but usually a very small number,
cared for at public expense. Private contributions to the homes are
seldom large, though in one case these have amounted to a considerable
sum.[124] They usually range from three or four thousand dollars a year
to several times as much.[125]

CONCLUSIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF THE DEAF

From all the foregoing we may conclude the following with respect to the
economic position of the deaf:

1. The deaf are not a burden upon the community.

2. They are wage-earners in a degree that compares well with the general
population.

3. The occupations open to them and in which they are successfully
employed are much larger in number than is generally thought, and in
many their infirmity is very little of a drawback.

4. The deaf hold themselves on an economic equality with the rest of
their fellow-citizens, and ask no alms or favors of any kind.

5. Beyond homes for certain of the aged and infirm, which are called for
in not a few quarters, the deaf stand in need of little distinctive
economic treatment from society.

FOOTNOTES:

[94] Special Reports, p. 146ff.

[95] The proportion for the deaf would no doubt be higher but for the
large number in the schools. It should also be noted that "keeping
house", the most usual occupation reported by females, is not listed
among the occupations.

[96] Several of the deaf have won distinction as artists, and there have
been not a few inventors. In the civil service of the National
government there are said to be nearly two score. In 1908 an order was
issued by the Civil Service Commission, debarring deaf persons from this
service. So great was the protest, however, made by the deaf and their
friends that the decision was reversed by the President, and the deaf
were allowed to compete for any position where their deafness would not
interfere. See _Annals_, liii., 1908, p. 249; liv., 1909, p. 387; _Volta
Review_, x., 1908, p. 224; _Silent Worker_, Feb., 1909; Proceedings of
National Association of the Deaf, ix., 1910, pp. 26, 70.

[97] Paupers in Alms-houses, 1913, p. 76. In 1911 there were in the
alms-houses of Illinois, according to the Report of the state board of
charities, 38 deaf-mutes, or 0.5 per cent of the entire alms-house
population; in Indiana, 81, or 2.6 per cent; in New York, 191, or 1.8
per cent; and in Virginia, 17, or 0.7 per cent. In Michigan, according
to the annual Abstract of Statistical Information Re