War Against the Weak

by Edwin Black

82. Smith, pp. 86, 87. “Mongrel Virginians,” Eugenical News, p. 70.

  83. Smith, pp. 95, 96. “Petition For Mandamus,” Sorrells v. A. T. Shields, Clerk (1924): UVA Library 7284A Powell Papers, Box 56, Folder 1924#2.

  84. Smith, p. 98.

  85. “Petition For Mandamus.” Letter, Leon H. Bazile to John Powell, 26 November 1924: UVA Library 7284A Powell Papers, Box 56, Folder 1924#2.

  86. Letter, Bazile to Powell, 26 November 1924. Smith, p. 75. Sherman, pp. 81, 85.

  87. Letter, Walter A. Plecker to the Virginia Department of Health, 27 May 1946: UVA Library 7284A Powell Papers, Box 56, Folder 1944-46. Letter, Walter A. Plecker to Dr. I. C. Riggin, 27 May 1946: UVA Library 7284A Powell Papers, Box 56, Folder 1944-46. See Plecker, Virginia’s Vanished Race.

  CHAPTER TEN

  1. Letter, John C. Merriam to Charles B. Davenport, 20 June 1923: CIW Genetics: Eugenics Record Office Misc. Correspondence 2 of 2.

  2. See Fourth Report of the Committee on Selective lnunigration of the American Eugenics Society, memorandum, circa July 1929: Truman C-4-4:6. 2. US Department of Commerce, Historical Statistics of the United Stares, Colonial Times to 1970, (Washington DC: US Department of Commerce, 1976).

  3. US Department of Commerce.

  4. The National Park Service, “Statue of Liberty: Museum Exhibits,” at www.nps.gov. Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus.”

  5. Margo J. Anderson, The American Census (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988), pp. 132,133. Paul Burnett, “The Red Scare,” at www.law.umkc.edu.

  6. Anderson, pp. 134, 139.

  7. Anti-Defamation League, “Extremism in America: Ku Klux Klan,” at www.adl.org. Burnett John Higham, Strangers in the Land (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1955), pp 264-265. William M. Tuttle, Jr., Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 (New York, NY: Atheneum, 1970), pp 16-20,22-23. Anderson, p. 133.

  8. Robert DeC. Ward, “Our Immigtation Laws From the Viewpoint of National Eugenics,” National Geographic, January 1912: Truman C-4-2: 7. Letter, Irving Fisher to Charles B. Davenport, 2 March 1912: APS BD27 Fisher #7. Letter, Charles B. Davenport to Irving Fisher, 4 March 1912: APS BD27 Fisher #7.

  9. Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, s.v. Albert Johnson at www.bioguide.congress.gov. City of Hiawatha Home Page at www.cityofhiawatha.org. City of Atchison Visitor Information at www.atchisonkansas.net.

  10. “Course Outline of Eugenics,” 1933, p. 14: Truman E-2-2:17. Harry H. Laughlin, “A Bill,” n.p., circa 1917: Truman C-2-4:5. Letter, Prescott F. Hall to Charles B. Davenport, 1 October 1920: APS B:D 27.

  11. Prescott F. Hall, “Immigration Restrictions and World Eugenics,” Journal of Heredity Vol. X, No.3 (March, 1919), p. 126.

  12. Letters, Albert Johnson to Madison Grant, 19 March 1924 and Madison Grant to Albert Johnson, 12 December 1923 as cited by Hassencahl, p. 209. Letter, Madison Grant to Charles B. Davenport, 24 January 1921 :APS B:D 27 — Grant, Madison #4. Letter, Madison Grant to John C. Merriam, 26 November 1924:APS B:D 27 — Grant, Madison #4. Letter, Charles B. Davenport to Madison Grant, 17 March 1921 :APS B:D 27 — Grant, Madison #4. Letter, Madison Grant to Charles B. Davenport, 29 January 1921:APS B:D 27 -Grant, Madison #4. Letter, Charles B. Davenport to Madison Grant, 27 November 1920:APS B:D 27 — Grant, Madison #4. Letter, Charles B. Davenport to Madison Grant, 6 January 1921 :APS B:D 27 — Grant, Madison #4. Martha Ragsdale, “The National Origins Plan of Immigration Restriction,” (Nashville: Vanderbilt University) unpublished manuscript, p. 140: PRA#18.

