remain together, and 
the former grow up to be useful citizens? She replied, 
"Since intemperance and immorality are the chief causes for 
breaking up homes and producing delinquent children, 
whatever will lessen or remove these causes will at once 
change the results. It is for the general public to deal with 
the causes, and I suppose it is working toward that end all 
of the time, but the progress is very slow. 
"Perhaps if the people themselves understood the dan- 
gers to their children of intemperance and immorality on 
their part, it might help them to avoid these dangerous 
things. I am sure if they could be conducted to our Institu- 
tions where they could see the living results of sin, disease, 
and shame on the part of the father and mother, and also 
155 the children, they would go back home with a good resolu- 
tion in their minds." 
I told her it was the object of this little book to carry 
this information to all the people who could read it, and to 
people who are yet to become wives, husbands and parents. 
She expressed the hope that much good might be accom- 
plished because publicity is one of the means of educating 
the people, and checking the stream of intemperance, vice 
and immorality. " 'Men loved darkness rather than light 
because their deeds were evil,' so I am willing to help let in 
the light because wickedness flees from it." 
I asked Mrs. McNamara if any girls found their way 
into the school simply for safe keeping, and without any 
charges against them. ''Oh, yes! There are several. Cir- 
cumstances often surround girls where there is no particular 
one to be responsible for them, and they are sent here to be 
cared for. They sometimes come from children's homes, 
and sometimes come from counties wdiere there are no chil- 
dren's homes. You know children's homes have both boys 
and girls. For that reason the management of these homes 
is expected to find places for the girls when they are four- 
teen. This is often impossible. Girls may remain here 
until they are twenty-one, and so in that sense we often be- 
come a higher school for children's homes, and the girls are 
sent in until they can be properly located in good families. 
''I wish you to see a sweet little child who was just 
sent here from one of our neighboring cities." While the 
attendant was bringing the child, Mrs. McNamara told me 
that the child's father had died, and the mother remarried. 
By and by the mother died, and the stepfather remarried. 
This left the little one without any real father or mother. 
The new family did not wish to be bothered with her, and 
so she was sent into the school for safe keeping. 
156 In a few minutes the child came bounding into the 
room and ran over to Mrs. McNamara. She is ten years 
old, and very bright and sweet. It is hard for me to believe 
that any one did not want her. She had on a blue dress, a 
red coat, and a red and blue cap. Mrs. McNamara suggested 
that she remove her cap. She laughed and whispered to 
Mrs. McNamara, "My hair is in curlers for we are going to 
have an entertainment tonight." "Oh! then you may keep 
your cap on," said Mrs. McNamara. 
She was all excited about the entertainment in which 
she -was to take part. Mrs. McNamara told her that I 
could not remain for the entertainment, and asked her if she 
would sing "The Sweet Story of Old" for me. She sang it 
very sweetly and tenderly, and long before she was through, 
all of her hearers were in tears. It was as pathetic a situa- 
tion as I have ever witnessed. The thought of a sweet and 
tender little girl being cast off by those wdio were duty bound 
to protect her in the absence of her dead parents whose places 
they had assumed was most shocking. But I imagine the 
spirit of her mother in Heaven was rejoicing that she had 
been turned over to Mrs. McNamara. 
Softly she sang stanza two: 
"I wish that His hands had been placed on my head, 
His arms had been thrown around me, 
And that I might have seen His kind look when He said, 
Let the little ones come unto me, 
Let the little ones come unto me". 
As she sang it one could better understand what the 
Savior meant when he uttered these words for she represented 
one of the little ones spoken of, and at that moment 
loving hands were placed on her head, tender arms were 
thrown around her, and she was looking up into the face of 
a kind hearted woman who in every earthly sense was taking 
His place. 
