[533] It has been found that, by comparing the number of the deaf in school in the several states with the total population of 1910, the best record is 26.0 per 100,000 of population, which belongs to Wisconsin; and if this ratio be accepted as an approximate standard, the average proportion for all the United States is only one-half, with a ratio of 13.6 per 100,000, while in a few of the states it is only one-third, the lowest ratio being 6.1 per 100,000. If all the states had as high a ratio as 26, the number in attendance would be 23,913. The finding of these results is due to Mr. F. W. Booth, Volta Review, xii., 1911, p. 786. If we compare the number of the deaf reported by the census under twenty years of age with the number found at school. In 1912-1913, the lowest proportion is seen to be 45 per cent, though only half a dozen states have proportions under 60.

[534] The proportion of children generally out of school is found by the Russell Sage Foundation to average 21.8 per cent in all the states, ranging from 7.3 to 44.7 per cent. Comparative Study of Public School Systems in 48 States, 1912.

[535] In respect to the ages most common in the schools for the deaf, it has been found by Dr. Harris Taylor, of the New York Institution for Improved Instruction, that of 2,634 pupils in 38 schools for whom returns were made, 19.8 per cent were seven years of age; 17.3 per cent, eight; 10.9 per cent, six; 10.2 per cent, nine; and 9.6 per cent, ten. Only 1.4 per cent were over nineteen. Volta Review, xiv., 1912, p. 177.

[536] See Report of Western New York Institution, 1888, p. 28; Kentucky School, 1889, p. 14. In the regular schools 85 per cent of the pupils are said to drop out between the twelfth and fifteenth years. F. M. Leavitt, "Examples of Industrial Education", 1912, p. 54. See also Report on Condition of Women and Children Wage Earners in the United States, 1910, vol. 7.

[537] In some cases it happens that the school is already crowded, but the need is no less, and it should be the business of the state to provide sufficient accommodations for all those who seek an education.

[538] Great credit is often due to the schools for their efforts to get all the children in. Of the Kentucky School it is said that "there remain but few deaf children whom we have not seen personally". Report, 1907, p. 14.

[539] We do not have sufficient data to enable us to make comparison between the attendance in states with a compulsory education law and those without it, though the former have in general apparently the better record. In Michigan it is stated that the compulsory education law has brought in many who otherwise would not have come. Report, 1908, p. 14.

[540] See Proceedings of National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1907, p. 498; Report of Commissioner of Charities and Corrections of Oklahoma, 1912, p. 430; Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors, vii., 1870, p. 137; x., 1882, p. 164; xi., 1886, p. 34; Conference of Principals, ii., 1872, p. 178; National Association of the Deaf, iii., 1889, p. 52; Annals, xv., 1870, p. 216; xliv., 1899, p. 152; liv., 1909, p. 356; lviii., 1913, p. 347; Association Review, v., 1903, p. 181; Report of Clarke School, 1888, pp. 8, 19; North Carolina School (Raleigh) 1896, p. 6; Illinois School, 1898, p. 13; Colorado School, 1898, p. 18; Indiana School, 1900, p. 20; Oregon School, 1901, p. 9; Nebraska School, 1912, p. 9; and current reports of schools generally.

[541] In a certain number of states, moreover, as Connecticut and West Virginia, town and county authorities are required to make report of the deaf at fixed times, and this may sometimes have the effect of a regular law. In addition, in some states with the full law, as Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina, it is the duty of certain county officials, as superintendents of education, assessors, etc., to send in the names of possible pupils to the schools. In North Carolina many county superintendents of education are said to take an interest in thus getting the children in. Report of North Carolina School, 1908, p. 10; 1910, p. 9. By the secretary of the state board of charities of California, however, we are advised that the state does not compel a parent to send his deaf or blind child to an institution.

[542] As in Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, and Oregon.

[543] The fines in some of the states are as follows: $5 in Maryland, $5-$20 in Minnesota, $5-$25 in Montana and Oregon, $20 in Rhode Island, $25 in Iowa, $5-$50 in Wisconsin, $100 in Kansas, and $50-$200 in Washington. In Utah the offense is a misdemeanor.

[544] Kansas requires 5 months, Oklahoma, Oregon and Montana 6, and Maryland, North Dakota and Wisconsin 8.

[545] The number in Montana is 8, and in California 5. The limits in Wisconsin are 6 and 16, in North Carolina 7 and 17, in Indiana and Maryland 8 and 16, in North Dakota 7 and 20, in Kansas and Oklahoma 7 and 21, in Michigan, Nebraska and Rhode Island 7 and 18, in Montana, Ohio, Oregon and Utah 8 and 18, in Minnesota 8 and 20, and in Iowa 12 and 19. In Minnesota it is suggested that the law apply to those over 20 as well. Report of Board of Control, 1908, p. 356; Report of Minnesota School, 1909, p. 23.



CHAPTER XIX

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS

THE USE OF SIGNS AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION

Deaf children cannot be educated as other children, and in the schools there have to be employed special means of instruction. In the present chapter it is our purpose to consider these methods only as they represent, in a complete study of the provision of the state for the education of the deaf, the means which have been found necessary to employ to attain this end.

From the beginning of organized instruction of the deaf in America a system of signs has been in use to a wide extent. At the time when the methods of instruction of the deaf were introduced into the first schools, the "sign language" was brought in as an essential part from France, where it had largely been formulated. Modified somewhat and considerably enlarged—and in conjunction with the manual alphabet, of Spanish origin—the system has taken its place as a recognized means of education and communication in the great number of the schools. The deaf themselves after passing from the doors of the schools have employed the sign language mainly in their intercourse with one another, and with most of them meetings and social affairs are conducted virtually entirely in this manner. Thus the sign language has for long been one of the vehicles—usually the chief vehicle—of communication among the deaf and their instructors.

With the sign language for practical use goes the manual alphabet, or "finger-spelling," by which the several letters of the alphabet are represented on the hand, the two together really constituting the language.[546] The order of signs itself forms to an extent a universal language. It consists of gestures, bodily movements, mimic actions, pantomime, postures—and to carry a close shade of meaning, even the shrugging of shoulders, the raising of eyebrows and the expression of the face—all appealing graphically to the accustomed eye. The signs of which it is made up are partly natural, and partly arbitrary or conventional; and the whole system as now practiced has been codified, as it were, for experienced users. By the deaf it can be employed rapidly and with ease, and is readily and clearly understood. Many of them become such masters of this silent tongue that it may be used with grace, warmth and expressiveness.[547]

RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ORAL MOVEMENT

This system of signs, however, has not been looked upon with favor by all parties. The "sign language" is said to be a foreign language, known and understood by only a very small part of the population, standing as a great barrier to the acquisition of language used by people generally, and tending to make the deaf of a class apart or "clannish." In its place in the schools would be substituted what is known as the "oral method," and speech and lip-reading would be used as the means of instruction. It has been sought thus to give all the schools over to the oral method, and summarily to drive out the sign language.[548]

Though the system of signs has been used in America as the prevailing method from the beginning, it cannot be said that speech-teaching had not been employed at all in the early days. Several schools had started out as oral schools,[549] and in others speech had been employed to a greater or less extent.[550] But in none of the schools had the oral method been retained to the exclusion of all others.

In time, however, attempts were made to secure the adoption of a pure oral system. Attention was called especially to Germany, which had long been known as the home of this method, and it was sought to introduce it into America.[551] In 1843 Horace Mann and Dr. Samuel G. Howe visited that country, and on their return reported in favor of the oral method, though no change was then brought about.[552]

A few years later the matter was further agitated, and in 1864 an effort was made to have an oral school incorporated in Massachusetts, but without success. A small oral school was then started at Chelmesford in 1866, which after a short time was removed to Northampton, having been very liberally endowed, and becoming known as the Clarke School. In 1867 the legislature decided to incorporate this, and to allow some of the state pupils to be sent to it.

In the meantime—in fact, seven months prior to the actual establishment of the Clarke School—a school which had resulted from a private class had been started in New York City, known as the New York Institution for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes. This was under a former Austrian teacher, and its stated purpose was to use the oral method as in Germany. Two years later the school board of Boston, having made a canvass of the deaf children of the city, resolved to establish a day school, which was to be a pure oral one, and which not long after was called the Horace Mann School. These three schools were thus the pioneers in the present oral movement.[553]

The oral method has gained ground steadily since these times. It is now used exclusively in twelve of the institutions, while it has always remained the prevailing method in the day schools.[554] A great extension is also found in the institutions employing what is called the "combined system," and in them more and more attention is given to the teaching of speech.

