The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-28

Imindedness and is told from the inn beetles by the imparedness of speech
 found. The morons are of the high est class. Some of these develop
 mind equal to that of a twelve year
 old child, and that in itself is unusual
 for the mentally weak.
 The growth of the mind, regardless
 of the age of the man or woman Is
 handed them with grotesQue figures
 upon it, and they are asked to point
 which is the prettiest.s If they sue
 ceed, their minds are equal to a six
 year old child. They are then hand
 ed a card with pictures of men and
 women upon it, with some feature, a
 nose or mouth missing, and if, they
 succeed in telling the missing feature they are of seven years old develop
 ment. This@ system is followed out
 until the age is discerned. This sys-
 tenn is very successful and only at
 times do they succeed in varying in
 more than year or two in mental growth.
 FEEBLE MINDED ALWAYS FILL JATLS.
 He explained that Q great many morons are now enjoying responsible ipositions in manufacturing and labor ing lines and that the7 succeed in making their living. But it is only the 1norons that succeed in doing this, while the more pronounced feeble minded persons, soon become inmates of our Jails. asyIums and aImshouses. These feeble minded. he told hIs hearers, are more dangerous to the community than the insane These feeble minded are allowed to propo-
 gate and bring children into the world
 This, he declared, was one of the dangers of allowing them their liper- ty He emphasized the necessity. of lsegregation. Of the thousands of fec M ded per cent. of them were properly taken care of
 The work of doing away with vice. poverty and crime. he declared, was made more difficult by this unrestric- tion of the mentally deficient. The Jails, he said, are filed with these mental deficients, and the cities and states will have to take measures for the segregation of the feeble minded before they can empty their pehiten- tiarfes, insane hospitals and aims houses This class is continually growing because of the failure of the Legislatures to see this evil
 He pleaded with the conference to appeal to the legislature for this se- gregation. He declared that Connec- ticut was in needs of farm at the present time Only i've acres at present are given to this class and he declared that these people would become se1f-supporting if proper su- pervision was given them.
 BRIDGEPORT HAS 1,5OO FEEBLE MINDED.
 He dec1a4ed that at the present tirne there were at least 1,500 mentally ded- Icfent persons walking about the streets of Bridgeport These, he said, should be taken care of bg the state He gave a view of the heredfty of feeble mindedness and veneraI dis. eases. In almost every case of a mentally deficient child being sent to the school where he is now, tracing has discovered that at some time in the past one of the mem bers of the family have been mentally deficient In some cases both the father and moth CT were feeble minded, and produced a large family of children, who soon became public charges. either in- mates of asylunns for the weak-unfrd- ed, jai1s and houses~of prostitution. He advocated a Jaw that would not allow mentally deficient epiIeptics and alcoholics from intermarriage. He said that he realized the impossilbility 1 of securing this. at the present time, and because of tli1s segregation was
 the only solution.
 I He gave statistics that the insane
 were now employed in useful labor in asylums in many states, and he der
 cIared that the feeble minded could
 do this to greater extent. He advo-
 
 now in general use in many states. THE COLONY PLAN. Buildings suitable for accommodate
 ing from twenty to fifty persons are
 buiH upon an outlying portion of the farm, and under the supervision of
 lone of their number are allowed to tc1ear the brush away, and to plant
 oates for both men and women as
 he believes the outdoor life is more Ihea1thfu1. Great care is given so that
 there is no contact between the male and female inmates.
 l One case he had found in the alnns- f house he declared was unusually
 revolting. And yet he declared that ithese conditions prevail in many tplaces. Eight feeble minded women in Ian a1mshouse were unmarried and yet gave birth to twenty children in five years These are the conditions that
 conference to work for Legislation for tthe segregation of these men and women so that these mentally deficient were not born to fill houses of prostitu ton. to bear iI1egftimate children, to
 fill our almshouses, our asylunns and our jai1s.
 Dr. c. T. LaMoore, superintendent of | the Connecticut School for Imbeci1es, lied the discussion of the subject at
 the conclusion of the addI ess by MT. Johnson.
 NOT ENOUGH FARM LAND. He declared at the present time that there is not enough farm land given l to the school for the admfttance of even a small proportion of the feeble
 minded of the state. In order to provide work for those already ad- I mitted. and they number $50, he de-
 5cIared that it is necessary to change ttf1e barn f1r&o factory. He also declared that the insane of
 the state were not as bad in general way to be allowed the freedom of the cities, as the feeble minded. The feeble minded bore a great many children, l and because of this he favored .stricter segregation for this class of the pub- lie charges He declared that at the