New-York tribune., 1907-12-06
EDUCATION OF BLIND.
Mss Wimfred Holt AdUocates Id
mitting Them 10 Public Schools.

Miss winifred Holt, secretary Of the New York
Association the Blind. hopes that the time VIII
come when the youth the country will celebrate
July not with Jess patriotism but with less dan
ger TO themselves Talking 10 the Legislative
League at the Wadorf-Astoria yesterday she said:
II hope that with the progress OF CIVILIZATION our
small boys and girls Will be induced 10 content
themselves with airshps and wireless teleEraphy,
instead of pistols and fireworks When all pre-
ventabIe causes OF blindness removed. there
will be few blind children 10 care for. Helen
Keller SAYS that when the promises of the future
fulfilled tho institutions for detectives whlch
now our prido will survive only as terrible
monuments 10 our Ignorance and the needless
MISERY which once endured"
When Miss Holt had hnished. MIS- X e bene-
dict indorsed what she had said about Fourth Of
July celebrations
IF told you she said that as crossed the
ferry this morning so persons were killed. MANNED
blinded you would be horror-stricken. But
when / say that the number killed and injured all
over tho country last Fourth OF july reached the
same figures Il makes no impression on you.
have been working for nine years get
thing done about this and last year the number
OF accidents was greater than ever. am heart
sick and discouraged. Last Fourth of July 6t0 OF
children made totally blind. and women
fold their hands and do absolutely nothing
Eben Morford, superintendent Of the Industrial
Home for Blind Men in Brooklyn said that these
remarks came homo to him in very personal way.
1T not July g." lie said, but in No
vember that lost my sight through the accidental
discharge Of pistol in the hands OF a small boy"
As regards the education of blind children. both
Miss Holt and Mr. Morford advocated tseir being
sent 10 the public schools along with other chill
dren.
There is no reason" said Mr.. Morford. "for
The erection of large buildings and the eXpendi-
ture OF large sums of money for the separate
education of blind children With a very little
extra equipment they could be educated in the pub
lie school and after the first few years with the
help Of books in rnised print they could take their
places in the regular classes
BY the present method of separate education
the state, by expenditure of $4,000 annually
succeeds in educatiGs only about half tho blind
children" Miss Holt said. the other half. amount
ing three hundred at the present time. bein,
left 10 grow up in complete Ignorance.
Compulsory education and the admission of
blind children into the public school would solve
the problem of what to do with these chill
dren without increasing materially the burden on
the state. This method would slso tend TO keep
the blind children In their own homes thus pre-
venting their being institutionalized. thinking
themselves a class of detectives who need spe-
cial treatment. All they really need is a strong
body and special methods for reading and writing"
After Mrs. Hollis address Mrs. Borrman Wells.
English suffragette. was introduced She said
that the suffragettes meant 10 go on making them
selves Objectionable possible until their
legislators were weary and ready TO anything
o these quiet"