157 The little girl said,"I never saw my real father. I 
thought my stepfather was my real father until he married 
again. I always liked him for he was kind to me, but I do 
not know why I could not stay with him longer." She 
said, "I am glad I came here," and she threw her arms 
around Mrs. McNamara's neck. "You are not going to 
send me to any children's home." "No, indeed! Since 
your home is gone, I am glad that you came here for I never 
would have known you." The child said, "I was puny 
when I came here, but now I am getting fat. I like it here 
because all of the people are good to me, and I see so many 
interesting things. I am glad we are going to have an en- 
tertainment tonight. I know I shall like it." 
The spirit in this school impressed me very favorably. 
Mr. and Mrs. McNamara seemed to take pleasure in show- 
ing me through it. Everywhere the children were glad to 
see them. They have been in charge of this school for four 
years. Mrs. McNamara is the executive officer under the 
title of Head Matron, and Mr. McNamara has charge of the 
outdoor work. He served as steward in that school for 
several years before the appointment of Mrs. McNamara to 
the executive position. 
I left the school with a feeling that in as much as the 
conditions are such in this country that we must have delin- 
quent girls, it is a great blessing to have such institutions 
for their reformation, and that the right people can always 
be found to do this responsible work. 
158 CHAPTER XIV 
THE last chapter of this book is left for the Ohio Hos- 
pital for Epileptics at Gallipolis. This is not by design, 
but turns out to be a very fitting close because in discussing 
epilepsy one necessarily sums up all other subjects discussed 
in this book. 
I did not know this when I entered upon this work. 
I had seen so few epileptics, and of the more lightly afflicted 
kind that I thought it was a disease that might come to any 
person at any time. I knew there was great danger 
of injury in their falling when the attack comes on, but 
thought otherwise they could go about their business, and 
behave largely as other people. I therefore did not think 
that epilepsy and epileptics had any place in this book, and 
did not expect to give them any notice. But in confer- 
ence with Dr. G. G. Kineon, Superintendent of the Ohio 
Hospital for Epileptics at Gallipolis, he informed me that 
epilepsy is inherited in a large degree, and that if I should 
investigate the subject, and visit the Hospital I would 
surely be convinced of that fact. Upon his kind invitation I 
made a hurried trip to Gallipolis to learn more about this 
disease and was much surprised at what I saw. 
I soon learned that epilepsy is the most horrible yet 
pathetic of all diseases. It is mixed with alcoholism, 
insanity, feeble-mindedness, criminality, tuberculosis, deaf- 
ness and blindness, and perhaps with many other diseases. 
159 If the reader can recall what this book has already told of 
feeble-mindedness and insanity and add to these epilepsy 
with frequent fallings, many injured faces from falling, and 
all the horror that comes to one who sees for the first time 
many of these people lying unconscious on their backs, 
frothing at the mouth, and .grinding their teeth, he will 
have some idea of what may be seen among the 1600 
patients at the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics; and yet this 
number is only one-fifth of the epileptics found in the State 
of Ohio. 
The hospital is greatly overcrowded, and at this session 
the Legislature is appropriating sufficient money to build 
eleven more cottages which will increase the capacity by 
some 500 or 600. The Superintendent told me that he 
could fill these cottages in one month, so anxious are com- 
munities and families to get the worst cases of epilepsy with 
its attendant imbecility and insanity out of their midst and 
properly cared for. One can not blame a community for 
wishing to be rid of this afflicted class of people for they are 
horribly shocking to the sight, have a depressing influence 
on the mind, and are a great burden on their families. It 
is only when they are congregated as they are in this hos- 
pital that one gets the full effect and force of the careless- 
ness of all people in marriage and reproduction. 
The Superintendent took me into many wards. He 
seemed anxious to give me all the inside information because 
he knew the purpose of my visit was to serve the public. 
In some wards there were a few patients with long sleeves 
closed at the ends, so as to conceal the hands. This was to 
keep them from multilating themselves, or doing violence 
to others. In addition to this protection one little girl had 
a padded wire mask over her face, much like the baseball 
catcher uses. The superintendent explained it was to keep 
160 her from biting other patients' fingers or noses. She did 
not mean any harm by this biting because she had no mind 
to discern good from harm, but that she had a mania for 
biting, a sort of a nervous reaction that takes control when- 
ever anything comes near her mouth. 
