The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-08-04
fHE KENOSEA TELEGRAPH.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1870.
NEW ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE.
IT'S LOCATION.

LOCATION anu eCcCllOa Oh new Asylum
for the Insane The Asylum was to be
located by Commissioners with the ap-
proval of the Governor. The Commits.
sioners, after visiting different parts of
the State and taking time enough to find
che best location IN tie State, located the
Asylum, so far as they could locate it, on
Lake Winnebago three or four miles
north Of Oshkosh. This location gave
nearly general dissatisfaction all the way
from Fond du Lac to Green Bay, except
perhaps Oshkosh. And even Oshkosh,
it is said. is not satisfied with the location
three or four miles from the city. The
press out of Oshkosh and in the vicinity
of the location, generally expressed dis
satisfaction, and public meetings were
held expressing dissatisfaction with the
location and calling on the Governor not
TO give it his approval.
The Governor visited the location
made by the Commissioners and other
places examined by them, and the news
comes from Madison that /" the Governor
declines to approve of the Oshkosh site
for the Insane Asylum on the ground
that forty Of the three hundred acres of
fered are wet marsh that the location of
the building is too near the marsh; and
another more distinct reason is that the
ground does NOT allow of sufficient drain
age" If the Governors grounds are cor
rectly stated and well founded he does
well to withhold his approval and to
"call together the Commissioners who
will make a new report on site, either
at Oshkosh or some other point" 1t is
to be hoped the Commissioners, with the.
approval of the Governor, will make the
best location to be found in the State for
purposes for which the Asylum is intend
ed. Let there be no grounds for the
charge of favoritism or that the Commits
sioners are fit subjects for inmates of the
Asylum. And when there are no such
grounds let the press which makes the
charge blush for shame and hide its gull
ty face.
We have thus far spoken of the
asylum for the Insane in accordance
with what we see in the newspapers
speaking OF the same. But by doing so
we have done injustice to the Legislature
and the act which they passed "to pro-
vide for an additional institution for the
insane" In neither the title nor the act
is the institution called an asylum. But
in the act the institution is called
hospital and the provisions of the act are
clearly applicable to hospital. Those
who formed the act clearly understood
the difference between a hospital and an
asylum-the one place for the treatment
and cure of the insane the other, place
of letreat and care of the insane. 1t
would seem as if the Commissioners, with
the press, had COMPOUNDED the two; or
that they had in view the location and
erection of an asylum and not hospital
for the insane. The act provides that
the location shall not contain less than
one hundred and sixty acres of land fer
. farm and site upon which the institu-
ton shall be built. Did the, Legislature
consider the building the institution?
In our opinion 100 acres of land is
70 l. kO1 ,rv;&1
tai for the insane. What is wanted of a
larger quantity? 1t is expected that the
durable insane will be sent to the hospitals
for the insane, and that in few months
they will be discharged cured All of the
recent cases of insane should at first
be sert to the hospitals and not
the asylums, and should be sent
to the asylums only when the pros
pect of cure has departed-re-
Numbering all the time that recovery is
not impossible. Contemplating the pur-
poses for which hospital is intended,
we call upon the Commissioners and the
Governor not to be extravigant in the
amount of land to be connected with it.
We trust that no inmate of the hospital
will be kept there year after year for the
purpose of cultivating farm of hundreds
of acres, and much less for the gratifca-
ton of those who may desire to get rela-
tives or friends removed from their charge
or relationship, or to prevent them from
making such disposition of their proper