[Ales Hrdlicka] told of the failure of the Liberian colony, and of several plans which had been suggested in Congress, but which had come to naught, chiefly because the Nation at large had never realized the gravity of the negro problem. Miscegenation he regarded as impossible. Education had been tried, but many regarded it as a failure. The abandonment of the South, which was proposed by some writers, seemed to be impracticable. Having disposed of all the previous suggestions, the speaker put forward his own plan, which was to scatter the negroes in the South over the whole United States and the recent acquisitions in the West Indies and the Orient.How did that work out?
"The negro," said Dr. Hrdlicka, "is willing to spread. He would go anywhere if some inducement were held out to him [. . .] Once dispersed, the negro would be far more amenable to education and to the influence of law and morals." Dr. Hrdlicka expressed the opinion that such a movement would not seriously inconvenience any part of the country in which the negroes might settle. He referred to similar treatment accorded to refractory tribes by ancient nations, and said that, in many cases, such tribes had lost their individuality in consequence. In conclusion, he suggested that the scientists of the country should formulate and publicly support some definite proposition for the solution of the negro question.
Showing posts with label Hrdlicka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hrdlicka. Show all posts
Hrdlicka's proposed solution to America's race problem
From an article published in The New York Times in 1898:
Hrdlicka: A new Uncle Sam is in the making (1927)
We do not know who created the effigy of "Uncle Sam." The name itself, as is well known, dates from 1812 or 1813, and is assumed to have been simply a play on the letters "U. S." It was apparently first applied to a well-known Government servant. But the graphic representation of the "Uncle Sam" type appears later. It is somewhat provincial. It was never quite adopted by the Farther South, and it is not quite at home in the West. Its essential characteristics are a spare but sinewy frame, good but not very tall stature and a thin, shrewd but kind face, with eyes full of humor. The whole picture embodies picturesque conservatism, shrewd politics and, above all, unbounded patriotism.Hrdlicka observes:
Such a physical type belongs primarily to the Yankee territory. It does not agree with the prevailing types in the large cities of the country, in the North Central States, in parts of the South, in the pioneer West, Southwest and Northwest, nor with those in Alaska and our possessions. In all these regions it is the newer American type that is emerging.
given time, aggregates of any groups and any number of groups of people, particularly if all belong to one and the same fundamental race will fuse and tend to develop a new resultant, new prevalent type, characteristic of that particular nationality. [. . .] America, too, may develop a prevailing type of its own.Based on Hrdlicka's studies of "Old Americans":
it may be seen that the ideal "Uncle Sam" type was not far from the true one. A little taller stature, a bit less hooked nose, perhaps a trace shorter arms, and the rest fits nicely.
But this type over a large part of the country tends to be superseded by another, newer type. If the old American families could remain without further admixture for several more centuries, the type would undoubtedly be further crystallized and fixed; but there is not much hope that this may be accomplished. Instead of that, there is developing the newer American type, which has already been mentioned. [. . .]
The Neo-American type will be in all probability, on the average, tall, more sanguine and somewhat less spare than the old. It will remain an intermediary white type in pigmentation, head form and other aspects. It will show for a long time a wider range of individual and local variation in all respects. And it may well be expected to be a wholesome and effective type [. . .]
"Cousin William," then, will be tall, well nourished, with a good-sized, well-filled head, though more or less bald, and with an oval, also well-filled, intelligent but frank, jovial, "enjoy-and-let-enjoy," beardless face, and smiling, mixed-light pair of eyes, fond always of a good story, a thoroughly good sport, without hypocrisy or malice, and ready for anything big or ingenious or highly profitable or for politics, at any time. A fine, big shrewd but generous young or old boy, in general.
