Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

in the whole population, and the figures as to negroes in the population being incomplete accounts for indefiniteness of the data, and that vitiates the whole of your conclusions. What have you to say about that?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. I would not say that at all. The returns seem to indicate that the negroes are institutionalized for crime more consistently than for insanity or other non-criminalistic defect. We should not throw out any facts. We made as complete a survey as possible of all institutions that could be prevailed upon to make an analysis of their inmates, and used all of this first-hand information we could get as a basis of the study.

Mr. VAILE. Professor Jennings was the one we had in mind in reference to the notion that the inclusion of negroes as part of the population basis gave, as a matter of fact, a smaller apparent percentage to the number of aliens in your total tables. He made a similar suggestion in reference to age, submitting that the aliens did not include as many children, and he suggested that in the case of the children a great many were included in the custodial institutions, out of proportion to the number occurring in alien institutions, because the proportion of native children would be larger than the proportion of alien children. What would you say as to that?

Doctor LAUGHLIN. In answer let me say that in analysis B in this series of tables (Nos. 10 to 14) the negroes are eliminated; in analyses C and D, in each of the same series, the age factor is considered. For example, in Table 10, in analysis B, which eliminated negroes in the standard measuring rod, the foreign-born white made a little better showing in feeble-mindedness, namely, 29 per cent quota fulfillment. In analysis method C, in which we took for the standard measuring rod the average frequency of inmates in institutions for the feeble-minded in the whole population under 25 years of age, we find that the quota fulfillment of the foreign born jumps up to 77.04 per cent, and by method D, in which the standard measuring rod is the whole population under 15 years of age, the alien quota jumps up to 180.35 per cent, thus indicating that in the age groups under 15 years of age many feeble-minded children have recently been admitted to the United States despite our laws which seek to keep all of them out. Moreover, this very high incidence-1.8 times that of the whole population-speaks badly for the high incidence of feeble-mindedness which came recently into the United States, and which, at the time of the survey, was still represented by children under 15 years of age. In reference to the native white, both parents native born, by all four methods of analysis, the range of quota fulfillment varies from 96.43 per cent, when the standard is the whole population under 15 years of age, to 107.70 per cent, in which the standard is the whole population. The other nativity groups are shown in the table and can be examined by those who care to go further into the detail of comparative standards in reference to the feeble-minded.

THE FEEBLE-MINDED

The CHAIRMAN. Why do you use different age standards in these different analysis methods for the feeble-minded and the insane? Doctor LAUGHLIN. Because feeble-mindedness in institutions is a defect that exists from birth and calls for institutionalization in early childhood. Insanity, on the other hand, is a socially inadequate

defect which appears in adult life. The average age of the males in our institutions for the feeble-minded was 16 years. In the same institutions the females averaged 19 years of age. In the institutions for the insane the average age of all inmates, both sexes, was 41.9 years. Thus, in analyzing the insane in institutions, to be particularly favorable to the aliens who come to the United States for the most part as adults, we would use as a measuring rod not the whole population but the whole adult population. The average age of immigrants admitted during the fiscal year ending June 20, 1920, was we remember, 28.18 years. We will take for analysis those adult age groups barely under the average age of insane inmates for whom we have age group data. Therefore, in analysis B the measuring rod is the whole population over 20 years of age; in analysis C it is the whole population over 40 years of age.

In Table 10 I have analyzed the data in reference to the feebleminded in institutions. The suggestion was made that the standard used in the "Melting Pot" paper, namely, that of the whole population, was unfair to the alien because the whole population had relatively a greater percentage of children than did our alien population, and since the inmates of institutions for the feeble-minded are drawn largely from the younger age groups, we should make a new standard, cutting off the upper age groups and using only the younger. Similarly, the negroes, who are not highly institutionalized, might well be eliminated.

In Table 10, method A (the "Melting Pot" analysis) is repeated for comparative purposes. Method B is the whole population minus the negroes. Method C is the whole population under 25 years of age. Method D is the whole population under 15 years of age. Let us now see what these different standards give to the foreignborn whites. Under the "Melting Pot" standard-that is, the whole population as the measuring rod-the aliens showed a quota fulfillment of 31.91 per cent. This was a good showing, although the law said that none should be admitted, still the incidence compared with the whole population showed a rate of only about onethird expectation. I have just stated the quota fulfillment for the feeble-minded under standards C and D.

