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CH 15
Meeting the Problem of Mental Defectiveness
A paper read before the
New York State Conference of Charities and Correction
At Buffalo, November 20, 1913
BY HASTINGS H. HART, LL.D.
Director, Department of Child-Helping
Rüssell Sage Foundation
PUBLISHED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF CHILD-HELPING OF THE
RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION
- - 130 EAST 22nd STREET
February, 1914 - NEW YORK CITY
MEETING THE PROBLEM OF MENTAL DEFECTIVENESS
By HASTINGs H. HART, LL.D.,
Director of the Department of Child-Helping, Russell Sage Foundation. A
Paper Read before the New York State Conference of Charities and Cor-
rection at Buffalo, November 20, 1913.
There is no definite information as to the number of feeble-
minded individuals in the State of New York. Estimates run all
the way from one in three hundred of the population to one in two
hundred of the population. If we accept the more moderate
figure of one in three hundred of the population, we must have in
the State of New York at least 30,000. I would estimate the
number of feeble-minded persons now in public institutions as
follows:
In Institutions for Feeble-Minded and Epileptic.
In the Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded
Children, September 30, 1911. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
In the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded
Women, September 30, 1911. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
In the Rome State Custodial Asylum, September 30,
1911 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 1,230
In the Letchworth Village, September 30, 1911. . . . . . 59
New York City Institution for Feeble-Minded on Ran-
dall’s Island, September 30, 1911. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,108
In the Craig Colony for Epileptics (estimated). . . . . . 1,200
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #969–
In Institutions for Other Classes.
In hospitals for insane (estimate 15 per cent). . . . . . 5,000
In state prisons and jails (estimate 15 per cent). . . . . . 1,500
In girls' reformatories (estimate 40 per cent). . . . . . . . 4.00
In boys' reformatories (estimate 20 per cent). . . . . . . . 900
In almshouses, per census of 1904 (2,232). . . . . . . . . . 2,200
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000
4
It appears, therefore, that out of an established feeble-minded
population of 30,000, about 5,000 are cared for in institutions
designed for them, and about 10,000 are confined in institutions
not intended for their care, while about 15,000, or one-half of the
whole, are at large in the community.
I estimate that, of the 30,000 feeble-minded in the State, 10,000
are girls or women of child-bearing age, located approximately as
follows:
In Institutions for Feeble-Minded and Epileptic.
In the Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded
Children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
In the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded
Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800
In the Rome State Custodial Asylum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
In the Institution for Feeble-Minded at Randall’s Island 500
In Craig Colony for Epileptics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,960
In Institutions for Other Classes.
In hospitals for insane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500
In state prisons and jails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
In girls' reformatories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
In almshouses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,900
It appears, therefore, that of the 10,000 (estimated) feeble-
minded women of child-bearing age in the State of New York
only about 2,000 are cared for in institutions designed for their
care and about 4,000 are confined in hospitals for the insane, re-
formatories and prisons, while at least 4,000 (probably many
more) are at large in the community.
With reference to the 10,000 feeble-minded who are confined
in hospitals for insane, prisons, reformatories and almshouses, the
State would actually be a financial gainer by providing for them
in custodial institutions. At the Rome State Custodial Asylum
and the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women 1,966
inmates are humanely cared for at $138.22 per year. The
^,
5
same class of inmates are being cared for in the boys' reforma-
tories at $243, in the hospitals for insane at $203.30, in the girls'
reformatories at $285.15, and in the almshouses at about $65.15
per year. If all of these persons were transferred to an institution
conducted on the scale of the Rome Custodial Asylum, they would
not only relieve these institutions of inmates who do not belong
there and who are a great cause of care and anxiety, but they
would make room for new patients of the proper class, obviating
the necessity for enlargement. The money thus saved would
build ample institutions for the care of these people at a much
less per capita cost than that of the prisons, reformatories, asylums
for insane, etc., where they are now kept, and the annual per capita
cost of maintenance would be reduced from 20 to 50 per cent,
except in almshouses, where the cost would be increased about $1
per week; but the almshouse inmates compose only a small frag-
tion of the whole number.
ESTIMATED ANNUAL Cost of CARE OF FEEBLE-MINDED IN THE
STATE OF NEW YORK.
If kept in colonies
like the Newark
and Rome custodial
As they are asylums. (Avge.
now kept. per cap. $138.00.)
In hospitals for insane, 5,000 at
$203.30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,016,000 $690,000
In state prisons and jails, 1,500 at -
$182.50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274,000 208,000
In boys’ reformatories, 900 at
$248 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219,000 125,000
In girls’ reformatories, 400 at
$285.15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114,000 55,000
In almshouses, 2,200 at $65.15. . 143,000 304,000
Total (10,000) . . . . . . . . . . . $1,766,000 $1,382,000
The foregoing table shows the cost of the care of 10,000 feeble-
minded people who are now kept in institutions not intended for
them, as compared with what the cost would be if they were kept
in institutions at the same rate at which adult feeble-minded per-
sons are kept in the State Custodial Asylum at Rome and the State
Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women at Newark. As nearly as can
be ascertained, these 10,000 people are now costing at the rate of
$176.60 each year, amounting to $1,766,000, but if they were
\
G
kept at the same rate as the two asylums above mentioned, they
would cost $138.20 each per year; a total of $1,382,000. This
would result in a saving of $384,000 per year, by the simple ex-
pedient of building special institutions for the feeble-minded, in-
stead of increasing accommodations for them in institutions where
they do not belong. - *
It is difficult to ascertain the cost of the plants of institutions
in which these 10,000 feeble-minded are now kept. The juvenile
reformatories have cost about $1,000 per bed. The prisons and
the institutions for insane have probably cost more than $1,000
per bed and the almshouses less, but probably the average would
not be less than $1,000 per bed.
