Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-10-25
4 NEW INSANE HOSPITAL.

4 NEW INSANE HOSPITAL.
The Maine Farmer has an able editorial
upon the subject of new Insane Hospital. |
The present Hospital will accommodate $50
patients but during the past year it has con-
tanned at times more than 400. 1t is also es-
timsted that there are from two hundred TO
three hundred insane persons in the State
outside of the limits of the Hospital, whose
comfort would be promoted by the benefits of
hospital accommodations The editor pre-
sents the following reasons for the fact that
no offers have been received by the Commits |
sioners in answer TO their advertisement for |
locating the institution.
In the FIRST place a mad-house IS not an in |
sti,uiion which any city or town cares to have
located in its midst. The noise and disturb
ance which are unavoidable in all such insti-
buttons, are only perpetual sources q annoy
ance to all persons who reside in its mmedi-
ate vicinity, and with all the care and precau
ton which can be exercised, patients will
often escape and seek for refuge in the neigh
boring houses, sometimes frightening the in
mates from their homes. We know of per-
sons who live in constant fear of these unwel-
come visits. This may be thought by some
TO be trifiiug matter, but it IS fact capable
of demonstration, that real estate always de-
precia,es in value, when mad-house is
erected in its immediate vicinity. The real es-
tate in the vicinity of the Maine Insane Hos
pital. as every one who is acquainted with the
facts is aware, is proportionately lower than
that situated in other parts of the city; and it
is solely because people do not like to reside
where they can hear the maniscal rawlings of
the unfortunate inmates.
An Insane Hospital adds no taxable wealth
TO any place where it is located, but on the
contrary the real estate which is required for
hospital purposes, which before paid its pro-
portion of the taxes, is exempt the moment il
fails into the hands of the State. These are
some of the reasons which in our judgment
will operate to prevent places from bidding
for the location of such State institution in
their midst.
He then briefly touches upon the advanta-
ges of locating the new hospital near the pres
ent one at Augusta.
The advantage of Augusta over any other
place in the State for providing additional ac-
Communications for the insane, are numerous,
but we can barely touch upon few of them
in an article like this. There is no State in
stitution which is looked after with such jeal-
Gus care as I've Hospital for the insane. 1t is
not penal institution, but house of refuge;
not prison but an asylum, where the unfor-
tunate inmates are to receive all the kind care
and attention consistent with their condition
and the safety of themselves and others. A
large proportion of them are the objects of the
deepest care and solicitude of loving friends,
who are anxious to improve every opportunity
of hearing from them and learning of their
condition. For this reason, such an institu-
ton should be centrally situated and in easy
communication with all portions of the State
and at point where communication is most
frequently had with the different towns of
which the State is made up. No one will deny
=. that Augusta as the capital of the State, pos
sesses these advantages, as they are had by no
other locality The advantage of having this
| institution under the eye of the Legislature,
cannot well be estimated. Building ma
terial of every kind, granite, clay for manufac-
turing bricks, and lumber of every descrip-
ton, are abundant in Augusta, and can be
| furnished as cheaply as they can be furnished
anywhere, the easy communication both by
land and by water always preventing any mo-
nopoly and keeping the prices down to the
average standard
The present Hospital is INTELLECTUALLY COM
plete and additional wings cannot be added
without departing from the original design.
1t is also as extensive as is proper or profta-
BILE. Where the experiment has been tried,
it is generally conceded that separation of
the sexes to greater extent than is possible
under the same roof. has worked benefcially,
and the erection of new hospital for Maine,
affords an excellent opportunity for adopting
this improvement. But if the new Hospital
shall be located in some town remote from
the present one, this change will be impract-
cable, for the reason that the Hospital is
largely supplied by the products of the labor
of the male patients upon the farm, and with
out this source of supply, the cost of support
ing the patients would be greatly advanced.
The Hospital farm at Augusta embraces
nearly four hundred acres and most of it is
excellent land, and is susceptible of much
higher state of cultivation than it has ever re-
ceiyed. Properly cultivated, it will furnish
vegetables and milk, including the necessary
hay and pasturagc, for eight hundred patients
The donation of lands, therefore, for a new
hospital farm, is of no great consequence to
the State, since it has enough already. The
farm also has as fine an arrangement Of barns
and outbuildings as can be found in the State,
and the necessary additions in consequence of
new hospital, would not be great
BY building the new Hospital on the same
farm and near the present one, the whole ca
be under one management, which is of great
Importance to the State, rs it will save the
salaries of one set of officers The addition
OF one or two subordinate officers to the pres
ent corps, would be all that would be needed,
PROVIDED the new Hospital should be located
| conveniently near the present one. An an
nual saving of nearly five thousand dollars in
salaries and nearly as much more in board
and the use OF rooms and furniture, are mat
tiers which should not be lightly considered.
These are some Of the reasons which sug-
gest themselves at the present time, in favor
of Augusta as the proper place for locating
the new Hospital. Even if land sufficient for
a hospital farm should be offered as an in
ducement for locating it elsewhere, such a
| consideration would weigh but little in COM
parison with the advantages offered by the