The future of the older American stock need cause no concern. [. . .] None of these newcomers is physically so different from the older stock that the admixture with them could be regarded as of possible biological danger.To close, here's the inflammatory opinion of Georges Vacher de Lapouge on the physical type of the Indo-Europeans:
As regards physical type, however, the image evoked by the name Aryan differs according to the author that one reads. For Mortillet, Topinard, or Drumont, the Aryan is an averred brachycephalic, resembling the chestnut peddler on our streets or the typical peasant of Piedmont, Auvergene, or Savoy. If the author is Ammon, Penka, or Wilser, the image is that of the typical globe-trotter from England or the "Uncle Sam" of the Yankees--lank-bodied, dolichocephalic, leptoprosopic, usually blond, adventurous, and aggressive. In my view, both these types were represented among the Aryans, but the dominant classes among them, the builders of the Aryan civilization, were of the type of "Uncle Sam," or, to use the terminology most suitable from the anthropological point of view, were of the race H. Europaeus.Reference: Ales Hrdlicka. A NEW UNCLE SAM IS IN THE MAKING; Anthropology Finds Emerging From the Melting Pot "A Fine, Big, Shrewd but Generous Young Or Old Boy," Who Is Destined to Replace the Familiar Yankee as the Typical American A NEW UNCLE SAM IN THE MAKING. The New York Times. January 16, 1927, Sunday. Section: MAGAZINE, Page SM3, 3233 words.
Related posts:
More on "Old Americans"
I came across a 1917 publication (full text freely available at Google Books) in which Hrdlicka outlines his rationale for studying "Old Americans" and some of his preliminary findings. More complete findings were published in 1925 in The Old Americans.
The Old White Americans
Ales ̆ Hrdlic̆ka.
Published: Washington DC : [s.n.], 1917.
Series: Proceedings of the International Congress of Americanists ; 19th, December, 1915.
Introduction
FROM early in the seventeenth century the Temperate Zone of North America has been receiving successive contingents of the white race who have settled on the available land and multiplied and spread, thus forming the American nation. These newcomers were derived from Europeans of various physical types, ranging from the prevalently tall, blond, blue-eyed dolichocephalic Northmen to the mostly dark-haired, brown-eyed, medium tall, and brachy- cephalic Celts; and according to all indications they were, as a lot, physically, and especially mentally, above the average of their parent groups, for both the pioneers, whose ideals were religious and political liberty, and who would brave the dangers of the long sea journey with the hard conditions of life in the New World, as well as those commonly classed as adventurers, can well be assumed to have been on the whole men with a surplus of mental power and physical energy.
The men, and the women who accompanied them and who were probably of similar good material, encountered in large measure new environments and lived a new life. They reared their families under these changed influences, and the children accommodated themselves completely to the new conditions—they became Americans. Then followed intermarriage, both within and without the various contingents that reached this land, and the original heterogeneity slowly gave place to a blend which constituted the body of the rising nation.
How successful this new conglomerate proved to be, morally, intellectually, in defense and otherwise, are matters of history. It is certain that there was no loss of the original endowments; and also that there resulted in the course of time a considerable approach to unification of all those characteristics of mentality and behavior which are most readily subject to adaptation. It may be safely said that so far as outward manifestations are concerned, the descendants of the Old Americans constitute today a fairly easily separable strain of white people, which is no longer English, Dutch, French, or Irish, but American.
In view of these interesting facts anthropology for a long time has been confronted with the question, Have there also taken place in the descendants of the Old Americans physical changes which produced, or tend to produce, a separate sub-type of the white people?
[. . .] Possibly even in some important respects the type has already passed its zenith, as would seem to be indicated by the lowering birth-rate among its latest representatives, a rate now hardly sufficient in many districts to keep up the numbers of the Old Americans. And how will the type, if it exists, be affected by the growing mixture with whites of recent immigration? Would it be well to try to keep it pure—have the Old Americans marry only among Old Americans—or is new blood desirable?
