Care of the Feeble-Minded: Mr. Bund asks for Legislation: … (continues) … The Time for Action: If they were taken as children and – dealt with at once they would be able to do some work or even earn their livelihood. He would emphasise that the children should be taken in hand early. The generality of them were suffering simply from lack of willpower; they had no restraint, and the longer they lived without restraint the more difficult it was to deal with them afterwards, so difficult that when admitted to the special institutions provided, they often had to be dismissed as hopeless. As an instance there were, Mrs. Hume Pinsent told them, some 80 children of this class running loose about the streets of Birmingham. This to his mind was a terrible thing to allow. Both for their own sake and for the sake of the public he felt that unfortunate people of that kind should be kept under some restraint; for their own sake, because if they were behaving like decent people, they were happier; and for the sake of the public, because such persons were a danger to it, both as regards property, women and men. It was an unfortunate fact that feeble-minded persons very generally had large families, and that feeble-mindedness was strongly hereditary. … (continues) …
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949