After reading "The Jukes," a famous study on a group of 700 “degenerates,” Oscar McCulloch, a Congregationalist minister and charity reformer, "discovers" a similar group of poor white/mixed Native heritage families in Indianapolis, which he names “The Tribe of Ishmael.”

McCulloch and his associates will study this group for decades, believing them to be representative of the dangers of the growing epidemic of "feeblemindedness." They will advocate for the belief that controlling the reproduction of "degenerate" families can prevent a range of social ills. McCulloch describes the characteristic traits of these families as "pauperism, licentiousness and gypsyism," and identifies them as people who refuse steady work and are therefore a "drain" on the culture. This will continue to build the idea of hereditary criminality and the case for eugenic policies.