"I desire to emphasize the fact that one-half of the feeble-minded of
this state are already under public care, but that two-thirds of them
are cared for in the wrong kind of institutions. This difficulty can be
remedied without increasing the public burden, in the manner already
suggested. That leaves 15,000 feeble-minded for whom no provision has
yet been made. It must be remembered that these 15,000 persons are being
cared for in some way. We do not allow them to starve to death, but they
are fed, clothed and housed, usually by the self-denying labor of their
relatives. Thousands of poor mothers are giving up their lives largely
to the care of a feeble-minded child, but these mothers are unable to so
protect them from becoming a menace to the community, and, in the long
run, it would be far more economical for the community to segregate them
in institutions than to allow them to remain in their homes, only to
become ultimately paupers, criminals, prostitutes or parents of children
like themselves."
Some sort of provision is now made for some of the feeble-minded in
every state excepting eleven, viz.: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah and
West Virginia.
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