The growth in the number of speech-taught pupils may be indicated in the following table, showing the number and percentage of those taught speech in different years from 1884, the year we first have record; of those taught wholly or chiefly by the oral method since 1892; and also of those taught wholly or chiefly by the auricular method since 1893.[555]

NUMBER OF THE DEAF TAUGHT SPEECH, NUMBER TAUGHT WHOLLY OR CHIEFLY BY ORAL METHOD, AND NUMBER TAUGHT WHOLLY OR CHIEFLY BY AURICULAR METHOD, IN DIFFERENT YEARS

- NUMBER NUMBER TOTAL TAUGHT TAUGHT NUMBER NUMBER WHOLLY WHOLLY YEAR OF TAUGHT PER OR PER OR PER PUPILS SPEECH CENT CHIEFLY CENT CHIEFLY BY CENT BY ORAL AURICULAR METHOD METHOD - 1884 7,482 2,041 27.2 1890 8,901 3,682 41.3 1892 7,940 3,924 49.4 1,581 19.9 1893 8,304 4,485 54.0 2,056 24.7 80 0.9 1895 9,252 5,084 54.9 2,570 27.7 149 1.6 1900 10,608 6,887 63.0 4,538 42.8 108 1.0 1905 11,344 7,700 67.8 5,733 50.5 149 1.3 1910 12,332 8,868 71.9 7,562 61.3 134 1.1 1913 13,459 10,138 75.3 8,791 65.3 135 1.1

It thus appears that in a little over a quarter of a century the proportion of pupils in the schools taught speech has nearly trebled; and that in a score of years the proportion taught chiefly or wholly by the oral method has more than trebled. The proportion of the pupils taught wholly or chiefly by the auricular method never rises above two per cent.

It should be stated, however, that these figures are not to be taken as meaning that all the pupils thus enumerated have become proficient in the employment of speech, or have become able to speak clearly and intelligibly, and well enough for general practical use. It would be nearest the truth to say that they are "taught articulation," or that they are instructed by the use of speech and speech-reading. Oftentimes the greatest success lies in the preservation in fair shape of the speech of those who have once had it. The speech acquired by the deaf is of varying degrees, as we have seen; but in some it may be such as to be of distinct service, as well as the lip-reading which may be said to go with it.[556]

PRESENT METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

The methods of instruction at present employed in American schools for the deaf are known as the manual, the manual alphabet, the oral, the auricular and the combined. They are thus described in the Annals:[557]

I. THE MANUAL METHOD.—Signs, the manual alphabet, and writing are the chief means used in the instruction of the pupils, and the principal objects aimed at are mental development and facility in the comprehension and use of written language. The degree of relative importance given to these three means varies in different schools; but it is a difference only in degree, and the end aimed at is the same in all.

II. THE MANUAL ALPHABET METHOD.—The manual alphabet and writing are the chief means used in the instruction of the pupils, and the principal objects aimed at are mental development and facility in the comprehension and use of written language. Speech and speech-reading are taught to all of the pupils in the school (the Western New York Institution) recorded as following this method.

III. THE ORAL METHOD.—Speech and speech-reading, together with writing, are made the chief means of instruction, and facility in speech and speech-reading, as well as mental development and written language, is aimed at. There is a difference in the different schools in the extent to which the use of natural signs is allowed in the early part of the course, and also in the prominence given to writing as an auxiliary to speech and speech-reading in the course of instruction; but they are differences only in degree, and the end aimed at is the same in all.

IV. THE AURICULAR METHOD.—The hearing of semi-deaf pupils is utilized and developed to the greatest possible extent, and with or without the aid of artificial appliances, their education is carried on chiefly through the use of speech and hearing, together with writing. The aim of the method is to graduate its pupils as hard-of-hearing speaking people, instead of deaf-mutes.

V. THE COMBINED SYSTEM.—Speech and speech-reading are regarded as very important, but mental development and the acquisition of language are regarded as still more important. It is believed that in many cases mental development and the acquisition of language can best be promoted by the Manual or Manual Alphabet Method, and so far as circumstances permit, such method is chosen for each pupil as seems best adapted for his individual case. Speech and speech-reading are taught where the measure of success seems likely to justify the labor expended, and in most of the schools some of the pupils are taught wholly or chiefly by the Oral Method or the Auricular Method.[558]

Of these methods the oral and the combined are practically the only ones found. The auricular is employed only in connection with certain pupils in some of the schools; while the manual method is found in but two schools, and the manual alphabet in but one. In the institutions the combined is by far the preponderating system, being employed in all but fifteen of the sixty-five; while the oral is employed in twelve. On the other hand, the oral method is used in the day schools almost altogether, there being but two of the sixty-five schools employing the combined system. In the twenty-one denominational and private schools the oral method predominates, fifteen employing the oral or the oral and auricular, and six the combined. In such schools, the denominational more often employ the combined method, while the strictly private are oral.

In respect to the number of pupils in the schools using the two chief methods, we find that 83.7 per cent of those in institutions are in institutions employing the combined system, and 13.9 per cent in oral institutions; that of those in day schools 96.1 per cent are in oral schools, and 3.9 per cent in combined; and that of those in denominational and private schools, 54.8 per cent are in combined schools, and 45.2 per cent in oral. Of all the pupils in the schools, 72.4 per cent are in schools employing the combined system of instruction, and 25.6 per cent in schools employing the oral. The percentage taught by the manual or manual alphabet method is 2.0. The percentage given auricular instruction is 1.1.

COURSES OF STUDY AND GRADATIONS OF PUPILS

Schools for the deaf have courses of study corresponding in general with those in regular schools, although special emphasis and drill have to be put upon language—something the congenitally deaf child in particular finds exceedingly difficult to use properly. Pupils capable of taking the full course are carried through the kindergarten, primary, intermediate, grammar and high school grades; and on the completion of the prescribed course may receive diplomas, while in some cases a certificate may be granted for a certain period of attendance. Not a large proportion of the pupils, however, really graduate.[559]

In all the schools for the deaf in the United States in the year 1912-1913 there were 14,474 pupils. Of these, 11,894, or 82.2 per cent, were in institutions; 1,942, or 13.4 per cent, in day schools; and 638, or 4.4 per cent, in denominational and private schools.[560] The instructors employed in all the schools (not including teachers of industries, but including superintendents or principals) number 1,419, or one instructor for every 9.5 pupils: in the institutions, 1,090, or one to 10; in the day schools, 223, or one to 7.9; and in the denominational and private, 92, or one to 5.7.[561] The total number of pupils who have received instruction from the beginning is 72,453, of whom 89.0 per cent have been in institutions, 7.7 per cent in day schools, and 3.3 per cent in denominational and private schools.

The following table, based on the figures given in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education will show the number of pupils in the different grades and classes in the schools for the year 1911-1912.[562]

GRADES OF PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS

- - - CLASSES CLASSES CLASSES CORRESPONDING CORRESPONDING CORRESPONDING KIND OF SCHOOL KINDERGARTEN TO GRADES 1 TO TO GRADES 5 TO HIGH DEPARTMENTS 4 IN ELEMENTARY TO 8 SCHOOL SCHOOLS GRADES - - - Institutions 1,063 5,040 3,365 1,069 Day Schools 134 1,195 559 38 Denominational and Private Schools 63 244 163 16 - - - Total 1,260 6,479 4,087 1,123

For 1912 there were reported 133 graduates from the schools: 130 from institutions, 2 from day schools, and 1 from denominational or private schools.[563]

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOLS

The industrial training given in the American schools for the deaf forms a very important feature of the work—in many respects it may be said to be the most important. In many of the schools industrial instruction was recognized almost from the very start, and in a number it commenced practically with the beginning of the work of education.[564] It is now provided in all the institutions, in nearly all the day schools, and in over half of the denominational and private schools. Many of the institutions have large, well-equipped shop and trade departments, with skilled and capable instructors. Nearly every pupil at a suitable age is put at some industry, and encouragement and special opportunity are often given to those who show a particular bent or aptitude. The value of this industrial preparation of the schools in the after lives of the deaf has already been referred to.[565]

The following table will show the number and percentage of the pupils in the several kinds of schools in industrial departments, according to the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1911-1912.[566]

NUMBER OF PUPILS IN INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENTS IN SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF

-+ + -+ TOTAL NUMBER IN KIND OF SCHOOL NUMBER INDUSTRIAL PER CENT DEPARTMENTS -+ + -+ Institutions 11,244 6,203 55.2 Day Schools 1,928 662 34.3 Denominational and Private Schools 518 196 37.8 + + -+ Total 13,690 7,061 51.8

In all the schools there are 403 industrial instructors, 373 being in institutions.[567]

The industries taught in the schools, as given in the Annals,[568] are as follows:

Art, baking, barbering, basket-making, blacksmithing, bookbinding, bookkeeping, bricklaying, broom-making, building trades, cabinet-making, calcimining, carpentry, chalk-engraving, cementing, chair-making, china-painting, construction work, cooking, clay-modeling, coopery, dairying, domestic science, drawing, dress-making, electricity, embroidery, engineering, fancy work, farming, floriculture, gardening, glazing, harness-making, house decoration, half-tone engraving, housework, horticulture, ironing, knife work, knitting, lace-making, laundering, leather work, manual training, mattress-making, millinery, needlework, nursing, painting, paper-hanging, photography, plastering, plate-engraving, plumbing, pottery, poultry-farming, printing, pyrography, raffia, rug-weaving, sewing, shoemaking, shop work, sign-painting, sloyd, stone-laying, stencil work, tailoring, tin-work, tray work, typewriting, Venetian iron-work, weaving, wood-carving, wood-engraving, wood-turning, wood-working, working in iron, and the use of tools.