In other wards, there were occasionally little children 
lying on the floor, lolling in chairs, or asleep on sofas, 
who possibly do not know of their own existence. The 
attendants feed them at meal times, and then spend the 
intervening time in cleaning them. This stage of imbecilic 
epilepsy is most horrible and repulsive. 
I wondered how women could be induced to engage 
in caring for the worst class of patients, so offensive did the 
work appear to me, and yet there were clean nice looking 
attendants in charge, interested in the performance of their 
daily tasks, but tasks that could bear no fruit, so far as a 
a recovery of the patient was concerned. 
There is no hope for such children.. Love's labor is 
lost. Death would be the greatest blessing that could come 
to them. While I have never been able to get the consent of 
my mind for the enactmemt of a law to put such people out 
of existence, I confess I was "almost persuaded'' when I 
beheld these sights. 
I do not hesitate to believe that that would be the proper 
thing to do; but for any one to take their lives for a price is 
the stumbling block in my mind. Parents themselves 
would be the best persons to render this service when di- 
rected by legal authority because there is a hope that they 
could do it in love, just as the parents have been known, in 
drama, at least, to sacrifice the life of a daughter dear to 
them, rather than to let her fall into the hands of a cruel 
and heartless destroyer of woman virtue. 
161 From these, the worst stages of epilepsy, we proceeded 
to other wards and finally to what evidently is the Superin- 
tendent's pride-the little girls' cottage. He told me that 
he was holding that cottage as the best for my last visit. 
Evidently he wished me to leave with as good an impression 
as that class of people could make. This attitude of a 
superintendent is pefectly natural, and is to be commended. 
Some wards were better than those we had seen, and 
some still better, but all were easily marked as belonging 
to a very defective class. Possibly the best ward we saw 
outside of the little girls already referred to was one of 
young women busily engaged in needle work. They were 
very happy to see the Superintendent, and smiled as though 
nothing was troubling them. 
He told me that those girls are of great assistance in 
all entertainments given by the hospital, many of them 
being good musicians, either on instruments, or with the 
voice. Not many of their faces betrayed their malady, ex- 
cept now and then a bruise or a scar. 
What is to become of these young women? I asked. 
"Dementia unless they are overtaken by death before they 
reach that stage. Epilepsy is a progressive disease, and 
has but one result, dementia.'' 
I told him that was a horrible thing to contemplate, 
and wished to know if these girls understood. "Yes'', he 
said "Some know full well, but they accept it philosoph- 
ically. Death is coming to all of us. Things worse than 
death may come to many of us. Such things can not be 
helped, then why worry about them. The known is some- 
times better than the unknown. Our worst distress some- 
times conies from the fear of things that never happen. 
These girls know that step by step they are marching on to 
dementia, but yet they are brave, and as long as they may 
162 they wish to be useful; each one hoping she may be fortu- 
nate enough to escape the worst effects of her epilepsy." 
We passed on to the little girls' cottage. Their ages 
were from possibly ten to fifteen years. They were indeed 
nice looking children. I would not say that they are up to 
the standard in appearance of a normal class of children, 
but in comparison with the occupants of other wards they 
were very attractive. 
One little girl who was mentally disturbed had closed 
her eyes at the noon meal after an attack (so the attendant 
informed us) saying that she was dying. She was holding 
her hands over her eyes, and refused to open them. When 
her hands were removed, she refused to speak. The poor 
child doubtless would have welcomed death were she able 
to realize her condition. 
While the buildings were all clean and attractive, and 
the attendants were doing all they could for these unfortu- 
nate children, and everything about the place proclaimed in- 
terest, helpfulness, sympathy, yet to see a little girl suffer- 
ing from this delusion was intensely depressing to me. 
