Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/487

 CONCERNING A FORM OF DEGENERACY 467

Such facts as the above, the apparent constant increase of the defective classes, and the attention so largely given to social problems by educated people, have radically changed the theories of the leaders in the care of the defectives. Slowly but surely the conviction has become general, especially among the trustees and officers of institutions, that admission as a pupil of the training school should be but the first step to permanent care ; that, with a few exceptions, so few that they may be disregarded in establishing a policy, all the pupils of the school, from the lowest to the highest grade, ought to be permanently retained in the safe, kindly, maternal care of the state. The above conviction is now held by all who have expressed themselves publicly within the last few years in this country, excepting a few persons whose pecuniary interests seem in conflict with such a theory. It has been acted upon by the legislatures of many states, whose laws have been changed by removing from the institution code the age limit of retention, and in some cases of acceptance. In at least one western state the doors of the institution have been opened so wide as to admit an imbecile mother with a large family of idiotic children. Other states have provided separate custodial asylums, especially for adult females. While it is generally accepted that the imbeciles of all classes should be segregated, the special importance of not only admitting, but of committing and retaining in permanent care, all idiotic women of child-bearing age is appreciated by every intelligent person as soon as the proposition is made in his hearing. In the annual reports of institutions this principle is often mentioned as the improvement in law and practice that is now most necessary. A belief in the necessity of permanent care for all this defective class is professed by the superintendent of every state school for the feeble-minded in the United States today.

It is a startling fact, and one that needs explanation, that the present special public provision, in the United States, for the feeble-minded is only sufficient for about lO per cent, of the whole number. This is in marked contrast with the provision for the insane, which in most states is rapidly approaching ade- quacy for all, both acute and chronic cases, and in the whole