The subnormal mind is our greatest social burden. The need for squarely facing the situation with an intelligent and studious interest is becoming imperative, for our social evils must remain unsolved so long as mental defectives remain untrained and uncontrolled. No social group, small or great, can exceed the limitations imposed upon it by the individuals which it comprises. In other words, any group organization depends upon individual conduct and capacity. This leads me to briefly state the keynote of my thesis, which is, that the chief determiner of human conduct is a unitary mental process which we call intelligence; that this process is usually conditioned by a nervous organization that is inborn and that it is little affected by any later influence aside from accidental factors. Every child that is born into the world is endowed by inheritance with a definite potentiality for development ‐‐ or, if you please, there is a certain intellectual goal or level which he is capable of reaching but beyond which he cannot go. Granting that intelligence plays the chief part in shaping man's conduct, it is clear that any social attempt at social adjustment which fails to consider this determining feature is illogical and unsound.

It is our belief that intelligence is a matter of the growth and integrity of brain cells and neuron patterns, as well as the proper development of the larger association areas of the brain the functioning of which develops relatively late, hence making such development particularly liable to permanent arrest. It is a matter of common observation that children as they grow, rise to a higher and higher level of intelligence, that, in connection with this, there are two facts too little recognized first, that the intellectual development is largely independent of knowledge or education, and second, that not all develop to the highest level or even near to it; many stop at someone of the lower levels of childhood. Regarding the former fact, we should be careful to avoid confusing intelligence and knowledge. Many men of moderate intelligence have a vast amount of knowledge, but in spite of this asset, they lead colorless and unproductive lives. Intellectual growth as such, is determined by inheritance and is quite independent of education. Intelligence is a matter of inborn capacity, of neurons and neuron patterns; education is largely a matter of environment, of opportunity for the exercise of inborn capacity ‐‐ the development of elaborate patterns from the neurons that one has. It is probably true that some people whose shortcomings we account for on the grounds of lack of education, are really lacking in intelligence. It is highly important that this distinction be clearly drawn for it is customary to consider mental ability in terms of acquired knowledge. As already stated, many children do not attain the normal mental level, but stop short at periods which afford all grades of intelligence, varying from the idiot who possesses below twenty‐five per cent of mental power to the imbecile having from twenty‐five to fitfy per cent of intelligence and the feebleminded who display from fifty to seventy‐five per cent of native ability.

The human race of all others, is subject to the widest variations of mental endowment, extending from the inferior types just mentioned, to the normal and the superior minds which exhibit from one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty intelligence quotient.

Human progress is dependent upon the leadership of superior minds. Moderate ability can only follow and imitate; superior ability must always pave the way. It is, therefore a matter of great importance to know as nearly as possible the facts in regard to the distribution of intelligence. It was impossible to answer this question until psychological tests were standardized and utilized. Outside of the army, intelligence testing is not as yet, general and its value is not understood, or its significance realized. Particularly is this true in our public school system. Of the $400,000,000 annually expended in this country for school instruction, it is estimated that over ten per‐cent is in re‐teaching children what they have already been taught, but have failed to learn. Statistics tend to show that between a third and a half of children fail to progress through the school grades at the expected rate. It remained, however for the army to give us the most reliable data in regard to the general distribution of intelligence. Over one million, seven hundred thousand men in the army were tested. This number may be accepted as a fair sample of the population in the United States. Whatever we may determine in regard to that group of men, should be found applicable to the country as a whole. As a result of the army tests, the men were assembled in different groups as follows:

Group A. Very superior intelligence‐‐ This grade was ordinarily attained by only four or five percent.

Group B. Superior Intelligence ‐‐ This rating was given to eight or ten soldiers out of a hundred.

Group C Plus. High Average Intelligence ‐‐ This group included fifteen to eighteen percent of the men.

Group C Average Intelligence ‐‐ Includes about twenty‐five percent of soldiers.

Group C Minus. Low Average Intelligence ‐‐‐ Comprises about twenty per cent.

Groups D and E. Inferior and very Inferior Intelligence ‐‐ In the neighborhood of twenty per cent, were classified in these subnormal groups.

Thus, for the first time we are possessed with approximate facts in regard to the immensity of mental defect but this information is serviceable only as we are acquainted with the real influence that the subnormal group exerts upon our social structure. It cannot be disputed that feeble‐mindedness is a prolific cause of crime, prostitution, disease, pauperism and human inefficiency, Criminologists are attaching more and more importance to the basic mental state of adult offenders and youthful delinquents and express the opinion that mental deficiency is to be noted in a considerable proportion of prisoners in penal institutions. The percentages given vary from thirty to eighty and the results of recent work have been tending toward the larger percentages.

It is certainly safe to say that the most important trait in at least twenty‐five per cent of criminals is feeble‐mindedness. Lombroso exploited a well known and more or less accepted hypothesis, as to the so‐called criminal type ‐‐ but, characteristics which this school believed to be fairly common to criminals as a class, accordingly, Lombroso and his followers subjected thousands of criminals to examination with regard to such physical traits as the size and shape of the skull, anomalies of the eye, ear, palate, teeth, etc., in search of physical stigmata, characteristic of the so‐called criminal type.

