Nothing which I have said in caution as to the importance of deficiency in solving the problem of delinquency can be taken for a moment to signify that the effort for the isolation of the deficient is misspent. Elimination of a generation of deficients will not solve the problem of delinquency, but in no other way is there open such a clear and definite method of reducing that problem. The better care and prevented procreation of even a tenth of the delinquents who would propagate deficiency, would mean the most scientific advance in attacking the problem of delinquency. A safe public policy can be formulated which would at first provide for appropriate permanent care of at least that number of delinquents in institutions who by test are presumably deficient. This perfectly obvious first step promises to tax our facilities for years. ----- Footnote 14: During the months when these examinations were made we failed to test six boys, four of whom were sent to relatives outside of the state. One other could not be tested because of his unfamiliarity with the English language. Footnote 15: Louise Ordahl and George Ordahl. A Study of 49 Female Convicts. Journal of Delinquency, 1917, _2_, 331-351. Footnote 16: Eugenics and Social Welfare Bulletin No. XI, 1917, p. 73. Footnote 17: Grace M. Fernald. Report of the Psychological Work at the California School for Girls. J. of Delinquency, 1916, _1_, 22-32. Footnote 18: Ordahl, Louise E. and George. A Study of Delinquent and Dependent Girls. J. of Delinquency, 1918, III, 41-73. Footnote 19: Jean Weidensall. The Mentality of the Unmarried Mother. National Conference of Social Work, 1917. Footnote 20: J. of Deficiency, 1918, III, 1-11. Footnote 21: George Ordahl. A Study of Fifty-Three Male Convicts. J. of Delinquency, 1916, _1_, 1-21. Footnote 22: M. L. Beanblossom. Mental Examination of Two Thousand Delinquent Boys and Young Men. Indiana Reformatory Print, 1916, p. 23. Footnote 23: Bull. No. 1713, University of Texas, 1917, p. 125. Footnote 24: A. R. Gilliland. The Mental Ability of One Hundred Inmates of the Columbus, (O.) Workhouse. J. of Crim. Law and Crim., 1917, _7_, pp. 857-866. Footnote 25: R. Pintner. One Hundred Juvenile Delinquents Tested by the Binet Scale. Ped. Sem., 1914, XXI, 523-531. Footnote 26: George Ordahl. Mental Defectives and the Juvenile Court. J. of Delinquency, 1917, II, 1-13. Footnote 27: Both sexes. Footnote 28: Local conditions explain the excessive amount of deficiency. Footnote 29: Italics mine. CHAPTER VII. CHECKING THE BINET DIAGNOSIS BY OTHER METHODS