Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-05-14
Report of Committee to Conference of
Charities and Correction.
RESTRICTIONS UPON MARRIAGE
Considering Care of Destitute and
Neglected Children.
NEE TIN.GS OF SECTIONS S

to consideration of the report of the COM
mittee on the care Of the feeble minded and
ep1leptlcS. The report of the committee
was made by the chairman, DIR. VIM. A.
Polglase, superintendent of the Michigan
Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptics
of Lapeer. Mich. Following the reading Of
the report papers were read by DR.. Arthur
{. Rogers, superintendent of the Minnesota
School for Feeble Minded at Fairbault on
Legal Restrictions on the Marriage of the
Unfit" and by Margaret Bancroft, superin-
tendent of the Training School for Feeble
Minded Haddonfield, N. j., on THE Classi-
fication of the Mentally Deficient"
Three section meetings were held to con-
slider the questions of destitute and neglect
ed children, juvenile reformatories and the
insane.
Reviews Conditions.
DR.. Polglase reviews the conditions at
tending the treatment Of the feeble .ninded
in times past when there was little intel
ligence or system used in dealing with
them. Now it has been found, he said,
that 30 per cent of such children are ca
pable of doing work in homes provided for
them sufficient for their maintenance. Ra-
tional care of this class Of children had re-
suited in a great deal of benefit not only
to them. but to the community at large.
Miss. Bancroft defined the various forms
of abnormal or subnormal conditions Quite
a large number of the criminal class Of to-
day, she said, were among the backward
children of generation ago. She thought
the deficient children should have schools
separate from others, who are of normal
capacity, in which they could receive at
tention fitted to their peculiar needs. The
specialist rather than the family physician
should be consulted in order to assist the
deficient child.
Every child of deficient powers that had
come under her notice had had ability to
improve She had not found one who had
remained unchanged or had gone backward
when placed under favorable conditions. 1t
had often been found that the youngest
child of family had been deficient. The
surroundings, his diet and daily habits have
a great deal to do with the condition of the
epileptic. The present knowledge Of epi
lepsy, she said, is very unsatisfactory. The
mentally deficient had, she declared, many
beautiful qualities. They are children, al
though Of older years. and she had never
found one of them who did not advance
under favorable environment. To speak
of putting these children out of the world
was as cruel as to consider putting ones
neighbor out of the world because he does
not come up to some ones standard Of
mental physical perfection. What could
be done was to prevent such children from
coming into the world. Parents should be
made to understand that mental deficiency
in children is a disease, and that such chill
dren should very early receive special at
tention.
Marriage of the UnRt.
A paper pi epared by DR.. Arthur c. Rog
ers supernten of the Minnesota School
for Feeble Minded of Faribault was read
on the legal.restrictions on the marriage of
the unfit. This subject, he said. had been
considered by several legislatures OF states
during the past winter. Among these were
the legislatures Of Colorado, Indiana, Min
nesota Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. While
iS al nf 0ft nm, hQd of
received as joke. yet 1t had finally been
seriously considered. DR.. Rogers thought
law preventing marriages in cases Of
serious physical or mental defects would
state had always held the right to interfere
with personal liberty when the good Of the
state is jeopardiZed. The church had al
ways recognized some impediments to mar
riage, and he did not believe it would resist
objections against certain classes OF mar
riage when urged by the state. Legislation
Is applicable to restriction so far as 1t can
be based on exact knowledge.
1.-THE idea Is growing" he said. that
there are too many ill-advised marriages
for the good of society. Two facts are es-
pecially Responsible for the increasing in
terest in this subject-the large number of
divorces and desertions and the large num-
ber of detectives and delinquents requiring
state support or assistance. At the Toron-
to meeting Of this conference in 1897 pa
per was presented by Mrs. Wells Of Bos-
ton urging national law to prohibit the
marriage Of the feeble minded and insane.
Since that time there have been numerous
eligibility to marriage by various public or
semi-public bodies of more less infiu-
ence in the country"
The Lindley bill in Indiana provided for
the appointment Of a commission to con-
slider the conditions Of eligibility to legal
marriage, and report to the legislature with
suggested legislation to carry the recon-
mendations into effect. The bill failed to
raceiya . cOpStif utiOpa1 m
The Colorado and Wisconsin bills each
provided for the appointment by the judge
of probate or county judge Of a medical
commission in each county to pass upon
applicants for marriage license.
In Minnesota the Chiffon bill was made
to apply only to insane, feeble-minded ed and
epileptic when under forty-fve years Of
age. A certificate of a reputable physician
to the effect that neither of these fmpedi-
ments existed was sufficient to permit the
issuance of license. AS the bill passed this
was eliminated. the clerk Of the court being
left with the responsibility of deciding as
to the eligibility Of the applicant.
Among the arguments used against the
passage of laws restricting marriage have
been that law in one state would result
in sending the applicants to another state,
that there is lack of public sentiment to
sustain it, it is an outrage upon the liberty
of the church, it interferes with personal
liberty and would tend to increase i'm
morality, and the difficulty in determining
the degree or disease or defect that should
be prohibited.
Destitute and Neglected Children.
The section meeting to consider methods
of caring for destitute and neglected chill
dren was held in Columbian University Hall
from II 80 to l pm, the reading of three
papers being followed by discussion under
the five-minute rule.
The special feature of child-saving work
under state supervision was considered
from three points Of view-such work with
a state school. without such a school and
without state supervision at all.
Mr.. c. D. Randall of Coldwater Mich,
showed the advantages and some of the de-
fects of child-caring in state schools, and
Mr.. Thomas E. Ellison of Fort Wayne
Ind, treated the subject from the stand
point Of doing the work without a state
school. Mr.. Ellison dwelt upon the need of
human sympathy In dealing with children
which was to be found in the home rather
than in any institution Mr. Joseph p
Byers, secretary of the state board of
charities of Ohio. spoke of child-saving
work without state supervision.
second section meeting was held in the
Law School Hall of the university, and was
CONTINUED on Twelfth Page.)