Part 19 (2/2)

FIG. 33.--Graph showing the marriage-rate (on the same scale as in Fig. 32) of the graduates of a normal school, as correlated with their cla.s.s standing. The girls who received the highest marks in their studies married in the largest numbers. It is evident that, on the whole, girls who make a poor showing in their studies in such schools as this are more likely to be life-long celibates than are the bright students.]

At the extremes, there is no difficulty in seeing such mating. Certain men and women are so defective, physically, mentally, or morally, as to be unable to find mates. They may be idiots, or diseased, or lacking normal s.e.xuality, or wrongly educated.

But to get any adequate statistical proof of preferential mating on a broad scale, has been found difficult. Two small but suggestive studies made by Miss Carrie F. Gilmore of the University of Pittsburgh are interesting, though far from conclusive. She examined the records of the cla.s.s of 1902, Southwestern State Normal School of Pennsylvania, to find which of the girls had married. By means of photographs, and the opinions of disinterested judges, the facial appearance of all the girls in the cla.s.s was graded on a scale of 100, and the curve in Fig. 32 plotted, which shows at a glance just what matrimonial advantage a woman's beauty gives her. In general, it may be said that the prettier the girl, the better her chance of marriage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YEARS BETWEEN GRADUATION AND MARRIAGE

FIG. 34.--Curve showing period that elapsed between the graduation of women at Was.h.i.+ngton Seminary (at the average age of 19 years) and their marriage. It includes all the graduates of the cla.s.ses of 1841 to 1900, status of 1913.]

Miss Gilmore further worked out the marriage rate of these normal school girls, on the basis of the marks they obtained in their cla.s.s work, and found the results plotted in Fig. 33. It is evident that the most intelligent girls, measured by their cla.s.s standing, were preferred as wives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EFFECT OF LATE MARRIAGES

FIG. 35.--Given a population divided in two equal parts, one of which produces a new generation every 25 years and the other every 33-1/3 years, the diagram shows that the former group will outnumber the latter two to one, at the end of a century. The result ill.u.s.trated is actually taking place, in various groups of the population of the United States. Largely for economic reasons, many superior people are postponing the time of marriage. The diagram shows graphically how they are losing ground, in comparison with other sections of the population which marry only a few years earlier, on the average. It is a.s.sumed in the diagram that the two groups contain equal numbers of the two s.e.xes; that all persons in each group marry; and that each couple produces four children.]

It will be noted that these studies merely show that the brighter and prettier girls were preferred by men as a cla.s.s. If the individual men whom the girls married had been studied, it would probably have been found that the mating was also partly a.s.sortative.

If the choice of a life partner is to be eugenic, random mating must be as nearly as possible eliminated, and a.s.sortative and preferential mating for desirable traits must take place.

The concern of the eugenist is, then, (1) to see that young people have the best ideals, and (2) to see that their matings are actually guided by these ideals, instead of by caprice and pa.s.sion alone.

1. In discussing ideals, we shall ask (a) what are the present ideals governing s.e.xual selection in the United States; (b) is it psychologically possible to change them; (c) is it desirable that they be changed, and if so, in what ways?

(a) There are several studies which throw light on the current ideals.

_Physical Culture_ magazine lately invited its women readers to send in the specifications of an ideal husband, and the results are worth considering because the readers of that publication are probably less swayed by purely conventional ideas than are most accessible groups of women whom one might question. The ideal husband was held by these women to be made up of the following qualities in the proportions given:

Per cent.

Health 20 Financial success 19 Paternity 18 Appearance 11 Disposition 8 Education 8 Character 6 Housekeeping 7 Dress 3 --- 100

Without laying weight on the exact figures, and recognizing that each woman may have defined the qualities differently, yet one must admit aside from a low concern for mental ability that this is a fairly good eugenic specification. Appearance, it is stated, meant not so much facial beauty as intelligent expression and manly form. Financial success is correlated with intelligence and efficiency, and probably is not rated too high. The importance attached to paternity--which, it is explained, means a clean s.e.x life as well as interest in children--is worth noticing.

For comparison there is another census of the preferences of 115 young women at Brigham Young College, Logan, Utah. This is a ”Mormon”

inst.i.tution and the students, mostly farmers' daughters, are probably expressing ideals which have been very little affected by the demoralizing influences of modern city life. The editor of the college paper relates that:

Eighty-six per cent of the girls specifically stated that the young man must be morally pure; 14% did not specifically state.

Ninety-nine per cent specifically stated that he must be mentally and physically strong.

Ninety-three per cent stated that he must absolutely not smoke, chew, or drink; 7% did not state.

Twenty per cent named an occupation they would like the young man to follow, and these fell into three different cla.s.ses, that of farmer, doctor and business.

Four and seven-tenths per cent of the 20% named farmer; 2.7% named doctor, and 1.7% named business man; 80% did not state any profession.

<script>