It is gratifying to report that the people in Vermont are beginning to take a marked interest in the study of feeble-mindedness and its baneful and increasing effects on the population of the state and that with a better understanding of the conditions which exist there will be a tendency to view the handling of the question in a more practical and common sense manner. The burden of feeble-mindedness is felt by the entire public and every intelligent person who has considered the subject realizes that this blight on mankind is increasing at an alarming rate and unless some heroic measures are adopted to stop the influences which tend to increase its growth, it will only be a matter of time before the resulting pauperism and criminality will be a bear.

Most common of all causes is heredity and in the great majority of cases either drunkenness, idiocy, epilepsy or other evidences of degeneracy are found in the parents or their immediate relatives. Goddard, Davenport and others making a study of the family histories of large numbers of the feeble-minded find that at least 70% of these cases have been preceded by other cases of mental defect in the immediate family line. We know that hereditarily feeble-minded parents produce feebleminded children and that the feeble-minded families tend to be larger than the average normal families.

The greatest danger in the problem of the feeble-minded comes from the moron or high grade feeble-minded person. We do not have to be told how to recognize the low grade, their inability to care for themselves and their limitations make them easily recognized and for this reason they do not constitute a serious problem, but the morons on the other hand can in a measure care for themselves and may present no physical evidences of deficiency, but they lack in whole or in part the sense of values, the will power, the ability to withstand temptation, foresight and the fear of physical consequences and this is the class that makes for us our social and economic problems. Their resemblance to the normal person makes it difficult for many to believe that they cannot be developed into a law-abiding person. This is the type of individual person that charitable and correctional agencies have labored with for years, trying to reclaim them, but only to see nearly every effort prove fruitless, and the sooner that we realize that these defective persons cannot be made into normal ones the sooner will the prosperity and moral tone of the community be assured. At large the moron is always in danger of becoming a pauper, alcoholic, thief, prostitute or graver criminal.

A certain number of the boys and girls committed to the industrial school at Vergennes are feeble-minded and this institution has attempted to correct and train them and return them to society as law abiding individuals. Now in the case of normal children who get into trouble through vicious influences and bad environment, this is sound doctrine and the industrial school has done meritorious work in reclaiming these boys and girls, but on the other hand feeble-minded children cannot be reclaimed in this manner and institutional training only covers their defect and can bring such children up to the normal. To give the feeble-minded training and then set them free into society is a moral as well as an economic mistake, yet up till now the industrial school has had no other alternative but to admit and discharge these defectives.

We have not realized that the moron is not a normal person mentally and that he can never be made normal, he has been misunderstood and has been credited with a degree of responsibility he does not and cannot possess. The remedy for this moral blunder lies in a mental and bio-sociological examination of each juvenile delinquent, with a view of determining what disposition of the case is best for the child and best for society.

In a rational and progressive policy for dealing with this great problem it is essential that we should recognize this condition in childhood; that there be some form of guardianship from infancy; that the backward children in the public schools be studied individually; that their physical defects be diagnosed and remedied, and that those who are definitely feeble-minded be removed from the public schools to appropriate institutions. Early identification of feeble-minded persons committed to prisons and reformatories is also highly desirable and they should be removed to special institutions. A central medical authority should be established to which every case of feeble-mindedness must be reported and which would have oversight of all mental defectives in the community.

If the state is to protect itself in its future citizens more attention must be paid to the causes of feeble-mindedness and methods of prevention. There is an increasing and insistent demand that society be protected from the evils to which it is exposed by allowing feeble-mindedness to develop and increase without any restrictions whatsoever.