Many of these boy-men make excellent farmers, dairymen, swineherds and
poultry raisers under proper direction, and in the winter they can work
in the tailor, paint, carpenter, mattress and mat shops.
Nor need this be confined to the males alone. The girl-women raise
poultry, small fruits and vegetables very successfully. They pickle and
can the products of the land, and in winter do knitting, netting and
sewing of all kinds.
No manufacturer of to-day has let the product of his plant go to waste
as society has wasted the energies of this by-product of humanity. And
the feeble-minded are happy when they have occupation suited to their
needs. If one will but see them when they are set at occupations within
their comprehension and ability, he will quickly understand the joy they
get out of congenial work.
Colonies such as Mr. Johnstone describes will take care of the
able-bodied feeble-minded; other institutions will provide for the very
young and the aged; finally, there will always be many of these
defectives who can best be "segregated" in their own homes; whose
relatives have means and inclination to care for them, and sufficient
feeling of responsibility to see that the interests of society are
protected. If there is any doubt on this last point, the state should
itself assume charge, or should sterilize the defective individuals; but
it is not likely that sterilization will need to be used to any large
extent in the solution of this problem. In general it may be said that
feeble-mindedness is the greatest single dysgenic problem facing the
country, that it can be effectively solved by segregation, and that it
presents no great difficulty save the initial one of arousing the public
to its importance.
Similarly the hereditarily insane and epileptic can best be cared for
through life-long segregation--a course which society is likely to adopt
readily, because of a general dread of having insane and epileptic
persons at liberty in the community. There are undoubtedly cases where
the relatives of the affected individual can and should assume
responsibility for his care. No insane or epileptic person whose
condition is probably of a hereditary character should be allowed to
leave an institution unless it is absolutely certain that he or she will
not become a parent: if sterilization is the only means to assure this,
then it should be used. In many cases it has been found that the
individual and his relatives welcome such a step.
The habitual criminals, the chronic alcoholics, and the other defectives
whom we have mentioned as being undesirable parents, will in most cases
need to be given institutional care throughout life, in their own
interest as well as that of society. This is already being done with
many of them, and the extension of the treatment involves no new
principle nor special difficulty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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