222 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



tion is the trustee for the inherent quality as well as for the 

 material welfare of future generations. In a few years the ex- 

 pense of institutions and farm colonies for the feeble-minded 

 will be counterbalanced by the reduction in the population of 

 almshouses, prisons and other expensive institutions. When the 

 feeble-minded are recognized in childhood and trained properly, 

 many of them are capable of being supported at low cost under 

 institution supervision. 



The State will never be called upon to place all the feeble- 

 minded in institutions. Many cases will never need segregation 

 small children of both sexes, cases properly cared for at home 

 with or without supervision, many adult males and adult fe- 

 males past the child-bearing period. Eugenic study will recog- 

 nize the non-hereditary cases who cannot transmit their defect, 

 and who do not need segregation for this reason. The one great 

 obstacle to effective prevention of feeble-mindedness is the lack of 

 definite, precise knowledge. This knowledge can only be sup- 

 plied by long-continued scientific research along many lines of 

 inquiry. We do not even know the exact number of the feeble- 

 minded. This fact will be supplied by the future community 

 surveys and other extensive and intensive studies. 



And, after all, the meaning of this report is that in the long 

 run education in the broadest sense will be the most effective 

 method in a rational movement for the diminution of feeble- 

 mindedness. One of the principal advantages of the proposed 

 plan for state registration and supervision of the feeble-minded 

 is the opportunity it gives for the general education of the people 

 of the State upon this subject. The public generally should be 

 persistently informed as to its extent, causes and results by means 

 of suitable literature, popular lectures, and other means. This 

 field offers a great and useful opportunity to mental hygiene so- 

 cieties and other similar organizations for disseminating knowl- 

 edge on this subject, for, under present conditions, it will be 

 many years before local communities have an equal realization 

 of the nature of the problem, or are prepared to deal with it. 



The principles of heredity as they are unfolded, and especially 

 of morbid heredity, should be taught in the colleges, the normal 

 schools, and, indeed, in the high schools. The adolescent has a 

 right to be informed upon a subject which is of supreme im- 



