Show utah legislature urged to provide for feeble minded by governor govern or dern dem welfare organizations clubs and mental hygiene society utah is one of 0 only three states sn in the entire country which whick has not pro tided a separate institution tor for the tare care of 0 its feeble minded according to a recent report of 0 the united states bureau of census on feeble minded 1 in state institutions realizing the urgent need tor for such en institution the utah society for mental hygiene Is leading leadin g in a movement to urge upon the lo gisla tare the necessity ot of making an appropriation to build a home for this class of 0 lunares and provide them nith aith the t train lne necessary to make useful members ot of society the seriousness ot of the present situation Is ie shown by facts gathered under the direction of 0 the society they bring out very forcibly that the neglect of the feeble minded results in criminality and adz all the more pitiful alt because it could be prevented under proper care potential criminals could be made into useful citizens according to a survey made in utah ty by dr george L wallace director of the committee on mental hygiene in the united states and other reliable information available there are about feeble minded children in this state in pressing need of custodial care dr wallaces investigation shows that percentage ol of feeble minded la Is from one to one no and one halt half per cent the present haphazard manner of caring tor for the tew few feeble minded who are given give any at attention Lention these unfortunates tu nates according to figures compiled by the society Is costing the taxpayers much more proportionately than it if a central institution were provided tor for this purpose the per capita cost ot of providing tor for feeble minded children in the salt lake city public schools for or forty weeks ot of the school year six hours a day five days a week is 70 for instruction in the twelfth school for the same length ot of time the per capita cost lor for the same amount ol of instruction st ruction is ia the cost to the state department of 0 public instruction tor for the thirty tour four and three tenths weeks ot of the elementary school year tor for six hours a day five days a week Is 77 according to the findings of 0 the society according to a report ot of the director ot of education at the state industrial school twenty per cent ot of the inmates me are feeble minded and the per capita cost of 0 caring tor for them is more than 1394 a year this Is not considered a fair per capita cost since it includes many items that cannot be ba fairly charged to individual upkeep up keep kaep at the tame same time tima many counties are paying UGO per der capita tor for the care in private I 1 houses tor for their feeble minded charges none ot of the foregoing schools or in institutions the society point out Is equipped to train the feeble minded either in ia correct social habits or in 1 I self supporting labor many blany socially disastrous experiences ot of neglected feeble minded individuals ot of the lit higher her type are related by social s who often contact them in some conflict with organized society and because the particular individual concerned is neither insane deat deaf slid and dumb nor blind he does sot not draw public sympathy the mental blindness which impello him to take the wrong turning does not show to the average citizen the feeble minded transgressor with the tha mental age 0 of eight years looks about like everyone else this tact fact makes it even more imperative that some scientific and well managed institution be provided tor for their care in commenting on the fate ate 0 ol 01 f a ty feeble minded child undo under r existing conditions the society says lack ot of success in the school room makes the mentally defective child unhappy restless and frequently delinquent lite life maya may be economically depressed when he reaches the limits of his capacity to learn in the class room and has neither a job nor the endurance to stay in school the truant officers may do the only thing left tor for them to provide some care tor for the misfit turn him over to tho the juvenile court nonesuch boy became a ward ot of the court under the following circumstances he was a confirmed truant with the actual age of ot eleven and the mental age of eight years his mother nas a moron drug addict and no matter how much men money y his bis industrious father earned the th children never had enough satisfying food various persons attempted to do something with the family but they could not break it up in time to salvage the children all the children stole whenever hunger pressed dressed them too savagely and nd the older girls with their mothers approval entered into lives live ol of shame the boy already mentioned and his older brother became wards ot of the juvenile court both progressing through the detention home the industrial school the city and county jails to the penitentiary the younger boy Is a killer whenever he is hungry he holds up the first person t that at crosses its his path so tar far nothing but his hia poor door aim has hag saved him from choosing whether he would ra rather ther be shot or hanged he has served two terms in the state prison and Is now at large although the boy has been a ward ot of the state of utah since he ha was eleven years old he is still untrained to earn his living when a small boy he liked shop work and might at one time have been trained into social and economical usefulness the society believes that hundreds of human beings like this could be salvaged and not oni ysavel from downfall but made useful and self respect ing citizens through the training which a state institution for or the feeble mind ed would provide it Is reasonable to believe the recent crime committed against june nelson could have been prevented should the offender received proper medical and mental care the public should demand an institution that provide carland training tor for our most unfortunates |