[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—May I express through your columns my thanks to Mr. Mr. F. M. Avis for his letter in your issue of August 22nd? I have been hoping that someone would point out how greatly the cost of proper provision for the feeble-minded is being exaggerated. With due regard to the health and happiness of those cared for, and also for economy, £1 a week is ample for maintenance of a patient over school age. For children in a school under the Board of Education, the cost is somewhat more. The cost of maintenance in an Institution, however, is not the only point to be considered.
It seems to be forgotten that thousands of feeble-minded adults are already being maintained at the expense of the public. They are " on, the dole," or in Prisons, or Public Assistance Institutions, or Rescue Homes. It is cheaper to keep them in properly conducted colonies, where, with com- fort and happiness for themselves, they may contribute to their own support. Sterilization would not make them more effective members of society (indeed so far as women are con- cerned it results in further mental deterioration) and it would certainly increase the spread of venereal disease. The ques- tion is how to bear the burden with least suffering to the feeble-minded and least expense to society.—I am, Sir, &c.
MARY DENDY.
Warford Hall, Alderley Edge, nr. Manchester.
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