The number and kinds of particular industries taught in the different schools vary not a little. In a few as many as a score are offered, while in others only three or four are given. The average seems to be about six or eight. The most usual industries afforded are art, cabinet-making, carpentry, cooking, domestic science, drawing, dress-making, farming, gardening, laundering, painting, printing, sewing, shoemaking, sign-painting, tailoring, wood-working, and the use of tools. The most common of all are carpentry, sewing, printing, farming, shoemaking, and painting. In most of the institutions papers are printed to afford practical instruction in printing, as well as to give local news of interest. These papers are published weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. A number of the schools, especially those in agricultural states, also have small experimental farms in connection with their industrial work, and dairy farming and truck gardening are often given particular attention.[569]

FOOTNOTES:

[546] In America the one-hand alphabet is used practically altogether, which is also the case with most of the countries of Europe. In England the double-hand is employed mainly. Finger-spelling, as well as sign-making, is very old with the human race. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans are said to have made use of a system of finger notation. In the Middle Ages monks in their enforced silence often resorted to a finger alphabet. Dalgarno, one of the early English writers on the deaf, had an alphabet in which the letters were represented by parts of the hand. See J. C. Gordon, "Practical Hints to Parents concerning the Preliminary Training of Young Deaf Children", 1886, p. 34ff.; W. R. Cullingworth, "A Brief Review of the Manual Alphabet for the Deaf", 1902.

[547] For a description of the sign language, see J. S. Long, "The Sign Language: a Manual of Signs", 1910. See also American Journal of Science, viii., 1824, p. 348; Annals, i., 1847, pp. 55, 79; v., 1852, pp. 83, 149; vii., 1855, p. 197; xvi., 1871, p. 221; xviii., 1873, p. 1; xxxii., 1887, p. 141; lvii., 1911, p. 46; Proceedings of American Instructors, ii., 1851, p. 193; iv., 1857, p. 133; vii., 1870, p. 133; xii., 1890, pp. 100, 171; Report of New York Institution, 1838, p. 14; 1840, p. 17; American School, 1856, p. 18; California School, 1875, p. 24. See also "The Deaf: by their Fruits," by the New York Institution, 1912.

[548] Against the arguments to abolish the sign language, it is claimed that signs are free, and are as natural to the deaf as spoken words to the hearing; that with certain of the deaf, especially the congenitally deaf, they are all but indispensable; that they cause mental stimulation as cannot otherwise be done; that the acquisition of speech requires a great amount of time, which is often needed for other things; that the voices of many of the deaf are disagreeable and attract notice; that communication readily and with pleasure among the deaf by speech and speech-reading cannot be accomplished to any wide extent; that only with the gifted few, and not with the general body of the deaf, can such proficiency in the use of speech and speech-reading be attained as to cause them to be "restored to society", in that they can with ease and with any considerable degree of satisfaction carry on intercourse with the hearing; and that, finally, the great majority of the deaf vigorously demand the retention of the sign language.

[549] The New York Institution, by a resolution adopted at the first meeting of its board of directors in 1818, decided for the employment of articulation teaching, which policy was continued for some ten years. Report, 1908, p. 30; E. H. Currier, "History of Articulation Teaching in the New York Institution", 1894 (Proceedings of American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, iv., sec. 12); American Journal of Education, iii., 1828, p. 397.

[550] In addition, there have always been sporadic instances of private instruction in speech, as by one's family or friends.

[551] It is also claimed that it was by accident that the sign method came into vogue in America, Gallaudet in his trip to Europe having found the London and Edinburgh schools closed to him, and having for this reason been compelled to turn to France, where the sign method was in use.

[552] It is interesting to note that after Mann and Howe had made their report, the American School at Hartford and the New York Institution sent special representatives to Europe to investigate, these advising little change on the whole. See Report of American School, 1845, p. 25; New York Institution, 1844, p. 62; 1851, p. 83.

[553] See "Life and Works of Horace Mann", 1891, iii., p. 245; "Life and Journals of Samuel G. Howe", 1909, p. 169; Report of Board of Charities of Massachusetts, 1867, p. lxxii.; 1868, p. lx.; Report of Special Joint Committee of the Legislature on Education of Deaf-Mutes, Massachusetts, 1867; North American Review, lix., 1844, p. 329; civ., 1867, p. 528; American Review, iii., 1846, p. 497; Common School Journal (Boston), vi., 1844, p. 65; Nation, iv., 1867, pp. 249, 339; Report of New York Institution for Improved Instruction, 1868, p. 5; 1870, p. 10; American School, 1849, p. 33; 1866, p. 18; 1867, p. 29; 1868, p. 16; Clarke School, 1875, p. 5; Addresses at 25th Anniversary of Clarke School, 1892; Report of Committee of School for Deaf-Mutes (Horace Mann), 1873, p. 3; 1891, p. 8; Annals, xxi., 1876, p. 178; Lend a Hand, xiii., 1894, p. 346; International Review, xi., 1881, p. 503; G. G. Hubbard, "Education of Deaf Mutes", 1867, and "Rise of Oral Method" (in collected writings, 1898); A. G. Bell, "The Mystic Oral School: Argument in its Favor", 1897, and "Fallacies concerning the Deaf", 1883; Boston Parents' Education Association, "Offering in behalf of the Deaf", 1903; Fred Deland, "Dumb No Longer: the Romance of the Telephone", 1903; Educational Review, xii., 1896, p. 236; Century Magazine, xxxi., 1897, p. 331; American Educational Review, xxxi., 1910, pp. 219, 281, 415; Proceedings of American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, i., 1891, p. 89; Volta Review, xiv., 1912, p. 579 (Proceedings of same); Evidence before Royal Commission on the Deaf, etc., 1892, i., p. 6; ii., p. 3; iii., p. 208.

[554] In many of the day school laws the use of the oral method is required, which is also partly the case in several state institutions.

[555] These statistics are taken from the Special Reports of the Census Office, 1906, p. 86, and the January issues of the Annals. See also Volta Review, xv., 1913, p. 90; Proceedings of American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (Condition of Articulation Teaching in American Institutions), ii., 1892; Report of Committee of Horace Mann School, Massachusetts, 1891, p. 8ff.; 1895 (Proceedings of 25th Anniversary).

[556] The greatest usefulness of this speech is often found in one's own family circle, or with immediate friends.

[557] Jan., 1914, lix., p. 41.

[558] The choice of methods for pupils may often depend on their classification, as noted before, into deaf-mutes, that is, those who have never been able to hear; semi-mutes, those who have been able to hear and speak, and retain their speech to some extent; and semi-deaf, those able to hear a little.

[559] For accounts of possible correspondence or extension courses for the deaf outside the schools, see Report of California Institution, 1904, p. 18.

[560] From Annals, Jan., 1914, (lix., p. 23). For a few schools the figures refer to the number present on November 10, 1913. The total number on this date was 13,450. The Volta Review for May, 1913 (xv., p. 99), gives the total number present on March 1, 1913, as 13,143. The Report of the United States Commissioner of Education gives the number for 1911-1912 as 13,690: in institutions, 11,244; in day schools, 1,928, and in denominational and private schools, 518. The total number of volumes in the libraries of the institutions was reported to be 132,461. For tables respecting the schools, see Appendix B.

[561] Normal departments for the training of hearing teachers of the deaf are maintained at Gallaudet College and the Clarke School, the latter having a special fund, largely contributed by the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf. Several of the institutions also have training classes, and there are normal departments in connection with the Chicago and Milwaukee day schools. On the subject of pensions for teachers of the deaf, see Annals, xxix., 1884, p. 304; Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors, xviii., 1908, p. 146; Report of California School, 1912, p. 12.

