The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-11-10
DEGENERATE
WEAK MINDED
SAYS JUDGE

Minneapolis Min1.t pr. a.---T1is-.
cussing constructive policy where
BY the social evil May be rednced,'' Z
Chief Justice Harry Olson. of the
municipal court of Chicago was the
principal speaker at the International
Purity congress at it's afternoon ses-
sion here yesterday. Many OF the
speakers and delegates to the congress
occupied pulpits in Minneapolis
churches in the morning. ,.%~.sy.<
Judge Olson advocated the segrega-
ton of pupils in the schools and pri-
vate instruction in special schools, for
sub-normal children. The proper
training OF the feeble minded child,
before it has reached the age Of u
years. he declared, will reduce prosti-
tuition many fold. -.
This is an age Of preventive medi-
cine" he said. preventive medicine
has shown itself capable Of removing
many of the causes OF human misery
and sorrow. The hereditary mental
detectives, and indeed the whole sub
normal group, seldom develop in
telligence beyond that of the normal
child Of 12 years. This degree of in
diligence is not sufficient for the
ordinary affairs of life. Since this
age is the determining one in relation
to feeble -mindedness, one would ex-
pect that the retardation incident
| thereto woIll1 be recognized in the
public schools Most children attend
school at least until they are IL years
Of age. Here then is the crux Of the
situation. We must look to the pub
lie schools for the early identification
of the detectives. The Identification
of the sub-normaI defective should be
made before he has reached the juve-
nile court, where, as the result of
some individual offense against
society, he is sure to land .@,l,
'It Is a dangerous age, particularly
for girls, for If they do not make good
in school they leave and go to work
as soon as IA years Of age, and are
equally incompetent sometimes in the
business world, and fall easy prey to
unscrupulous men. Juvenile court
records in Milwaukee Indicate that a
majority Of girls reported there have
left school while in the fifth, sixth or
seventh grades, to go to work. A year
or two afterward comes their first
downfall and finally court prosecu-
tion.' .S....., i,
/ The public schools should be used
as clearing houses,' Judge Olson
continued. 'tBy this means these chil-
dren may he protected SO that they
need not recruit; the underworld and
-
stitutions ! The school teacher is fre-
quently able to identify the sub nor
NAL child because Of the fact that he
IS from two to four years behind his
grade. But these identiftcations can
not be- left to the teacher PsvchoIo- :
gists and physicians must be employ
led to report the conditions in every
school in the land. Great care must
be exercised. and consideration given
| to each individual case. y }L~'5T
i Teaching of sex hygiene in the
schools, he declared. becomes second :
ary to this more important and larger
proposition. M
! Only small proportion Of the. in
mates of the evil resorts have ever
passed the fifth grade In school, ac-
'cording to the sneaker, and that many
of them are feeble minded or at least
below the normal, according to inves
tigations made in the morals court in
Chicago where that class of prisoners
are arraigned, he said. fA,ss