Is epilepsy inherited? I asked Dr. Kineon. "There 
is no doubt of it." he said. "This hospital has cared for 
more than 5600 patients. The Court records show that 25 % 
of these have epilepsy or insanity in their immediate ances- 
tors, but this record is too low. The court can never get the 
facts. It is not particularly interested in that kind of an 
investigation. Its business is to ascertain whether or not 
the epileptic is a case for state care, and therefore it does not 
make the large and careful investigation that is necessary to 
determine where the epilepsy came from. 
"I have been investigating, and have gone back far 
into the families of patients. I have spent my own money, 
and that of the state in trying to find the truth about the 
163 source of epilepsy. I have come to the conclusion that any- 
where from 65% to 75% of it is hereditary either in itself, 
or from feeble-mindedness, insanity, or other neurotic condi- 
tions in the ancestry." 
You would consider it dangerous then for any one to 
marry a normal descendent of an epileptic. I asked. 
"Yes. There is always danger of some of the children of such 
a union being afflicted with epilepsy, feeble-mindedness, or 
insanity. 
''If it should not appear in the first generation, it is 
liable to appear in the second or third, but it is sure to bear 
fruit somewhere. If a person making this kind of a union 
should be very strong and have a healthy ancestry, the day 
of punishment may be postponed. All of the children of 
such a union may be normal, but the possibility of epilepsy 
will be in some of them. They may not be so fortunate in 
their marriage. If their union should be withan alcoholic, 
or with one in whom there is a possibility of epilepsy, 
feeble-mindedness, or insanity, one or more or perhaps all 
of the children may be afflicted in some way. 
' 'Look at these charts. They were prepared with a great 
deal of care, and quite a great deal of personal expense. 
They tell the story more graphically than I can tell it in 
words. Epileptics especially when mixed with feeble-mind- 
edness, have a strong appetite for intoxicants. They are 
not unlike the usual morphine user in that they will go 
through great danger and practice all kinds of deceit to get 
it. 
''A few years ago when Gallipolis was a dry city, we 
had to lock up only three patients in a whole year. Since 
the town voted wet, and alcoholic drinks are easily obtained 
we are compelled to lock up three or more each week. 
''I am almost convinced that the so-called 'periodical 
drinker' is a type of epileptic. The season of his de- 
164 bauch is his falling sickness. It comes on unawares. 
He is seized with the desire, and has no way of restraining 
himself. He therefore falls a prey to his craving. If his 
family tree could be carefully examined through several 
generations, doubtless epilepsy would be shown. At any 
rate when epilepsy and feeble-mindedness are mixed with 
alocholism, the results are as undesirable as the human race 
can produce." 
165 The chart on the opposite page shows the effect of marriages by 
representatives of two different families, in each of which there is 
epilepsy. Each circle represents a generation. 
In the first circle there are two families. We shall call them A 
and B. The husband in Family A is an epileptic, and the wife is nor- 
mal. Both the husband and wife in Family B are normal. 
Family A had eight children, one of whom died in infancy, and 
the others are normal. Family B had one son who is an epileptic. 
He married a normal woman, and two normal children, a son and a 
daughter resulted as shown in circle three. 
One of the sons of Family A is the father of ten children. The 
chart does not show anything of the mother of these children. Of 
these ten children, two died in infancy, two were epileptics, and 
one was tubercular. This is shown in the third generation, counting 
the original families the first generation. 
One of the epileptic sons in this family married the daughter of 
an epileptic father in Family B. To this union were born ten children, 
five of them were epileptics, and are inmates of the Ohio Hospital for 
Epileptics as shown by the arrows. One is feeble-minded, and two 
died in infancy. The middle daughter had an illegitmate child who 
was feeble-minded as shown in the fifth generation. 
Another son of Family A belonging to the third generation had 
one son who was insane. The chart does not show his marriage. 