[562] Report, 1912, ii., ch. xiii.

[563] It is hardly necessary to state that physical education is provided for in the schools for the deaf quite as fully as in the regular schools.

[564] The first school to give industrial training was the American School at Hartford, this being begun in 1822. See History, 1893, p. 15; Report of New Hampshire Board of Charities, 1908, p. 184.

[565] On this industrial training, see Craftsman, xiii., 1908, p. 400.

[566] ii., ch. xiii.

[567] Annals, Jan., 1914 (lix., p. 23).

[568] Ibid., p. 42.

[569] In some of the schools, as we find from the reports, the value of the products of the farms and gardens may amount to a tidy sum, as may also be the case with the trade schools.



CHAPTER XX

COST TO THE STATE FOR EDUCATION

VALUE OF THE PROPERTY USED FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF

The various provisions for the education of the deaf have now been examined. There is to be considered but one question further. This is, what is the cost of it all? In the present chapter we are to see if we may not obtain some figures representing this cost to the state. First we shall find what the plants, that is, the grounds and buildings in actual use, are worth in dollars and cents.

Taking the nearest available statistics, which are those for the year 1912-1913, we have the plants of the institutions valued at $16,856,338,[570] or, in round numbers, nearly seventeen million dollars. In all the institutions there were in this year 11,894 pupils, and we may thus calculate that there is property worth $1,414 for each pupil. We do not know the full value of the property used in the day schools and the denominational and private schools,[571] but this would no doubt increase by some two million dollars the value of the property employed in the instruction of the deaf. Hence we have something like nineteen million dollars as the amount invested in plants for the education of the deaf in the United States.

For new buildings, repairs, and general expenditures for lasting improvements, so far as is reported, there was expended on institutions $848,068 for the year 1912-1913, which may represent the yearly cost of the upkeep of the institutions.[572] For the other schools we have few figures, but they would add to this sum somewhat.

COST OF THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SCHOOLS

For the maintenance of the institutions for the year 1912-1913 there was expended $3,297,440.[573] In forty-four, or about two-thirds, of the day schools for the year 1911-1912 there was expended $182,710, and on the basis of $120 as the average cost of the pupils in them, we have $225,720 as the full cost of the support of the day schools. For five of the private schools, the cost per pupil was $225, and assuming that this will hold for all, we have $133,550 as the full cost of the support of such schools, a part of course coming from tuition fees. Then our total expenditures amount to $3,656,710,[574] or to over three and a half million dollars, which represents the annual cost of the education of the deaf in the United States.[575]

FORM OF PUBLIC APPROPRIATIONS

Save for certain endowment funds in a few institutions,[576] and for limited donations in a small number of schools, all the means for the support of the schools for the deaf, other than the private ones, come from the public treasury. In some of the day schools there are municipal subventions; in a few states the maintenance of certain pupils is paid for by the counties from which they come;[577] and in the case of the Columbia Institution at Washington support is received from the national government.[578] With these exceptions, the entire maintenance of the schools is undertaken by the legislatures of the respective states.[579]

Appropriations by the legislatures are usually made in lump sums.[580] In the case of the semi-public institutions the allowances are upon a per capita basis, being from $260 to $357, but more often near $300. In a few of the state schools appropriations are also based upon the number of pupils, as in Alabama with $230 a year for each pupil, in Kentucky with $150 a year, and in Iowa with $35 a quarter, the last two states having additional annual grants. In the states in which pupils are sent to schools outside, a sum of from $200 to $300 is allowed for each pupil thus provided for. In a few cases funds are received from a special tax assessment levied for the benefit of the school, as in Colorado with a one-fifth mill tax on the assessed property valuation of the state,[581] and in North Dakota with six per cent of one mill.

COST TO THE STATE FOR EACH PUPIL

The average cost for the support of the pupils in the institutions for the year 1912-1913 was $277.23.[582] In few of the schools does the cost go as low as $200, while in a number it is between $300 and $400. The cost per pupil in the day schools averages, where known, $120.60;[583] and in the private schools, where known, $225.33.[584] For pupils in the common schools of the country, the average cost is $31.65.[585] Thus it costs the state eight times as much to educate its deaf children in institutions as it does its hearing children in the regular public schools, and four times as much to educate them in day schools.

The education of the deaf, then, is not an inexpensive undertaking on the part of the state. Because of the special arrangements necessary for its accomplishment, it comes high, compared with the cost of education in general. But considered merely as an investment, the outlay for this instruction bears returns of a character surpassed in few other fields of the state's endeavor.

FOOTNOTES:

[570] The figures in this chapter are for the most part from Annals for January, 1914 (lix., pp. 26, 27), usually for the latest fiscal year, these being supplemented in a few cases from the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1912 (ii., ch. xiii.). In the institutions where there are departments both for the deaf and the blind, we have ascertained the proportionate part for the deaf of the entire institution. If no allowance is made for the blind in these, the worth of all is $17,751,186, and the amount of property for each pupil $1,492. For 1911-1912 the value of all was $16,454,798, or according to the Report of the Commissioner of Education, $16,387,726. In this Report the value of scientific apparatus, furniture, etc., is stated to be $918,053.

[571] In most cases, as we have seen, the day schools are housed in public school buildings, special establishments being provided only in a few large cities. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education, the property value of four day schools, two being large ones, is put at $250,055, or $525 for each pupil; and if this be accepted as a measure, the property value of all the day schools is $1,019,550. The property value of seven denominational and private schools is likewise given as $324,717, or $1,358 for each pupil; and if this is taken as a measure, the property value of all is $865,404.

[572] In 1910-1911 this was $503,323, and in 1911-1912, $772,245. If allowance be made for the dual schools, it is about ten per cent less. In the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education it is placed at $568,136 for 1911-1912.

[573] With no allowance for the dual schools, this is $3,423,126. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education it is $3,285,099, for all but six institutions.

[574] At the Conference of Charities and Corrections in 1906 this was estimated to be $3,200,000. Proceedings, p. 249.

[575] For tables as to the cost of the support of the schools, see Appendix B.

[576] These endowment funds are found for the most part only in certain of the semi-public institutions, and in a few state schools which have received land from the federal government. In the Report of the Commissioner of Education the amount of productive funds in thirteen states for 1911-1912 is given as $3,372,565, as follows: Maine, $2,000; Massachusetts, $193,674 (in 1910-1911, $369,723); Connecticut, $403,000; New York, $1,002,633; Pennsylvania, $373,758; Maryland, $4,500; District of Columbia, $11,000; Kentucky, $9,000; North Dakota, $600,000; South Dakota, $400,000; Montana, $160,000; Utah, $160,000; California, $53,000. Thus practically two-fifths belongs in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, nearly one-third being in New York alone; while a little under two-fifths belongs in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Utah.

[577] This is especially true of New York, where the counties pay the entire amount up to the age of twelve, and after that the state.

[578] In this connection it may be noted that Congress has been asked to grant $100,000 to "encourage the establishment of homes in the states and territories for teaching articulate speech and vocal language to deaf children before they are of school age". Teachers are to be trained for this purpose, and pupils are to enter at two years of age and remain till the regular school age. See Report of Pennsylvania Home for Training in Speech of Deaf Children, 1904, p. 5; Proceedings of Conference of National Association for the Study and Education of Exceptional Children, 1911, p. 64.

[579] Charges for clothing and transportation of indigent pupils are as a usual thing paid for by the county, though this is assumed by some states. Often a given sum, as thirty dollars, is allowed for clothing, or the actual cost thereof is collected from the county. This is done through the proper administrative offices of the county, there being also some judicial procedure, as where the county judge or similar official certifies by proof. The school is then reimbursed for the expenditures it may have made. Some such procedure is quite general, especially in the South and West, though in a few states, as Vermont and New Jersey, the town or township, where this is the political division, plays a similar part. In Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Louisiana, California, Nevada, and possibly other states, these charges are paid by the state. In Maryland they may be paid by the county, city or state.

[580] It happens sometimes that legislatures are inclined to reduce the appropriations to as low a sum as possible, and superintendents may receive commendation for efforts to cut down expenditures. There is danger, however, that such a policy may be carried to a point where efficiency is sacrificed to seeming economy. On the question of cost, see Report of Mississippi School, 1909, p. 11; Iowa Bulletin of State Institutions, June, 1907, ix., 3; Ohio Bulletin of Charities and Corrections, Nov., 1907, xiii., 4.

[581] On the value of this tax, see Report of Colorado School, 1896, p. 22.

[582] In 1907-1908 this was $257.02; in 1909-1910, $253.92; in 1910-1911, $259.63; and in 1911-1912, $262.71. Without allowance for the blind in the dual schools, the amount in 1912-1913 is $289.60. According to the Report of the Commissioner of Education, the average cost is $303.58. It may be noted in this connection that the per capita cost for the blind in schools is more than that for the deaf, being $359.

