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THE DEAF.

By Alexander Graham Bell.

INTRODUCTION.

This report relates to the deaf of the United States living on June 1, 1900.

In accordance with the census act the enumerators of the Twelfth Census were required to return only the name, sex, age, and post office address of each deaf, or deaf and dumb person, leaving all further details to be ascertained subsequently through correspondence with the deaf persons themselves, or their parents or guardians.

The nature of the instructions to the enumerators is indicated by the extract given on page 3.

Upon receipt of the enumerators' special schedules containing lists of persons reported to be deaf, or deaf and dumb, a circular letter of inquiry, or individual schedule, was sent to each address given, asking whether the person had been correctly returned as deaf, or deaf and dumb, and requesting further information in the form of replies to specific queries.

The special schools for the deaf in the United States were also requested to furnish the Census Bureau with the information contained in their school records concerning deaf pupils admitted between June 1, 1890, and June 1, 1900. Similar information concerning all pupils admitted from the opening of the schools up to June 1, 1890, had been collected in 1890 upon cards which have been preserved. The same form of card was used in 1900, and the complete card catalogue, arranged alphabetically, was employed in checking and verifying the returns made by the enumerators and by the deaf persons themselves in cases where the persons had attended special schools.

The special schools for the deaf were also supplied, upon request, with lists of deaf children of school age within the territory covered by the schools, taken from the enumerators' returns, and the superintendents were requested to inform the Census Bureau of any erroneous returns discovered. The replies to the circular letter of inquiry, and the correspondence with heads of schools for the deaf, enabled the Census Bureau to eliminate from the enumerators' lists large numbers of persons who were only hard of hearing, or who had been erroneously returned as deaf, leaving a total of 89,287 persons with seriously impaired powers of hearing.

Of these, 51,861 were not totally deaf, as they could understand loudly shouted conversation. The returns in these cases have been tabulated separately under the head of "partially deaf," although of course they represent only a portion of the partially deaf of the United States, every effort having been made to exclude persons merely "hard of hearing" from the returns.

Persons returned as both blind and deaf numbered 2,772. Since the returns in these cases are included in the report on the blind because they were blind, they are also included in the present report on the deaf because they were deaf.

Comparing the total number in the two afflicted classes, 71,795 persons were returned as blind and 89,287 as deaf; tut the aggregate number of blind and deaf is less than the sum of these two figures, because the blind-deaf cases are doubly reported.

The present report differs in several important respects from former Census reports on the same subject.

In order to secure as large aggregates as possible upon which to base the statistical analysis, the tables deal chiefly with the deaf of the whole of the United States, rather than with those of the states and territories individually, or of the counties contained in them.

States and territories are the lowest units of geo- graphic distribution employed; county tables are omitted altogether, as they occupy space quite out of proportion to their real importance or value, and the figures are too small to yield statistical results of significance.

Another difference relates to institution statistics: No special inquiry has been made through the Census Office concerning the deaf persons in institutions or schools for the deaf, as such inquiry appeared to be unnecessary in view of the fact that statistics of this character are collected no less than three times every year through other agencies. Such statistics are compiled by:

1. The United States Government, through its Bureau of Education (published annually in the report of the United States Commissioner of Education).

2. The Conference of Superintendents and Principals of American Schools for the Deaf (published annually in the "American Annals of the Deaf," Kendall Green, Washington, D. C).

3. The American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (published annually in the "Association Review," Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pa.).

The published results contained in these three sources of information are utilized in this report.

The assigned causes of deafness are classified by their effect on the ear All the assigned causes act only indirectly, the true cause of deafness being in every case the injury to the ear and not the cause assigned.