The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-09

WASHINGTON, Feb. THE theory
that the individual who has suffered
some misfortune and lost some faculty
which seems indispensable to Industrial
usefulness is not good buy on the
labor market has again been disproVeh-
One of the big rubber companies in
Akron, O., has placed on its payroll 500
people who can neither hear nor speak,
and these handicapped individuals have
demonstrated that they are as ef-
ficient as any other group in the en-
tire organization.
About this group OF actual workers
Is gathered as many more OF their kihd,
dependents upon them, and thus there
has developed at Akron the largest
colony of "silents" that Is to be found
in the industrial life of the nation. They
take their places as independent self
reliant citizens, who ask no more m
diligence than do the best equipped
members of society.
The successful employment of this
group of mute workers is an additional
proof of a theory that has been de-
Veloping in the west in the past few
years--a theory that there are places
in industry into which handicapped IN
dividuals can be fitted and in which
they will serve as effectively as though
they were in every way normal.
The handicap bureau of Chicago gave
this theory the best demonstration: IL
persuaded employers to look over their
plants and find the places into
which one-legged people, blind
people, and old people would fit
as well as the young and strong. 1t
supplied these handicapped persons for
these special positions The handlcaps
were so earnest in their attempts TO
make good, because it was almost
matter of life and death with them,
that they often proved better workmen
at certain tasks than normal workers.
This is found to be true of the mutes
at Akron In big plant there are
many posts in which hearing ana
speach are unnecessary. The person
without hearing escapes annoyance
from the noise. The person without
speech is less likely to be diverted from
a task which required concentration, If
he can not join in the talk about him.
The lack Of speech and hearing does
not necessarily diminish mental or phy-
steal alertness on the contrary sueh
deprivation may be conducive to even
keener mentality, a finer degree OF
senstlVeness and higher sehsioilitS,
all of which inherent traits make the
deaf mute unusually efficient and highly
desirable for certain kinds of indus
trial work,
Is strikingly corrohorative of the con-
tention that high degree OF general
mentality Is found among deaf mute
employes are records showing that IN
the nsvchological tests given in this
factory, similar to the army's psyche
! logical tests, deaf mute men and women
| in the factory and main offices in Akron
attained higher average grades than
any other group OF workers.
Recently officials OF the company
We're persuaded to give deaf mute laG-
tory girls a chance at office work.
| Skcptical at first, they were agreeably
| SURPRISED at the rapdity with which
the deaf mute girls graSped detalis ana
/ successfully oVerCame their handlcaps.
SO mentally alert, so quick TO grasp
! ideas, SO painstakingly efficient ana SO
/ determined TO succeed was one of these
/ deaf mute girls, that within two weeks
/ she was performing unassisted and in
! n highly satisfactory manner, work
/ which II had taken her immediate
Predecessor, a girl who could both speak
! and hear. nearly seven weeks TO mas
| ter. And this holds true in cases OF
/ nearly all deaf mute girls transferred
Since establishment of the rapidly
| growing silent colony in 1914, the
| deaf mutes have proven themselves
among the steadiest and the sturdiest
Of all OF the company's 2S,O0Q employees.
/ Their experiences In tire building espe-
! cially has demonstrated that their ar
/ Fiction does not constitute serious
( physical handicap. and that 1t increases,
/ rather than diminishes, both mental and
| physical alertneSs. 49,.
These deaf mutes now have their
! own clubhouse, their own church ser
/ Vice. their own public and private social
( gatherings, and their own dances Sci
/ dom. except when thrown in business
| contact with them, do they leave the
! sphere of their own little colony TO
minglc socially or otherwise with speak
| ing people They are muscal even "a
/ the extent of having n 20-piece brass
| brand which has gained fame as one
| of the most unique musical oreahlza-
| tons in the world. The deaf mute mu'
! sicians play in perfect tune and per-
| feet time, and display such keen sem
| sihtlities as to be able to discern
| whether or not an instrument Is IN
/ tune merely by the vibrations they
| catch through chairs. or other objects.
! They have their own dramatic club and
| literary society. They are great movie
| addiCts and frequently attend legiu-
mate plays and musical comedies with
| an Interpreter. They are now raising
| funds for erecting their own church edi-
| flee, upon completion OF which they
| expect to employ deaf mute minister
| to preach to them in the silent Ian
guage OF the finger alphabet. Many OF
| the uon are active members OF the
| Akron chamber of commerce. while
many also are stockholders in the com
pany for which they work, and home
owners
The remarkable degree Of community