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Show TEACHES THE DEAF 'TO SPEAK Piofcssor Perclval Hall, of the f;al-laudel f;al-laudel National College for the Deaf und Blind at Washington, D. C, who Is visiting and Inspecting the Utah School for the Deaf, last night made the rather startling assertion that there are no dumb people. The professor declares that C0 out r1 every Mini so-called dumb people can be taught to speak fluently, and that tho remaining 4"i can bo taught to speak with varying degrees of fluency, unless the person has a permanent per-manent Injury or disarrangement of the vocal chords, or the palate, or Is paralyzed. The statement of Prof. Hall rather upsets the average man's Idea of "dumb" folk. When he Is told that there "are no dumb people" he Is at first Inclined to be skeptical, but when Mr. Hall explains it la easy to believe Some children, he pays, are backward back-ward from some mental affliction and are not properly taught to ppeak, and it Is conceded when they are youns that they can not, and are allowed to go through life classed as "dumb". Others who are deaf or very hard of hearing, from not hearlne words spoken spok-en find It Impossible to utter the words that they can never hear pronounced. pro-nounced. Prof Hall slates, however, that even n denf person, who has never heard a word spoken, and probably never will, can be taught to speak nnd converse fluently. Those that are slow Intellectually enn be taught with patience to talk In fact, any person, capable of uttering sounds, who is not suffering a severe affliction afflic-tion of tho vocal chords or palate can learn to speak Prof. Hall represents the highest school of learning for the deof and blind in the United States the school to which graduates of state institutions institu-tions go to cornptete a higher education educa-tion The pupils of the National college col-lege claim residence all over the western west-ern hemisphere, and the "cures" and teachings there are considered little short of wonderful. The professor says that there are about M.nun deaf people In the United States, or about 1 In every 2,0un population, pop-ulation, and that there are forty schools for their Instruction in America. Am-erica. Although the "sign" alphabet and language n use among deaf people was boriowod by Americans from France, which country Is decades older old-er than we In the Instruction of such patients, Prof. Hall states that American Ameri-can schools are far superior. The French course of Instruction Is from six to eight years, while lu America a pupil Is taught carefully for from (Icht to ten years, and reach a higher high-er plane Intellectually than their brother unfortunates In Europe. |