New-York daily tribune., 1854-09-02
bur- who is now Superintendent of the Ne"-i0'A
state A.,lurn for Idiots, near Albany

mainly for the want Of tine. In l>i9 an I9Oo
the measure WAS warmly recommended BY Gov
| Fish in both of his annual messages. In lcol'
Gov. Hunt specially and emphatically called upon
| the LEGISLATURE 10 make some provision on the
subject, ard this appeal. with other enor's' Ied
10 tbe passage Of the act of July 10, 1851, which
appropria,ed s6, lCO annually for two years to es
| t.bli,h an Asylum. TIE Board Of Trustees was
authorized to select twenty State pupils and 70
receive others on payment. The Board or
gsnized immediately, visited DR.. Wilburs school
at Barre, elected him Superintendent, and fixed
the Asylum at Albany. 1t opened in October
ISL. with sixteen State pupils and seven pay
pupils, who were usquestionably below the
.msss of idiots in the State in point of lntelll-
"cence.r Tie operations of the Asylum were
reported to the Legislature of 1888, with recon-
mendstions that the number Of State pupils should
be increased to thirty, that $500 as additional
appropriation should be granted, and that meas
ures should be taken 20 ascertain the number OF
IDIOTS in the State-all of which was agreed to BY
the Legislature The statistical returns received
were very imperfect, but afforded groundst tor DO
lieyipp that there was in the State one IDIOT 70
every !. go inhabitants, or aboit $500 in all;
and that Of these, one-fourth (7OO) were under
fourteen years of age, capable of training and in
struction. During lS52 the whole number
of State pupils was present. with sixteen pay
pupils. who were trained by the Superintendent,
three female teachers, and an assistant. The
number OF rejected applications for admission was
eousl 10 that of those admitted. In 1853 the
Legislature granted $4,000 for support Of the
Asum. and 100000 for new site and build.
ipes. and the Trustees purchased four -snd-ahalf
acres of land on the Troy Road for $3.50; but
owing to the insuficency of the appropriation for
a suitable building, they deferred action on that
matter. During 1855, the Asylum contained forty
State pupils and ten pay pupils, and verymanyap-
picantswere nece ssarily ected forwantofroom.
The Legislature of lo54 passed an act bywhch
the Trustees have provided for the permanent
establishment of this Asylum st Syracuse, and
the new buildings are in construction. The site
selected is in the west part Of the city, near the
terminus of Seymour-st., and was purchased of
the Hon. T.. w. LeavenwOrth, Secretary of
State, for 81 500, which was at very low rate.
bly, situated in all respects, and contains five or
six acres of woods, with several hundred fruit
trees. The location is slightly and airy, con-
mspdiug fine view of the city and many miles
of the adjacent country The main building is
to be I55 feet front, 20 feet deep and four stories
high. with accommodations for $50 pupils and
although it is handsome, well planned, aud pro-
yided with approved modes of heating and venti-
lation, it will not cost the State, when finished
and furnished, more than S6O, 900, probably less.
The citizens of Syracuse contributed $500 to
the purchase of the land. The advantages of
Syracuse in its central location, and the fact that
it contained no State institution, with its sub
! scriptioD, contributed TO the removal Mean.
while, the Asylum near Albany continues in sue
ces.ful operation owing mainly to the remarka-
bic qualifications and unremitting services of DR..
Wilbur. As as there is demand for an
other Asylum, it is intended to establish it in
a different part of the State, since it is believed
that not more than $50 persons can be well at
tended to in ole school
In Pennsylvania, during the session of the
Legislature in 1883, several friends of the cause
repaired to Harrisburg to obtain an act of incor-
poration, under which a Board could be organized
for the purpose of establishing an Institution
upon basis so broad as ultimately to result in
provision for the education of all children OF i'm
becie minds Of whatever degree or condition in
life. second object was to ask from the Legis-
lature a special and permanent appropriation for
this purpose. 4 bill was finally passed on April7
1858, which provided that so, 900 should be paid
by the State when $40, 900 should b. raised by pr
yate subscriptions; and second amount of
$1,000, when ST. 900 of additional private sub
scriptions had been raised. Some 80, 900 were
obtained BY private liberality, and it was deter
mined to commence a school. Mr.. james Is.
Richards. formerly Of the Massachusetts, school,
was selected as Principal, and entered on his du-
ties on July ], 1853. The school was soon opened
in Germ antown, ana fourteen pupils were re-
ceiyed during the ytIr. "Out of these fourteen,
lat the tine they entered the school, two could
mot wtlk two could not feed themselves, ten
were filthy in their habits nine could do but
little toward dressing Themselves four were
either sbscl lusely or in effect dumb, two had the
power T. articUiats few words, eleven had no
knowledge Of letters and one was entirely
"blind. Eyen during this short time Qess tban
SIX months) the results from training these chill
dren were most gratifying; "all having gained
sufficiently 10 warrant their continuance in the
school" The principal was assisted by one fe-
nsle teacher. TIE school was commended to the
Legislature of lo5i by Gov. Bigler, and during
the session all appropriation Of so, 900 was made
for it's assistance. The number of pupils has