  13. See Harry H. Laughlin, Biological Aspects of Immigration: CSHL: Harry H. Laughlin Reprints.

  14. Laughlin, pp. 4-5, 6,13, 18.

  15. Laughlin, pp. 3,4,21.

  16. Laughlin, pp. 4, 5.

  17. Laughlin, pp. 23-26.

  18. Memorandum, Harry H. Laughlin to John C. Merriam, 17 October 1922: Truman C-4-5:6. “Sample of Schedule used in the Melting Pot Survey,” attachment to Harry H. Laughlin, “Definite Proposal for a New and More Thorough Study of Crime Among Aliens and the Descendants of Recent Immigtants in American Criminalistic Institutions,” circa 1921: C-4-5:1O. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Albert Johnson, 30 December 1924: Truman C-2-4:5.

  19. “Immigration Limits for the Year Ending July 1, 1922,” Eugenical News Vol. VI (1921). Robert DeCourcey Ward, “lnunigration and the Three Per Cent Restrictive Law,” Journal of Heredity Vol. XII No.7 (August-September 1921), pp. 319-32 5. “First Report of the Committee on Selective lnunigtation of the Eugenics Committee of the United States of America,” memorandwn, circa 1924: Truman C-4-4:3. Harry H. Laughlin, “Scientific Investigations by the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the House of Representatives: Abstract of Studies Made for the Committee,” memorandum, circa May 1922: Truman C-2-4:5.

  20. Harry H. Laughlin, Classification Standards to be Followed in Preparing Data for the Schedule “Racial and Diagnostic Records of Inmates of State Institutions, (Washingron, DC: Government Printing Office, 1922), pp. 4, 7: Truman C-4-6: 16. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Albert Johnson, circa 1922: Truman C-2-4:5.

  21. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30, 1924,” memorandum, circa 1924, p. 3: C-2-3:3. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Year Ending September 1, 1923,” Memorandum circa 1923: Truman C-2-5:15. House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Statement of Dr. Harry H. Laughlin, 67th Cong., #3,d sess., 21 November 1922, p. 734.

  22. House Committee, Statement of Dr. Harry H. Laughlin, 21 November 1922, pp. 756, 760.

  23. House Committee, Statement of Dr. Harry H. Laughlin, 21 November 1922, pp. 725, 752, 759.

  24. “Biological Research in Immigration,” memorandum, circa 1920: Truman C-2-4:5. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Frank Babbott, 18 February 1922: Truman C-4-3:5. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Frank Babbott, 9 July 1925: Truman C-4-3:5. Davenport to Grant, 17 March 1921. Harry H. Laughlin, Immigration and Conquest: A Report of The Special Committee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York (n.p., 1939), p. 8.

  25. “First Report of the Committee on Selective Immigration of the Eugenics Committee of the United States of America,” draft copy, circa 1924: Truman C-4-4:3. “Eugenics Committee of the United States of America,” memorandum, circa 1924: APS 576.06 AM3 AES Eugenics Committee of USA Documents.

  26. “First Report of the Committee on Selective Immigration,” p. 2.

  27. “First Report of the Committee on Selective Immigration,” pp. 2, 3,4.

  28. “Annual Meeting of the Eugenics Research Association,” Eugenical News Vol. VIII (1923), p. 53. Eugenics Research Association, Active Membership Accession List (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Eugenics Research Association, 1922): Truman, ERA Membership Records. US Department of Labor, “Portraits: James J. Davis,” at www.dol.gov. Merriam to Davenport, 20 June 1923.

