The Deaf Part 8

To take care of such of the deaf of the state as are incapacitated by reason of old age or other infirmity from taking care of themselves, to the end that they may have the comforts of a home, where they can a.s.sociate with each other, and have the consolation of religious services in their own language of signs, instead of being sent to a county infirmary.

The purpose of another home is thus described:[115]

This home is unique, being the only inst.i.tution of its kind in the state, owned and controlled by the deaf, who have formed themselves into an a.s.sociation, known as the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf. Like our Ohio cousins, who have already established a similar home, we pride ourselves upon our ability to own and control such a responsible inst.i.tution. The home owes its existence entirely to the charitable impulse of the deaf themselves, aided by the generosity of their hearing friends. It exists because of the desire to provide a home of rest for the infirm of our cla.s.s during their declining years, so that they may find here comfort and happiness in congenial companionship and intelligent conversation.

At present there are five homes for the deaf.[116] They are found in the states of Ma.s.sachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, there being two in New York.[117] The first to be created was the Gallaudet Home at Wappinger's Falls, New York, founded in 1885; the second the Ohio Home at Westerville in 1896; the third the home of St. Elizabeth's Industrial School in New York City in 1897; the fourth the New England Home at Everett, Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1901;[118] and the fifth the Pennsylvania Home at Doyleston in 1902. The homes in Ohio and Pennsylvania are owned and controlled by the societies for the deaf in these respective states, the management being in the hands of trustees, in the former of twenty, and in the latter of nine. The Gallaudet Home is under the Church Mission to Deaf-Mutes of the Protestant Episcopal Church, with the direction vested in a board of twenty-five trustees.

The home in Ma.s.sachusetts is controlled by a private society organized for the purpose, with a board of fifteen trustees in charge. The home in New York City is a part of St. Elizabeth's Industrial School of the Roman Catholic Church.[119]

The homes are for the most part for the deaf of restricted areas, those in Pennsylvania and Ohio being for the deaf in these respective states.

With but one exception,[120] they are open to the "aged and infirm," in some there being an age limitation of sixty years. The homes are in general free to those qualified to enter, and though a charge may be exacted from persons able to pay, this is seldom done, the homes being intended for the dest.i.tute and friendless.

The total number of inmates in the homes is 106, ranging in different ones from 13 to 30, and averaging about 20. The total annual cost of maintenance is $30,190, making the average cost of each inmate $290.[121] The value of the property of the homes is about $375,000, one home having two-thirds of this, and two homes four-fifths.

As little is received in the way of pay from inmates,[122] the homes have to depend for the most part upon private benevolence for their support. In the case of the Ohio and Pennsylvania homes this support comes largely from the deaf themselves.[123] In nearly all the homes there are a certain number of inmates, but usually a very small number, cared for at public expense. Private contributions to the homes are seldom large, though in one case these have amounted to a considerable sum.[124] They usually range from three or four thousand dollars a year to several times as much.[125]

CONCLUSIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF THE DEAF

From all the foregoing we may conclude the following with respect to the economic position of the deaf:

1. The deaf are not a burden upon the community.

2. They are wage-earners in a degree that compares well with the general population.

3. The occupations open to them and in which they are successfully employed are much larger in number than is generally thought, and in many their infirmity is very little of a drawback.

4. The deaf hold themselves on an economic equality with the rest of their fellow-citizens, and ask no alms or favors of any kind.

5. Beyond homes for certain of the aged and infirm, which are called for in not a few quarters, the deaf stand in need of little distinctive economic treatment from society.

FOOTNOTES:

[94] Special Reports, p. 146ff.

[95] The proportion for the deaf would no doubt be higher but for the large number in the schools. It should also be noted that "keeping house", the most usual occupation reported by females, is not listed among the occupations.

[96] Several of the deaf have won distinction as artists, and there have been not a few inventors. In the civil service of the National government there are said to be nearly two score. In 1908 an order was issued by the Civil Service Commission, debarring deaf persons from this service. So great was the protest, however, made by the deaf and their friends that the decision was reversed by the President, and the deaf were allowed to compete for any position where their deafness would not interfere. See _Annals_, liii., 1908, p. 249; liv., 1909, p. 387; _Volta Review_, x., 1908, p. 224; _Silent Worker_, Feb., 1909; Proceedings of National a.s.sociation of the Deaf, ix., 1910, pp. 26, 70.