[583] In 1910-1911 this was $130.28.

[584] In 1910-1911 this was $264.06.

[585] Report of Commissioner of Education for 1909-1910. The figures for subsequent years have reference rather to average attendance.



CHAPTER XXI

PUBLIC DONATIONS OF LAND TO SCHOOLS

GRANTS BY THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

To the schools in some of the states land has been donated, either as an investment, the proceeds of which should be used for their benefit, or as sites for the erection of buildings. This has been done by the national government, by the states, by cities and by individuals and corporations. The most important of such gifts have been the grants of the public domain made by Congress for the benefit of certain of the state institutions. Shortly after the work of the education of the deaf had commenced in the country, it bestowed 23,000 acres upon the Hartford school and a township of land upon the Kentucky.[586] After nearly three-quarters of a century it came again materially to the aid of this education, this time by directing that certain tracts of the public lands located in states about to be admitted to the Union should be set apart for the benefit of the schools. Thus in the enabling act of 1889[587] for the admission of the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, land was set aside for the benefit of the schools for the deaf and the blind, which are mentioned by name. In North Dakota and South Dakota the number of acres allowed to each was 40,000, and in Montana 50,000.[588] Likewise when Wyoming was admitted in 1890,[589] 30,000 acres were granted for an institution for the deaf and the blind, though the school has not yet been established. When Utah was admitted in 1896,[590] 100,000 acres were granted to the school for the deaf. On the admission of Arizona and New Mexico in 1910,[591] like amounts were respectively granted for institutions for the deaf and the blind, 50,000 acres having already been set aside in the latter while a territory.[592]

GRANTS BY THE STATES

Grants by the states themselves for the schools on a large scale have not been numerous. The state of Texas has set apart large tracts of public land for its institutions, the school for the deaf coming in for 100,000 acres as its share. The school in Michigan has received a number of sections of the state salt spring lands, amounting to 16,000 acres.[593]

GRANTS BY CITIES OR CITIZENS

Small tracts of land have been donated in some cases by cities where the schools were to be established, sometimes accompanied by a cash donation as a further inducement for a particular location. Similar gifts have been made by individuals and corporations. These donations have occurred in about half of the states, but they have usually been small in size, most being of five or ten acres.[594]

FOOTNOTES:

[586] We have also seen how applications were made to Congress for the endowment of other schools.

[587] Stat. at Large, 1889, ch. 180. Washington was also admitted by this act, and there was a grant of 200,000 acres for "charitable, penal and reformatory institutions". The schools for the deaf and the blind, which were not mentioned by name, seem not to have shared in this grant.

[588] Similar amounts were allowed to the reform schools, the agricultural colleges and the universities.

[589] Stat. at Large, ch. 664. When Idaho was admitted the same year (ibid., ch. 656) 150,000 acres were granted to charitable, educational, penal and reformatory institutions, the school for the deaf not being directly mentioned.

[590] Ibid., 1894, ch. 138. Similar amounts were allowed for the school for the blind and other institutions. As the school in Utah is for both the deaf and the blind, it really has 200,000 acres.

[591] Ibid., 1910, ch. 310. In the act admitting Oklahoma, though the school for the deaf is not mentioned among the institutions upon which land is bestowed, it has shared in the grant, having land reported to be worth at least $350,000. Annals, lvi., 1911, p. 206.

[592] In general with respect to the land granted by Congress, it is provided that such land is not to be sold at less than $10 an acre.

[593] The state of Massachusetts granted a small parcel of land to the Horace Mann school in Boston. To the school in Missouri 40 acres were granted by the state, and to that in Arkansas two tracts of land, one being of 100 acres.

[594] Thus land of perhaps five acres or less has been donated to the schools in California, District of Columbia, Illinois, New York (New York Institution, Le Couteulx St. Mary's, and Central New York) Oregon, Pennsylvania (Oral and Pennsylvania Home), Tennessee, Virginia, and doubtless to other schools. Larger tracts, of ten acres or more, have been given in Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan (state school and Evangelical Lutheran Institute), Nebraska, Pennsylvania (Western), South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and perhaps elsewhere. To the Kansas school 170 acres were presented, to the Minnesota 65, to the Washington 100, to the Oklahoma 60, to the school for the colored in Oklahoma 100, and to the school for the deaf, together with that for the blind, in Ohio 180. To the New York Institution for Improved Instruction the city of New York granted the land for ninety-nine years at an annual rental of one dollar.



CHAPTER XXII

PRIVATE BENEFACTIONS TO SCHOOLS

DONATIONS OF MONEY TO SCHOOLS

In our final chapter on the provision for the schools for the deaf we are to consider how far they have been assisted by private munificence. We have already seen that certain of the schools in the East—those we have called "semi-public institutions"—were started by private societies and were supported entirely by private funds till the state came to their aid, though in no instance was this dependence on private means of long duration. We have also seen that in a number of states private schools were first started, in a brief time to be taken over by the state, and thus received a modicum of private aid. In addition, there have been from time to time donations from private sources to one school or another.

As to the entire amount of these private donations to the schools, it is of course impossible to say. The full receipts of the various schools cannot be known, and our reckonings must necessarily be incomplete.[595] However, the data which we have are quite sufficient to enable us to discern in what measure schools for the deaf have been assisted by means other than public, and in what proportion the distribution has taken place; and our calculations, based on the best information to be obtained, may not be altogether without value.[596]

We find, then, that to a considerable number of the schools, apparently the majority, there have been gifts large or small from private sources. In most of these cases, however, the gifts have been slight, and have almost always come when the schools were being started, usually ceasing soon after their establishment or their taking over by the state. Nearly all the donations of any importance have been to schools in the East, the greater part also coming in their early days and when still in private hands.

At present in the great number of the schools such gifts are not bestowed. In perhaps a dozen schools—practically all in the East—they are still received in greater or lesser degree; and come in three forms: 1. as membership fees in some half dozen schools; 2. as certain annual donations, varying in amount, in about the same number; and 3. as an occasional legacy or similar gift to some school or other.[597]

In respect to the funds already received, we find that the great preponderance have fallen in four states, namely, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. In five others there have been gifts of what may be called measurable size: District of Columbia, California, Colorado, Illinois, and Vermont. In the remaining states private benefactions have been few: where they have occurred they have been small and infrequent.

In a score of schools or more there seem to have been gifts of a few thousand dollars—hardly over ten or fifteen thousand, and in most much less.[598] In some sixteen, donations appear to have been received of more appreciable size—twenty-five thousand dollars and upwards. In about half of these the gifts seem to have been from twenty-five thousand to fifty thousand, in one or two cases possibly more: the California, Colorado, Columbia, New England (Massachusetts), Sarah Fuller (Massachusetts), Pennsylvania Home, and Austine (Vermont).[599] To six schools donations seem to have reached a sum between seventy-five or one hundred thousand dollars and twice that amount. Four of these are in New York: the New York Institution, the Institution for Improved Instruction, St. Joseph's and Le Couteulx St. Mary's; one in Pennsylvania, the Western Pennsylvania; and one in Illinois, the Ephpheta. In three schools the quarter million mark has been passed: the American in Connecticut, and the Clarke in Massachusetts, both with receipts well beyond this figure; and the Pennsylvania Institution, which has probably been the largest recipient of all.

Total private gifts to schools for the deaf in the United States would probably foot up to little under two and a quarter million dollars, and perhaps to two and a half millions, though these figures cannot be fully substantiated.

GIFTS FOR PUPILS IN THE SCHOOLS

There have been gifts for the pupils in the schools as well as for the schools themselves. These have been of various kinds: clothing, books, pictures, magazines, newspapers, Christmas presents, prizes, etc., as well as money gifts in a few cases. In many instances reduced transportation has been allowed on railroads, and there have been a number of benefactions of like character. We have already referred to the funds left to certain of the schools in trust for deaf-blind pupils.[600]

PRESENT TENDENCIES OF PRIVATE BENEFACTIONS

Private benefaction, as we see, has not played any great part in providing the means of education for the deaf in the United States. In a few schools private gifts have been of appreciable aid in the work, but on the whole they have not been of considerable moment, and in the great majority of schools they have been practically negligible. To judge from past experience, it would not seem likely that in the future many of the schools will to any great extent be beneficiaries from private means, or that they will thus be enabled to extend their plants or to make innovations as yet unattempted, though of course such a thing is possible.

