The Mena weekly star., 1906-07-12

Washington, July 10.-About one person in every 1,200 was blind ana one in every $50 persons was deaf in the United States in 1900, according tc special census report on the blind md deaf in the United States in that year just issued by the census bureau. The inquiry was conducted under the direction of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. who determined the scope of the investigation and wrote the text or the report on the deaf.
 The total number of blind in the United States in 1900 was 64,763, or whom 35,365 were totally blind and 2911S partially blind.
 These figures, however, the report says. can only be considered as the minimum, as an unknown proportion ,f the blind were not located by the enumerators. Of the total blind, 37.054 were males and 27,709 females The blindness is chiefly a defect oi adult life, almost 65 per cent. of the blind becoming so after 20 years ol age. About one-tenth of the total number of blind were born so. The number of blind per 1000 of popula- ton was greater among the negroes than among the whites, and greater among the foreign born whites than among the native whites.
 In about per cent. of the cases oi blindness reported the parents Of the blind were cousins. Of the bllnd whose parents were so related 70 per cent. were congenitally blind, while among the blind whose parents were not cousins the proportion congenital- lv blind was only 6.s per cent.
 i of the blind at least ten years old,
 20 per cent were engaged in sonic gainful occupation.
 The percentage of persons engaged
 in professional pursuits trade anu
 transportation and in manufacturing
 and mechanical industries are larger
 among the totally blind than among
 the general population.
 l Deafness on the whole, the report says. is more common in the northern part of the United States than Tn the
 southern and there are more deaf males than females. The total num-
 Der of deaf in the United States is giv- l en as S9.2S7, of whom 37,A2G were to- tally deaf and 51,S6l partially deaf.
 From the latte. class, are eliminated l those merely hard of hearing" The l ~f har ar
 of persons as deaf as l2l, ITS and the
 opinion is expressed that the returns | for 1890 were undoubtedly excessive while those for 1900 are deficient Of the totally deaf 52.5 per cent were
 males Negroes constitute He per
 cent of the general population and on-
 ly 52 per cent of the deaf. That the
 negroes seem less susceptible to deaf
 ness than the whites, the report says
 is probably due in part to less com l plete returns from the negro deaf. .
 Of the totally deaf 91 per cent were so from childhood under 20 years of age) and 36 per cent from birth. Of
 the S9,92S persons returned as deaf 55,501 were able to speak we'll, 9,417 imperfectly and the remainder not at all. The report presents figures to show that the schools for the deaf are doing excellent work in teaching articulate speech. When the subject of deafness is considered from the point of view of consanguinity, 1t would seem that heredity has played (. part in producing congenital deafness and the deafness occurring in adult life; whereas. deafness occurring in early childhood, after birth and under age of five, is probably to large ex- tent adventions. Of those at least ten years old among the deaf 3S5 per cent were gainfully employed as compared with 5o.2 per cent among the general population. Of the deaf who were gainfully employed 89.7 per cent were found in occupations in which perfect or even partial hearing is not essential.