Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-01-16

Poorhouses Inspected ................. q
Children placed on probation .......
Children removed from three homes
where parents were infected with
venerenl disease ...,...........,.....
Baby farms" found and investigated 2
Orphanage Involving 60 children
Investigated Observation-Disclosures.
Vermont has made no provision for
the maintenance of dependent and neg
lected children, neither has it made any
financial provision for the surgical treat
ment Of defective. dependent children
and while no funds were available by
law for this work, II was apparent to the
board and the governor that there was
large number of cases where there
were physical defects requiring surgical
or hospital treatment and care. The
governor sent letters to number of
philanthropically disposed citizens of the
state, calling attention to the situation
and the need of funds. There was contri-
buted, as result of these letters, over
twenty-five hundred dollars, which has
been set apart as the Governors Special
| Fund.- for use in such medical and surgi-
cal cases as are thought proper. This
fund Is held by, and expended under the
direction of "A special committee, appoint
ed by the governor and consists of three
representative persons outside Of the
board. When the case of defective,
| dependent child comes to the attention
of the board it is carefully Investigated,
and II found to come within the class for
which this fund was contributed. the
necessary medical and surgical aid is
given. During the first sixteen months
65 cases. ranging from defective tonslls
| TO major operations, have been reported,
| Il Of which have been successfully
| operated upon.
Il am able to say to this conference
that we have solved the problem Of the
| defective, dependent child to that point
where / can say to you that we have sent
out more than 1000 inquiries, asking for
information that would lead to the dis
| covery and care of this class of children,
and that we now have reached the time
| when we are In a position to care for
these unfortunate children and there Is
| no longer any excuse for q dependent,
defective child within our State to be
| without surgical cares and treatment
| Prior to the war, 1t was believed that
a physically fit army Of young men could
be raised with little or no trouble. When
the draft came we awoke to find that
| fully fifty per cent. of our young men
| between the ages of q and 81 were
| physically unfit to such an extent and
! degree that they were rejected for SER
| vice; that the health of our children,
soon to be responsible men and women
OF Vermont, had been fearfuly neglected;
that they had been permitted to Just
grow up that a large body Of physically
sound young American manhood existed
only in our imaginations.
THE selective draft called for a quota
of 1,o49 men from Vermont In order to
ttNrNt,, III
| examine 5,65S men and of these 1858 or
over 80 per cent. were rejected as physl-
cally deficient.
''The Vermont State Board of Health
bulletin for March, 1918, under the
caption THE Lesson of the Draft" has
| this to say:
| over 80 per cent of the reflections were
due to causes which could have been pre-
vented by proper care and treatment
! Ihls Is certainly a sad commentary on
the American way of bringing up child
rem. Never before have we had this
| opportunity to see ourselves as we really
are and to realize how we are actually
wasting human lives and fostering a
| generation Of detectives who could be
brought up to the full standard of man.
hood by the proper methods of instruc-
ton and treatment. The lesson Is so
|
| go unheeded'
| 1T Is the hope and firm belief of this
| board that ultimately 1t will be possible
| for the board to have a thorough mental
and physical examination made Of every
child committed to It's care. Our present
| appropriation will not permit of our do
ing this work, yet it is essential, if we
are to do all that modern scientific social
work has shown possible for child well
| fare.
| Public charity which seeks merely to
relieve Is self-perpetuating. and the evil
grows and increases by itself alone: for
there can be no jutifable charity that is
not preventive in quality, and that has
not the elimination Of causes for Its ulti-
mate object. At the last conference I
expressed to you the belief that Vermont
| would never satisfactorily solve the
| dependent child question until we had.
| by suitable legislation, provided for the
| care of the feeble minded female of child
bearing age. When Vermont has taken
under her care and supervision these
feebe-minded, our effort Is preventive
insofar as it guards the community
against the depredations Of it's detectives
| and forestalls their propagation of child
| rem. or whom We are told that 50 per
| cent. are certain to be feeble-minded.
| Insofar as we fail to follow the hill folk
| into their native novels, and stop the
| faint of feeble mindedness from propa-
eating, we fail in our charity Nay.
more. by our ympathetic relief. we
foster the evil And when the State of
Vermont allows that shanty full of
! feebe-minded children, living In the
midst of gross immortality and intemper-
ance to grow. the social sore ever widen-
ing-like the waves from a splash in a
pool. that shanty there under the shoulder
of the hill, or down there by the river. or
at the crossroads. or wherever else
! among the numerous spots in this fair
state where such may be found. then
Vermont commits a gross offense against
its own life. 1t Is answered here, per-
haps, as 1t Is perhaps answered else
where: But If you put hand upon
them what becomes Of the unalienable
right Of the indivdual?" How can a
family be rooted out by main force and
its right to life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness abridged? l tell you that
life is like everything else nowadays, it
has to be earned to be rightfully possess
ed, and liberty does not mean license to
raise large family of feeble-minded
and otherwise defective children, who
are bound to be a burden, not only to
themselves, but to the State.
TN