It is well known that such nationalities as the French, English, German, and others possess, notwithstanding their mixed and relatively recent origin, distinctive physiognomy and other physical features by which in a large majority of cases it is possible to segregate both men and women who belong to them, and the claim has often been made that much the same is true in relation to the Americans. Writers and illustrators have made frequent efforts to define this hypothetical American type, and have even arrived at certain crystalized conceptions, such as "Uncle Sam", the "American girl", and the "American young man", though inconsistently leaving out the remaining periods of life. The Southerner in particular, and the Yankee, as well as the Westerner, a're believed each to have distinctive characteristics by which in the majority of cases they can readily be identified; yet at the same time these "types" are supposed to differ from each other so that any one of wider experience can readily distinguish them. Writers who attempt to define the American physical type do so generally without entering into embarrassing particulars; and the artist either follows certain famous or admired individual types or creates abstract conceptions of what he would have as Americans. Suggestions have even been advanced by some, who might have been expected to know better, that the American type is approaching that of the American Indian, the idea being presumably that the American environment produced the Indian and that it would in due time shape other peoples here to the same mold. Finally, certain scientific reports on the physical changes of Jewish and Italian children in this country appeared to show that the type of the immigrant changed with remarkable rapidity.1 Were this true, the formation of a new, more homogeneous American type ought to be a question of but a few generations, and the type should be already well advanced toward maturity among the descendants of the oldest American families. Unfortunately, however, although under good direction, the examinations on which these results were based were made by college students and not by trained anthropologists; the grandparents and parents of the supposedly changing children were not examined, nor were the children themselves studied at different periods of development; and no data have been given on the important and often significant variations in the children of individual families; so that it is not certain whether the differences the Jewish and Italian children seemed to show from the general type of their nationality or group were not perhaps fortuitous, or hereditary, and thus of pre-American origin.
The above uncertainties can properly be met in but one way, and that by anthropological observations on normal living representatives of the oldest American families, carried on under favorable circumstances and with the greatest possible care and precision. Such a test the writer decided to apply, so far as it might be in his power; and with this view arrangements were made, in the fall of 1912, in the anthropological laboratory of the United States National Museum, for a series of investigations which should extend to at least 300 healthy adult descendants from old American families. Since that time, save for interruptions due to other demands on the writer's time, the work has been progressing slowly. The number of subjects stated, 150 men and 150 women, is regarded by the writer as the smallest number which in a fairly uniform group would cover the more important individual variations in the group and thus give a reasonably clear notion of the type. To make certain that only those would be included in the series whose families have long been subject to the effects of the American environment, it was decided to examine only those who on both sides were American for at least three generations; in other words, those whose parents and all grandparents were born in this country. As to locality, Washington was recognized as the most suitable for the study, for among those settled here as well as among visitors there are Americans from all parts of the country. The measurements and tests, finally, were to be sufficiently thorough to show clearly the physical type of those examined, but involve only a minimum of inconvenience to the subject and a minimum of exposure of the body. To avoid including those not fully developed and the decrepit, the age limits were set at from 24 to 60 years; otherwise there was no selection. [. . .]
As a total result of the efforts made there have been examined to date 140 men and 135 women, including representatives of some of the very oldest and best American families. The conditions of the examination have been ideal: a well-lighted laboratory, the best of instruments tested by standards, no haste, and every subject dealt with with all due care by the writer himself; the possibilities of error, therefore, it is safe to say, have been reduced to the minimum, and the data obtained may claim more than ordinary confidence. They are presented here in preliminary form, yet even thus they are of considerable interest.
The present report will deal, for the sake of easier presentation of the results, with the first 100 men and 100 women who were measured. The data will be given in brief form only, detailed discussion being reserved until the work shall have been completed. The results will doubtless be modified somewhat by the additional number of subjects to be examined, yet on the whole the changes can not be expected to be very material and the data as here presented may already be regarded as fairly definite. [. . .]
Besides the individual variations, certain marked differences will be seen to appear in both the physical and the physiological status between the two sexes. On the whole, it may be said that the male representatives of the Old Americans are excellent specimens of humanity, and there are also physically splendid individual women; but a certain proportion of the latter sex shows a physical development, especially in the upper part of the body, which leaves more or less to be desired. It seems, however, that this is largely a result of long-lasting defects in the proper rearing of female children from the physical standpoint rather than a matter of heredity, and that conditions in this respect are much improved in the present generation of young women. [. . .]
