The Washington herald., 1913-11-18
SEGREGATION FOR
IDIOTS IS URGED
District Has 500 Feeble
Minded, Lecturer Tells
Monday Evening Club.
CURE FOR INSANITY
Alexander johnson Says District
Should Have Institution to Pre-
vent Intermarriase.

Predetermined men and women should
be segregated and restrained from be-
coming parents Of like deficient children.
according to Alexander Johnson, lecturer
for the extension department OF the
Training School for Teachers Of the
Feeble-minded. at Vineland. N. j. who
spoke before the Monday Evening Club
I in the assembly hall OF the Y. N. c. A.
last night.
Failure to segregate and care for this
class has resulted in the birth Of idiots,
until now one in every 800 Of population
is mentally deficient. Mr.. johnson said
He said that feeble-mindedness Is prac-
tically certain to be transmitted, and
that, no matter how early children of
such parentage are taken in hand, they
can never be made normal
The most important step to be taken
in this country, he continued, In order
to stop the tremendous annual increase
of mentally unit II to take steps for
the immediate segregation OF feeble
minded females.
Marriage should Cease.
These women, and the feeble-minded
men as well. he said, should be put into
institutions and kept there until death.
and under no circumstances should they
be allowed TO marry
Mr.. johnson estimated that there are
between 600 and 500 feeble-minded in the
District. He stated that much can be
done toward stamping out the birth Of
idiots by a careful wedding out of these
people wherever found. and by the proper
precautions toward allowing all family
lines tending toward degeneracy to die
out.
There are three grades Of feeble-minded-
ness, he said. Those Of the lowest grade
- lots
development equal to a child Of three
years; then comes the imbeciles, with a
mental development OF from three to
eight years, and finally. the morons,
with a development Of from eight to
twelve years. In all three classes II is
impossible to effect cures.
InstitutIon for District.
Mr.. Johnson explained the work Of the
institution at Vineland, and showed many
lantern slides of inmates, groups of in
mates, and of the grounds and buildings.
The first aim of the institution, he said,
is TO prevent feeble-minded women from
becoming mothers, and its second TO
train all its helpless inmates to be self
supporting and contented. He advocated
an institution for feeble-minded for the
District, which, he said, could well be
established on the same plan as the
workhouse at OccoQuan.
President Nesbit announced the follow
ing appointments as chairmen Of the
committees charged with cooperation in
working out the social program OF the
Monday Evening Club. adopted last May:
Enforcement OF school attendance laws,
Edna X. Bushee; regulation Of child Ia
Dor, Charles d. Wescott; supervision of
dependent and neglected children, Mrs.
Walter S. Ufford; sanitation. not named;
municipal tuberculosis nurses. DR.. w. c.
Gwynn; municipal school nurses, Miss
Isabel Strong: a modern hospital, John
Joy Edison: a modern municipal lodging
house, Miss Aline Z. solomons; the ju-
venile court, Mrs Adolf Kahn; a national
training school for white girls. Deacon
ess Carroll: provisions for the treatment
of inebriates and drug victims, DR.. VIM.
L. Robins; provision for the care OF
feeble-minded. George 5. Wilson; a pa
rental school, DR.. Nora Meyer: open-air
school. Prof. Selden NJ. Ely; an effective
system Of school sanitation and hygiene
DR.. Willard Small; a system Of branches
and better support for the public library,
Miss Florence Spofford; vocational train
ing and guidance. Myron Jermain Jones;
playground and recreation centers, A. NJ.
Chesley; public comfort stations, Richard
B. Watrous; public bath and wash houses,
DR.. Paul B. Johnson; use of school build
ings as social and civic centers, George F.
Bowerman; establishment of a depart
ment of recreation, Z. S. Martin: compul-
sorry removal of careless and dangerous
tuberculosis patients, W. II. Baldwin: a
revised child labor law, DR.. A. j. Nc
Kelway; a revised school attendance
law. Miss Adelair DAVIS; amendments to
the so-called loan shark law" the Rev.
John Van Schaick. jr.; elimination OF all
inhabited and blind alleys. Mrs. f. P.
Bicknell; improved procedure for the
commitment of the insane, F. A. Tanning:
adoption Of an indeterminate sentence
law for adults, W. II. Whitaker; appoint
ment of women special agents possessing
police powers and authority, Rabbi Simon:
social hygient. n. Dorsey.
Elected to Membership.
The following were elected to member
ship: Arthur Deerin Call, John Cum
mings, Charles E. Foster, Mrs. Charles
E. Foster, Clytus A. Freeman, Miss Mar
garet Keogh, Miss Carolina Klager, Miss
H. M. Mack. Wells Merriam, Edward
White. Mrs. Elenanor W. Collins, Mrs.
Sylvester C. Parker, Rev. Charles L.
Carhart, Frank Z. Edgington. Florence
w. Layton. Rev. ]. W. Meeks, Rev. John
T. Ensor, Raymond w. Pullman. Mrs.
Merrill E. Gates, Miss Cora McCarty,
Miss Leila Bronson. Miss Maud Bron-
son, Mrs. H. l.. Parkinson, Allen B. Fay,