THE HEREDITARIAN THEORY OF IQ 211Feeble-minded people are doubly burdened by their unfortu-
nate inheritance, for lack of intelligence, debilitating enough in
itself, leads to immorality. If we would eliminate social pathology,
we must identify its cause in the biology of sociopaths themselves—
and then eliminate them by confinement in institutions and, above
all, by prevendng their marriage and the production of offspring.
Not all criminals are feeble-minded, but all feeble-minded persons are
at least potential criminals. That every feeble-minded woman is a potential
prostitute would hardly be disputed by anyone. Moral judgment, like busi-
ness judgment, social judgment, or any other kind of higher thought pro-
cess, is a function of intelligence. Morality cannot flower and fruit if
intelligence remains infantile (1916, p. 11).
The feeble-minded, in the sense of social incompetents, are by defini-
tion a burden rather than an asset, not only economically but still more
because of their tendencies to become delinquent or criminal.... The only
effective way to deal with the hopelessly feeble-minded is by permanent
custodial care. The obligations of the public school rest rather with the
large and more hopeful group of children who are merely inferior (1919,
pp. 132-133).
In a plea for universal testing, Terman wrote (1916, p. 12): "Con-
sidering the tremendous cost of vice and crime, which in all prob-
ability amounts to not less than $500,000,000 per year in the
United States alone, it is evident that psychological testing has
found here one of its richest applications."
After marking the sociopath for removal from society, intelli-
gence tests might then channel biologically acceptable people into
professions suited for their mental level. Terman hoped that his
testers would "determine the minimum 'intelligence quotient' nec-
essary for success in each leading occupation" (1916, p. 17). Any
conscientious professor tries to find jobs for his students, but few
are audacious enough to tout their disciples as apostles of a new
social order:
Industrial concerns doubtless suffer enormous losses from the employ-
ment of persons whose mental ability is not equal to the tasks they are
expected to perform.... Any business employing as many as 500 or 1000
workers, as, for example, a large department store, could save in this way
several times the salary of a well-trained psychologist.Terman virtually closed professions of prestige and monetary
reward to people with IQ below 100 (1919, p. 282), and argued