  29. Merriam to Davenport, 20 June 1923.

  30. Merriam to Davenport, 20 June 1923. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Charles B. Davenport, 26 November 1923: Truman C-2-6:17.

  31. Merriam to Davenport, 20 June 1923.

  32. Memorandum, Charles B. Davenport to Harry H. Laughlin, 26 June 1923: Truman C-4-3:9.

  33. Certificate of Appointment: Mark Laughlin Collection as cited by Hassencahl, p. 191. See Harry H. Laughlin, “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Year Ending September 1, 1923.”

  34. Laughlin to Johnson, circa 1922, p. 9.

  35. “Personals,” Eugenical News Vol. VIII (1923), p. 94. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Dr. Albert Govaerts, 17 March 1923: Truman C-4-6: 19. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Charles B. Davenport, 1 October 1923: Truman D-2-6:17.

  36. Laughlin to Davenport, 1 October 1923. Letter, Harry. H. Laughlin to Charles B. Davenport, 22 November 1923: Truman C-2-6:17. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30, 1924.” Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Judge Harry Olson, 12 October 1923: Truman D-2-3:6.

  37. Laughlin to Olson, 12 October 1923.

  38. “Report of Harry H. Laug
hlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30, 1924,” p. 2. “Dr. Albert Govaerts of Belgium,” Eugenical News Vol. VII (1922), p. 64. Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923. Laughlin to Davenport, 26 November 1923.

  39. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30, 1924,” p. 3. Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923.

  40. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30, 1924,” p. 2. Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923. Laughlin to Davenport, 26 November 1923.

  41. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1,1923 — June 30,1924,” pp. 2, 3. Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923. Laughlin to Davenport, 26 November 1923. Laughlin to Davenport, 1 October 1923.

  42. Laughlin to Davenport, 26 November 1923.

  43. Laughlin to Davenport, 26 November 1923. Harry H. Laughlin, “Interdepartmental Authority,” memorandum circa December 1923: Truman D-4-3:13.

  44. Laughlin, “Interdepartmental Authority.”

  45. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30, 1924,” pp. 1, 6. Laughlin to Davenport, 1 October 1923.

  46. “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Year Ending September 1,1923.” Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923.

  47. Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923. Letter, Charles B. Davenport to Harry H. Laughlin, 21 December 1923: Truman C-2-6:17.

  48. Laughlin to Davenport, 26 November 1923.

  49. Laughlin to Davenport, 22 November 1923.

  50. Davenport to Laughlin, 21 December 1923.

  51. “Statement of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 — June 30,1924,” p. 1. “Report of the Committee on Selective Immigration of the Eugenics Committee of the United States of America,” Eugenical News Vol. IX (I 924}, pp. 21-24.

  52. “Secretary Davis on Immigration,” Eugenical News Vol. IX (l924), p. 37.

  53. House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, Statement of Dr. Harry H. Loughlin, 68th Cong., 1st sess., 8 March 1924, pp. 1279, 1281, 1283, 1294, 1295.

  54. House Committee, Statement of Dr. Harry H. Loughlin, 8 March 1924, pp. 1311, 1322, 1323, 1340.

  55. House Committee, Statement of Dr. Harry H. Loughlin, 8 March 1924, p. 1300.

  56. “Memorandum and Outline of Tentative Working Agreement Between the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the State Department of the Federal Government in Reference to Collaboration in the Collection of First-Hand Data on Immigration at its Sources,” memorandum, circa June 1924: Truman C-4-3:9. Letter, W. M. Gilbert to Harry H. Laughlin, 11 September 1924: Truman C-4-3:9.

  57. “Memorandum and Outline of Tentative Working Agreement Between the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the State Department.” “Report of Harry H. Laughlin for the Ten Months September 1, 1923 -June 30, 1924,” p. 4. “The Several Filterings of the Immigrant Stream Directed Toward the United States,” attachment to Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Albert Johnson, 30 December 1924: Truman C-2-4:5.

