The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1914. MENTAL DEFECTIVES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 2, 21 May 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1914. MENTAL DEFECTIVES.

Side by side with tho over-increasnsg' efforts to elevato the human race, physically, morally, mentally, and spiritually, there is to be encountered the ever-present -difficulty of dealing effectively with the problem of the mental defectives. It frequently happens that feeble-minded children are tenderly oared for till maturity and then sent out into the world to produce their like, but in the lower ranks these pitiable objects more often arrive art maturity with all the worst vices thait can. b(j accumulated in tliedr constitutions. Many schemes have been propounded to cope with tliis terrible menace to society but in this sensitively humanitarian age 110 really drastic remedy has been evolved, for' the reason that it is so extremely difficult to draw a hard and fast line. The cult of eugenics has done some good; medicaJ. science is always striving to lend a helping hand, and well-directed efforts to minimise the evil as far as possible have been madic and persevered with in several countries, but it has been left to America to face tlho problem in a business-like manner, though in such a quiet and unobtrusive way that the system is little known. The Commissioner of Public Charities, Mr. Michael J. Drummond, conceived the idea of establishing a clearing house for mental defectives, and since the first year of its existence it lias been doing most valuable work in disposing of the question of wihat to do with the thousands of mental defectives in. the city of New York. Every one knows that these unfortunate creatures are to be found in every city in the vrorld®but it will come as a surprise to many that in New York State there aro more than 30,000, greater • New York accounting for 15,000, while out of the total' number of such unfortunates only GOOO aro located in State institutions, leaving '24,000 at large and a menace to tihe community, not only through their own irresponsibility, but through their freedom to beget other imbeciles. The clearing house receives the defectives from every available source—hospitals, , churches, courts, etc.—sending them out to the proper institutions. One of the cases recorded is that of an idiot woman who has six feeble-minded children in State institutions, each child costing the 'State £IOOO to care for till it is sixteen years of age. Some faint idea can thus bo formed of the enormous expenso devolving on the State in respect of this large contingent of feeble-minded citizens. The process of the examinai ti(fn of the suspected defectives is [ framed on absolutely scientific lines, and j is carried out' at the New York Postgraduate Hospital, under the supervision of Dr. Max G. Schlapp, assisted by seven other physicians and three trained phyohologists. Tho mental age is determined by the Binet test, the ■ patient then being physically examined, ' after which the personal history of the defective is obtained, a diagnosis being then made and tho course of treatment prescribed. Up till recently th-ia great work Bias been carried on by means of private bequests, but a subsidy of £BOOO has been applied for. What is 'being done in New York might with great advantage be accomplished in other parts of the globe. The movement to combat this gigantic fester an the life of nations t should bo world wide. If euch a concerted plan of action could be carried out and as strict a search conducted for mental defectives! as is the ease with criminals, tlien tibia blot on civilisation would be almost totally eradicated. It may seem cruel to hunt up these unfortunates and subject them to compulsory treatment, but in reality the process is more kind tlian cruel. The curable cases will liave a fair chance, 1 while tihe hopeless cases will be effectually prevented from becoming' reproductive. The truo aim of eugenics is the increase of all that makes us human—--the ennoblement of mankind—and' the decrease of all tliat links the race "with tile inhuman characteristics of the lower animals. We can pity the weak-minded , to our heart's content, yet that very S worthy sentiment should stimulate our ' efforts to remedy the evil that all must * deplore.