The head among the Old Americans is in many cases remarkable for its good development. This is particularly noticeable in the males, as will be seen from the following tables, especially from that showing the cephalic module, or mean diameter of the head. It will be interesting to note in this connection that among twelve groups of male immigrants from Europe measured within the last two years at Ellis Island under the writer's direction, and comprising together more than 500 individuals, not one group equals in this respect the Americans, the closest approach being noted in the Irish, English, Poles, and North Italians. [. . .]
Conclusions
The study of the actual representatives of the oldest American families has proved throughout one of absorbing interest. The results, however, may prove quite sober and disappointing to those inclined to expect sensational revelations. Nevertheless, they will be valuable both to science and in application. They show quite clearly that no definite, already formed, strictly American type or
sub-type of the whites as yet exists; and as intermarriages of the Old Americans with more recent elements in this country are rapidly becoming more numerous there seems no chance for the formation of something like a separate American type of population, at least within many centuries.
The examinations have shown in many instances a remarkable persistence of heredity characters and their strong individuality, as we may express it, with slow, irregular, unwilling yielding to a complete and permanent fusion with other characters of the same class.
Yet there are indications that some progress has been made toward such a fusion, and that if the Old American families could be kept in full vitality and free from intermixture with newer elements for several more centuries, there would eventually come into existence in this country a real separate sub-type of white people, which would possess numerous if not great distinctive characteristics from the European whites and would be strictly American.
The Old White Americans
Ales ̆ Hrdlic̆ka.
Published: Washington DC : [s.n.], 1917.
Series: Proceedings of the International Congress of Americanists ; 19th, December, 1915.
Introduction
FROM early in the seventeenth century the Temperate Zone of North America has been receiving successive contingents of the white race who have settled on the available land and multiplied and spread, thus forming the American nation. These newcomers were derived from Europeans of various physical types, ranging from the prevalently tall, blond, blue-eyed dolichocephalic Northmen to the mostly dark-haired, brown-eyed, medium tall, and brachy- cephalic Celts; and according to all indications they were, as a lot, physically, and especially mentally, above the average of their parent groups, for both the pioneers, whose ideals were religious and political liberty, and who would brave the dangers of the long sea journey with the hard conditions of life in the New World, as well as those commonly classed as adventurers, can well be assumed to have been on the whole men with a surplus of mental power and physical energy.
The men, and the women who accompanied them and who were probably of similar good material, encountered in large measure new environments and lived a new life. They reared their families under these changed influences, and the children accommodated themselves completely to the new conditions—they became Americans. Then followed intermarriage, both within and without the various contingents that reached this land, and the original heterogeneity slowly gave place to a blend which constituted the body of the rising nation.
How successful this new conglomerate proved to be, morally, intellectually, in defense and otherwise, are matters of history. It is certain that there was no loss of the original endowments; and also that there resulted in the course of time a considerable approach to unification of all those characteristics of mentality and behavior which are most readily subject to adaptation. It may be safely said that so far as outward manifestations are concerned, the descendants of the Old Americans constitute today a fairly easily separable strain of white people, which is no longer English, Dutch, French, or Irish, but American.
In view of these interesting facts anthropology for a long time has been confronted with the question, Have there also taken place in the descendants of the Old Americans physical changes which produced, or tend to produce, a separate sub-type of the white people?
[. . .] Possibly even in some important respects the type has already passed its zenith, as would seem to be indicated by the lowering birth-rate among its latest representatives, a rate now hardly sufficient in many districts to keep up the numbers of the Old Americans. And how will the type, if it exists, be affected by the growing mixture with whites of recent immigration? Would it be well to try to keep it pure—have the Old Americans marry only among Old Americans—or is new blood desirable?
