The "Lucky" Morons
Dr. Clarence Gamble wrote this untitled poem about 1947. He submitted it to the North Carolina Mental Hygiene Society in hopes that it would be used in pamphlets and other material circulated to drum up support for the state's eugenic sterilization program. He was surprised when the society declined to do so.
a person that wasn't very bright. he couldn't add figures or make change or do many things an ordinary man does. So he couldn't find a job and the RELIEF OFFICE had to help him out for YEARS AND YEARS. And one day he met another MORON who wasn't any cleverer than he was. But SHE was nicer to him than anyone had ever been. And so he MARRIED HER. And soon there was a BABY, and then ANOTHER and ANOTHER and ANOTHER. And the welfare department had to pay the family MORE of the TAXPAYER'S MONEY and MORE and MORE and MORE And when the children grew up and went to school They couldn't learn very fast because they had inherited poor minds from their parents. They had to repeat MANY GRADES in the school, and never learned very much and never were able to GET A JOB. and they cost the schoolboard and the relief office and the taxpayer THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. AND THESE CHILDREN MARRIED TOO - - - So the story goes on to grandchildren and greatgrandchildren and so on forevermore. Now there was another MORON who also was a little stupid and couldn't learn very much but he lived in NORTH CAROLINA and that was very fortunate for him. For the Department of Welfare in his county Made him one of the lucky morons who went to CASWELL TRAINING SCHOOL. There he had a mental test and he was taught a trade simple enough to fit his brains, and because the tests showed he wouldn't ever be very bright Or be able to earn enough to feed a family, and because his children might be feebleminded, too, a surgeon performed A SIMPLE OPERATION which didn't change him AT ALL, or take ANYTHING out of his body, but kept him from having any children. And after a year or two a JOB was found for him which, because of his special training he DID WELL, and he earned enough to be SELF-SUPPORTING. And after a while he met a GIRL She, too, wasn't very bright, but they liked each other. And she, too, had been to CASWELL for training and had a JOB and a surgeon had PROTECTED her from UNWANTED CHILDREN, without making her different in any other way from other women. And because they loved each other, they married and WERE HAPPY just as other couples are. Both kept on with their Jobs so they were still SELF SUPPORTING. And there weren't any children's mouths to feed ---- although they wouldn't have known why if the operation hadn't been explained to them. And with just the two in the Family, they kept on being SELF SUPPORTING, and they were very thankful they lived in NORTH CAROLINA. And the WELFARE DEPARTMENT DIDN'T have to feed them and the SCHOOLS didn't have to waste their efforts on any of their children who weren't very bright. And because they had been STERILIZED, the taxpayers of North Carolina had saved THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS and the North Carolina MORONS LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Source: N.C. State Archives close window |