The evening world., 1911-05-09
DR.. Schlapp Would Have State
Assume Full Control Of
Mentally Deficient.
WHERE LAW NOV ERRS.
Present Institutional Training
and Treatment Come Too
Late and Are Too Brief.

nv resistration or every feeble
minded child in this State. It's exam
nation by a commission OF experts, who
snail prescribe treatment for Its cure.
are proposed by Or. Max G.. schlapp OF
Cornell Medical School for the abate.
ment Of the terrifying growth OF juve-
nile criminality In this and other ci-
ties. DR.. schiapp's poation a. ai!enist
OF the Childrsn's Court gives him arst-
hand knowledge Of this growing evil,
which. to the minds Of sociologists, 10 q
menac which needs TO bs checked a.
BOON ~ possible.
Our whole system Of dealing with the
feeble-minded child 10 wofully WRONG,
declared DR.. schlapp to-day. The best
We are doing 10 to confine the feeble
minded child. who has begun to display
criminal tendencies. In an institution.
There he 10 kept six months. Then he
IL discharged. and I have known of
cases where h young offender has
committed h lame offense for which
he was confined a. soon az he was dis
charged. This has been done over and
over again.
No Time for q CuS.
The fault IL not with the institutions.
but with the law which releases the
defective child before any cure can be
effected. l am in favor of keeping such
q child In an institution, assuming that
he should be sent to an Institution at
all. until he has been entirely cured.
How important 1t Is for the state to
begin to take effective steps in this
ynatAr' - continued nr SrhIoVn s.,ac hA
judged when l tell you that there are
1900 feeble-minded children In New
York City alone"
How do you arrive at that hgureT
the reporter inquired.
AT least one per cent. Of the children
who attend the public schools of this
city are feeble-minded The number Of
school children in this city 10 between
s0o,0 900 and 1900. This gives as between
5000 and 1000 feeble minds. Then there
are At least 5000 feeble-minded children
who never reach the public school,"
DIR. S%chlapp's attention was called 10
q newspaper article In which he is
quoted as saying nat there are l2.ooo
morally insane children In this city.
Has Been M%isquoted.
Il said nothing Of the sort" DR..
SCIldIp dCNldt GU ~ ~ " shhS
quotation. There is no question that a
Eoodiy proportion OF these feeble-minded
children are also morally insane: but
VIVA proportion I am o prepared to
say. But l can say this-that fifty per
cent. OF c~riminality among children u
due to feeble mindedness.
Moral insanity Is an entity" DR..
Schlapp went on to explain. which Is
recognizable from certain symptoms. A
child that Is well developed intellectu-
ally. or more than ordinarily developed.
may be morally insane as easily as a
child that Is mentally defective.
Define moral insanity" echoed the
alienist. "a child Is morally insane II
II cannot inhibit certain desires. 1t Is
deficient on Its ethical side. no matter
how normal It nay be otherwise. II
the ethical impulses are not developed.
that Is moral insanity.
such a child will steal. merely be-
cause It wants the thing 1t steals. with
out regard to whom the thing belongs
10. 1t will take for the mere pleasure
OF acquiring. Such a child may become
n pyromaniac, setting FIRE to houses.
sometimes. for the mere Joy OF seeing
the engines responding to N alarm.
Such q child may be cruel to Its
parents. to It's brothers. Its sisters, to
animals. 1t may infict torture for the
pleasure II derives from hearing the
cries of pain OF human being or animal.
Unless this tendency Is checked the
danger Is great. not only to the child
but to society. Such a child may de-
velop into a moral pervert. or. IL irr.-
tsted and excited. into a murderer"
Then would you call what 10 COM
child morally insane?" the reporter
asked.
"No-not exactly" DR.. Schlapp an
swered. Weighing the question, but II
the tendency toward quick temper should
go unchecked. moral insanity might
develop"
How would you cure his evll?"
That Is not a question to be an
swered o~ff-hand," DR.. Schlapp replied.
this much is certain: II We begin
early enough We can teach most feeble
minded children ethical values. and the
need for inhib!tins certain desires. OF
course. a great many are not capable
OF being taught. but when you realize
that even cretins are being cured YOU
can Judge that there Is hope for all OF
them.
AT least they must be restrained from
constantly yielding TO their impulses.
The lack Of power to inhihit themselves
must not be fostered by paying no at
tentlon to their weaknesses. by letting
them run around loose In the streets to
carry out their own peculiar wills. The
danger to society from such a course
need not be dwelt upon, The ethical
idea should be drilled into them In re-
AT present we arc doing practically
nothing" said DR.. Schlapp. returning
to tho subject Of the s lte's neglect OF
the feeble-minded child. III We could
only get hold OF them early enough We
could accomplish a great deal. But We
get them now between the ages of ten
fifteen. BY this time the brain has
been abnormally developed along the
wrong lines, and we are too late, Tle
commission that I have IN mind should
be empowered to decide what children
need 10 be confined In institutions. and
for how long n period.
Europe is awakening to the fact that
especially among children
and the ~half-grown. is increasing rap
Idly" the doctor continued. Germany
Is especially alarmed. She has discov-
cred q startling increase In orimlnAlity. |
The Juvenile criminals between the ages
Of twelve n eighteen there In 1887
we're o.7ls. an average Of 80 Per 100. 900.
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