ate who has a deaf
child and who has not the means or the wish to place that child in a
private school, to have the child educated in a free public school as
completely by the speech method as his hearing children are educated by
that method. He should not be compelled to send his child out of the
state or else subject him to the influence of signs and finger spelling,
with the probability that he will leave school a deaf mute.
Unfortunately, in many states, this is not possible at present. But if
the parents of deaf children would organize themselves into "Parents'
Associations" and send representatives to the governors and legislative
committees; and arrange for demonstrations by orally educated deaf
children from pure oral schools; and carry on an active campaign of
enlightenment and of agitation, the present state of affairs would soon
cease to exist.

I wish to make an urgent plea for the energetic efforts of all parents
of deaf children to improve the speech-teaching conditions in their
respective localities. At present, very far from all that is possible is
being done to give deaf children a ready command of spoken English, and
a working ability to understand when spoken to. The persons who have the
most at stake in this matter, and who should be most active and
persistent in demanding from the school authorities and legislatures
better facilities for the acquisition of speech by deaf children, are
the parents of those children. In each locality these parents should
organize into "Parents' Associations." These local associations should,
in turn, be connected by a statewide organization composed of
representatives from each local association. These state organizations
could then be combined by representation in a national organization of
all the parents of deaf children in the United States. Such complete
organization once effected, the reasonable demands made in the interests
of better results in speech teaching would quickly be complied with by
the respective schools and the legislatures or boards of directors that
control them. The associations could induce their local papers to aid in
a campaign to educate public opinion by printing facts concerning what
is done elsewhere. If all parents of deaf children only knew what might
be accomplished, and were so organized as to permit them to present
their wishes forcibly to those able to change conditions, the deaf child
would quickly come into his own.

XVIII