The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1922-06-16
MORON EXPLAINED

In frequent use, the word moron is one that perhaps a large
part of the reading public does not r~ghtfully understand. In ex-
PLANTATION of the word this paper has the following from the Asso
ciated Press, New York office.
The word "moron," which ciminologists as well as newspaper
headline writers frequently use to designate a person of morbidly
criminal tendencies, is defined in a bulletin issued by the State
Charities Aid Association.
Moron they say, comes from the Greek "moros,' meaning
fool. And the word, as applied by p%sychiatrists and mental speci-
aists, means just that-"fool."
It 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 border-ine of mental de-
fciency.
were called detectives They were those who, if left to shift
for themselves, usually became liabilities to society"
Figuring from statistics gathered by army draft boards the
state association estimates that there are $4,000 mental detectives
morons-in New York State today. This would indicate, says the re-
port, that one person in every $50 is mentally deficient and incapable
of passing sound judgment as to what is right or wrong.
Of this number, 5000 are in state institutions; 500 are in colonies
attached to such institutions; and $500 are enrolled in special classes
in public schools. This leaves some 1000 without any special super
vison-at large in all walks of life. Describing the defective, the
charities association says:
''He is often unable to adjust himself to permanent employment
and is habtually changing his job. He is tremendously responsive
to suggestion and is thus particularly susceptible to the criminal
influence of others.
NEARLY all the attempts at assassination of prominent men in
recent years and of criminal assaults with a sexual phase have been
the work of mental defcents, a moron killed President McKin-
ley and another tried to kill Roosevelt. A moron tried to kill Mayor
Mitchell and shot Corporation Counsel Polk. Mayor Gaynor was
shot by another defective"
There is a distinct difference between mental deficiency and in
sanity, it is pointed out. They have little in common. Insanity is
a mental disease which is durable in at least 25 percent of cases and
preventable in 40 percent.
A moron or mental defective is a person who definitely lacks
brain capacity. The condition usually is inherited and cannot be
cured, for, say the psychiatrits, ''scence cannot add what nature
has ommited. Gin other words an adult moron is Just a man or
woman with the brain of a 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 without displaying any lack of the power to absorb knowledge.
Then he falls behind. He doesn't seem able to learn any more
his classmates go on, while he remains, vanly 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 out
strips his playmates in size and strength, but who is dwarf in the
classroom. Or if he leaves school he is apt to join the class of easily
led criminals, unguided by any sense of right or wrong, wholly ir
responsible, who go from misdemeanor to felony and thence to the
electric chair or to Mattewan.
AT the period of arrested development psychiatrists claim to be
able to pick out the detectives by their reaction to certain simple
questions, included in the Binet-Simon measuring scale of inteli-
gence. In the vocabulary 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''
comes early in this test. Although it is understood that to de-
fine the physical organism is a matter for the adult mind, it has
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 re-
action.
Another test is known as Detecting Absurdities." Here the
examiner may say, Yesterday the police found the body of a girl
cut into IS pieces. They believe she killed herself"
The subnormal, the defective or moron will probably react
with this exclamation: 'Think she killed herselfl They know she
did, Or it may be, "She was a foolish girl to kill herself. No
girl would do that unless she was crazy"
Where do the defective come from? Are they just accidents
OF birth? The answer to this question is best illustrated in the story
of the Kalakaks.
About 1910 Martin Kallakak, a young man of good family who
was serving in George Westinghouse army, met a Predetermined gr
and became the father of a feeble-minded son. Later he married
normal woman. The history of the two families that go back to
Martin kallakak have been accurately traced.
The feeblelminded woman had 4SO descendants, most of whom
have been paupers, criminals, immoral women and drunkards. The
normal woman had about an equal number of descendants, all OF
whom attained to positions of public eminence.
Given a chance, however, the moron often becomes a useful mem.
Der of society. Sometimes he displays a rare aptitude for the simpler
branches of mechanics. Usually it is something manual although
cases have been known of mental detectives who displaved rare
talents with palette and brush,