Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/67

 THE LAW RELATING TO THE RELIEF AND CARE OF DEPENDENTS. V.

THE LAW RELATING TO THE CARE AND TREATMENT OF THE DEFECTIVE.'

The public makes special provision for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind, and for the care and treatment of the insane, the idiotic and feeble-minded, the epileptic and the inebriate, as well as for the care of paupers and dependent chil- dren. The laws concerning the dependent have been discussed in previous papers ; those concerning the defective classes will be discussed in this. The justification for discussing the laws relating to defectives in a study of the poor laws is found in the facts that (i) special provision is made by the public for them, and (2) historically, as the result of classification, the defective classes have largely been taken from the dependent class and methods of treatment more appropriate to them adopted.

I. THE DEAF-MUTES AND THE BLIND.

As it is impossible to educate the deaf-mutes and the blind in our non-specialized public schools, special institutions have been established foi that purpose. The fact that there are rela- tively few of this class necessitates that they should be brought together in a central institution and that the state should pro- vide for the extraordinary expense involved in thus educating them away from home. Such provision has, with a few excep- tions, been made by all our commonwealths. °

In a number of the eastern states, where private institutions are well developed, the pupils are sent to private schools at pub- lic expense. In a number of western states, yet too sparsely set-

' The authorities to which references are made in this paper, when not stated, are those cited in a previous paper, pp. 632,633, Journal of Sociology, March, 1898.

'Only in Oklahoma and New Mexico has no provision for the education of the blind been found. All provide for the education of deaf-mutes.

51