THE INSANE

Table 11 gives comparative analyses in reference to the insane by three different methods: In Method A, the whole population-the standard used in the "Melting Pot" analysis-is the basis; in Method B, the whole population over 20 years of age is the standard; in Method C, the whole population over 40 years of age is the standard.

By the quota method, using the adult group as the measuring rod, the foreign-born white make a more favorable showing than when compared with the whole population. Thus the foreign-born white when measured with the whole population as the standard, in which their quota is relatively small, show a quota fulfillment in insanity in institutions of 225.76 per cent-that is, two and one-quarter times as common as in the whole population, including the foreign born themselves. But when we limit the standard to the population over 20 years of age, in which their quota is relatively large, we find that the foreign born show an incidence of only 146.88 per cent-thus

only one and one-half times the average of the whole population. If we limit this standard to the population over 40 years of age, the foreign born show 126.48 per cent quota fulfillment, or one and onequarter times the commonness of this defect in institutions in the whole population. The law, of course, intended that none of this group should be admitted, but, as a matter of fact, by any conceivable analysis or measuring rod, however favorable for this particular group, insanity in institutions among the foreign born is greatly in excess of the same defect found in the whole population, regardless of age group or other considerations which may enter into the specialized standard. This is simply the fact. The persons who use these facts may attempt to explain or account for them or to determine their consequences.

In this same series of different types of analysis of the insane, the native white, both parents native born, show a quota fulfillment of 73.27 per cent and of 78.25 per cent, or always approximately threefourths that of the whole population, including the foreign born. But in this connection the nativity group designated native white, one parent foreign born, one native born, is socially instructive from the biological point of view. Analysis method A, that is, the "Melting Pot" standard of the whole population, found an incidence in insanity in institutions for this group, that is, the native white, one parent native, one foreign born, of 103.90 per cent. That is about the average of the whole population. But when we use the age standards, we find that in analysis C, for instance, in which the standard is the incidence of insanity in institutions for the whole population over 40 years of age, the native white, one parent native and one foreign born, gives a quota fulfillment which suddenly rises to 183.14 per cent. Also in the native white, both parents foreign born, the "Melting Pot" analysis of the whole population gave 108.49 per cent quota fulfillment, while if the measuring rod used as the standard is the whole population over 40 years of age, this nativity group-native white, both parents foreign born-gives a quota fulfillment of 135.31 per cent, thus by any standard compared with the older population of the United States, the immigrant population of one generation ago is represented in insanity in institutions by a relatively larger number of inmates. In this same series the quota fulfillments of foreign born fell, but with the native born, both parents foreign born, and with the native born, one parent native and one foreign born, the quota fulfillments rose rapidly, indicating in the offspring a blood not equal in mental stability to that of the original immigrant.

THE ADULT CRIMINALISTIC

Doctor LAUGHLIN. Table 12 treats the several nativity groups of the adult criminalistic by three different measuring rods: First, that used in the "Melting Pot" paper, that is, the whole population as the standard; second, the whole population over 20 years of age; and, third, the whole population over 20 years of age minus the negroes. We find that the whole population as a standard gave the foreignborn white a quota fulfillment of 100.60 per cent. If we eliminate in our standard the whole population under 20 years of age, and include only those over 20 years of age-that is, the group from which

our adult criminals are drawn-we find the foreign-born white with a quota fulfillment of 65.44. These two figures for the native white, both parents native born, are 77.36 and 83.37 per cent, respectively. Thus by either analysis the foreign-born white, compared to their numbers, are not so commonly found, in State and Federal prisons for serious offenses, as the native-born white, both parents native born. The law attempted to keep out all criminalistic aliens, but, as a matter of fact, it admitted among the immigrants a criminalistic group only a little less numerous, relatively, than that found in our older white population.

