The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-04-20

The Senate of Pennsylvania has pass
~ - ast to authorize the Governor to
s.tahlish an additional lunatic hospital.
The asylum at Harrisburg is insufficient.
such hospitals for the cure..of lunatics
az are conducted by incorporated asso-
Citations are fully occupied, and now 1t
is considered necessary to add another
State establishment. The increase OF
diseases of the mind, which renders this
action necessary, is to be attributed ins
very large degree to our method OF do.
inr business, our social customs, and to
the misdirscted ambition which is con-
seuuent upon o condition Of society in
which the unreal Is striven for and the
actual slightsd. In business we strug-
gle for wealth with high pressure effort.
To accumulate, riches by degrees, to
build up q future solidly but slowly
does not suit tho genins of the age.
Neither is competence sufficient now
will do but great wealth.
Hence the tendency toward immense
speculations, which require andacity IN
the plan and holiness in performance
which must either "make or break o
man. and which are much like gambling
operations, on which everything is
staked on q. single throw. Such pro-
ceedings cannot be conducted except at
the expense of much anxiety, and under
continual excitement, and they must
have their effects upon the mind and in
crease the predisposition to mental dis
ease. In our social condition there is
now continual struggle for position,
which is only to be maintained by
wealth, or the appearance. of wealth.
The family is rendered miserable by this
selfish spirit. The old people toll for
NO other purpose than to make their
children extravagant, and to furnish
them with the means to indulge in their
follies. The daughters grow up heart
less and frivolous, and ready to barter,
not their affections, but the feelings OF
pride and selfshness, which have usurp-
ed the places of these holy qualities, for
place, for position, and the means Of in
dulging love of pleasure and dress.
The sons are too often worthless as men,
addicted to every vice-too lazy to work
and too proud to beg. They must be
supported in their vice by the wealth
of their parents; or if not-well, "the
world owes them livipg.n In a com
munity where the majority of individ-
uals struggle with each other for the
same prizes, there must be heartburn
.ings, disappoiptments, and sudden re-
vulsions of feelings, caused by failure,
or even by ordinary success. The mind
is kept constantly in state Of tension,
and too much strained-there must be
sudden snap, and reason is unseated
from her throne. Insanity, which does
not decrease as disease, must have It's
origin in the state of society which is
moved deeply by fierce struggles for
precedence among its members. Every
year, as we advance in wealth, and in
that feverish desire which wastes like
disease, the number of cases Of lunacy
increases. The accommodating causes
must add to the number of victims. and
the institutions intended for the allevi'
alton and cure Of the malady cannot ac'
commodate the patients who are offer
ed. Pennsylvania certities to the fact
when she doubles her lunatic asylums
How long will it be before she will re-
uuire threei