Although these studies created a scientific interest in criminology, the theories of Lombroso have been wholly discredited by the results of intelligence tests. The physical abnormalities which have been found so common among prisoners, are not the stigmata of criminality, but the physical accompaniments of feeble‐mindedness. They have no diagnostic significance except in so far as they are indications of mental deficiency.

That mental deficiency leads to crime, is only to be expected. In this class of individuals, we must remember that the primitive instincts are dominant and unfettered ‐‐ egotism and selfishness unmodified by altruism, sexual desires ever seeking satisfaction without restraint.

Feeble‐minded offenders are usually termed immoral, but is it not more exact to think of them as being devoid of morals? For morality presupposes intelligence‐‐it is a judgment dependent upon the ability to foresee the consequences of an act and the capacity for self restraint. Thus, moral judgment like social and business judgment is a matter of the higher thought processes‐‐‐a function of intelligence. The fact must be accepted, that every feeble‐minded person is potentially a criminal and that every feeble‐minded woman is potentially a prostitute.

I have mentioned feeble‐mindedness as a cause of human inefficiency. It is conceded that intelligence is the chief determiner of human conduct.

Furthermore, the crucial test of an individual's intelligence is concerned with his capacity for adaptation and judgment. Even the maintenance of independent existence, is no longer simple, but, on the other hand, it requires intelligent application and has, in fact, become the essential concern of mind.

It can no longer be disputed that mental deficiency is the real cause for so many failures and so‐called misfits. Inferior individuals so often attempt work entirely out of proportion to their abilities and on the other hand, certain superior persons are performing service that is far below their capacities. The various professions, the business world and political life are strewn with failures which are very often due to the fact that an individual attempts tasks which are beyond his intelligence. After all, the efficiency of the human group is not so much a question of the absolute numbers of persons of high or low intelligence, as it is whether each grade of intelligence is assigned a part in the world organization that is within its power.

The cause of mental deficiency may be divided into two groups, the so‐called hereditary or primary and the non‐hereditary, secondary or accidental. In eighty‐five to ninety per cent of the cases, the cause may be attributed to the first group, for in these cases, the neuropathic inheritance is certainly the determining feature. The particular condition to be observed in the ancestors, is a great variety of neurotic states which prevent the parents from transmitting to their offspring an adequate or stable nervous organization. Ten to fifteen per cent of the cases are really secondary to accidents or diseases, which produce gross injury to the brain structure. Among such causes may be mentioned severe head injuries and particularly the acute disease which often occur in childhood and produce inflammatory and hemorrhagic condition within the central nervous system.

Let us not forget, however, that in the overwhelming proportion of cases, the cause lies in the condition of the germ plasm and resolves itself into the question of inheritance. It is important that this fact should be constantly in mind in developing and operating a program for the care and training of mental defectives.

What this program shall be, is a matter that demands thoughtful consideration and an enlarged vision of the entire problem. In the first place, society must, of course, be protected from the inroads that the feeble‐minded are making, for it has been seen that mental defect is a marked source of crime, pauperism and human inefficiency. In the second place, it is our duty to train defectives to the limit of their capacity.

To achieve the first end, it is believed that segregation, specialized training and supervision, both within and without the institution, is the only practical and sensible way of procedure. Other more radical measures have been urged, but the fact must be accepted, that in their adoption, responsibility is transferred, education has no place in the program, disease is not prevented, but rather augmented, illicit relationship is not restrained by the fear of impregnation and vice is encouraged.

We Vermonters must admit that our State, until a comparatively recent date, did not recognize the problem of mental deficiency, or at least, no well organized effort was made to segregate and train the feeble‐minded.

The Legislature of 1912 provided for the creation of the Vermont State School for Feeble‐minded Children and in accordance with this Act, as you know, the property at Brandon was purchased. As rapidly as conditions have warranted, though not as quickly as needs have demanded, the farm property of the original purchase has been developed into a School for Mental Defectives. The permanent construction that has been effected, consists of the erection of a central heating plant, a laundry and two dormitories' each with a capacity of 70, one of which, is now being completed and it is hoped will be ready for occupancy by December first. This development has made room for 190 children.

The Legislature of 1921 provided for the erection of a central service building and another dormitory. It is expected that these structures will be built during the coming summer, and thereby facilities will be realized which will allow the School to care for 250 pupils. Reference to the architect's sketch, will enable you to visualize something of the contemplated future expansion, so far as the necessary growth can at this time be determined.

Males are admitted between the ages of five and twenty‐one and females between the ages of five and forty‐five. All applications for admission of pupils, should be sent to the Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs. Commitments are made in all cases by the Probate Courts under authority from the Executives Department. Believing that of all feeble‐minded folks, it is the higher grade mentally defective girl of child bearing age who is the greatest community and social mettle, it is urged that so far as possible, for the present, this type be given the preference among commitments.

