There is an escape from this dilemma which seems more reasonable than to attempt to account for the discrepancy by excessive mortality. When estimates are made concerning the school population the estimator is usually thinking of that group of feeble-minded which needs special school training and probably social assistance afterward. When estimates are made of the general population the estimator is likely to be thinking of that group which must be cared for permanently by society, mainly in institutions or colonies. For some time at least the state cannot be expected to undertake the indefinite care of all the deficients who should have, at once, simple industrial training, in special local schools or classes in order to survive, even with social assistance. This difference in the type of care contemplated seems most naturally to account for the discrepancy found with many writers, between their estimates for the school population and for the general population. C. DESIRABLE VERSUS IMMEDIATELY ADVISABLE SOCIAL CARE A second source of confusion arises when one investigator is thinking of the number of feeble-minded, the care of whom it is _desirable_ that society should assume, and another is thinking of the feeble-minded, the care of whom it is _advisable_ for society to assume at once. Considered in connection with a specific case the distinction is quite obvious. It is one thing to say that it would be desirable for the state to assume the indefinite care of a particular person, it is quite another thing to say that it would be advisable for the state to assume that care immediately, when one remembers the crowded condition of the institutions, the necessity of caring for the worst cases first, the possibility of the person being cared for by his own family or in a local school, the added public expense, the necessary neglect of other movements for social welfare if society assumes this expense, etc., etc. When you magnify this problem in the mind of the estimator who is interested in the question of caring for the groups of feeble-minded, the result is that his estimates of the size of the groups are decidedly affected. For example, few would deny that the Site Commission of New York appointed to locate the colony for mental defectives, now known as the Letchworth Village, was emphasizing a program of permanent social care when it estimated the number of feeble-minded in New York. The Commission, “after taking into consideration the figures of the State and National census, and other data collected from institutions,” estimated that there were in New York state possibly 12,300 mentally defective persons (Editor's Note, _205_, p. 84). This is less than 0.15% of the population and very low compared with most estimates.