We must examine two more nativity groups of the adult criminalistic, namely, the native white, one parent native and one foreign born, and the native white, both parents foreign born. In these groups, no matter by what measuring rod the measure is made, we find an incidence of adult criminals in State and Federal institutions for serious offenses very high-indeed much higher than in the native white, both parents native born, and generally than in the foreign-born white themselves, thus indicating, from the biological · point of view, what has long been known in selecting breeding stock in plants and animals, namely, that by an examination of the individual only but little is known of the breeding qualities or the value or degeneracy of the blood introduced. This has no application to one nation more than to another, but is only the application of a biological principle. By comparing the quota fulfillments of the foreign-born white with the native white, one parent native and one foreign born, and the native white, both parents foreign born, we find that the stock or breeding qualities of the immigrants of the last generation is inferior to that of the individual himself, measured by the incidence of adult crime in State and Federal institutions for felons. These are the figures and, as in the cases of the other types of inadequacy, may be useful to those who account for the causes and consequences of inadequacy.

TABLE 10.-Institutional quota fulfillments by the feeble-minded-Comparative findings from four different standards or analysis methods

Character of institutional population: (c) Clinical type: The feeble-minded. b. Sex and numbers:

Males..
Females.

Total..

6,734 7,285

1 15,556

c. Age limits; All persons in the reporting State and Federal institutions for the feeble-minded are included.

Source of data: 32 State and Federal institutions for the feeble-minded.

Where located: Same as listed on page 774, "Analysis of America's Modern Melting Pot," hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, November 21, 1922. Date of returns: January 1, 1921-March 31, 1922.

Analysis method a: The inmate frequency of the feeble-minded in the whole population equals 100 per cent quota fulfillment; method used in the "Melting Pot" analysis.

Analysis method b; The inmate frequency of the feeble-minded in the whole population, minus the negroes, equals 100 per cent quota fulfillment.

Analysis method c: The inmate frequency of the feeble-minded in the whole population under 25 years of age equals 100 per cent quota fulfillment.

Analysis method d: The inmate frequency of the feeble-minded in the whole population under 15 years of age equals 100 per cent quota fulfillment.

1 This total includes 1,637 inmates not classified by sex.

The different analyses in this table were secured from first-hand returns supplied by the authorities in charge of the several institutions reporting. These returns were made directly to the expert eugenics agent of the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives. The number and location of each of the institutions reporting data for this table and those of the same class which did not make returns are listed on page 774 of the Analysis of America's Modern Melting Pot, hearings before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, Sixty-seventh Congress, third session, Nov. 21, 1922.

TABLE 10.-Institutional quota fulfillments by the feeble-minded-Comparative findings from four different standards or analysis methods-Continued.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

(b) Analysis method b; standard,
whole population, minus negroes 49, 488, 575
(c) Analysis method c; standard,
whole population under 25 years
of age..

49, 488, 575

52.81

8,422

9, 073

57.95 +649 107.70

[blocks in formation]

27,503, 557

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

(d) Analysis method d; standard, whole population under 15 years of age.. 3. Native white, one parent native born, one foreign born:

(a) Analysis method a; standard, whole population..

(b) Analysis method b; standard, whole population, minus negroes (c) Analysis method c; standard, whole population under 25 years of age.

(d) Analysis method d; standard, whole population under 15 years of age.

4. Native white, both parents foreign born: (a) Analysis method a; standard, whole population.

[blocks in formation]

(b) Analysis method b; standard,

23. 23 +1,438

165, 39

whole population, minus negroes 12, 916, 311

[blocks in formation]

(c) Analysis method c; standard,

[blocks in formation]

whole population under 25 years

of age..

[blocks in formation]

(d) Analysis method d; standard, whole population under 15 years

[blocks in formation]

of age..

[blocks in formation]

? Population records from the United States census of 1910. The per cent allotment is found by dividing the population of the particular nativity group by the whole population used in the group or groups taken as the standard and multiplying the result by 100. The number expected is found by multiplying the per cent allotment by the total number found in institutions in the particular group and dividing the product by 100.

These numbers are found by the actual survey, and of course do not vary with different methods of analysis.

7 This per cent distribution is found by dividing the number of the particular group found in institutions by the number in institutions found in the group or groups representing the standard and multiplying the result by 100.

8 This quota fulfillment by numbers is found by subtracting the number expected from the number found.

The quota fulfillment by per cent is found by dividing the number found by the number expected and multiplying the quotient by 100.

« ÎnapoiContinuă »