The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-08
ABUSES IN ASYLUMS.

"WR make laws" says Lady Mary Montagu,
'but we follow customs" Now it is the GUS
tom of Philadelphia to be charitable it is
her habit to give largely, and, out of the same
force of habit, once having given, to trust i'm
plicitly to her almoners and look after her
money no further. No individual or institu-
tion is so endowed with power of abuse as
that whose reputation is highest, and none
surely are SO tempted TO abuse that power. 1t
would be worth while for the people of Phila-
delphia now, on this first of the year, while
renewing their subscriptions to asYlums and
reformatories, to look more closely into their
management and find how far their charity
actually serves its end. Massive buildings,
improved grounds, kitchens, laundries, and
bakery in cleanly order, of which we boast in
our noble charities, are no doubt good things,
but they are only appliances, and outside
appliances. If the boy goes out of the House
of Refuge worse than when he went in, by
herding with lower ruffians than HIMSELF if
the Magdalen hurries back gladly to her
downward course, and the poor lunatic
grows year by year more hopelessly in
sane from his confinement our magnii-
cent buildings and laundries and kitchens
are Dut nttle TO DOaSb OF after all.
The point we wish candidly to urge is this:
That our great public charities need the con-
stant watchful supervision of the press, and
its bold, outspoken criticism. Superintend-
ents and managers are but the servants of the
public, and, faulty men like ourselves, are
peculiarly liable to become the slaves of some
system, to which they submit their patients
as so many sacks of corn thrown into mill.
The work of cure or reform in large institu-
tions has o natural tendency to become
mere machinery of routine, in which abso-
lutely no heed is taken of individual need or
capacity. 1t is the easy and the common
habit to pass over this matter with we'll
turned phrase of compliment to the board
of managers or skilful superintendent, but it
is the juster course to remember that the poor,
the insane, the criminals whom these men
have in charge are the wards of the people,
whose money is largely paid for their sup
port, and who have q right to know how they
are dealt with.
1t is a fact that in some of the largest insti-
tutions of this city the grossest mismanage-
ment exists, the male department in one of
them being, to use the words of visiting
physician, a disgrace to humanity. In some Of
the hospitals the beds are insufficient and
vilely cared for; in more than one of the
insane asylums the superintendent physicians
by their own admission, see the patients not
oftener than once month, and some of
them, never, and the young medical students
in whose care they are left consign their re-
sponsibility again to the attendants. These
attendants are almost invariably of the lowest
class of Germans and Irish, selected for their
strength solely. A delicate, refined woman,
for instance, whose mind is unhinged by some
grief or physical cause, and who needs, as
never before, the tenderest care and most
watchful skill, is suddenly removed from
home, made the constant companion of some
stolid, ignorant woman whom she would not
have trusted in her kitchen, probably, and
receives from her whatever comfort, medical
supervision, or chance of cure falls to her lot
We speak advisedly in these matters. 1t il
time that the fresh outside air penetrated tC
many of our boasted charities, and it shall bt
our honest effort to aid in their ventilation
and cleansing, giving honor only where homo
isujustly due.
| PRRRIEsS PEDESTRIA ANISM, Il ord Albert Pei