The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-12-01

IComIn unicated.
The Vanderburgh County Asylum.
Editors Journal:
What is everybody's business is
nobody's business" is we'll exempli-
fed in the case of our County Poor
House.. Public attention is with
drawn from it entirely. Prosperous
beyond.example, our citizens, like the
rest Of the world in similar circum-
stances, are engrossed in the pursuit
of personal ends, and in the contem-
plation of their own happiness.
What concerns everybody, whether
right-minded and good-hearted or
otherwise, is apt to meet with uni
versal neglect. This we find to be so
in the prosecution of every enter
prise, in the management of every
institution, and in the transaction of
all kinds of business of a public
character; and should an exception
occur to the rule of defalcatlon, and
everything be conducted on the
square, and entire satisfaction be
given, the merit for rectitude must be
conceded to be the individuals to
whom the affair was entrusted. The
reason for most of the failures to
respond to the efforts and
wishes of the public is easily found.
We have, from the vice of our
social and political training,
an unconquerable propensity to
delegate authoritative action into
official hands; and when we have ac-
complished that. we delude ourselves
into the belief that we have fulfilled
our duty, aud felicitate ourselves In
an excuse which at once silences our
conscience and appears to justify us
in Sinking our responsibilities. De-
casionally, however, we are astonished
to find that public servants have
proved themselves thoroughly incom-
'petent or dishonest, and that public
confidence has beensperverted to un-
worthy uses. In this event we are
prone to visit on the head of the de-
linquent official the vials of our
wrath, forgetting that if we had be-
slowed little oversight on the per-
formances and behavior Of our public
servants, it might have had the effect
of fortifying their integrity to resist
temptation, and of prompting them to
be circumspect and exemplary In their
official conduct.
No community within the bounda-
ries of our nation is more disposed
than ours of Vanderburgh County to
lavish its means upon charitable OBJ
jects and enterprises. This is not
mere unmeaning compliment; it is
something that cannot be contradict
ed. have seen much of our couD-
try, but have seen no locality in adj
vance of US in zeal and solicitude for
the promotion of benevolent under
takings But where is the merit of
furnishing the means to relieve suf-
iering and alleviate distress, when, by
mismanagement, the end which is
sought Is placed be. nd reach?
Chief among the charitable instrument
talities for the amelioration of the
condition of our destitute poor, is our
County Asylum. The intention ofits
foundation is emphatically that it
shall serve as a refuge for the desti-
tute, the sick and the afflicted, who,
oppressed by misfortune, can find no
other asylum to receive them. Our
citizens, who ungrudgingly furnish
the funds for its support, imagine it
to, be all that such an eleemosyuary
establishment should be. They are
egregiously mistaken, if such be their
persuasion. 1t has been, in truth,
little better than a miniature Ander-
sonville, ever since Peter Buzzard
killed the Superintendent, George
Rnfac md FOR 20
that dreadful occurrence, with the
exception of the period during which
the management of the Asylum was
entrusted to Mr.. Garvey.
How could it be otherwise? Who
has troubled himself to inquire into
its economy? Who has inconve-
nienced himself to ascertain whether
the pauper has been well or badly
used; has been provided with whole
some, sufficient food, with clean aud
tidy apparel, or half-famished on a
most meagre diet, and clad in filthy |
rags? The slipshod manner of letting
the contract for keeping the County
House and Farm ha, been a standing
evidence quite satisfactory to dis
corning mind that shameful misman-
agement would be the inevitable con-
sequence. The establishment has
been heretofore let out In a manner |
similar to that in which contract to
build sewer, TO pave street, or to |
construct bridgeis let, with this diff
ference, that In the case of these lat |
ter an Overseer is usually appointed !
to watch the contractors and see that |
the work is faithfully and slsillfully |
executed; whereas, in>the case of the |
County Asylum, the unprincipled |
contractor, after his installation,
could dosas he pleased; derided, the |
idea of his accountability to any one;
and feeling thus, he proceeded on his
course, filling his pocket by the most
disreputable practices, treating the /
unfortunates placed under his charge |
according to miserable discretion,
until he perpetrated an outrage so
enormous as to excite public reDroba-
ton, when he was removed and re- |
placed by somebody no better quail |
fed for the position than the per- |
son displaced. In the annals |
of this county, there was, neverthe- |
less, a time when the provision made |
for the maintenance of the pauper |
poor, was differently contrived and |
administered; when a necessity for |
this humiliating surveillance did not
exist; and when the Superintendent,
supplied with pass-books, procured |
what he needed on the credit of the |
county. The poor were then cared |
for consonantly with the wishes of |
the public and the divine precepts of |
Christianity. This method worked |
and satisfactorily, until
knavish Superintendent took advant-
age of it, when it was abandoned,
and the system at present In vogue,