Another son in Family A of third generation was the father of five 
children as shown in the fourth generation circle, one of whom was an 
epileptic, and another tubercular. The tubercular child became the 
mother of an epileptic as shown in circle five. 
Another son of Family A was the father of five children, all 
epileptics as shown in the fourth circle. Their mother is not shown 
on the chart, and we know nothing of her. 
Another descendant of Family A was the father of one insane 
daughter, and she the mother of one epileptic son as shown in circle 
five. The chart does not say to whom these children were married." 
166 The chart on opposite page represents five generations, and the 
effect of alcoholic tendencies when mixed with epilepsy. 
In the first cricle the father is shown to be an alcoholic, and the 
mother normal. They have a son who is an alcoholic. His first wife 
was an epileptic and to them were born four children who appear to 
be normal. One of the sons is the father of three so called deaf and 
dumb children as represented in the circle four. 
The second wife of this alcoholic husband represented in circle 
two was tubercular. They had one son. 
In circle two there is another family of an epileptic father and a 
normal mother. We shall call these two families in circle two A and 
B. Family B had ten children, one is moral degenerate, and another 
is an alcoholic. One of the daughters of Family B married the son of 
Family A as shown in circle three. 
To this union were born eleven children as shown in circle four, 
four of them epileptics, and three of them are inmates of the Ohio 
Hospital for Epileptics, as shown by the arrows, another is tubercular, 
and three died in infancy. 
One of the daughters is the mother of two children as shown in 
circle five, one of them being an epileptic. The chart does not show 
the father of these children. 
One of the daughters in Family B as shown in circle three is the 
mother of an epileptic daughter as shown in circle four. She is an 
inmate of the Ohio Hospital for Epileptics, as shown by the arrows, 
and the mother of one illegitimate child dying in infancy, and the 
mother of a son whose father is not shown. 
One son in Family B shown in circle three married a feeble- 
minded woman to whom was born one feeble-minded daughter as 
shown in circle four. 
168 This chart shows: 
That 25% of epilepsy begins at the age from 1 to 5 yrs. 
That 14% of epilepsy begins at the age from 5 to 10 yrs. 
That 20% of epilepsy begins at the age from 10 to 15 yrs. 
That 5% of epilepsy begins at the age from 25 to 30 yrs. 
That 7% of epilepsy begins at the age from 30 to 40 yrs. 
Chart showing age at onset of Epilepsy divided into five year periods, and based on a series of 5.607 cases. 
I told Dr. Kineon that I supposed from what he said 
that epilepsy is not curable. "In its earlier and milder 
stages something can be done to arrest it. A- patient may 
so far recover as to go for several years without an attack. 
It is liable to return, however, at any time. Much will de- 
pend upon the kind of a life the patient lives, and what 
precautions he takes to keep himself in the best physical 
condition. 
"The woman with that fine looking gentleman we met 
on the walk a few minutes ago was a patient here a great 
170 many years ago, and went home supposed to be cured. She 
did not have a return of an attack for seventeen years. 
This gentleman is her brother. He comes to see her quite 
often. She herself is a fine musician. She is improving 
again now, and may be able to pass through a long period 
again without an attack. 
"During this period between attacks if they are long 
enough apart, the mind improves, and the patient returns to 
normal. In the more malignant cases, especially when 
mixed with insanity, or feeble-mindedness, we can hold out 
no encouragement to friends for recovery.'' 
Do epileptics like to work? I asked him. "Most of 
them do not. The lack of mental activity effects their body, 
and the tendency is to be at ease. As already indicated 
many of them have evil tendencies. They will act on the 
impulse, and are often dangerous in their insane moments. 
At least, i% of epileptics are criminals, 30% are feeble- 
minded, and nearly all of them have insane periods preced- 
ing or following their attacks.'' 
Have you any advice to give to persons who are in the 
incipient stage of epilepsy that will ward it off? I asked. 
