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In an able article published in Charities and The Commons, October 20, 1906, occurs the following sentence: "We will be greatly assisted in our study if we keep in mind that the question is the economic, commercial practicability of working in darkness, and not the question of the desirability of employment for the adult blind." Had this sentence been published during the Dark Ages rather than the twentieth century, and in Tibet or Manchuria rather than the United States, it would have been more in keeping, both as to time and place. From the viewpoint of "economic, commercial practicability," the insane and idiots, epileptics and the helpless old, and a very large percentage of the blind, should be put out of the way in the easiest, quickest, most inexpensive manner possible. But, thank God, I believe we have reached a stage in racial development where "economic, commercial practicability" is not the only determining factor in deciding such questions as are constantly forcing themselves on the attention of the American people during the twentieth century.

As far as I can learn, there has scarce ever been an objection raised to spending the millions which have been spent in educating the youthful blind. Blind children are not unattractive; blind adults are. Blind children can read and speak and sing before legislatures; blind adults cannot. Ninety per cent of our population, in passing, will stop and speak to a blind child; ninety per cent of the same population will go out of its way, if necessary, to avoid being compelled to speak to a blind adult. Teaching blind children is agreeable and pleasant; teaching blind adults is disagreeable and unpleasant. I do not make these statements as criticisms, but merely as facts which explain in part why training and employment for the adult blind have not been provided long ago.

The ground which I take, briefly stated, is this: If the public education of blind children is necessary and advisable, and I believe no one will question this, the public training of all adult blind needing and wishing such training, and the public employment of that portion of them who cannot be made entirely self-supporting, are just as necessary and just as advisable. In short, I believe that, considered from a combined humanitarian and economic standpoint, the necessity for public provision for the employment of the adult blind does exist.

Deplorable as it may seem, blindness, like insanity and many other evils, is increasing in this country, both absolutely and relatively. At present we have thousands of blind people who are willing and able to earn part, and many of them all, of their support. Unless public provision is made for the training of all of these thousands and the employment of part of them, there is no way in which they can even get the chance to work. That such training and employment can be given at a very small per capita cost to the public has been clearly demonstrated by every institution where this kind of work has been given a fair trial.

What trades, handicrafts, or professions are best adapted for the use of blind people are questions which a little time and a small amount of experimenting have gone far to solve. Among educators of the blind are found narrow as well as broad-minded men, and the man who advocates willow work, and willow work alone, as the only practical work for blind adults, is about as far from a solution of the problem as the other fellow who argues that all blind people should be taught portrait painting, or the use of astronomical instruments, or how to play pipe organs, because competition is limited in these fields. Fairly stated, the question is many times a local one. What will pay in Switzerland or Scotland might not in Minnesota or California. I earned $1,500 one year tuning pianos in Michigan, but I couldn't have done this located in a small town in a sparsely settled region; and I could make a good living in any small town mending shoes.

A blind person with good mechanical ability can learn to repair shoes and can work fast enough to compete with sighted workmen. Any four corners will support a cobbling shop, so that those learning can return to their homes and start a small shop of their own, with the added advantage that the work is always brought and called for.

Perhaps this is not the place to discuss possible occupations for the blind; but it may be briefly stated that willow work, chair caning, broom making, copper and brass pounding, shoe mending, and piano tuning can be taught adult blind people and can be followed with more or less profit, depending on the locality partly, and the person himself very largely. Aside from these trades, many of the professions are open to blind people, but those able to make their way in the professions will usually make their way unaided, so they do not need public help. From our institution we have turned out some very good salesmen, and in this field they do well. (2)