r one per cent (1.2)
of the total number of the deaf in the United States are found to-day in
alms-houses.[98]

Such is the evidence we have in respect to the economic standing of the
deaf. Yet the fact that the deaf are usually found capable of taking
care of themselves should not be, after all, a matter either of doubt or
of wonder. They are for the most part, as we have indicated, quite
"able-bodied," and but for their want of hearing are perfectly normal
in respect to "doing a job." If they are skillful and efficient, their
deafness proves comparatively little of a drawback. Another contributing
cause in the situation lies in the fact that most of the deaf have
attended the special schools provided for them, where industrial
preparation with the opportunity to learn a trade is offered and largely
availed of.[99] When they go out into the world, they may be supposed to
have an industrial equipment, which, besides taking in view their
handicap, is one in many respects fully equal to that of their hearing
fellow-laborers; and though many of the deaf, apparently the greater
number, do not follow the trade learned at school, yet there is no doubt
that the training and lessons in industry there acquired prove of
decided practical advantage.[100]

VIEWS OF THE DEAF AS TO THEIR ECONOMIC STANDING

To what extent the deaf hold themselves able to stand alongside the
general population may well be indicated by what they themselves have to
say. Of the adult deaf who have had schooling, it is claimed that
eighty-one per cent are gainfully employed;[101] and that of the adult
male deaf ninety per cent are self-supporting.[102] A large proportion
are said to be the heads of families and the possessors of homes.[103]
In respect to the conditions of their employment, including that of
wages, they are usually ready to declare that they are little different
from those of the general population, sometimes taking pains to point
out the substantial equality of the two.[104]

The views of the deaf in the whole matter of their industrial footing
may be expressed as summed up in the following resolutions, which were
reported by a special committee on industrial conditions of the deaf at
the convention of the National Association of the Deaf in 1904:[105]

1. There are few ordinary occupations in which the deaf do not or
cannot engage.

2. Employers and foremen treat deaf workmen as they do hearing
workmen.

3.