  58. “Memorandum and Outline of Tentative Working Agreement Between the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the State Department” p. 3. See Ezekiel Cheever, School Issues (Baltimore: Warwick & York, Inc., 1924): CIW Genetics: Eugenics Record Office Misc. Correspondence 2 of 2.

  59. See Cheever.

  60. Cheever, pp 28-29.

  61. Cheever, p 38.

  62. Cheever, pp 41, 42-43.

  63. Cheever, p 44.

  64. Cheever, p 19.

  65. Letter, Charles B. Davenport to Lewellys F. Barker, 18 April 1924: CIW Genetics: Eugenics Record Office Misc. Correspondence 2 of 2. Letter, Robert DeC. Ward to Harry H. Laughlin, 20 March 1924: Truman C-4-1 :8. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Robert DeC. Ward, 1 April 1924: Truman C-4-1:8

  66. Davenport to Barker, 18 April 1924.

  67. US Department of Justice, “Immigration Act of May 26, 1924 (43 Statutes-at-Large 153),” at www.ins.usdoj.gov. Ragsdale, p. 17. Anderson, p. 146.

  68. Anderson, pp. 147, 149. Ragsdale, p. 42.

  69. Alfred P. Schultz, Race or Mongrel (Boston: L. C. Page and Company, 1908) as cited by Ragsdale, p. 11.

  70. Ragsdale, p. 35.

  71. See Ragsdale, p. 41. Ragsdale, pp. 41-42.

  72. Ragsdale, p. 42.

  73. Ragsdale, p. 43.

  74. Ragsdale, pp. 41, 45, 46, 48, 49. Fourth Report of Committee on Selective Immigration, p. 6.

  75. Letter, Harry H. Laughlin to Frank L. Babbott, 3 January 1927: Truman C-4-3:5.

  76. Anderson, p. 149. “Immigration Act of May 26, 1924,” pp. 422-423. See Fourth Report of Committee on Selective Immigration.

  77. Robert DeC. Ward, “Higher Mental and Physical Standards for Immigrants”, reprinted from The Scientific Monthly, Vol. IX (1924) p 539: Truman C-4-1:8. See Fourth Report of Committee on Selective Immigration, pp. 20, 28-30. Draft copy, “Immigration Service,” (n.d), p. 2: Truman C-2-4:5.

  78. US Department of Justice, “Immigration and Nationality Act of June 27, 1952 (INA) (66 Statutes-at-Large 163),” at www.ins.usdoj.gov. US Department of Justice, “Immigration and Nationality Act” at www.ins.usdoj.gov.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  1. See Robert Reid Rentoul, Race Culture; Or Race Suicide? (London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., Ltd., 1906), pp. 4-5,19-22. See Richard A. Soloway, Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-Century Britain, (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1990), pp. 2-4.

  2. Pauline M.H. Mazumdar, Eugenics, Human Genetics and Human Failings (London: Routledge, 1992), pp. 72-80,89,125, 143. Arthur H. Estabrook and Charles B. Davenport, The Nam Family: A Study in Cacogenics (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Press, 1912), p. I. “The Eugenics Record Office,” Eugenical News, Vol. I (1916), p. 2. Charles B. Davenport, “First Report of Station for Experimental Evolution Under Department of Experimental Biology,” Carnegie Institution of Washington Year Book No.3 1904 (Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1905), pp. 22, 23, 33-34. American Breeders’ Association, “Minutes of First Annual Meeting: St. Lonis, Missouri: December 29th and 30th, 1903,” memorandum circa 1904, pp. 1-3. Francis Galton, Memories of my Life, (London: Methuen & Co., 1908), pp. 310,320-321. See Francis Galton, “Eugenics; Its Definitions, Scope and Aims”: University College London, Galton Papers, 138/9.

  3. Rentoul, pp. 164,165. Author’s interview with Indiana State Library, 9 December 2002. Rentoul, pp. i, xiv.

  4. Francis Galton, “Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims,” (paper read at a Meeting of the Sociological Society, 16 May 1904): UCL Galton Papers 138/9. Rentoul, p. 164. Also see “An Easy Way of Sterilizing Degenerates,” The British Medical Journal, 13 August 1904, pp. 346-347.

