Jean
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By diplomatic pouch
Washington, D. C.
December 5, 1945
Mr. Harry Felton
Pretoria, Union of South Africa
Dear Harry:
Consider this letter the joint effort of Mark and myself. The conclusions are also shared. Also, consider it a very serious document indeed.
You know that for the past twenty years, we have both been deeply concerned with child psychology and child development. There is no need to review our careers or our experience in the Public Health Service. Our work during the war, as part of the Child Reclamation Program, led to an interesting theory, which we decided to pursue. We were given leave by the head of the service to make this our own project, and recently we were granted a substantial amount of army funds to work with.
Now down to the theory, which is not entirely untested, as you know. Briefly — but with two decades of practical work as a background — it is this: Mark and I have come to the conclusion that within the rank and file of Homo Sapiens is the leavening of a new race. Call them man- plus — call them what you will. They are not of recent arrival; they have been cropping up for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. But they are trapped in and moulded by human environment as certainly and implacably as your Assamese girl was trapped among the wolves or your Bantu boy among the baboons.
By the way, your two cases are not the only attested ones we have. By sworn witness, we have records of seven similar cases, one in Russia, two in Canada, two in South America, one in West Africa, and, just to cut us down to size, one in the United States. We also have hearsay and folklore of three hundred and eleven parallel cases over a period of fourteen centuries. We have in fourteenth century Germany, in the folio MS of the monk, Hubercus, five case-histories which he claims to have observed. In all of these cases, in the seven cases witnessed by people alive today, and in all but sixteen of the hearsay cases, the result is more or less precisely what you have seen and described yourself: the child reared by the wolf is a wolf.
Our own work adds up to the parallel conclusion: the child reared by a man is a man. If man-plus exists, he is trapped and caged as certainly as any human child reared by animals. Our proposition is that he exists.
Why do we think this super-child exists? Well, there are many reasons, and neither the time nor the space to go into all in detail. But here are two very telling reasons. Firstly, we have case histories of several hundred men and women, who as children had IQs of 150 or above. In spite of their enormous intellectual promise as children, less than ten percent have succeeded in their chosen careers. Roughly another ten percent have been institutionalized as mental cases beyond recovery. About fourteen percent have had or require therapy in terms of mental health problems. Six percent have been suicides, one percent are in prison, twenty-seven percent have had one or more divorces, nineteen percent are chronic failures at whatever they attempt — and the rest are undistinguished in any important manner. All of the IQs have dwindled — almost in the sense of a smooth graph line in relation to age.
Since society has never provided the full potential for such a mentality, we are uncertain as to what it might be. But we can guess that against it, they have been reduced to a sort of idiocy — an idiocy that we call normalcy.
The second reason we put forward is this: we know that man uses only a tiny fraction of his brain. What blocks him from the rest of it? Why has nature given him equipment that he cannot put to use? Or has society prevented him from breaking the barriers around his own potential?
There, in brief, are two reasons. Believe me, Harry, there are many more — enough for us to have convinced some very hard-headed and unimaginative government people that we deserve a chance to release superman. Of course, history helps — in its own mean manner. It would appear that we are beginning another war — with Russia this time, a cold war, as some have already taken to calling it. And among other things, it will be a war of intelligence — a commodity in rather short supply, as some of our local mental giants have been frank enough to admit. They look upon our man-plus as a secret weapon, little devils who will come up with death rays and super-atom-bombs when the time is ripe. Well, let them. It is inconceivable to imagine a project like this under benign sponsorship. The important thing is that Mark and I have been placed in full charge of the venture — millions of dollars, top priority — the whole works. But nevertheless, secret to the ultimate. I cannot stress this enough.
Now, as to your own job — if you want it. It develops step by step. First step: in Berlin, in 1937, there was a Professor Hans Goldbaum. Half Jewish. The head of the Institute for Child Therapy. He published a small monograph on intelligence testing in children, and he put forward claims — which we are inclined to believe — that he could determine a child's IQ during its first year of life, in its pre-speech period. He presented some impressive tables of estimations and subsequent checked results, but we do not know enough of his method to practice it ourselves. In other words, we need the professor's help.
In 1937, he vanished from Berlin. In 1943, he was reported to be living in Cape Town — the last address we have for him. I enclose the address. Go to Cape Town, Harry darling. (Myself talking, not Mark.) If he has left, follow him and find him. If he is dead, inform us immediately.
Of course you will take the job. We love you and we need your help.
Jean
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By Airmail
Cape Town, South Africa
December 20, 1945
Mrs. Jean Arbalaid
Washington, D. C. My dear sister:
Of all the hairbrained ideas! If this is our secret weapon, I am prepared to throw in the sponge right now. But a job is a job. It took me a week to follow the Professor's meandering through Cape Town — only to find out that he took off for London in 1944. Evidently, they needed him there. I am off to London.
Love, Harry
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By diplomatic pouch
Washington, D. C.
December 26, 1945
Mr. Harry Felton
London, England
Dear Harry:
This is dead serious. By now, you must have found the professor. We believe that despite protestations of your own idiocy, you have enough sense to gauge his method. Sell him this venture. Sell him! We will give him whatever he asks — and we want him to work with us as long as he will.
Briefly, here is what we are up to. We have been allocated a tract of eight thousand acres in Northern California. We intend to establish an environment there — under military guard and security. In the beginning, the outside world will be entirely excluded. The environment will be controlled and exclusive.
Within this environment, we intend to bring forty children to maturity — to a maturity that will result in man-plus.
As to the details of this environment — well that can wait. The immediate problem is the children. Out of forty, ten will be found in the United States; the other thirty will be found by the professor and yourself — outside of the United States.
Half are to be boys; we want an even boy-girl balance. They are to be between the ages of six months and nine months, and all are to show indications of an exceedingly high IQ — that is, if the professor's method is any good at all.
We want five racial groupings: Caucasian, Indian, Chinese, Malayan and Bantu. Of course, we are sensible of the vagueness of these groupings, and you have some latitude within them. The six so-called Caucasian infants are to be found in Europe. We might suggest two northern types, two Central European types, and two Mediterranean types. A similar breakdown might be followed in other areas.
Now understand this — no cops and robbers stuff, no OSS, no kidnapping. Unfortunately, the world abounds in war orphans — and in parents poor and desperate enough to sell their children. When you want a child and such a situation arises, buy! Price is no object. I will have no maudlin sentimentality or scruples. These children will be loved and cherished — and if you should acquire any by purchase, you will be giving a child life and hope.
When you find a child, inform us immediately. Air transport will be at your disposal — and we are making all arrangements for wet nurses and other details of child care. We shall also have medical aid at your immediate disposal. On the other hand, we want healthy children — within the general conditions of health within any given area.
Now good luck to you. We are depending on you and we love you. And a merry Christmas.
Jean
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By diplomatic pouch
Copenhagen, Denmark