South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-04-17
NAME COMMITTEE OF
COUNTY CHARITY COUNCIL
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ing solutions fol- various problems
facing social welfare workers. par
ticularly the problem Of dealing with
the feeble minded
Mr Frown is IA member Of the
state hoard Of children's guardions,
and also of the governors commits
sion Tor the scudy Of feeble minded
ness. His talk. an unexpected fea-
ture Of the mornings program, fol-
lowed a report given by w. r. Mil
Ter on certain cases of dependency
and delinquency. the handling Of
which has puzzled the local board.
che question of what 10 do with the
apparently normal children OF sub
normal or feeble minded parents 80
whether To place them in good fam
lies or 10 keep them in the or
Ihans home, eventually TO turn
them out into the world anyways
constantly presenting itself. Another
problem is what 10 do with a feeble
minded child after ne has passed the
age when he can legally remain the
charge of an orphans home.
The problem OF mental defec-
tives," said Mr. Brown, lis greater
than any of us realize. All of our
other problems. | believe, are largely
problems Of mental detectives, our
relief work, our delinquency and our
Jruancy problems. IT September
there were 1851 dependent children
in our orphans homes. OF the feeble
mindedness Of geo of these children
there was no question. OF the re-
naming number % per cent were
backward from four TO seven years.
I'm the public schools of the various
states from 25 TO 80 per cent are re-
tarded. In our boys and girls in
dustrial schools 6 3 per cent are men
tai detectives and so per cent are re-
Jarded 1t is 2 known fact that
there are four times that many ont
in society
Two WAYS of Attack
There are two ways in which we
can meet this problem Of the men
tai defective: Segregation and steril-
lzatiou. We have not been able 10
do very much with the latter meas
ure so far It's constitutionality is in
question. and moreover we have no
public sentiment behind us as yet.
We can do nothing without public
sentiment In order 10 care for the
feeble minded adequately by segre-
lation we must have another insti-
tuition"
The subject ot truanCy was dis
CUSsed and we'll handled BY Frank
Wolfe. principal OF the Perley school.
and Mrs Rose =. Grimes of Misha-
waka principal OF the Bingham
school MishaW1ka- Miss Olive Bal
ley told of the work Of the children's
dispenslry. owing TO a lack Of timc
Il. r. Barnes talk on Recreation
Work With children" was omitted.
Problem OF TruancN.
"Our public schools do not ap-
proach children by way OF their nat
ural inchnations. I am convinced
that much OF our truancy is due 10
that fact" Mr.. Wolfe asserted. We
have taken the first steps in the
right direction since we have passed
laws making il possible for school
corporations 90 INCLUDE IN tneir cur
licula subjects that will appeal &c
active children when they are at the
active age We have here in South
Bend oar industrial scnooI in the
old jefferson school building. which
has sreatly helped in the solution
o. our problem Of truancy very re-
markedly in some cases. since the
installation of the new department
at the Kaley schonl. the principal.
there tells me that her truaDcy prob
lem is very nearly solved II is
my observation also that truancy
IS very closely related 10 feeble
mindcdneSs."
Mrs Grimes too. was OF the opin-
ION that coercion will not solve the
problem Of truanCy but that play
grounds, medical inspection. voca-
tional training. = W. c. AS and T.
n. c. AS. and the Big Brother
movement viii by getting at the root
of the problem and eliminating the
causes.
Miss Bailey outlined the work of
the children's dispensary. which has
Teen characterized by those inter
csted IN social Welfare work as the
ereatest of our charitable institu-
tions she told or the clinics Tor
the instruction OF mothers. # the
/ dispensaCon OF certified milk and
feelings. OF the hospital care Of
sick babies. o. the distribution of
cduca5ional literature and instruc-