The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-01-16


jackson, Miss, Jan. 6.-Mississippi
county poor farms shelter many pau.
pers who are parasites simply be.
aus they have not enough brains ia
make their WI livings. A particu-
larly striking instance of this has
been found by Dr.. Thomas H. Haines,
Scientific Adviser to the Mississippi
Mental Hygiene Commission. A
north Mississippi county poor farm is
~sheltering eight white persons. Ev.
cry one of these persons is in the
poor farm for no other reason than
that he is short-witted. There are
three males and five females, rang
ing in age from % to 76.
That feeblemindedness runs in fam
lilies is emphasized by this group of
poor house inmates. Twin sisters
and a brother, all past 20, have been
in this poor house for 18 years. Two
other members of the same family
came to the poor house with them.
They were feebleminded. They died
in the poor house. There were three
other members of this family, feeble
minded, who died before their faith
er. These three old short-witted
paupers, brother and sisters, are use
less to society. They have always
been parasites upon the community,
as were the rest of their family. Such
a family of parasite feebleminded per-
sons certainly raises the question AS
to the wisdom of allowing such chill
dren to be born into the world.
Some intelligent control in this
county, years ago, would have pre-
vented this family Of paupers coming
into existence. This county is now
spending over one thousand dollars
a year on the mere food and shelter
Half Of this sun spent annually
would be ample to prevent the in
crease of feebleminded families, and
would be doing away with the neces-
sity for a poor farm. This is what
is called preventive medicine applied
to feeblemindedness.
Manifestly, counties cannot do this
work. 1t must be statewide in its
character, in order to be effective.
Mississippi needs a School and Col |
ony for the Predetermined, where the |
sexes well be segregated, and where |
the feebleminded will be trained to
work. Had the father and mother
Of this family of eight feebleminded
paupers been put into such training
and segregation eighty years ago, |
there would have been no feeblemind-
ed children to inhabit the county |
poor farm all these years.
A sum equivalent to half the sum
spent annually on provision for pau
pers in the counties Of Mississippi |
would provide amply for the estab-
iishment and maintenance of a State
institution to do this work in pre-
ventive medicine. This sum spent in
this preventive way would not only |
support nearly half of the present
inmates of the houses, but it would, |
at the same time, do away with a
part of the future work of the poor
houses, jails, penitentiary and Or-
phanages of the state. Criminals and
pauperS come in stocks and families. !
A state can greatly improve its cit
izenship, and also cut down the ex-
penses of maintaining paupers, and
dealing with delinquents, by re-
straining the increase of certain
known poor stocks.
The Mississippi Mental Deficiency
Bill, to be considered this winter by
the Legislature, will provide for this
curtailment of bad stocks. It estab-
fishes a Mississippi School and Colonf
for the Predetermined, and provides
a plan for the Chancery Court to
commit feebleminded persons to this
m institution !