[97] Paupers in Alms-houses, 1913, p. 76. In 1911 there were in the alms-houses of Illinois, according to the Report of the state board of charities, 38 deaf-mutes, or 0.5 per cent of the entire alms-house population; in Indiana, 81, or 2.6 per cent; in New York, 191, or 1.8 per cent; and in Virginia, 17, or 0.7 per cent. In Michigan, according to the annual Abstract of Statistical Information Relating to the Insane, Deaf and Dumb, etc., for 1912, of the 1,059 deaf persons reported, 32, or 3 per cent, were cared for at public expense.

[98] The percentage for the general population is 0.1.

[99] In many schools it is said that few of their former pupils have failed to be self-supporting, especially those who have taken the full prescribed course. Of the New York Inst.i.tution the proportion is stated to be as low as four per cent. Report, 1907, p. 37. Of the Michigan School it is a.s.serted that out of 1,800 former pupils, only three are not self-supporting. Proceedings of Michigan Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1907, pp. 32, 63. Similar claims are made for other schools in respect to the condition of the deaf. By the head of the New Jersey School it is stated: "Inquiry at the state prison elicits the fact that there is not among its vast number of inmates a single deaf man or woman, and, indeed, I know of no educated deaf convict or pauper in the state." Report of Board of Education of New Jersey, 1904, p. 323. In 1911 a committee of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf was appointed to collect information and statistics as to the occupations and wages of the deaf. Proceedings, xix., p. 217.

[100] A special committee on the industrial condition of the deaf of the National a.s.sociation of the Deaf stated as a conclusion: "More deaf workmen learn a new trade when they leave school than follow the one they were taught at school." Proceedings, vii., 1904, p. 216. In Minnesota the division for the deaf in the state bureau of labor works in connection with the state school. See _Deaf-Mutes' Journal_, March 7, 1912. On the general industrial training of the deaf and its results, see _Annals_, l., 1905, p. 98; lvii., 1912, p. 364; _Volta Review_, xi., 1909, p. 311 (Proceedings of American a.s.sociation to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf); xiii., 1912, pp. 542, 595; Proceedings of American Instructors, xv., 1898, p. 86; xvi., 1901, p. 238; xvii., 1905, p. 93; Report of Special Committee of Board of Directors of Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution to Collect Information as to Lives and Occupations of Former Pupils, 1884; Report of Pennsylvania Inst.i.tution, 1885, p. 30; Mississippi School, 1893, p. 9; 1911, pp. 36, 52; Manual and History of Ohio School, 1911, p. 16; Report of United States Commissioner of Education, 1885, p. ccx.x.xv.; _Journal of Social Science_, xxvi., 1889, p. 91.

[101] Proceedings of National a.s.sociation of the Deaf, viii., 1907, p.

41; Indiana Bulletin of Charities and Corrections, June, 1912.

[102] Proceedings of National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1906, pp. 232, 239.

[103] _Ibid._; Proceedings of National a.s.sociation of the Deaf, _loc.

cit._

[104] In New York the deaf are said to "earn from $2500 a year to $6 or $7 a week", most being "journeymen at their trades or skilled factory operatives". Proceedings of Empire State a.s.sociation of Deaf-Mutes, xx., 1899, p. 7. In Missouri the earnings of the graduates of the state school are reported as ranging up to $1300 a year. Report of Missouri School, 1912, p. 28. In Ma.s.sachusetts, in an investigation of the state board of education, it has been found that of 84 deaf men who had left school between 1907 and 1912, the average wage was $7.78 a week. _Volta Review_, xv., 1913, p. 183. The deaf when opportunity offers often become members of labor unions. They are said "quite generally to join labor unions where the nature of their occupation permits", though, on the whole, it does not seem that a large proportion do. Proceedings of National a.s.sociation of the Deaf, vii., 1904, pp. 143, 218. For other views of the deaf on their employment and its returns, see _ibid._, i., 1880, p. 10; iv., 1893, pp. 122, 167; v., 1896, p. 35; vi., 1899, p. 64; viii., 1907, p. 53; Empire State a.s.sociation of Deaf-Mutes, xi., 1887, p. 9; Illinois Gallaudet Union, v., 1897, p. 25; Reunion of Alumni of Wisconsin School for the Deaf, vii., 1895, p. 2; _Louisiana Pelican_, of Louisiana School, Oct. 17, 1908.

