The Deaf Their Position in Society and the Provision for Their Education in the United States

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         THE DEAF

 THEIR POSITION IN SOCIETY
 AND THE PROVISION FOR
 THEIR EDUCATION IN THE
 UNITED STATES


            BY
        HARRY BEST



         NEW YORK
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
        PUBLISHERS




 COPYRIGHT, 1914,
 BY HARRY BEST.

 _Published April, 1914._




Transcriber's Note:

    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
    Significant corrections have been listed at the end of the text. The
    oe ligature has been transcribed as [oe].




TO

THE DEAF OF THE LAND

AND TO THOSE WHO LOVE THEM




FOREWORD


The aim of the present study is to ascertain as far as possible the
standing of the deaf, or, as they are so often called, the "deaf and
dumb," in society in America, and to examine the treatment that has been
accorded to them--to present an account of an element of the population
of whom little is generally known. In this effort regard is had not only
to the interests of the deaf themselves, but also, with the growing
concern in social problems, to the fixing of a status for them in the
domain of the social sciences. In other words, the design may be said to
be to set forth respecting the deaf something of what the social
economist terms a "survey," or, as it may more popularly be described,
to tell "the story of 'the deaf and dumb.'"

The material employed in the preparation of the work has been collected
from various documents, and from not a little personal correspondence:
from the reports and other publications of schools for the deaf, of
organizations interested in the deaf, of state charities, education or
other departments, of the United States bureaus of education and of the
census; from the proceedings of bodies interested in the education of
the deaf, of organizations composed of the deaf, of state and national
conferences of charities and corrections; from the statutes of the
several states; and from similar publications. From the _American Annals
of the Deaf_ the writer has drawn unsparingly, and to it a very
considerable debt is owed. Valuable assistance has also been obtained
from the _Volta Review_, formerly the _Association Review_, and from
papers published by the deaf or in schools for the deaf. Other sources
of information used will be noted from time to time in the work itself.

For all that has been set down the writer is alone responsible.