of disease of [11]
any other special type.

It must not be inferred that the above classification is made arbitrarily.
There are many arguments which may be advanced limiting the eugenic
applicability of certain of these diseased conditions. These, however, do
not directly come within the province of the mother. They may be safely
left to special state regulation. We simply make the assertion that no
mother would willingly, or designedly, ally her offspring with any member
of society afflicted with any of the diseases enumerated.

EUGENICS AND MARRIAGE.--The eugenic idea, practically applied to the
institution of marriage, means that no unfit person will be allowed to
marry. It will be necessary for each applicant to pass a medical
examination as to his, or her, physical and mental fitness. This is
eminently a just decree. It will not only be a competent safeguard against
marriage with those obviously diseased and incompetent, but it will render
impossible marriage with those afflicted with undetected or secret disease.
Inasmuch as the latter type of disease is the foundation for most of the
failures in marriage, and for most of the ills and tragedies in the lives
of women, it is essential to devote special consideration to it in the
interest of the mothers of the race.

It is estimated that there are more than ten million victims of venereal
disease in the United States to-day. In New York City alone there are two
million men and women--not including boys and girls from six to twelve
years of age--actively suffering from gonorrhea and syphilis. Eight out of
every ten young men, between seventeen and thirty years of age, are
suffering directly or indirectly from the effects of these diseases, and a
very large percentage of these cases will be conveyed to wife and children
and will wreck their lives. No one but a physician can have the faintest
conception of the far-reaching consequences of infection of this character.
The great White Plague is merely an incident compared to it. These diseases
are largely responsible for our blind children, for the feeble-minded, for
the degenerate and criminal, the incompetent and the insane. No other [12]
disease can approximate syphilis in its hideous influence upon parenthood
and the future. The women of the race, and particularly the mothers, should
fully appreciate the real significance of the situation as it applies to
them individually. That they do not appreciate it is well