Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-26
The Social Cost Of The Predetermined
By Judge L. F. Waldo Marvin, Trustee of Connecticut Train
 ing School for the Predetermined and President of Con-
 necticut Society for Mental Hygiene.

feed itself and get through the prim- ary grades at school and carry out sJic- cessfully certain simple forms of em- ployment Many persons of this class we meet and pass on the street with out thinking for moment that any thing is the matter. Nevertheless. these grown-up children are conscious or their own deficiencies and while mingling with normal people are made constantly conscious of their inferior ; ity. This produces a suIlen and re- sentful frame of mind which often leads to crime itself. A young man was recently released from the Weth- 1 ersheld State Prison, who had been twice convicted of arson and who is without question feeble-minded. A very considerable number of persons who have been convicted of murder in this state within the past two years have shown signs of marked mental defect. Females of this class are par ttcularly exposed to temptation be- cause, while they have no marked phy- stcal defect, they still have only the judgment of girl of twelve or four teen years, and feeling their inferior1ty to other girls, are all the more sus- ceptible to admiration or praise from men whose real objects are evil. Sta tistics in relation to the whole subject are incomplete, but the matter has been gone into far enough to justify the conclusion that 26 per cent of all
 
 and about 50 per cent, of the popula- tion of various homes for fallen women and similar institutions show marked mental defect.
 Future Generations.
 Tn additions to the burden which this class of feeble-minded directly i'm poses upon the public through their being at large is the still greater bur den which they are thus permitted to I i,.Iz lz--- generations. The feeble minded are exceedingly prolific, and feeble -mfnd- edness is in a very large degree her editary. The consequence Is that while a child of this class may not be much of a nuisance at home, and may even be of some use, 1t is just the one that ought to be segregated in an institution, not only for it's own sake but for the sake of future gen erations.
 At the present time in Massachu- setts there are 2300 feeble-minded persons under the care of state insti- tutions and a waiting list of 1000 who have either been legally committed or are waiting admission. The state of Connecticut has present provision for 300 and has made an appropriation which should provide for 25Q or 800 more. It will thus be seen that the state of Connecticut Is not only far behind its sister state, but has pro- VlOeQ TOT only aDOuL 70 per cent. or those in this state who are known to be in need of institutional care.I From all quarters the cry Is heard that the people are being taxed to the limit, but in many cases it may well be doubted whether the complaint is so much due to the amount of the tax imposed as to the manner in which it Is collected. However that may be, recent amend ments of the state laws relating to | taxation will undoubtedly provide the state with largely increased revenue, and it will be penny-wtse and pound foolish to neglect to provide for an in lection in the community which spreads in quickly multiplying circles as long as 1t is permitted to remain unchecked. It has been recently said with relation to Massachusetts that if all the feeble minded could be kept from parenthood for the next thirty | five or forty years the amount of alco- | holism, crime, diease and pauperism | that would have been prevented there by would fully pay in dollars and cents | the expense such a policy of segrega- i ton involves" There Is not the slight est doubt that the same Is true of Con- | necticut.