[105] Proceedings, vii., p. 190ff. Questionnaires were submitted to deaf workmen and their employers, and the conclusions (p. 227) were based on their replies. These resolutions were confirmed by further findings reported in 1907, especially as to the similarity of the wages of the deaf and the hearing, and as to the satisfaction of employers with deaf workmen. Proceedings, viii., p. 48.

[106] Another conclusion was that rural pursuits are better for the deaf than factory work.

[107] See Proceedings of Convention of American Instructors, v., 1858, p. 351; Report of Kentucky School, 1867, p. 13n.; _Annals_, x., 1858, p.

161; xxiv., 1879, p. 194.

[108] In the year 1911 the number of impostors whose arrest was secured by the deaf was 38. _Deaf-Mutes' Journal_, Sept. 4, 1913.

[109] In many issues this is made a prominent feature.

[110] Proceedings, ix., p. 89. See also Proceedings of Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf, xxiv., 1910, pp. 12, 32; Iowa a.s.sociation for the Advancement of the Deaf, vi., 1895, p. 29. The action on the part of the deaf is worthy of the highest praise, and speaks volumes for them. The real cause for wonder, however, is that the public should ever allow itself to be deceived by those asking alms on the pretexts given. By no disease known to medical science, save paralysis alone, can a man lose his speech and hearing at one and the same time. It may be safely estimated that of such gentry 98, perhaps 100, per cent are rank frauds.

[111] Rev. Stat., 1896, p. 1242. See also _Annals_, x.x.xi., 1886, p. 295.

On the other hand, it would seem that such statutes as that in Pennsylvania which we have noted, exempting the deaf from the provisions against tramps, would lend encouragement to alms-seeking.

[112] Laws, 1911, p. 356. The law in this state was secured by the action of the deaf.

[113] It is said that less than 400, or less than one per cent of the entire number of the deaf, are in need of special homes. Proceedings of National a.s.sociation of the Deaf, ix., 1910, p. 51.

[114] Report of Ohio Home for Aged and Infirm Deaf, 1912, p. 15.

[115] From an address given at opening of Pennsylvania Home for the Deaf, 1902. On the objects of a home, see also Proceedings of Reunion of Alumni of Wisconsin School for the Deaf, vii., 1895, p. 10.

[116] In three other states funds are being collected to establish homes: Illinois, Indiana and Missouri. To that in Indiana 20 acres of land have been donated. A private home was opened in New Jersey in 1854 for colored deaf, blind and crippled, lasting but a short time, and having less than a dozen inmates. See Report of New Jersey School for the Deaf, 1893, pp. 3, 7.

[117] A national home for the deaf has also been proposed. For arguments for and against it, see Proceedings of National a.s.sociation of the Deaf, ix., 1910, p. 51. In 1872 such a home was projected, to be located in New York City, some $4,000 being collected for it. Little encouragement, however, was met from outside, and the plan was abandoned for a local inst.i.tution. See Report of Church Mission to Deaf-Mutes, 1874, p. 18; 1875, p. 17 ("Report of Committee on Building and Fund of National Home for the Aged and Infirm Deaf"); New York _Times_, Sept. 1, 1875. See also _International Record of Charities and Corrections_, June, 1886.

[118] This home was at Roxbury till 1905.

[119] In one or two cases there are ladies' auxiliary societies.

[120] The home in New York City receives only women from sixteen to fifty years of age.

[121] One home is exceptionally provided for, however. Without it the average is $252.

[122] In 1903 the amount from pay inmates was $1,600. Special Report of the Census. Benevolent Inst.i.tutions, 1904. The nominal charge is usually $250.

[123] Over $3,000 was contributed by the deaf of Ohio for the establishment of a home in this state.

[124] The Gallaudet Home has an endowment fund of $153,150, of which $107,000 came from one legacy.