The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-18
FEEBLE-M|NDED WOMEN
RECEIVE GOOD CARE
Ninety of Them Are Housed in
Institution for Feeble Minded
Youth at Fort Wayne.
A SAVING OF n

One Of the most important steps taken by
Indiana in recent years was that providing
for the custody of fe~eble-minded women at
the School for Predetermined Youth at Fort
Wayne. In the new building. Harper lodge,
are ninety women who are not able to con-
troll themselves. Whoever has seen such
persons In the poor asylums. where they
are generally unkempt. unemployed and
often unrestrained, will be struck by a visit
to this cottage. Its neatness, the cleanliness
of its bedding. linen and of the inmates
clothing attests the result of the training
that has been given them. These women do
washing, cleaning. household work and
sewing. They also keep the lawns in order,
grow flowers and vegetables. They do
much toward their own support. They are
under the control of kin women and there
is no probability of their being the mothers
OF another generation of detectives to be a
blight upon society and an expense to the
public. The State Charities Board bulletin
says:
I'm the poor asylums on Aug. 81. 1903,
there were present 4O4 feeble-minded wom-
en-. One hundred and seventy of these were
between sixteen and forty-ive years of age,
and were, therefore, eligible for commit
ment to the school at Fort Wayne. Some
of the records of these women are very in
complete. FROM those that are Ialrly Iull
We learn that one woman Is said to nave
had twelve children, another eleven, an
other eight. These are extreme cases. Many
of them have had but one. From the poor
asylum reports the records of five women
are taken for the purpose of illustration OF
the evil results that come from these poor,
unrestrained women. From this partial
record we learn that nineteen children have
been born to these five women, and of ff-
teen Of these there are In the office of the
Board or state CHARITIES fairly complete
records. These fifteen children have to date
been maintained In the poor asylums and
School for Predetermined Youth a total of
l4 years four months, at a cost of 500 per
year, which Is a very conservative estimate,
have cost the public $40. 400 and ten of them
are still on public support. These ten chill
dren. part in the School for predetermined
Youth and part in the orphans homes, cost
the public last year $1,163.10. All are young
and are likely to remain public charges for
many years to come. From a purely eco
nomic standpoint the State had done we'll to
segregate those five women years ago.
Could they have been placed under State
care twenty years ago they would have cost
maintaining the fifteen children, which has
already amounted to over &c., 600 and is still
averaging more than $1,1W a year, would
not have been added to the burden of the
taxpayer.
Few persons realize the suffering, the
moral degradation, and, not least, the in
creasing expense entailed upon the public
by the progeny, often Legitimate, of feeble
minded women. Could our citizens know
the whole truth, the enormous expense and
group OF degenerates they would be amazed
Could they look into the future and see
what would be the accumulated cost piled
up before them in money. in immortality, In
would not rest until they had sought means
TO prevent all this"