The cost of the two custodial institutions for feeble-minded
has been about $650 per bed.
To build for 10,000 persons at $1,000 per bed would cost
$10,000,000.
To build for 10,000 persons at $650 per bed would cost
$6,500,000. -
If therefore the state will build custodial institutions for 10,-
000 feeble-minded persons who are now in institutions and trans-
fer these inmates so as to make room for the normal increase of
the insane, the prisoners, the juvenile delinquents and paupers
to the number of 10,000, there will result an actual saving of
$3,500,000.
I would suggest that this estimate be submitted to the care-
ful scrutiny of the experts of the State Board of Charities, the
State Lunacy Commission, and the State Prison Commission,
and, if it is confirmed by their judgment, that steps be taken to
execute this simple program.
I desire to emphasize the fact that one-half of the 30,000 feeble-
minded of this State are already under public care but that two-
thirds of them are cared for in the wrong kind of institutions.
This difficulty can be remedied without increasing the public bur-
den, in the manner already suggested. That leaves 15,000 feeble-
minded for whom no public provision has yet been made. It
must be remembered that these 15,000 persons are being cared for
in some way. We do not allow them to starve to death, but they
are fed, clothed and housed, usually by the self-denying labor of
their relatives. Thousands of poor mothers are giving up their
lives largely to the care of feeble-minded children but these mothers
are unable to prevent them from becoming a menace to the com-
jew
{
munity, and, in the long run, it would be far more economical
for the community to separate them in institutions than to allow
them to remain in the homes, only to become ultimately, paupers,
criminals, prostitutes, or parents of children like themselves.
If the State is already providing for 33,000 insane in public
institutions it should be able to provide for 15,000 feeble-minded.
Why is it that the State has provided institutions for 33,000
insane while it has provided institutions for only 5,000 feeble-
minded ? It is because of the popular superstition in the com-
munity that the insane are dangerous while the feeble-minded are
harmless. We are learning at last that the feeble-minded boy and
girl are three times more of a menace to the community than the
senile dement and the mild chronic insane in our hospitals.
It is not to be expected in the nature of things that the State
will instantly make provision for the 15,000 feeble-minded who
are now without public care, but it is reasonable to expect the
State immediately to make provision for the most dangerous
portion of the feeble-minded in the community. What portion
is that ?
In answer to an inquiry, Dr. Henry H. Goddard of Vineland,
N. J., stated that the feeble-minded girl is vastly more dangerous
to the community than the feeble-minded boy. The reason for this
statement is that the heredity of feeble-mindedness for the most
part, comes from the feeble-minded girl. Not only is this true
but investigations made in New Jersey have demonstrated that
the feeble-minded woman is twice as prolific as the normal woman.
This arises partly from the fact that the feeble-minded woman
is unable to protect herself, partly from the fact that she is not
affected by the moral restraints or the regard for consequences
which restrain the normal woman.
I estimate that the number of feeble-minded women of child-
bearing age outside of institutions in the State of New York is
about 5,000. Suitable institutions can be provided for this num-
ber of feeble-minded women at a cost not exceeding $3,500,000.
Mr. Alexander Johnson, who is an eminent authority on this sub-
ject, maintains that a much smaller sum will suffice and he is
undertaking a demonstration of this fact in New Jersey.
The maintenance of these women, at the rate now prevailing
in the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women at
Newark ($125 per year), would amount to $625,000 per year.
8
From an economic standpoint no investment of the State could
be more productive. As it is, we are multiplying the feeble-
minded variety of the human race in the State of New York
with increasing rapidity. Recent investigations reveal the fact
that from 20 to 40 per cent of the inmates of our jails, prisons
and reformatories are feeble-minded and we are discovering that
a very large proportion (perhaps 30 per cent) of the prostitutes
are feeble-minded. It appears that feeble-mindedness is the most
hereditary disease of all that afflict humanity.
If every feeble-minded woman should be faithfully segregated
for 20 years, at least 50 per cent of the feeble-mindedness would
disappear. Feeble-mindedness is no less an evil than tuberculosis
but the extirpation of feeble-mindedness is a much simpler problem
than the extirpation of the white plague.
From the standpoint of philanthropy, no unfortunate has a
stronger claim upon us than the feeble-minded girl. When any-
one offers an insult or an affront to a little girl of six or eight
years of age, the whole community rises to her protection. Any
normal man, even though he may himself be a man of unworthy
character, stands ready to sacrifice his life, if necessary, in defense
of such a child. It is recognized that her innocence, her help-
lessness, and her confiding nature, give her a claim upon the
chivalrous regard of every man.
