Evening star., 1922-06-19
$1,000 'M0R0NS'1l
AT LARGE IN n. Y.
State Institutions Care for
5,200-Defined by Spe.
ciaIists as Fools.
By the Associated Press.

| OiouSlo do ] OOlos
By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, June 1s.-The word
moron" which criminologists as
| well as newspaper headline writer's
frequently use to designate a person
| Of morbidly criminal tendencies, is
defined in a bulletin issued by th-
State Charities Aid Association.
Moron" they say, comes from the
| Greek "moros." meaning fool" And
the word. as applied by psychiatrists
and mental specialists. means just
! that-"fool"
1t Is not applied to insane persons.
| to lunatics. imbeciles or idiots. but to
the considerable percentage OF the
population whose limited reasoning
power places them on the great bor-
der line of mental deficiency.
Before the word moron" came into
| general use such persons were
called detectives" They were those
| who, If left to shift for themselves.
usually became liabilities to So
| ciety."
$4,000 Detectives in New York.
Figuring from statistics gathered
by Army draft boards the state as
| ISOLATION estimates that there are
$4,000 mental defectives-morons-
\ in New York state today. This
would indicate. says the report. that
one person in every ESQ is mentally
/ deficient and incapable of passing
sound judgments as to what is right
| or wrong.
OF this number $500 are in state
| institutions; 500 are in colonies at
tached to such institutions. and 1900
1 Lad l., TaT al. -
| lie schools. This leaves some $1,000
without any special supervision-a;
| large in all walks of life. Describ
ing the defective. the charities asso-
| citation says:
| 'He is often unable TO adjust him
self TO permanent employment and i'
| habitually changing his job. He is
| tremendously responsive to sugges
ton and is thus particularly susc,p-
tible TO the criminal influence %
! others.
Nearly all the attempts at assassi-
| ration of prominent men in recent
years and Of criminal assaults with 4
sexual phase have been the work
mental dehcients A moron KILLED
| President Mckinley and another tried
| to kill Roosevelt A moron tried IT,
kill Mayor Mitchell and shot Corpora,
| ton Counsel Polk. Mayor Gaynor
| was shot by another defective"
| DtHcTcuCc NOtcO.
| There is a distinct difference be-
tween mental deficiency and insanity
1t is pointed out They have little in
| common. Insanity is a mental dis
| ease which is durable in at least -
per cent of cases and preventable in
! 40 per cent
A moron. or mental defective, is q
person who definitely lacks brain ca
| pacfty. The condition usually is in
| herited and cannot be cured. for, say
! the psychiatrists, science cannot add
| what nature has omitted" In other
! words, an adult moron is just q man
| or woman with the brain of child.
The schools are considered the best
! sorting pen for the discovery of the
detectives. There he automatically
| is separated from the children of
normal intelligence. Perhaps he
| progresses to the sixth grade with
| out displaying any lack of the. power
behind. He doesn't seem able to learn
any more; his classmates go on. while
he remains, vainly trying to absorb
| his lessons. but without success.
Should he continue in school at this
time the chances are he will become
an incorrigible-the sort of over
grown bully who far outstrips his
playmates in size and strength, but
who is a dwarf in the classroom. Or
If he leaves school he is apt to join
the class Of easily led criminals, un-
guided by any sense of right or
wrong. wholly irresponsible. who go
from misdemeanor 10 felony and
| thence to the electric chair or to Mat
teawan.
Sorting Process Claimed.
At the period of arrested develop
ment pSychiatrists claim to be able TO
pick out the detectives by their re
! action to certain simple questions, in
cluded in the Binet-Simon measuring
scale OF intelligence. In the vocab-
ulary test the examiner may say:
Il want to find out how many words
you know. Listen, and when ! say a
word you tell me what it means"
The word nerve come early in this
test; Although it is understood that
to define the physical organism Is a
matter for the adult mind. it has been
found that the normal child Of eight
years will answer with, You've got a
! nerve" or something similar which
is scored as a normal reaction.
Another test Is known as Detecting
IAbsurdities." Here the examiner may
say: Yesterday the police found the
body of a girl cut into eighteen
pieces. They believe she killed her
self"
The subnormal. the defective or
exclamation: Think she killed her
self. They know she did" Or 1t may
be. "She was a foolish girl to kill
herself. No girl would do that unless
she was crazy"
Where do the detectives come from
Are they Just accidents OF birth? The
answer to this question 10 best IL
Illustrated in the story OF the Kalla-
kaks.
An Instance Cited.
About 1910 Martin Kallakak, a
young man of good family. who was
serving in George Washingtons army,
met a feeble-minded girl and became
the father OF a feeble-minded son.
Later he married a normal woman
The history of the two families that
60 back to Martin Kallakak have
been accurately traced.
The feeble minded woman had $50
descendants. most of whom have been
paupers, criminals, immoral women
and drunkards. The normal woman
thad about an equal number Of de-
scendants. all of whom have been
worthy members of their communi-
| ties and some of whom have attained
| to positions Of public eminence.
Given a chance. however, the moron
often becomes a useful member OF
society. Sometimes he displays 8
rare aptitude for the simpler
branches Of mechanics. Usually 1t is
something manual although cases
have been known of mental defec-
tives who displayed rare talents with
palette and brush.