The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1872-02-15
OUR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
Report of the Joint Visiting Commit

We received this week pamphlet en-
, titled the "Report Of the Joint Visiting
Committee, made to the Senate Jan. II,
) 1872 FROM which we extract the following
interesting items:
HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, MADISON.
The committee say that from the Super
mtendent's report the number of patients
under care was, at the end of the last fiscal
year, ending Sept. 80, 1871, 500: admitted
during the year ending as above, l64 dis
charged, l40; died, %; whole number un-
der treatment We're 524; the ordinary cur
rent expenses for last year, exclusive of
$1,000 for coal, were S76,S9o.Gi. The
cash income of the hospital for the last fs-
cal year, was S9S, PCS. SO; and the disburse-
ments were S95,l50lS The institution
has been managed in an economical man.
aer, as from comparative statement ap-
pended to the report of tho Investigating
Committee, we find that the average week
| " cost of the maintainance of the inmates
has been but S4ll, while tho average cost
in sixteen States has been S.. .65, being other
| Sl.54 per week less 1t is the unanimous
opinion of the committee that no amount
of private wealth would be likely to secure
for the insane at their homes the advan-
tages and comforts afforded a. this hospi-
tai
SOLDIERS ORPHANS HOME, MADISON.
The committee speaks of this benifcent
institution as follows: This institution
is the last established of all our State char
tiles, yet there is probably none for which
the people of the State feel more tender
solicitude. Its support is less charity
than the payment of debt. That faith
fully as possible the State is acquitting it
self Of its responsibility, your committee,
after a thorough examination, have no Goubt
| At the time of the visit of the committee
there were Oh children present. During
the year ending Sept. 80, 1871, the aver
age number was 239, Almost without excep-
! ton they seemed contented and happy
| The sanitary condition of the Institution
/ has cause to be considered rcmarkable;
! hardly serious case of illness has occur
red therein during the year.
That the children are being educated to
! be good citizens-worthy men and women
the committee see no reason to doubt.
The Industrial School for Boys, at Wau-
! kesha, in the opinion of the committee, is
one Of the most important in the State.
/ Its object is the confinement and instruc-
! ton of all male children between the ages
of s and l6 years, who shall be legally
| committed thereto, as vagrants, or for any
criminal offence, or for incorrigble or
vicious conduct. Boys under the age Of
! 8 years may also be committed to this
| school, when by proper proof, submitted
| by a parent or guardian, they may, by rea-
| son of incorrigible or vicious conduct, be
| beyond their control. "Justices Of the
! Peace and the several courts in any county
| may sentence to this school, boys convicted
| before them, of vagrancy, petit larceny,
misdemeanor, or any State Prison offence"
| Commitments must be until the age of 81
| years; but the managers may return him
to his parents, or discharge him, in their
discretion, OF, if committed for crime,
return him to the courts for seyerer punish
ment. 1t is be-
| lieved that this school will make good men
yagabonds and criminals, enemies of them
selves and of society. The resources of
the institution for 1871, from all sources,
were SG5, ,04S.5l, and the expenditures for
| the same period $50 ,2G6.6G, leaving a
| balance On hand, including Sl6,00 appro-
priated in 1871 for q building of S24, ,76l.-
IS.
! After devoting eight pages of the pam
| phlet to the charitable institutions of Mil
waukee, the committee speak thus of the
STATE PRISON.
The State has realized, during She year
ending Sept. 30, 1871, as the proceeds of
the labor of convicts employed in the vari-
Gus branches of industry, the sum of SAL
| Ql3.53, being an average of &c Is cents
per working day for each convict, an aver
age of cents per day per man more than
the earnings Of 1870. The Commissioner
estimates the expenses for the year ending
! Sept. so, 1872, at $8l, $50 Al, and the in
come from all sources at $23, ,09G47, leav-
ing $5S, ,493 to be provided for by the Leg
/ islature. The committee make the follow
ing suggestions for the better government
Of the institution, which we append in
full:
ME your cUmmIrEec eApveeo ,uv
most confidence in the management Of the
present Commissioner, they are neyerthe-
less of the opinion that the basis Of man
,gement is now and ever las been radi-
cally wrong. The fact that the Office Of
! Commissioner is a political one, causes
changes in its management too frequent
for the good of the State. His duties are
Of great magnitude and Importance, and
requires much time to become familiar
with them. The salary is entirely made
quate to compensate the class Of ability
that is required to manage an establish
mcnt of that magnitude. Extraordinary
! fbo
hands of the Commissioner, and should the
Office ever in the future be filed by dis
honest men, the State might be a gr cat
financial loser, and no one the wiser for it.
There is no better time to make q thor
ough and radical change, than when the
incumbent Commissioner will lend his aid
to place the Prison upon a thoroughly
busuess-like basis. Your committee
would, therefore recommend that on and
after the present term of Office shall expire,
that the office Of State Prison Commissioner
as now and heretofore known by law,
shall be abolished. That instead of such
Commissioner the Governor of the State
shall nominate q warden, who shall per
form all duties heretofore performed by
the Commissioner. Said nomination to
be approved by majority of the senate.
The Governor shall nominate, also, three
State Prison Inspectors, for the term of two,
four and SIX years, one inspector to retire
from office every two years, and all sub
sequent nominations to be for the term of
: six years. Said nominations shall also be
approved by q majority of the senate.
Said inspectors shall have such super
vision and control of the warden and
prison as shall be provided by law
The committee also visited the Institu-
tions for the Insane, at Oshkosh, that for
the education of the Deaf and Dumb at
Deleyan, and the Institution for the educa-
, ton of the Blind at GAINESVILLE, which they
report to be in a most hourishing condition,
and economically manged. The commit