Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1910-05-07
CLUBWOMEN HEAR
PLEAS ON BEHALF
OF FEEBLE MINDED
Federation Addressed Today by
Head of State Home for
Detectives.
[rrom a STAR correspondent. ]

New Jersey state Federatlon OIL
Women's Clubs, which has been in con-
ference for two days in the Lyceum
here, was e. r. Johnson. superin-
tendent of the New Jersey Training
School for Predetermined Children, o.
Vineland, who spoke on conservation
of the child. Mr.. Johnson said in part:
From my viewpoint, l wish to divide
children into four great classes--the ex-
ceptionally bright, the normal, the
backward and the feeble minded.
4 Until verv recently nothing was
done for backward children. They took
the time of the teacher which belonged
to others; they needed twice as much
attention; they took the place of an
other child when they spent a second
year in grade; they usually were
disturbers of the peace; they wore out
the teachers patience, and they did not
understand and did not get along.
How many are backward because
of Illness, adenoids or other nose and
throat troubles, ignorance of the Eng
lish language. poor eyesight, starting
late, general slowness of development,
actual mental deficiency?
ASK, and keep on asking, what do
you propose to do about it? You have
a right to know You have no right
to let your child go on as at present
without knowing. A backward child.
unframed, becomes menace to him.
self and to his fellows. He is led
astray. His will, Judgment and reason
are not developed, and he is "in
trouble" which means trouble for
others He is, however, child. and
as such is entitled to every good thing
we can give him.
I'm the case of the feeble minded
child the far past was sad mistreat-
ment, misunderstanding and neglect
The Spartans let him die on the noun
tains. The church called him the child
of the devil. It was not until 1900 that
civilization, in the person of the French
physician Itard. recognized in him
something above the beast. The first
efforts were tow&rd making him normal
and fitting him for citizenship, but now
we know better.
1--WE understand that the feeble
minded person has lesson. Some of
the brain substance Is missing and can
no more be used or brought back than
can the hand that has been cut off;
as we have studied this feeble-ninded
child carefully we find that there is
much that we can do for him. The
mentally deficient child Is actually
trainable to noticeable degree only
through a space of very few years.
Training beginning before Z and train
ing continued after 1s Is seldom worth
the time and attention II takes
ut behooves us, therefore, to study
our problem carefully and eliminate
from our line of training all of these
things which past experience shows us
to be Ineffective. Then we must Sc
lect and use every thing that has proven
of value, but most important of all we
must select only those things which
will lead to knowledge and power, such
as our pupil is likely to want to use
and will have the opportunity to use
The, man who spends his life at sea
need not know much of irrigation.
"The child of the tropics is but slight
ly interested in the best method of pre-
pairing blubber for food. The mentally
deficient child, If actually defective
should be under custody somewhere al
his life. Even If he is classed among
the backward, the probability is thai
he will not travel far. and that he vii
not have a very wide range of wants
Because as ] have said, his time fol
learning is short, we must limit the
things presented. to him to those We
know to be important
HE will never earn his living by
| head work Therefore he needs of the
three RS only enough to teach him t.
read the simplest things, to write hi'
name, and perhaps a simple letter, tt
count money and perform the most ele
mentary Of arithmetical combinations
! Mr.. Johnson was applauded by the
! club women when he gave advice Il
| them go home and ask your HUSBAND
| to not give his consent for your daugh
| ter to marry any man until he has beer
| examined physically by your own fam
| lily physician. This would be a very
| important factor in the prevention O.
| increasing the population of feeble
minded
He explained how alcohol degenerate,
is transmitted. Heredity Is the prima
caus, for all this portion of the popu
lation, said Mr.. Johnson, who urget
the women to recognize the causes ant
|
prevent an increase of such evils.
A council Of presidents and count,
chairmen was held at $3.50 o'clock IL
| the armory. Mrs. Edward S. Robinson
chairman, presided. Routine business
vas discussed.
Mrs. e. b. Showell. retiring chairman
of the reciprocity bureau. stated tha
her department had received twenty
six new papers, and said when she tool
charge of the bureau two years and {
half ago there were seventy-sever
papers. Today there are 120.
Conservation of Human Life Througl
Museums of Safety was the subject o
an address by DR.. William H. Tolman
director of the American Museum o
Safety. He said that manufacturers
could do great work in conservint
human life by adopting safety appli
ances in their factories which would
reduce to minimum the danger of ac
cident
]. Horace Mcfarland, president o
the American Civic Association, talked
on "Billboards and Natural Beauty
He said that the women could do {
great deal toward abolishing the un
slightly billboards. and declared tina
the United States government was on,
of the chief offenders by placing thei
billboards alongside of beer, whiskey
and other unsightly signs.
| That woman is always in a state o
1 infoxication not from alcohol bu