The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-06-20
some RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
Copyrighted by Memo.

Copyrighted by Memo.
| Some months ago 1 sought to suggest
tc young men who had more energy
than they could exhaust on the or
| binary affairs of life, that it might be
we'll to eXpend that energy for their
! fellowmen, by devoting themselves
heart and soul to bringing about justice
| for workingmen in the form OF en-
| rloyers' liabilities for injuries suffered
| While at work. | pointed out that Dy
modern conditions a workman was un-
able to guard himself fully against the
criminal carelesSness of his fellows, ana
L also showed that nothing but law
equal in its obligations in all States
would be fair to the employer Where
| this suggestion may have lodged ef-
| fectively, / may not know, since these
Thoughts are not like bread cast up
| on waters. to return after many days,
but more like arrows shot forth at ran
| dom, hitting sometimes and missing
| often.
I come now with another subject that
affects every community, and that is
c'amoring for proper answer with loud
|
by; a question that must be answered
properly by this country or it will re-
main a problem for the twentieth CEN
fury that is absolutely frightful TO con-
| template the question is as to the
| proper care of the feeble minded. Now
| mention it, you of course admit that
there is such a question, but its import
ance and its magnitude are hardly like
ly to be felt by you, save perhaps in
your community there are but few
such afflicted ones. Bear with me as
[ lead you to deeper feeling.
| According to the Bureau of Statistics
| at Washington there are in this coun-
try over 100,0 900 such people, am not
referring to either idiots or insane, but
only to those of insufficient intellect.
! This 100000 includes only those who
| by their parents or guardians are ac-
| knowledged to the authorities; and
| learned ones on this subject think it
fair to suppose that there are half as
many more concealed and unreported
| by sensitive relatives; SO that our prob
| lem resolves itself into the care-taking
of $50 900 people too lacking in intelli-
Sence to properly look after themselves.
They are pining out a limited existence
| in our towns as the butts for all sorts
| of jokes, in our poorhouses as those
| who may be abused without fear, in
cur jails as those who have done crimes
| that seemed to be committed without
any sense of wrong-doing, in our land
as av asst army whose dull eyes look out
as vast army whose dull eyes look out
is being done for them? The total &C
commodation in all the institutions that
already exist for their proper care and
| training is 5000. Fully twenty States
give them no attention at all. In South
Carolina, Virginia, Missouri and Oregon
| some few of them are sent to the in
| sane asylums, the very last place they
ought to be, since they can be trained
| to some degree of usefulness. In Mon
tana they are grouped with the deaf
and dumb, a classification that must be
of damage to the deaf mutes. Maine,
| Vermont and Wyoming pass them on
to the other States, if accommodations
can be found. In the case of Maine
and Vermont, Massachusetts is looked
to for help, though its own State APP
rIicants exceed by hundreds every pos
sible accommodation at either Waverly
CT Barre. North Carolina, Georgia,
Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tex
as, Utah, South Dakota, Colorado and
q few other States do nothing for them,
unless the fact that many of them nat
urally gravitate to the poorhouse be
regarded as something done.
Now then, am l merely setting up a
man of straw in order to make a great
show of bravery in demolishing him
A glance around your own community
will confirm or disprove what l say.
Unlike the idiot, the feeble minded
man is able to reproduce his kind, and
strong intellects do not come from fee
minded parentage. Look around
your neighborhood and see if this is
correct.
! In nearly every poor-house of the
country will be found one or more fee
BILE minded women; all the inevitable
prey of depraved men, and year after
year their offspring are augmenting the
number of idiots or feeble-minded chill
dren. Such women often prove verita-
BILE fire-brands in a community, too
weak minded to know the evil of what
they do, too animalish to find pleasure
except in grossness, too feeble to re-
sst. If your knowledge confirms this
|
it is the same.
Again let it never more escape your
mind that feeble mindedness is incur
able. The brain of such may with ad-
vantage be trained to a certain point
and the hand acquire facility in han
ding tools. but after all is done the
feeble minded one remains so always
Esquirol, great authority, sums up
the matter this way: THE feeble-mind
minded person is like a man who is
born poor and always remains so; the
becomes poor"
Economy, humanity and all that is
nobleSt in the heart of man. declare
that for the sake of the happiness OF
these poor creatures, and for their
protection and the protection of So
ciety against a multiplying flood OF
idiocy, lunacy, inbecility, pauperism
and crime widespread plans, State by
State, Nation by Nation, must be
adopted to place these unfortunates
where they are helpless to themselves
and others. Look at the luke family
in one of the western counties of New
York. In seventy-five years, from a
faulty origin, it has produced 2Oj
thieves and murderers, $50 invalids af-
fiicted with blindness, phthisis OF
idiocy, 30 harlots and 800 children who
died in infancy. 1t has cost the State
over million dollars to look after
these people; all practically avoidable
| bxvra IS ~