  5. Rentoul, pp. i, 17-22,24-25,109-110, 133-142.

  6. Rentoul, pp. 10,44,101,155.

  7. Rentoul, p. 1H.

  8. Rentoul, pp. 31-32.

  9. Lady Georgina Chambers, “Notes on the Early Days of the 'Eugenics Education Society,'” pp 2,3: Wellcome SA/EUG/B-11. Mazumdar, pp. 24,25,27,29,30. Letter, Leonard Darwin to David Starr Jordan, 1 January 1914: Hoover Institution Archives, Horder, Box 60, Folder 52. Also see Phyllis Grosskurth, Havelock Ellis, A Biography (London: Allen Lane, 1980), p. 412n.

  10. Rentoul, p. 169. Letter, C.S. Tromp to R. Chalmers, 14 September 1906: PRO HO 45/10341/139871. “The Isle of Lundy,” at www.lundy.org.uk.

  11. Francis Galton, Restrictions in Marriage (American Journal of Sociology, 1906), p. 3. Francis Galton, Memories of My Life (London: Methuen & Co., 1908), p. 310. Major Leonard Darwin, “First Steps Towards Eugenic Reform,” Eugenics Review, Vol. 4 (ca. April 1912), pp 34-35 as selected in G. K. Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, edited by and including additional articles selected by Michael W. Perry (Seattle, WA: Inkling Press, 2000), pp 144-145.

  12. “Eugenical Sterilization in England,” Eugenical News Vol. X (1925), pp. 134-135. Letter, Hugh MacEwen to Sir George Newman, 12 August 1930: PRO MH79/291. Letter, A. Neville to A.S. Moshinsky,
20 February 1937: PRO MH79/291.

  13. Soloway, pp. 74-75.

  14. “Notes on the Early Days,” p. 33.

  15. “Notes on the Early Days,” pp. 3,6-7. “A Large Family” and “A Decadent Family”, Admissions forms for Sandlebridge Boarding Special School: UCL, Galton Papers, 138/8. “Notes on the Early Days of the ‘Eugenics Education Society,’” pp. 4, 9. Dr. Caleb W. Saleeby, “The House of Life: The Mental Deficiency Bill,” July 23 1912.

  16. Letter, Sybil Gotto to Francis Galton, 11 December 1909: UCL, Galton Papers, 240/7. “Eugenics: Prof. Karl Pearson on its Methods,” The Standard, 3 January 1910. See “Notes on the Early Days,” p. 32.

  17. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Announcement of Station for Erperimental Evolution (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1905), p. 4: APS: Davenport Beginnings of Cold Spring Harbor. The Eugenics Education Society, “Programme,” Problems in Eugenics Vol. II: Report of Proceedings of the First International Eugenical Congress (Kingsway, W.C.: Eugenics Education Society, 1913), pp. 3, 5, 6-13.

  18. “Programme,” Problems in Eugenics Vol. II, p. 2.

  19. Saleeby, “The House of Life: The Mental Deficiency Bill.”

  20. Saleeby, “The Discussion of Alcoholism,” p. 6. Richard Allen Soloway, Birth Control and the Population Question in England, 1877-1930 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), p. 17. Rentoul, p. i. “Notes on the Early Days,” pp. 4, 9.

  21. “The International Eugenics Congress.” Saleeby, “The Discussion of Alcoholism at the Eugenics Congress,” p. 6. Saleeby, “The House of Life: The Mental Deficiency Bill.”

  22. Grotto to Galton, 11 December 1909.

  23. Michael Warren, A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related Services in Britain: 1066-1999.

  24. Mazumdar, pp. 22-23. Daniel. Kevles, In The Name of Eugenics, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), p. 98.

  25. Lord Riddell, “Sterilization of the Unfit: A Paper for the Medico-Legal Society,” memorandum, circa February 1929, p. 17: PRO MH 58/103.