Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/69

Rh county, which is responsible for the indigent as paupers, must bear the expense. In Delaware the expense of educating the deaf-mutes and the blind is deducted from the school fund drawn by the counties.

While, for reasons of economy, most of the blind and the mutes are educated in state institutions, the larger cities have in a few instances provided facilities for them as a part of their public-school systems. In Pennsylvania school districts of more than 20,000, having eight or more deaf-mutes, may, as a part of the public-school system, provide schools for them. In Wisconsin cities and villages may establish schools for the deaf and dumb and the blind. If approved by the state board of control, the state pays them $100 for each child educated during the school year. The local governments not having such provision send their defectives to the state institutions, paying $100 per year toward their support.

While most of the states have provided special schools for the education of these defectives, this does not solve the problem of support in adult life, particularly for the blind. Most of this class cannot become self-supporting, and many are necessarily supported at public expense. A few states have made special provision for them, usually with the idea of making them self-supporting. In i886 Ohio enacted a law providing for the establishment of a state institution where the able-bodied, dependent blind of the state might be brought together and given opportunities for work. This institution met with poor success, however, and was discontinued in 1896. In 1885 California made institutional provision for the indigent blind of both sexes. Work was to be required of the able-bodied. In 1890 Iowa established "The Industrial Home for the Adult Blind," the object of which was "to provide a working home and means