The Washington times., 1914-05-15
.EEBLE. .N|NDEDHESS
IN WOMEN STUDIED
.. H. H. Hart Demands New
System of Dealing With Fe-
male Offenders.

, Nv YORK. May l5-At the first
Ftr in what he SAYS will be a relent-
Z fight TO decrease the number of
n ntally imperfect infants born in New
K annually, Dr.. Hastings II. Hart.
H. cCtor OF the department of chi d.
" ping, of the RusseH sage Foundation,
onducting an investigation into tie
AE ent Of feeble mindcdness among New
}, x women.
n a preliminary report he has Just
onpleted ,Dr. Hart estimates there are
|Rl ut 5000 feeble-minded persons in
b State at the present time. OF hese.
- says. only 500 are cared for in in
81 tutions designated for their care,
" lie 1O.Go0 arc confined in institutions
nrt intended for them, and 1900, half OF
q total number. are at large in the
Immunity. There are about 10000
(, eble-minded women and girls OF child
Oaaring age in the State. DR.. Hart es-
/ mates, of whom, he says. probably
m ore than 5000 are at large in the COM
unity.
Why is it that the state has pro-
\ ded institutions for $500 insane.
y lille it has provided institutions for
oily 1900 feeble-minded?' he asks in
Is preliminary report. He then an
swers the question himself. 1t Is be
Csuse Of the popular superstition in the
community" he declares. that the in
sane are dangerous while the feeble
D. uded are harmless. We are learning
last that the feeble minded boy ana
E.EI are three times as great a menace
t. the community as the senIie dethent n
ID the mild chronic insane in our hos
! lals.
> II every feeble-minded woman should
ha faithfully segregated for twenty
. ars. at least 90 per cent of the feeble
would disappear. Feeble
- 1ndedness is no less an evil than tu-
, rrculosls, but its eXti-pation Is much
. npier problem than the eXtirpation Of
: e white plague. AS IT is, We are mu!-
= nlyinS the feeble-minded variety of the
man race in the State of New York
IN increasing rapidity. Recent iaVes-
I cations reveal the fact that from 70
g.. 20 per cent of the inmates of our
lis prisons and reformator:es arc lee
. e-minded. and we are discovering that
IT very large proportion of the pi ostl-
ties, perhaps % per cent are feeble
minded.
Or. Henry H. Goddard, Of Vineland.
y J.. states that the feeble-mt tlded girl
vastly more dangerous 20 the com
unity than the boy. The reason Tor
rs statement is that the hercdIty OF
. eble-rrindedness for the most part
,.unes from the girl. Not only. is TINS
rue. but investic aticns made IN New
y, -sey have demonstrated that the No
an OF this class is twice as prolific
the normal woman. This a'iSeS
trtly from the fact that she is unable
., protect herself, and partly from the
tact that she is not affected by the
oral restraints or the regard of con-
.Iuences which restrain the normal
oman. The feeble minded Girl OF
fifteen. sixteen or eighteen years is,
n body. a woman with the instincts
and dangers of womanhOod, but in mind
she is child no more responsible than
her younger sister of six or eight years
Vet she is not provided win the same
chivalrous pretentiUn that is accOrdel 4
her little sister. although she is entitled
more protection. l recently saw in
hospital for the insane a feeble
minded woman vino had been the
mother OF nine children