[Illustration: FIG. 26.--To this shanty an elderly man of the "Hickory" family, a great clan of defectives in rural Ohio, brought his girl-bride, together with his two grown sons by a former marriage. The shanty was conveniently located at a distance of 100 feet from the city dump where the family, all of which is feeble-minded, secured its food. Such a family is incapable of protecting either itself or its neighbors, and should be cared for by the state. Photograph from Mina A. Sessions.] [Illustration: A CHIEFTAIN OF THE HICKORY CLAN FIG. 27.--This is "Young Hank," otherwise known as "Sore-Eyed Hank." He is the eldest son and heir of that Hank Hickory who, with his wife and seven children, applied for admission to their County Infirmary when it was first opened. For generation after generation, his family has been the chief patron of all the charities of its county. "Young Hank" married his cousin and duplicated his father's record by begetting seven children, three of whom (all feeble-minded) are now living. The number of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren is increasing every year, but the total can not be learned from him, for he is mentally incapable of counting even the number of his own children. He is about 70 years of age, and has never done any work except to make baskets. He has lived a wandering life, largely dependent on charity. For the last 25 years he has been partly blind, due to trachoma. He gets a blind pension of $5 a month, which is adequate to keep him supplied with chewing tobacco, his regular mastication being 10 cents a day. Such specimens can be found in many rural communities; if they were segregated in youth both they and the community would be much better off. Photograph from Mina A. Sessions.] Although conditions may be worst in the older and more densely populated states, it is probable that there is no state in the union which has not many families, or group of families, of this dependent type, which in favorable cases may attract little notice, but therefore do all the more harm eugenically; in other cases may be notorious as centers of criminality. Half a dozen well-defined areas of this kind have been found in Pennsylvania, which is probably not exceptional in this respect. "These differ, of course, in extent and character and the gravity of the problems they present. In some there is great sexual laxity, which leads to various forms of dependency and sometimes to extreme mental defect. In others alcoholism prevails and the people show a propensity for deeds of violence. All informants, however, practically agreed to the following characterization: "1. Because of the thefts and depredations and the frequent applications for charitable relief from such sections they constitute a parasitic growth which saps the resources of the self-respecting, self-sustaining contingent of the population. "2. They furnish an undue proportion of court cases, and are thus a serious expense to county and state.