The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1859-01-13

necessarily excluded The number ad-
mitted during the year was 80, and the
same number was discharged. The ex-
penses of the Institution paid by the
State during the last year were S21 H.
"a, The average cost Of each inmate
was Sal. The importance ofadding to
the instruction in this Asylum, proper
training for some industrial occupation,
as well as the necessity Of some further
provision for those whom its limited ca
pacities exclude froh admission, will
doubtless engage your serious consider
alton.
Another class whose situation eulists
the warmest sympathies of every feeling
heart, and invokes irresistibly the provi-
dent benevolence Of the State, is the
Blind. The total number Of this class
is estimated to be $40. Of this number
about 200 are Of proper and of legal age
for admission to the Asylum. Of these
bout go have either already received its
benefits, or are thought by their friends
too young to be sent to it; leaving 40
who should be under instruction There
we're in the Asylum last year 100; there
were admitted or readmitted during the
year %; the whole number under its in
struction up to the close was 1O5. The
average number in daily attendance
was 81. The expenses, excluding S5,-
500 for permanent improvements, were
$l3,387 showing an average outlay
for each inmate Of near S142.
1t thus appears that the whole number
of persons rendered infrm and indepen-
dent by defective or diseased organiza-
ton is 6,040; that of these 3,O4O are in
conditions requiring provision for them
in public or private institutions; that
847 are actually in the State Asylums,
leaving 2,l93 unprovided for, except so
as they may find relief in County
Infrmaries or private families; that the
average number constantly in the Asy-
lums through the last year was 834; that
the total cost to the State of their main
tenance during the year was S12S,4lO;
that the cost Of each inmate for the year
was Sl54; that to provide for those
needing, but not now receiving, the ben
efts of the Asylums at the same rate,
would require an annual additional ex-
penditure of S337,722, making an ag-
gate annual outlay of S466, l32; and
that these estimates are exclusive Of in
terest, about $4,000 on the capital,
about 100000, invested in the existing
Asylums, and Of the yearly cost Of per-
manent improvements, which was last
year about Sl3, 900; and of the capital
yet to be invested in new sites and
structures, and Of the interest upon
that,
No one desires more earnestly than
I that the General Assembly may fully
discharge the obligations assumed in
the Constitution by the whole people, to
the children Of sorrow The duty of full
filling them is clear and the benefits ofits
performance evident The social con-
dition Of no people can be what it should
be, while a class Of guiltless and help
less victims of physical or mental dis
order remains unreliovcd. Nor is
the duty of relief less impcratively die
tated by considerations of economy,
than considerations Of philanthropy
| The dependent infrm must be sustain
ed by society in some form. The only
choice is between modes. And how much
better that mode which raises so many
of them from depths Of helplcssness and
wretchedness, and makes them solf-sup-
porting and even useful members of the
community, than that other mode which
wastes resources in ftful and inadequate
relief, drops its wrotched objects in
their sorest need, and inficts upon So
ciety the moral and social evils necessa-
rily resulting from the presence Of such
a class neglected in its midst,
The statements I have submitted are
designed to set clearly before you the
nature and magnitude of the evil, for
which you are called upon to provide a
remedy. They will, perhaps convince
you of the necessity of restoring the pol
icy adopted at the opeuing, and pur-
sued for twelve years in the administra-
tion Of the Asylums, of requiring that
the cost of maintenance in them be de-
frayUd by the parents or guardians Of
the inmates, in cases where the circum-
stances Of the parties fully justify it.
They will, I think, also satisfy you of
the oxpediency Of encouragement, by
law, to the establishment of private In
frmaries and Asylums, in which there
is reason to believe many will be main
tanned by their own means or by rela-
tives, and friends, and that others, need
ing help from the State can, in many
cases, be provided for at much less
than the present cost. They will also,
it may be hoped, recommended to all
entrusted with the administration of
these Institutions, the duties of econo-
my in expenditure and vigilance in|
oversight.
Many individuals of the classes par
TALLY provided for in the State Asylums,
are inmates Of the County Infrmares
This fact imparts additional force to
the general considerations which sug-
gest further legislation for the regula-
tion of these Institutions. regret that
the Commissioner appointed under the
act Of your predecessors to examine the
reports required by it, and prepare a
bill for the better endowment, regula-
tion and management Of Iufrmaries
has as yet been unable to fulfill the du-
ty imposed by his appointment trust
however, that the preparation Of a prop
en- bin and the necessary legislative ac-
ton upon it will not be long delayed.
Another important clement, entering
ID