considerably lower than the average shown by the draft examination, a
fact which indicates that they are not higher than might be obtained
from other States.

Organized charity is thus confronted with the problem of
feeble-mindedness and mental defect. But just as the State has so far
neglected the problem of mental defect until this takes the form
of criminal delinquency, so the tendency of our philanthropic and
charitable agencies has been to pay no attention to the problem until
it has expressed itself in terms of pauperism and delinquency. Such
"benevolence" is not merely ineffectual; it is positively injurious to
the community and the future of the race.

But there is a special type of philanthropy or benevolence, now widely
advertised and advocated, both as a federal program and as worthy of
private endowment, which strikes me as being more insidiously injurious
than any other. This concerns itself directly with the function of
maternity, and aims to supply GRATIS medical and nursing facilities
to slum mothers. Such women are to be visited by nurses and to receive
instruction in the "hygiene of pregnancy"; to be guided in making
arrangements for confinements; to be invited to come to the doctor's
clinics for examination and supervision. They are, we are informed, to
"receive adequate care during pregnancy, at confinement, and for one
month afterward." Thus are mothers and babies to be saved. "Childbearing
is to be made safe." The work of the maternity centers in the various
American cities in which they have already been established and in which
they are supported by private contributions and endowment, it is hardly
necessary to point out, is carried on among the poor and more docile
sections of the city, among mothers least able, through poverty and
ignorance, to afford the care and attention necessary for successful