This condition, however, is not to be entirely deplored. Many of the schools, it is true, could receive large money benefactions to most desirable ends, and in many cases the work of the schools for the best results is hampered for lack of sufficient funds. Yet the schools may feel that they are in reality but agencies of the state in carrying out one of its great functions, and as such should have no need to call upon or depend upon means other than the state's. Whether or not in the course of time there may be an increased incentive for private gifts, it would seem that the schools should be entitled to look with full confidence to the attention and care of the state, since it is but contributing to the education of its citizens.

FOOTNOTES:

[595] In the case of some of the schools, figures of a financial nature are not to be had, and in many little record has been kept, especially when gifts have been small.

[596] In our discussion, few estimates have been made, and these have been conservative. It should be stated that only a part of the figures given are "official", and for the rest the writer alone is responsible. No reference is made to schools that are not now in existence, nor is any money value set on the land which has been donated to some of the schools.

[597] Now and then a gift has been in the form of a scholarship, usually of $5,000. Some of the schools aided by fees are the Pennsylvania Institution, Western Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Oral, New York Institution for Improved Instruction, and Le Couteulx St. Mary's (New York). Some that receive annual donations varying in amount are the New England (Massachusetts), Sarah Fuller (Massachusetts), Pennsylvania Home, New York Institution for Improved Instruction, St. Joseph's (New York), and Le Couteulx St. Mary's (New York). It should be remarked that the three last named institutions are affiliated to an extent with certain religious bodies, receiving assistance from this source also. The smaller denominational schools receive similar aid irregularly.

[598] Some of the schools that seem to have received gifts of from five to fifteen thousand dollars, or thereabouts, are the Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Central New York, Pennsylvania Oral, Tennessee, and the day schools of Milwaukee. Some of those that have received gifts somewhat smaller are the Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Horace Mann (Massachusetts), Western New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and the day schools of Chicago. More trivial or more uncertain amounts have been received in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maine, New Mexico, Albany (New York), Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and the day schools of a few cities.

[599] Gifts to semi-public institutions as the Mystic, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, have also probably been made, though we do not know of what size; and also to some of the denominational and private schools. The McCowen Homes of Illinois have received some gifts, especially at their beginning.

[600] The American School at Hartford has a fund of $2,000 to be used for the publication of books for the deaf.



CHAPTER XXIII

CONCLUSIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE WORK FOR THE DEAF IN AMERICA

We have now examined the position of the deaf in society in America and the course and the extent of the treatment accorded them. It only remains for us to inquire if this treatment is well-considered, and how far it is commensurate with the real, actual needs of the deaf, and at the same time consonant with the larger interests of society.

The question of paramount concern to society is in respect to the possibilities of the prevention of deafness. As yet it would seem that only a minor degree of attention had been directed to this consideration, though it is likely that in the future much more serious study and thought will be given to it. The problem is for the greater part in the hands of medical science, and for much of it we shall probably have to wait for solution in the laboratory; while no small aid can be rendered by general measures for the protection of health. Already there can be little doubt that there is less deafness from certain diseases than in the past, though the statistics that we have on the question are not as definite as could be wished. The matter is really a part of the long battle against disease, and as human skill takes one position after another, it may be that many of those diseases bringing deafness will be forced to yield, and that such deafness will thus cease in great part to be an affliction upon human flesh.

Eugenics also will be looked to for help, and it may in time bring to light much that is now hidden from our ken. As yet our knowledge of the causes of deafness from birth is very imperfect. A small part may be ascribed to consanguineous marriages, and a larger part to the marriages of those whose families are affected with deafness, these perhaps not being wholly distinct, and together comprising a little over half of congenital deafness. Marriages of relatives, even though not of frequent occurrence so far as deafness is affected, have a relation to it which is not to be ignored. Intermarriages of the deaf themselves are not found for the most part to result in deaf offspring; while the likelihood of such is not always greater when both parents are deaf than when one is deaf and the other hearing. The one distinct fact of which we seem altogether certain in this matter is that when there is in the parent congenital deafness, or especially when there are deaf relatives concerned, the chances are vastly increased of deaf offspring. These are the danger signals, and not to be passed without heed. As to that form of deafness occurring when consanguinity and antecedent deafness are not involved, we are in greater ignorance. For most of it, however, we may believe that there is inherited some strain or influence predisposing to deafness; and that in the discovery and application of eugenic principles a greater or less portion will be eliminated.

Though, so far as is discernible from the immediate prospect, we cannot look to an early disappearance of deafness from the race, there are indications at present that deafness is tending to become less. The probabilities are that the future will be able to report advance, and so far as the ultimate results are concerned, we have no reason to be other than hopeful.

In respect to what has been accomplished for the deaf since America has become concerned in them, we have a record that may well be a distinct cause of pride. The work for the deaf in America is hardly a hundred years old. Yet in that time there has transpired what, without violence being done to language, can be called a revolution. A century ago the deaf were practically outside the pale of human thought and activities. They were in a measure believed to be without reason, and were little less than outcasts in society. To-day they have become active components of the state, possessed of education, on a level with their fellow-men nearly everywhere in the scale of human employment, capable of all the responsibilities of life, and standing in the full stature of citizenship.

Perhaps the first workers for the deaf had not placed their faith too high after all, when they declared that the deaf and dumb were to be restored to the ranks of their species. Perhaps, after all, the visions of these men have come true. Perhaps this that we call education has had something of the power they were trying to articulate. For it has come about that a part of society known as the deaf and dumb has been brought to a place of honor and worth and usefulness in the community in which they live.

However much of what was claimed has been achieved, it is certain that a great part has been realized. It has been by a slow, silent process, keeping time with the years, but none the less wonderful things have been wrought; and through it all the advance of the deaf has been constant and onward. It might be said with all truth that this whole progress has been simply the march of events. Education has ever been the master passion of Americans, and in its wide sweep the deaf too have been gathered in, and have been borne to the place where all the state had to offer as instruction was laid before them. Yet it remains that by and through all this the deaf have been the gainers as no other people in the world have ever been, and their story is as no other's in the rise of a section of mankind towards the richness and fullness of living which are the fruits of humanized society.

Great indeed can be the rejoicing of the deaf, for they are those to whom the way has been hard and long, but who have come from the darkness into the light.

Yet the victory of the deaf is not complete. They have not reached the full position among men to which they are entitled. So long as people look upon them as an unnatural portion of the race, view them with suspicion or hold them as of peculiar temperament and habits, or otherwise consider them distinct from the rest of their kind, and by voice or in their own consciousness make use of terms or associations that give fixedness to such a classification or differentiation: just so long will the deaf be strangers in the land in which they dwell; and just so far will they be removed from the place in society which should be theirs, and which is accorded to all the rest of their fellow-men.

With regard to their economic position in the world, the deaf have, on the whole, fared well. Their own achievements have thrown out of court the charge that they are a burden upon society. It has been proved by themselves that they are not a dependent class, or a class that should exist to any degree on the bounty of the state. They are wage-earners to an extent that compares well with the rest of the population, and, economically, they form generally a self-sustaining part of society. For a certain number who are aged and infirm and are otherwise uncared for, special homes are to be desired—and with such the need is peculiarly strong. These, however, do not comprise a large part of the deaf; and with their exception there is practically no portion, at least of those with an education, that demands particular economic attention.

The community for the most part has been quite ready and willing to recognize the status of the deaf in this respect. Here the deaf are accepted on equal terms with the people collectively, and are in fact lost in the mass of the world's workers.

The state has perhaps displayed more reluctance to admit the deaf to the standing of its other citizens, largely no doubt due to the fact that in the sphere of law action is usually slow-moving, and responds less readily to newly recognized conditions. Though on the statute books there are found few examples of legislation directed to the deaf as if they were peculiarly in need of the state's attention, and though such are hardly more than reminders of the past legal attitude, they are mostly an anachronism to-day, and should in great part be removed.

The courts have quite generally adopted the true view in regard to the deaf, and hardly anywhere now differentiate them. There is always one particular kind of provision which may be made for the deaf at law, and this is in the employment of interpreters on proper occasion. But even here the matter may be left to the ordinary rules of the court, as well as to the good sense and justice of the law-makers and the law-dispensers.

In most things, special attention of the law in relation to the deaf is not often required, and they should, in nearly all respects, be left in its eyes exactly as the rest of their fellow-citizens. When particular legislation is called for in respect to them, it is needed rather to meet some peculiar or unusual situation, which would probably arise most frequently in connection with some special abuse of the deaf, though such is really seldom likely to occur. Provision for young deaf children who are otherwise without protection may well be included in "children's codes," or in other statutes of similar kind. Useful legislation is also feasible in connection with departments for the deaf in state bureaus of labor, the procedure possible being already indicated; and it may be that a considerable field will be revealed, not only in assisting the deaf in securing employment but also in securing information as to their condition. Opportunity is open to the national government likewise in this regard, and valuable statistics and other information may be collected for the country generally.