It is well known that such nationalities as the French, English, German, and others possess, notwithstanding their mixed and relatively recent origin, distinctive physiognomy and other physical features by which in a large majority of cases it is possible to segregate both men and women who belong to them, and the claim has often been made that much the same is true in relation to the Americans. Writers and illustrators have made frequent efforts to define this hypothetical American type, and have even arrived at certain crystalized conceptions, such as "Uncle Sam", the "American girl", and the "American young man", though inconsistently leaving out the remaining periods of life. The Southerner in particular, and the Yankee, as well as the Westerner, a're believed each to have distinctive characteristics by which in the majority of cases they can readily be identified; yet at the same time these "types" are supposed to differ from each other so that any one of wider experience can readily distinguish them. Writers who attempt to define the American physical type do so generally without entering into embarrassing particulars; and the artist either follows certain famous or admired individual types or creates abstract conceptions of what he would have as Americans. Suggestions have even been advanced by some, who might have been expected to know better, that the American type is approaching that of the American Indian, the idea being presumably that the American environment produced the Indian and that it would in due time shape other peoples here to the same mold. Finally, certain scientific reports on the physical changes of Jewish and Italian children in this country appeared to show that the type of the immigrant changed with remarkable rapidity.1 Were this true, the formation of a new, more homogeneous American type ought to be a question of but a few generations, and the type should be already well advanced toward maturity among the descendants of the oldest American families. Unfortunately, however, although under good direction, the examinations on which these results were based were made by college students and not by trained anthropologists; the grandparents and parents of the supposedly changing children were not examined, nor were the children themselves studied at different periods of development; and no data have been given on the important and often significant variations in the children of individual families; so that it is not certain whether the differences the Jewish and Italian children seemed to show from the general type of their nationality or group were not perhaps fortuitous, or hereditary, and thus of pre-American origin.
The above uncertainties can properly be met in but one way, and that by anthropological observations on normal living representatives of the oldest American families, carried on under favorable circumstances and with the greatest possible care and precision. Such a test the writer decided to apply, so far as it might be in his power; and with this view arrangements were made, in the fall of 1912, in the anthropological laboratory of the United States National Museum, for a series of investigations which should extend to at least 300 healthy adult descendants from old American families. Since that time, save for interruptions due to other demands on the writer's time, the work has been progressing slowly. The number of subjects stated, 150 men and 150 women, is regarded by the writer as the smallest number which in a fairly uniform group would cover the more important individual variations in the group and thus give a reasonably clear notion of the type. To make certain that only those would be included in the series whose families have long been subject to the effects of the American environment, it was decided to examine only those who on both sides were American for at least three generations; in other words, those whose parents and all grandparents were born in this country. As to locality, Washington was recognized as the most suitable for the study, for among those settled here as well as among visitors there are Americans from all parts of the country. The measurements and tests, finally, were to be sufficiently thorough to show clearly the physical type of those examined, but involve only a minimum of inconvenience to the subject and a minimum of exposure of the body. To avoid including those not fully developed and the decrepit, the age limits were set at from 24 to 60 years; otherwise there was no selection. [. . .]
As a total result of the efforts made there have been examined to date 140 men and 135 women, including representatives of some of the very oldest and best American families. The conditions of the examination have been ideal: a well-lighted laboratory, the best of instruments tested by standards, no haste, and every subject dealt with with all due care by the writer himself; the possibilities of error, therefore, it is safe to say, have been reduced to the minimum, and the data obtained may claim more than ordinary confidence. They are presented here in preliminary form, yet even thus they are of considerable interest.
The present report will deal, for the sake of easier presentation of the results, with the first 100 men and 100 women who were measured. The data will be given in brief form only, detailed discussion being reserved until the work shall have been completed. The results will doubtless be modified somewhat by the additional number of subjects to be examined, yet on the whole the changes can not be expected to be very material and the data as here presented may already be regarded as fairly definite. [. . .]