The feeble-minded girl of 15, 16 or 18 years is, in body, a
woman with the instincts and dangers of womanhood, but in
mind she is a child — no more responsible than her younger sister
of six or eight years. She is innocent, gentle, affectionate, con-
fiding. She believes everything that is said to her. If any man
tells her that she is the prettiest girl in town she believes him.
If he says that he will find her a situation at $10 a week, she fol-
lows him with simple confidence.
This larger child is entitled to the same chivalrous protection
which is given to her little sister. She is entitled to more, because
of the additional exposure which is due to her larger growth.
What happens to this innocent, helpless, confiding child? $he
is pursued by thoughtless and evil men and is hunted like a
rabbit. She is ruthlessly destroyed without regard to her help-
lessness. When she goes astray, we send her to a reformatory
where she is treated as a responsible being. She is admonished,
exhorted, disciplined, punished, prayed over. She is paroled
and sent out into a home on trial, but is returned because she is
9
inefficient. Finally she is discharged, because the law does not
permit her retention or because the institution is overcrowded.
She goes back to the same environment from which she originally
came, and soon falls a victim to the same influences which caused
her original trouble. She is branded as an incorrigible, a repeater,
and an enemy to society. She is cast out and despised by reputable
women. She is sent time after time to the jail or the House of
Correction.
This unfortunate and helpless girl takes a frightful revenge
upon the community which has first neglected and then rejected
her. She becomes a source of corruption and disease to scores
of young men and she bears children one after another who inherit
her infirmities and entail similar afflictions. (I saw in a hospital
for the insane, a few days ago, a feeble-minded woman who had
been the mother of nine children.)
The folly and waste of the present system is apparent when
we recognize that these same young women who now overcrowd
our reformatories and prisons and go forth to become prostitutes
or to multiply the race of feeble-minded children may easily be
made a wholesome and happy element in the community. In a
properly Ordered institution these girls are gentle, obedient, ami-
able, religious, helpful and joyous. Their lives are brightened by
simple pleasures and they cheerfully render helpful service. Many
of them can be made entirely self-supporting in an institution,
under direction and all of them can be fully protected from the
dangers that would destroy them if they were turned loose in
Society. This is not a matter of theory but has been completely
demonstrated by experience.
The admirable program for the care of the feeble-minded which
was presented at the meeting of this body in Syracuse last year
by the Hon. Robert W. Hebberd, is a reasonable and practical
one. Its execution, as Mr. Hebberd indicated, will necessarily
involve considerable time. I believe that its execution can be
hastened by the immediate adoption of the following measures:
|First. Legislation should be secured which will make it possi-
ble to keep feeble-minded persons in institutions as long as may
be necessary for their own protection or for the protection of
society, just as insane patients are held. Feeble-minded inmates
are now removable from most of our institutions at the pleasure
of parents or guardians. Legislation should be secured also which
will provide that when any inmate of a reformatory, prison or
j ()
almshouse is believed to be a feeble-minded person, he may be
taken into court and adjudged feeble-minded and may then be held
as long as may be necessary for the public welfare.
Second. That the Legislature provide for the erection of cot-
tages, auxiliary to the State reformatories at Elmira, Bedford,
Albion, Hudson, and Industry which will provide for the feeble-
minded contingent, in each of those institutions, at a little distance
from the reformatory department. This will make it possible to
establish and maintain a different order of discipline for the
feeble-minded inmates from that which is necessary for the normal
inmates. As soon as provision is made in Separate institutions
for the feeble-minded class, these cottages will become available
for normal inmates without any financial loss whatever; but in the
meantime these institutions will be relieved from the embarrass-
ment which they all suffer from the intermingling of normal and
feeble-minded inmates, and will be able to do much better work
for both classes.
This plan has already been proposed by Dr. Katherine B. Davis
for the State Reformatory for Women at Bedford and is equally
applicable to the other institutions named.
Third. Discontinue the admission of boys, and of girls under
the age of 12 years, to the State institutions for feeble-minded at
Rome, Syracuse and Letchworth Village and at Randall's Island,
until all the young women of child-bearing age have been cared
for. This suggestion is made because, as already indicated, the
feeble-minded young woman is many times as dangerous to the
community as the feeble-minded young man.
Fourth, Adopt simple and less expensive plans of building and
equipment in order to make it possible to provide for larger
numbers. This economy should be exercised wisely, however, in
order that the welfare, comfort, and happiness of the inmates
may not be neglected.
Fifth. Push the Letchworth Village to completion without de-
lay and inaugurate another institution for feeble-minded children
in the western part of the State forthwith.
In urging that immediate provision be made for the older
feeble-minded children — especially for young women, no new
policy is advocated. The State of New York committed itself to
this policy when it established the State Custodial Asylum for
Feeble-Minded Women and the Rome State Custodial Asylum.
What is now advocated is to make effective immediately the policy
which the State has been tardily pursuing for many years.
|QHIGAN

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