In one further direction the law can be invoked very materially in aid of the deaf, and just where very little has been attempted. In every state there should be enactments, backed up by vigorous public opinion and the co-operation of all citizens, providing severe punishment for those who go about begging alms on the pretense that they are deaf and dumb. For such creatures the law should have no mercy. The deaf themselves demand that such impostors be put out of business, for a real and cruel injury is done to them. They ask this as a great boon, but it should be accorded them absolutely as a right.

The deaf do not want alms or pity. But in unnumbered ways can they receive good at the hands of their fellow-men. They need friends as do all others, and power is never lost to the right hand of fellowship. To be desired above all else is the gaining of the right attitude on the part of the community. As one great need, there should be far more attention to the social and spiritual concerns of the deaf, even though they are often found scattered and far apart. There is much that can be done in many communities of a social nature for the deaf, and in manifold forms can life be made more abundant for them. Most important of all, there should be no longer in any place a neglect of the ministrations for the cure of souls, and it should be seen that all of the deaf are made to know the religion of the Man of Galilee, with its untold blessings and consolations.

In our present review of the work for the deaf in America, most of our attention has been directed to the provisions for their education. It may be said that to-day this work is as a rule of a high order, and that in many respects, considering the problems involved, it can compare well with the work of education in general. There is still more or less conflict as to methods, but this does not seem vital to the success of the schools, and their character has in general advanced.

In the beginning of instruction in some of the states we read of the struggles of the early schools, but eager hands came to push on the new work. This work was taken up with an enthusiasm and earnestness scarcely paralleled elsewhere in the history of education, or in any other of the great movements for the betterment of human kind. Strong and brave souls manned the new enterprise, and these early workers are well worthy of honor at our hands.

Oftentimes, at the first, private societies came forward as volunteers in the task of education, but the states early recognized their duty, and usually established schools as soon as they were deemed practicable, either taking over the existing private school or creating one of their own. After a time, as another stage in their development, the schools were made free by express provision, or have become so to all practical purpose. In time also all restrictions or limitations as to the admission of pupils have been in general swept away, and rules and regulations have come more and more to conform with those in the regular schools. Now education is offered to every deaf child, and to the poor and destitute the state provides all collateral necessaries as well, so that instruction may be denied to none.

At present much the larger part of the deaf are educated in institutions. But alongside this plan there has grown, especially of late years, a day school system with the pupils living in their own homes, and the result is that in a number of states such schools have now been established. Their main field is recognized to be in large cities, and it is here that they are able to be of the greatest usefulness. It is still a mooted point, however, how far they have passed the experimental stage, and it probably remains to be determined to what extent they really offer advantages to the deaf over the institutions. As a part of this activity, and as an extension of the general public facilities for education to the entire community, we have also the question of evening schools for adult deaf. There seems to be a definite need for them in certain centers, and it may well be hoped that much greater attention will be given to the matter.

All the schools are really parts of the public school system, with the exception of a comparatively small number of private schools which have been created in certain communities. In addition, the work in America is characterized by a national college, which represents the completing mark in the system of their instruction. By this the education of the deaf is made not only to stand all along the way parallel with education in general, but also to assume a place accorded it in no other land.

In the schools one of the great features is the industrial instruction, and this is rightly emphasized. As much as the need of vocational training is insisted upon on all sides to-day, with the deaf it is essential to a greater degree than it can be anywhere else. The pupils of the schools who have had this industrial training as a rule do well in the world, and in many cases put their training to most practical account. It could be wished, however, that we had a careful and detailed record, uniform over the country, of the former pupils, which would be a test, demonstrative as well as suggestive, of the efficiency of the industrial training of the schools, and which would be equally of value in other spheres of industrial education.

Though in the work of the education of the deaf in America, industrial instruction occupies a very prominent part, yet in the schools there is an abundance of "schooling" in the strictest sense. The problems of the education of the deaf are peculiar, and their instructors have to face difficulties of a kind not found in any other lines of education. Yet earnest thought and study are being given to these problems, and efforts made to solve them as far as it is possible. In the conventions and conferences of instructors notable work has been accomplished, and these bodies are insistent upon progress and better results.

For the greater efficiency and success of the schools, the law as well as public sentiment can be called in aid. Deaf children everywhere should be prevailed upon or compelled to enter the schools, and should be required to remain as long as their best interests demand it. Education should be a matter, forced if need be, for every deaf child, for terrible as ignorance always is, in the deaf it is the most dreadful of all.

In America private assistance to schools for the deaf has not been great, and very few schools have been beneficiaries from resources other than the state's. To-day, with the exception of a few cases, aid from private means has ceased to be expected, and calls for such bounty are now seldom made.

At present nearly all the schools are public institutions, and rely entirely upon the care of the state. The state has in general recognized its duty towards the education of the deaf, and has engaged to provide for it. In half of the states this responsibility is recognized, and provision guaranteed in the organic law. In all the states the legislatures have undertaken to see that means of instruction are offered to all their deaf children, and it is found that, all things considered, the states have in general taken a keen interest in their educational welfare. Few schools can boast of overgenerous appropriations; many not infrequently have failed to receive all that has been asked for, and have thus often been prevented from doing their best work. Yet it may be said that if the legislatures have not always responded with alacrity, or always bounteously, or at all times with a full sense of their responsibility, they have responded at least with cheerfulness, and mindful of all the calls upon the state's treasury, and often according to the best of their light. It has been realized that the education of the deaf is an expensive undertaking, far more so than the education of ordinary children; but it is none the less realized also that this education pays—pays from every possible point of view.

That the school for the deaf is not given its full educational recognition is a grievance in some states, and this cannot be regarded otherwise than unfortunate. In time, however, this will most likely be changed, and the schools everywhere will come into their proper standing, and be considered only as the agencies of the state for the education of its children.

The most deplorable thing in the treatment of the schools by the state is that in some quarters politics with its baneful influence has been allowed to interfere. But as hideous and disgraceful as is this action, we may now believe that in most places its back has been broken, and that hereafter men everywhere will think better of themselves than to allow it in a single instance.

Finally, in respect to the work for the deaf in America as a whole, it may be said that the state makes but one form of provision in their behalf. This is in allowing to all its deaf children a means of education. Even this is hardly to be called "provision for the deaf." It is rather the attention that is paid to a certain portion of the population for its education. It is to be distinguished from the provision for general education only in that special means and methods are necessary for its accomplishment.

This being done, the state may practically let the deaf alone. No distinctive form of public treatment is usually to be called for in respect to them as a class. They demand little in the way of special care or oversight, they are able as a rule to look after themselves, asking few odds not asked by other men, they have become citizens without reservation or qualification, and economically they form no distinct class, but are absorbed into the industrial life of the state. They have assumed the responsibilities of life in a highly organized community, and in turn reap the benefits that belong to all men in such an order. But though this is true, their affliction bestowed upon them by the partial hand of nature, is not to be minimized, nor its effects lightened by any human words. Their deafness rests indeed upon them as a very material, tangible burden, so sharp and pointed in its operations that they are in great measure cut off socially from the rest of their kind. Because of this their concern becomes great in respect to the form of consideration from the community about them, and their need turns to one not so much of material character as of the attention of the good neighbor. From their condition all the more does it avail that no further load should be placed upon them, and that their prayer should be heard that they be treated fully as men. For even with their ever missing sense, the power of the deaf is only retarded, and not seriously diminished, to derive from life much of its richness and color and well-being.