Besides the individual variations, certain marked differences will be seen to appear in both the physical and the physiological status between the two sexes. On the whole, it may be said that the male representatives of the Old Americans are excellent specimens of humanity, and there are also physically splendid individual women; but a certain proportion of the latter sex shows a physical development, especially in the upper part of the body, which leaves more or less to be desired. It seems, however, that this is largely a result of long-lasting defects in the proper rearing of female children from the physical standpoint rather than a matter of heredity, and that conditions in this respect are much improved in the present generation of young women. [. . .]
The head among the Old Americans is in many cases remarkable for its good development. This is particularly noticeable in the males, as will be seen from the following tables, especially from that showing the cephalic module, or mean diameter of the head. It will be interesting to note in this connection that among twelve groups of male immigrants from Europe measured within the last two years at Ellis Island under the writer's direction, and comprising together more than 500 individuals, not one group equals in this respect the Americans, the closest approach being noted in the Irish, English, Poles, and North Italians. [. . .]
Conclusions
The study of the actual representatives of the oldest American families has proved throughout one of absorbing interest. The results, however, may prove quite sober and disappointing to those inclined to expect sensational revelations. Nevertheless, they will be valuable both to science and in application. They show quite clearly that no definite, already formed, strictly American type or
sub-type of the whites as yet exists; and as intermarriages of the Old Americans with more recent elements in this country are rapidly becoming more numerous there seems no chance for the formation of something like a separate American type of population, at least within many centuries.
The examinations have shown in many instances a remarkable persistence of heredity characters and their strong individuality, as we may express it, with slow, irregular, unwilling yielding to a complete and permanent fusion with other characters of the same class.
Yet there are indications that some progress has been made toward such a fusion, and that if the Old American families could be kept in full vitality and free from intermixture with newer elements for several more centuries, there would eventually come into existence in this country a real separate sub-type of white people, which would possess numerous if not great distinctive characteristics from the European whites and would be strictly American.
What Americans (used to) look like
From an early article on Ales Hrdlicka's work [1]:
From The Old Americans by Ales Hrdlicka:
[1] "The 'Melting Pot' a Myth," Journal of Heredity, VIII (March 1917), 99-105 (link)
Related:
From The Old Americans by Ales Hrdlicka:
[1] "The 'Melting Pot' a Myth," Journal of Heredity, VIII (March 1917), 99-105 (link)
Related:
Hrdlicka on "American type"
Some general remarks from The Old Americans, Ales Hrdlicka's report on his research into the physical anthropology of "those American whites who have been longest in this country".
The research was carried out between 1910 and 1924. Hrdlicka restricted his analysis to
Ales Hrdlicka. The Old Americans. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1925.
The Old Americans are seen to represent on the one hand a group of still considerable variability, but on the other hand a group that already comes closely to deserving the characterization of an anthropological unit. In other words, the "melting pot," while its work of unifying the many component elements is evidently not yet completely finished, has nevertheless advanced so much in that direction that the stock possesses already a moderately distinctive character.
The Old American stock, as it may now be called, stands in general nearer than any other branch of the whites to the stock of Great Britain. But it is not, or no more, identical with the same; it is American. There is some justification therefore in speaking of the "American type" of white people. This is near the English, Irish and Scotch types, but is at least as different from any of these as these are different from each other.
From a purely morphological standpoint all the more important characteristics shown by this Old American stock are favorable, showing in some respects perceptible improvement and in none a degeneration. With rational guidance the improvement may well be extended.
Geographically the stock differs remarkably little. The north and south show much smaller regional differences than generally believed. The only section of the stock that does differ perceptibly and in some important points disadvantageously from the rest, is that of the isolated Appalachian highlanders. The reasons appear to be inbreeding and lack of cultural development, both of which can be remedied. [p. 408]
The research was carried out between 1910 and 1924. Hrdlicka restricted his analysis to
those Americans whose ancestors on each side of the family were born in the United States for at least two generations--in other words, all those whose parents as well as all four grandparents were born in this country. The third native generation of adults means roughly an ancestry on each side of the family of at least 80 to 150 year American. As a matter of fact the mean "nativity" of those examined was nearer the latter than the former figure and for the whole series it probably surpassed an average of 150 years, for there were many who on one or both sides exceeded the minimum requirements of three generations. In a large majority of cases the American ancestry of the one examined, while only three or four generations on one side, extended to from four to eight generations on the other; and there were fairly numerous instances where the ancestry was pure native on both sides for four generations, while occasionally it was five, six, and in a few cases even seven generations. [pp. 4-5]
Ales Hrdlicka. The Old Americans. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1925.
