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Show A SERIOUS PROBLEM. A beginning was made by the last legislature in the work of caring for the feeble-minded ttf the state along scientific lines. It may be that the i resent legislature, for economic rea-m'iis, rea-m'iis, will be unable to adopt exten-sie exten-sie plans for dealing with the problem, H but the work should not be permitted to Va. The commission for .the. investisa-C investisa-C iou of feeble tnindodnes; auiliorued by last legislature has made a teiua-Y teiua-Y report and promises another report in a few days enthu'h in; way and Vs to care for feeble-minded and preliminary report recounted fly the findings of Miss Jane Crif-sf, Crif-sf, reprepntin the na t ionn I conm j t ftep which has made the eaie nf feebleminded feeble-minded its province; of Mi.-- Sa'iie 1.'. .Myers and (ieorge Snow liibb;;. Active work hy tbe three was started on Sep tenibr 1 of last year, and they have prepared charts --I'bmitied rrpntts of I tab con-iil ion-.. T h-y found that three in e or y t ho u. -an d in the stare were f eelde-m unb'd. an average :-omwhat below be-low that of inanv oilier tatp, but still sufficient Iv lare to indicate the extent uf the problem. It. is too early for the legislature to make a laru'e appropriation for in-titu-! tion and colonies, for t,he feeble-minded, 1 although in the end the more scientific met hod probably will be the least cx-pen-i ve met hod. The legi-Jat ure. however, how-ever, i.i deoting itself to fads and fan-I fan-I ciev; not. half :-o wo: thy of their attention. atten-tion. It would be well If they could spare a little time from radicalism to deal wit h real facts. Some provision i .-di mi Id he made to continue the inesti- ga t ion and to lea rn just, w hat method ! should be adopted by the Mate, j In one way or another the public is I paying for the rare of the fceble-mind- ed, because, in mod i';ts, they become j a burden on the community. A feebleminded feeble-minded person is defined as one whose ' mind is unable to adju-t itself to the j normal conditions of life, and wdio, I therefore, b, unable to cope with life. That means that the state or the public, pub-lic, in some way, must take care of the mentally irresponsible. There are three cla-ses of mental defectives idiots, who never surpass in intelligence the normal two-year-old child; imbeciles, who rarely surpass in intelligence the normal seven-year-old child, and morons, who are mentally backward. The feeble-minded are morally irresponsible, irre-sponsible, and yet we are sending them to industrial schools and reformatories j w hen they are children and to the penitentiaries peni-tentiaries when they grow up. It has been said that SO per rent of those who are sent to reformatories and industrial i schools arc sent to the penitentiary later, and -10 per cent of these children arc irresponsible, we arc told by science. sci-ence. Obviously that is not the way to deal with the problem. The feebleminded feeble-minded are left much to their own devices de-vices They are permitted to intermarry inter-marry and to reproduce, their kind. We believe that the investigations already, al-ready, made have been of great value. They should receive the careful consideration consid-eration of the legislature. Tho reports intended for their inspection and instruction in-struction should nnt be shelved while the law makers devote their time to the framing of radical measures which will penalie the people of 'the state. The data should be gone into thoroughly and the members of the legislature should try to find out what may be done to cope with the. problem adequately. |