So far as the individual is concerned, the chief purpose of a School for the Feeble‐minded, is educational in its nature, first, last and all of the time. By education, I mean training in its broadest sense, moral, physical, intellectual and industrial development. The treatment of mental defectives does not by any means resolve itself into a question of custody. The need of intensive training must be ever urged. Otherwise, retrogression will ensue in place of progress and disaster will inevitably follow. It must be maintained that a State is recreant in its duties, unless it earnestly endeavors to develop to the fullest extent, all the potentialities of body and mind of any child committed unto it.

The School Department is a most necessary adjunct. There are about one third of them who receive instruction. The usual school subjects are, of course, taught, beginning at the very primitive sense training and extending to the fifth and sixth grades. Music is a most helpful study and the children have been trained so that splendid exercises have resulted on such special occasions as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. Religious services are held each Sunday evening. This fall a school band was organized and the prospect is encouraging for a very good band.

Of all educative methods, however, the most useful results are obtained from industrial training. The reason for this is clear. A defective child, necessarily has difficulty in acquiring the abstract, but, concrete details that appeal to the primary senses, may be more easily learned and appropriated to useful ends. The practical work of the Industrial School furnishes much of this type of training. The boys are employed on the farm gardens, in the barns and at the repair work. This kind of work is a source of much happiness and beneficial training to them and at the same time, is of material aid to the State.

The girls, likewise, are taught the essentials of housekeeping, cooking, canning, sewing, mending and laundry work, and as a matter of fact, they do a considerable proportion of the same. In the Manual Training Department, the pupils are making a great deal of the clothing used as well as canning, needlework, knitting, rug making, brush making, mat making, etc. This type of training, coupled with school instruction, teaches the children to do something and to do it well and is productive of very useful and practical results.

Intensive training, therefore, demonstrates the fact that the capacity for improvement among defectives, is quite marked and thus answers the common interrogation, so frequently asked, "Can they learn anything ?" "Can you do anything for them ?"

Coupled with Institutional provision, a State wide program should look toward extra Institutional supervision and training. Build as fast as we may, it will never be possible to care for all of the feeble‐minded in an institution, nor is this necessary or to be desired. The most imminent cases can be so disposed of, but a reasonable proportion of defectives can be safely controlled outside by mean of special classes associated with the public schools, which would furnish training suited to the needs of this group and a traveling clinic connected with the State School to aid in classifying and advising. An awakened public interest in this phase of the care of the Feeble‐minded must come, and in this way, organization will be effected to allow a mentally handicapped child, even outside of an institution, a training suited to his needs, and selection of employment within his capacity. In this way, many would not become public charges. It is the untrained, unsupervised defective who is a menace, while many who are trained, supervised and given work according to their ability, are to a greater or less extent productive.

Mention has been made of the traveling clinic. This work should be developed as rapidly as possible. The staff of the State School stands ready to conduct such clinics in the larger centres, whenever arrangements can be made for the same. At such clinics, teachers, social workers and physicians, in a district, could assemble a group of cases at stated times for examination and advice. The experience of Massachusetts, bears out the fact that such a system properly conducted brings the feeble minded children of the State under observation to a marked degree and that a State wide program is incomplete without some such system. It is urged that this work be developed in Vermont to the extent and with whatever modifications we need to meet our requirements. In this way, the School at Brandon will be made a civic asset which should be freely available, not only to persons committed to the institution, but to all people in Vermont who need such services.

A closer relationship between our Department of Education and the work for the Feeble‐Minded is recommended. In Massachusetts, the Department of Education reports to the Department of Mental Diseases, the names of all school children who are making conspicuously poor progress. The Commissioner of Mental Diseases directs the proper officials to examine such children and report to him. All school children who repeat a grade twice without obvious reason, should be given a psychological test. It is certain that our public schools should recognize the basic importance of a pupil's intelligence, as a guide for advancement and the selection of a curriculum.

The following statements will serve to summarize Intelligence is the chief determiner of human conduct. Intelligence must not be confused with education. Feeble‐mindedness is a much more inclusive term than ordinarily realized. Army tests have given us quite approximate facts as to the distribution of intelligence in this country. Feeble‐mindedness is a potent source of crime, pauperism and human inefficiency. The cause of mental deficiency resolves itseft in the vast proportion of cases into the question of neuropathic inheritance. Experience demonstrates that the capacity for improvement displayed by mental defective is considerable. A State wide program should include extra‐institutional provisions, as well as institutional facilities. Active interest in the work should be encouraged and closer co‐operation realized by all departments and persons concerned. Any attempt at social adjustment that fails to consider feeble‐mindedness is inadequate and unsound.

In closing permit me to extend in behalf of the unfortunate feeble‐minded child, sincere thankfulness for the public support that is being given by this commonwealth and it is a pleasure to realize that this body of workers here represented, is so earnestly supporting this work. Your aid and influence is appreciated and it is hoped that the Institution may be a much more distinct unit of service in the days that are to come. Our State has commenced a good work, there must be no retreat and in the prosecution of the same, all may rest assured that they are encouraging one of the State's noblest and greatest charities for, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me."