National origins of America's founders
An analysis of the surnames of heads of families recorded in the first Federal census presents us with the following breakdown of American ancestry in 1790:
The "Hebrew" (Jewish--mostly Sephardic I'm guessing) fraction of the population is about 0.04% (1,243 out of 2,810,248 in the census schedules available).
Source: Ales Hrdlicka, The Old Americans, pp. 10-12; based on Census publication A Century of Population Growth.
The "Hebrew" (Jewish--mostly Sephardic I'm guessing) fraction of the population is about 0.04% (1,243 out of 2,810,248 in the census schedules available).
Source: Ales Hrdlicka, The Old Americans, pp. 10-12; based on Census publication A Century of Population Growth.
Hrdlicka on Old New Englanders
[New York Times; Apr 9, 1937; pg. 23]
FINDS HOPE IN BOSTON FOR 'AMERICAN RACE'
Dr. Hrdlicka Says 'Excellent Stock' There Is Tallest, and Still Growing
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
BOSTON, April 8.--The "excellent stock" represented in many of Boston's older families is one of the most hopeful influences in the development of a distinct "American race," said Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, curator of the division of anthropology at the National Museum, in an address today before the women's Republican Club.
Dr. Hrdlicka has been investigating the composition of the country's racial development since 1910. He mentioned the aggregation of types in some sections. One of these came for the most part from England and located in cities in New England and the South.
"They lost something distinctly European here, and developed something American," he said. "They are the tallest and largest individuals of any group in America, and they are still growing.
"They are excellent, healthy white stock. It is something of a pity that they can't be kept in an Eden and stay there forever."
He added that what had been a trend toward aggregation had ceased and that now "in some of their strongholds like Boston others are mixing in."
"There is no help for that," he went on, "and perhaps there should not be, for if any stock remains without a mixture it becomes 'stale' and degenerates." [Oh, right.]
In contrast to the healthy old American stock, Dr. Hrdlicka described another of seven racial strains influencing America's growing racial type. The Appalachian mountaineers, ranging from New York State to Alabama and numbering as many as 8,000,000, are the "sore on the American Continent," in an anthropological sense, he said.
"There is something that needs the hearty attention of the biological and anthropological part of America."
FINDS HOPE IN BOSTON FOR 'AMERICAN RACE'
Dr. Hrdlicka Says 'Excellent Stock' There Is Tallest, and Still Growing
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
BOSTON, April 8.--The "excellent stock" represented in many of Boston's older families is one of the most hopeful influences in the development of a distinct "American race," said Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, curator of the division of anthropology at the National Museum, in an address today before the women's Republican Club.
Dr. Hrdlicka has been investigating the composition of the country's racial development since 1910. He mentioned the aggregation of types in some sections. One of these came for the most part from England and located in cities in New England and the South.
"They lost something distinctly European here, and developed something American," he said. "They are the tallest and largest individuals of any group in America, and they are still growing.
"They are excellent, healthy white stock. It is something of a pity that they can't be kept in an Eden and stay there forever."
He added that what had been a trend toward aggregation had ceased and that now "in some of their strongholds like Boston others are mixing in."
"There is no help for that," he went on, "and perhaps there should not be, for if any stock remains without a mixture it becomes 'stale' and degenerates." [Oh, right.]
In contrast to the healthy old American stock, Dr. Hrdlicka described another of seven racial strains influencing America's growing racial type. The Appalachian mountaineers, ranging from New York State to Alabama and numbering as many as 8,000,000, are the "sore on the American Continent," in an anthropological sense, he said.
"There is something that needs the hearty attention of the biological and anthropological part of America."
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