Wrestling with my insomnia the other night, I plugged "Leon F. Whitney" the AKC-celebrated dog man and former head of the American Eugenics Society into Google press archives.
Along with a 1932 New York Times headline noting that "Eugenics Leader Hails Hitler as Statesman," I came across the April 1932 New York Times article below about the first meeting of the Population Association of America.
.
At the top, of course, we discover that America's population is going to peak in 25 years, and then it will decline and our power and economy will wither with it.
Right. What really happened?
Well, we had both a Baby Boom and open-border immigration. As a result, the population of the United States went from 125 million in 1932, to over 310 million today, and it's projected to top 420 million by 2050. As for economic decline, we are the most powerful economy in the world, with the most powerful military in the world.
Now look at the second headline in the picture at top. Here we have Leon F. Whitney, who was not a demographer, not a geneticist, and not a sociologist (he was a small-animal veterinarian, and big-time pamphleteer) telling us that "America's major social problems arise from borderline morons," and that we have 5,000,000 people who are "feeble minded" and need to be pruned from the gene pool.
Now, to be clear, I would agree that America's problems can be traced to morons, but perhaps not in the same way that Leon F. Whitney might mean!
Along with a 1932 New York Times headline noting that "Eugenics Leader Hails Hitler as Statesman," I came across the April 1932 New York Times article below about the first meeting of the Population Association of America.
.
At the top, of course, we discover that America's population is going to peak in 25 years, and then it will decline and our power and economy will wither with it.
Right. What really happened?
Well, we had both a Baby Boom and open-border immigration. As a result, the population of the United States went from 125 million in 1932, to over 310 million today, and it's projected to top 420 million by 2050. As for economic decline, we are the most powerful economy in the world, with the most powerful military in the world.
Now look at the second headline in the picture at top. Here we have Leon F. Whitney, who was not a demographer, not a geneticist, and not a sociologist (he was a small-animal veterinarian, and big-time pamphleteer) telling us that "America's major social problems arise from borderline morons," and that we have 5,000,000 people who are "feeble minded" and need to be pruned from the gene pool.
Now, to be clear, I would agree that America's problems can be traced to morons, but perhaps not in the same way that Leon F. Whitney might mean!
- Related Link
** The Eugenics Man and the Kennel Club
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