Sterilization has been decreed by the laws of 12 States but it is practically operative only in the State of California. The first State to adopt a sterilization law was Indiana, but the law has been inoperative there since 1911. A few operations have been performed in North Dakota, but the law is a dead letter in the remaining nine States which have adopted it.
Sterilization is a legitimate measure for the prevention of feeble-mindedness, but its efficacy is impaired in two ways: first, by the fact that all of the laws thus far enacted pro vide that the operation shall be performed only in cases where there is no reasonable prospect that the condition of the individual will improve. That provision protects the high grade feeble-minded, who are now recognized as the most prolific source of hereditary feeble 'mindedness; second, by the fact that while public sentiment has quite readily sustained the enactment of sterilization laws, it has not sustained their execution. The indications are that only after a long time, if ever, will this difficulty be overcome by the education of the public.
Special Institutions.-- Under these circum stances, segregation is being advocated, even by those who favor sterilization, as the most practical and available method of prevention. It is urged that special institutions be pro vided for all feeble-minded children who can -not be properly cared for in their own homes. Heretofore most of the institutions established have been °schools* for the care and instruc tion of young feeble-minded children. As the children have grown up, they have remained in the institutions, because there was no other place for them, but the care of adults was a secondary proposition, and the admission of adults was exceptional. Feeble-minded adults were cared for, if at all, by sending them to insane hospitals, reformatories or alms-houses, where they do not belong.
A few States, recognizing the importance of caring for adults, have established for the care of the adult feeble-minded: for ex ample Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Minnesota. Other States, like Pennsyl vania and Illinois are moving for similar insti utions.
With the recognition of the facts of the of feeble-mindedness, the rapid multi plication of this class of defectives, and the significance of feeble-mindedness as a factor in crime, there has come about an active move ment in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and other States for adequate custodial provision for the adults—at least for the young women of child-bearing age. The
plan proposed is the establishment of colonies such as have already been established in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Indiana, Min nesota and other States. The colony consists of a collection of buildings of a simple char acter, located upon a large farm. The colony is organized with a view to utilizing the labor of the inmates in such a way that they shall contribute as much as possible to their own support by the use of simple industries such as gardening, poultry, rug-weaving, basket-making and so forth for girls, and farming, redeeming waste land, care of stock, simple carpentry and so forth, for boys.
In Massachusetts and Jersey, wooden buildings are being erected of a very simple character, and the more intelligent inmates are used as caretakers for the low grade inmates, under careful supervision. The children re ceive such education as their natural endow ments will warrant, but it is deemed useless to carry on expensive educational processes in the effort to develop that which is not in them.
By this system, the expense of maintenance is largely reduced without sacrificing either the happiness or the comfort of the inmates. These larger growth" find happiness in the performance of simple tasks together with simple forms of recreation such as folk-dancing, out-door games, calisthenics, moving pictures and so forth.
A large number of the adult feeble-minded are already under care in institutions which are not designed for them and are unsuitable for them: prisons, work-houses, reformatories, jails, almshouses and insane hospitals. In most of these institutions, the cost of their mainte nance is much higher than in a colony for feeble-minded. This is especially true of girls in reformatories, where the cost of maintenance is nearly double what it would be in a properly organized colony. It -would be for the ad vantage of all concerned if, instead of enlarg ing their 'reformatories, the different States would build separate institutions for the feeble minded contingent in the reformatories.