APPENDIX A

HOMES FOR THE DEAF IN AMERICA

- - - - - YEAR NUMBER ANNUAL NAME STATE LOCATION FOUNDED OF COST OF INMATES SUPPORT - - - - - 1 Gallaudet Home New York Wappinger's Falls 1885 24 $7,311 2 Ohio Home for Ohio Westerville 1896 30 6,710 Aged and Infirm Deaf 3 St. Elizabeth's New York New York City 1897 20 8,435 Industrial School 4 New England Home Massachusetts Everett 1901 13 3,198 for Deaf-Mutes 5 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Doyleston 1902 19 4,536 Home for the Deaf



APPENDIX B

TABLES WITH RESPECT TO SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF IN AMERICA

I. PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.

SCHOOL LOCATION DATE OF OPENING NUMBER OF PUPILS 1912-1913 EXPENDITURE FOR SUPPORT 1912-1913 - - Alabama School for the Deaf Talladega 1858 162} $ 39,800 School for the Negro Deaf and Blind Talladega 1892 29} Arizona, University of, Department for Tucson 1912 25 10,000 the Deaf Arkansas Deaf-Mute Institute Little Rock 1868 270 67,500 California Institution for the Deaf Berkeley 1860 180 54,629 and the Blind Colorado School for the Deaf and the Colorado 1874 176 59,176 Blind Springs Connecticut American School for the Deaf Hartford 1817 142 57,991 Mystic Oral School for the Deaf Mystic 1870 60 13,244 District of Columbia, Columbia Institution for the Deaf Kendall School for the Deaf Washington 1857 54} 86,184 Gallaudet College Washington 1864 82} Florida School for the Deaf and the St. Augustine 1885 108 16,877 Blind Georgia School for the Deaf Cave Spring 1846 188 45,339 Idaho State School for the Deaf and Gooding 1906 58 20,000 the Blind Illinois School for the Deaf Jacksonville 1846 415 124,957 Indiana State School for the Deaf Indianapolis 1844 345 85,980 Iowa School for the Deaf Council 1855 227 60,500 Bluffs Kansas School for the Deaf Olathe 1861 243 56,494 Kentucky School for the Deaf Danville 1823 353 82,325 Louisiana State School for the Deaf Baton Rouge 1852 145 30,500 Maine School for the Deaf Portland 1876 134 27,000 Maryland School for the Deaf and Dumb Frederick 1868 114 33,461 School for the Colored Blind and Deaf Overlea 1872 44 10,059 Massachusetts Boston School for the Deaf Randolph 1899 145 21,660 Clarke School for the Deaf Northampton 1867 156 65,255 New England Industrial School for Beverly 1879 36 9,098 Deaf-Mutes Michigan School for the Deaf Flint 1854 297 93,872 Minnesota School for the Deaf Faribault 1863 308 70,229 Mississippi Institution for the Deaf Jackson 1854 188 33,577 Missouri School for the Deaf Fulton 1851 344 99,000 Montana School for Deaf, Blind and Boulder 1893 59 20,024 Backward Children Nebraska School for the Deaf Omaha 1869 175 44,150 New Jersey School for the Deaf Trenton 1883 185 60,000 New Mexico Asylum for the Deaf and the Santa Fe 1885 44 11,000 Dumb New York New York Institution for the New York 1818 517 181,153 Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb Central New York Institution for Rome 1875 117 31,347 Deaf-Mutes Western New York Institution for Rochester 1876 192 60,362 Deaf-Mutes Northern New York Institution for Malone 1884 110 29,745 Deaf-Mutes Institution for the Improved New York 1867 241 88,455 Instruction of Deaf-Mutes Le Couteulx St. Mary's Inst'n for the Buffalo 1862 188 52,349 Imp'd Instruction of Deaf-Mutes St. Joseph's Institute for the West Chester 1869 515 122,962 Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes Albany Home School for the Oral Albany 1889 58 16,052 Instruction of the Deaf North Carolina State School for the Deaf and Dumb Morganton 1894 263 62,500 State School for the Blind and the Raleigh 1845 117 16,062 Deaf North Dakota School for the Deaf and Devils Lake 1890 94 26,977 Dumb Ohio State School for the Deaf Columbus 1829 542 118,000 Oklahoma School for the Deaf Sulphur 1898 221 50,000 Industrial Institute for the Deaf, Taft 1909 18 11,053 Blind, and Orphans of the Colored Race Oregon School for Deaf-Mutes Salem 1870 90 22,500 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf Philadelphia 1820 621 172,572 and Dumb Western Pennsylvania Institution for Edgewood Park 1876 282 62,653 the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb Pennsylvania Oral School for the Deaf Scranton 1883 100 51,000 Home for the Training in Speech of Philadelphia 1892 65 26,790 Deaf Children Rhode Island Institute for the Deaf Providence 1877 91 33,000 South Carolina Institution for the Cedar Spring 1849 156 21,780 Education of the Deaf and the Blind South Dakota School for the Deaf Sioux Falls 1880 90 26,000 Tennessee Deaf and Dumb School Knoxville 1845 326 47,800 Texas School for the Deaf Austin 1857 417 100,000 Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute for Austin 1887 94 17,652 Colored Youth Utah School for the Deaf Ogden 1884 115 42,857 Vermont, The Austine Institution for Brattleboro 1912 25 11,487 the Deaf and Blind Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind Staunton 1839 193 36,748 School for Colored Deaf and Blind Newport News 1909 85 11,824 Children Washington State School for the Deaf Vancouver 1886 132 36,178 West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Romney 1870 159 34,700 the Blind Wisconsin State School for the Deaf Delavan 1852 169 65,010

II. PUBLIC DAY SCHOOLS

SCHOOL DATE OF OPENING NUMBER OF PUPILS 1912-1913 EXPENDITURE FOR SUPPORT 1911-1912 + + + - California Los Angeles Day School for the Deaf 1899 45 $ 6,048 Oakland Public School Oral Classes 1898 11 Sacramento Day-School for the Deaf 1904 12 2,520 San Francisco Oral School for the Deaf 1901 23 2,350 Georgia Atlanta Day-School for the Deaf 1912 10 Illinois Chicago Delano School for the Deaf 1913 } Kozminski Public Day-School for the Deaf 1896 } Parker Practice Public Day-School for the Deaf 1905 }307 30,474 Waters School for the Deaf 1913 } Rock Island Day-School for the Deaf 1901 8 720 Louisiana New Orleans Day-School for the Deaf 1911 24 2,150 Massachusetts Boston, Horace Mann School 1869 167 29,040 Michigan Bay City Day-School for the Deaf 1901 7 1,005 Calumet Day-School for the Deaf 1902 13 1,566 Detroit Day-School for the Deaf 1894 92 Grand Rapids Oral School for Deaf and 1898 23 4,600 Hard-of-Hearing Houghton Day-School for the Deaf 1908 4 800 Iron Mountain Day-School for the Deaf 1906 3 900 Ironwood Day-School for the Deaf 1903 9 875 Jackson Day-School for the Deaf 1912 7 Kalamazoo Day-School for the Deaf 1904 4 Manistee Day-School for the Deaf 1904 10 1,100 Marquette Day-School for the Deaf 1907 7 1,020 Saginaw Oral Day-School for the Deaf 1901 11 1,050 Sault Ste. Marie Day-School for the Deaf 1906 3 Traverse City Day-School for the Deaf 1904 7 900 Minnesota St. Paul Day-School for the Deaf 1913 Missouri St. Louis, Gallaudet School 1878 62 5,321 New Jersey Jersey City Public Day-School for the Deaf 1910 14 Newark School for the Deaf 1910 58 New York Public School 47, Manhattan 1908 279 Public School, Brooklyn, (Annex to School 47, 1910 24 3,000 Manhattan) Public School, Queens, (Annex to School 47, 1913 10 Manhattan) Ohio Ashtabula Day-School for the Deaf 1903 5 810 Cincinnati Oral School 1886 45 4,150 Cleveland Public School for the Deaf 1892 99 10,000 Dayton School for the Deaf 1899 10 1,500 Toledo Day-School for the Deaf 1911 13 1,200 Oregon Portland Day-School for the Deaf 1908 31 3,800 Washington Seattle Public-Day-School for the Deaf 1906 27 2,800 Tacoma Day-School for the Deaf 1908 13 1,114 Wisconsin Antigo Day-School for the Deaf 1906 17 1,850 Appleton Day-School for the Deaf 1896 13 980 Ashland Day-School for the Deaf 1898 15 3,016 Black River Falls School for the Deaf 1897 10 Bloomington Day-School for the Deaf 1906 8 930 Eau Claire Day-School for the Deaf 1895 31 6,000 Fond du Lac Day-School for the Deaf 1895 16 1,803 Green Bay Day-School for the Deaf 1897 24 3,600 Kenosha Day-School for the Deaf 1913 10 La Crosse Day-School for the Deaf 1899 6 1,060 Madison Day-School for the Deaf 1908 15 2,272 Marinette Day-School for the Deaf 1895 9 1,582 Marshfield School for the Deaf 1912 5 Milwaukee School for the Deaf 1898 146 23,292 Mineral Point School for the Deaf 1912 13 New London Day-School for the Deaf 1906 10 1,200 Oshkosh School for the Deaf 1895 15 1,439 Platteville Day-School for the Deaf 1906 9 1,397 Racine Day-School for the Deaf 1900 21 1,751 Rice Lake Day-School for the Deaf 1907 8 1,243 Sheboygan Day-School for the Deaf 1894 13 1,476 Stevens Point Day-School for the Deaf 1905 12 2,646 Superior Day-School for the Deaf 1897 8 970 Wausau Day-School for the Deaf 1890 11 885