Generally speaking, the only objection urged against segregation is
that of expense. In reply, it may be said that the expense will decrease
steadily, when segregation is viewed as a long-time investment, because
the number of future wards of the state of any particular type will be
decreasing every year. Moreover, a large part of the expense can be met
by properly organizing the labor of the inmates. This is particularly
true of the feeble-minded, who will make up the largest part of the
burden because of their numbers and the fact that most of them are not
now under state care. As for the insane, epileptic, incorrigibly
criminal, and the other defectives and delinquents embraced in the
program, the state is already taking care of a large proportion of them,
and the additional expense of making this care life-long, and extending
it to those not yet under state control, but equally deserving of it,
could probably be met by better organization of the labor of the persons
involved, most of whom are able to do some sort of work that will at
least cover the cost of their maintenance.
That the problem is less serious than has often been supposed, may be
illustrated by the following statement from H. Hastings Hart of the
Russell Sage Foundation:
"Of the 10,000 (estimated) mentally defective women of child-bearing age
in the state of New York, only about 1,750 are cared for in institutions
designated for the care of the feeble-minded, and about 4,000 are
confined in insane asylums, reformatories and prisons, while at least
4,000 (probably many more) are at large in the community.
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