The Deaf | Page 7

as most of the deaf are able to use two or
more. According to the census,[14] the sign language alone or in
combination with other methods is employed by 68.2 per cent, or over
two-thirds of the deaf; finger-spelling by 52.6 per cent, or over one-half;
writing by almost the same proportion--51.9 per cent; and speech by
39.8 per cent, or some two-fifths. It is probable, however, that the
proportions employing the sign language, finger-spelling and writing,
either singly or with other methods, are really somewhat larger. In this
case, likewise, we find that the lower the age of becoming deaf, the
smaller is the proportion of the deaf with speech, which shows again
the connection of the ability to speak with the age of the occurrence of
deafness. Of those born deaf, speech alone or in combination with other
methods is used by 18.2 per cent; of those becoming deaf after birth
and under five, by 27.4 per cent; of those becoming deaf after five and
under twenty, by 75.3 per cent; and of those becoming deaf after
twenty, by 97.7 per cent.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] There are no sharply dividing lines between the different degrees of
deafness, but it is only those described that really constitute a special
class. Persons whose hearing is such as to be of use even in some slight
degree are rather to be distinguished as "hard of hearing."
[2] By this census both the partially deaf and the totally deaf were
enumerated, or 89,287 in all. The former should not have been
enumerated, the enumerators being instructed not to include those able
to hear loud conversation.
[3] For the census returns for 1900, see "Special Reports of the Census
Office. The Blind and the Deaf," 1906. This report was under the
special direction of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who has long been
interested in the deaf. The returns of the census for 1910 are yet to be

revised, while at the same time additional data are to be secured to be
published as a special report like that of 1906. As yet the census office
has for 1910 only the actual enumeration of the deaf and dumb in the
various states, and the returns with respect to other particulars
regarding them are yet to be completed. See Volta Review, xiii., 1911, p.
399. Hence in our discussions we shall, except for the number by states,
deal with the census of 1900. For a review of this census, see American
Annals of the Deaf, Sept., 1906, to May, 1907 (li., lii.). In a number of
states certain county officers are required from time to time to
enumerate the deaf. For a census in one state, see Bulletin of Labor of
Massachusetts, July-Aug., 1907.
[4] Included in the census of 1900 were 491 deaf-blind persons (totally
deaf), and in that of 1910, 584.
[5] From statistics kindly furnished by the Census Bureau.
[6] This is just the opposite of the case with the blind.
[7] Special Reports, 1906, p. 79. Some 2,000 cases were thrown out for
indefinite replies, leaving 35,479, upon which our percentages are
based.
[8] A somewhat frequent classification of the deaf in respect to their
power to speak is to regard them roughly as falling into three great
divisions: 1. "Deaf-mutes," who come nearest to being deaf and dumb.
They have always been deaf, and have never had natural speech. What
speech they may possess has come from special instruction, with the
result that it is more or less artificial. 2. "Semi-mutes," who are deaf,
but who have once had hearing as well as speech; and this speech they
are able to use to a greater or less degree, though in time it is likely to
become more and more astray. 3. "Semi-deaf" persons, who are only
partly deaf, and possess a little hearing, though it is too slight to be of
real practical use; and who have voices most nearly approaching the
normal. They belong somewhere between the really deaf and the hard
of hearing.
[9] Special Reports, pp. 82, 240.

[10] Ibid., pp. 87, 240. For 8,966 no returns were made.
[11] On the subject of lip-reading, see especially E. B. Nitchie,
"Lip-Reading: its Principles and Practice", 1912.
[12] This "sign language" is referred to at somewhat more length in
Chapter XIX.
[13] Sometimes called "the deaf and dumb alphabet".
[14] Special Reports, pp. 89, 240. For 2,365 no returns were made.
CHAPTER II
THE DEAF AS A PERMANENT ELEMENT OF THE
POPULATION
INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF THE DEAF IN RELATION TO
THE INCREASE IN THE GENERAL POPULATION
Are the deaf to be a permanent element in the constitution of the
population? Are they always to be reckoned with in the life of the state
and the regard of society? Would