"They should keep themselves in the best physical condition 
always remembering that anything which disturbs their 
nervous system is liable to bring on an attack. 
"Epilepsy is a functional disease of the nervous sys- 
tem. That is, it manifests itself when this system is doing 
its work. The system itself is not known to be organically 
diseased. Exposure, fatigue, mental distress, or any other 
condition which lowers the resisting powers of the body are 
liable to bring on an attack of epilepsy in a person with a 
tendency to it. 
"You have heard of persons being scared into a fit, or 
having had a sunstroke which produced it. These could 
171 not produce epilepsy, except when the conditions for it al- 
ready exist in the patient." 
I asked Dr. Kineon how long he had been in this work. 
"Eleven years", he said. "Six as Superintendent here, 
and five as assistant physician." Before entering upon this 
work he was an intern for one year in the German Deacon- 
ess Hospital at Cincinnati. 
He has therefore had an excellent opportunity to ob- 
serve and learn everything that is known about epilepsy. 
He freely admits that there is still much speculation about 
its cause. Its manifestations are known by most people in 
a greater or less degree because almost every community 
has some one afflicted with it. 
While one is much depressed to learn that there are so 
many persons afflicted with epilepsy, and that they are so 
greatly handicapped, yet there are many bright sides to the 
hospital life of these patients. First of all they are carefully 
and well clothed, housed and fed, and under competent 
heads of various departments are taught housework, cook- 
ing, sewing, dressmaking, fancy needlework, etc. The 
men receive instructions in farming, gardening, carpentry, 
mattress making and such other work as will make them 
helpful to their families in case they recover sufficiently to 
go home. Occupation without the anxiety of responsibility 
is one of the valuable therapeutic assets in the care and treat- 
ment of epileptics. 
That their religious life be not neglected, ministers of 
five denominations hold services at the Hospital on succes- 
sive Sundays. The patients themselves conduct their own 
Sunday School. 
I know of no institution where money for entertainment 
is spent to greater advantage to the patients. Each Monday 
there is a Moving Picture Show, with orchestra and vaude- 
ville furnished by patients and employes. Wedensday after- 
172 noons there is a Band Concert (indoor in winter and on the 
lawn in summer) given by the Hospital Band composed of 
25 members-patientsand employes. Wednesday evening 
this band plays for the dance where patients of both sex 
mingle and enjoy a social evening. Saturdays, in season, 
the patients enjoy baseball and football games on the athletic 
field. Besides these regular amusements, there are occa- 
sional boat rides on the beautiful Ohio River, auto-truck 
rides through the surrounding country, occasional card 
parties, nutting parties, musical evenings, playlets in which 
the patients take leading roles, all of which they enjoy to the 
fullest extent and which have a beneficial effect,' since it 
interests their minds on subjects foreign to their ailments. 
Stimulated interest in surroundings with peaceful minds 
contributes to the success of communal life which is the 
best environment known at the present time for epileptics. 
As I read this discussion I feel my limitations properly 
and fully to present it to the public. There are so many 
special phases of it, and it is so horrible in its worst forms 
as to make a description of it, inadvisable, even if one could 
discribe it. 
In closing this book which was written for no other 
purpose than to instruct the young who are to become 
future fathers and mothers I desire to say that the men 
whose interviews appear in it are the most competent men 
in our whole country to speak upon their respective subjects. 
They have all had sufficient experience in dealing with 
these classes in large numbers to know whereof they speak. 
They have no desire but to tell the simple story that the 
people may know it 
The hope of the Ohio Board of Administration, under 
whose direction this book is written, is that when the people 
know they will be more careful in their selection of com- 
173 panions if they are sound, and if they are unsound that 
they will refrain from imposing themselves as life part- 
ners upon others, and from transmitting their disease to 
innocent and helpless children. 
If all of this can be accomplished much of the sorrow 
and misery of the world will in time disappear. It is a 
matter of individual examination, and responsibility. With 
this responsibilitykand your God, we leave you. 
174