Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1876-11-17
NO. 46.


pended, which is carried out and shown as
surplus each year, tout OF which has come
the growth and development of the Insti-
tution.)
The aggregate surplus expenditures for
the whole forty years amount to S453, ,447.43.
Deduct from this the cost of The land and
buildings 10 the present time, viz, S275,.
397.72 (exelusive OF The $4,000 which was
the basis of the establishment and we
find there remains sl7s, ,O49.7l, which has
likewise been expended. No deduction is
to be made from this amount except the
S45, 900 Of debt, which is still unliquidated;
Sl33, ,0i9.71 therefore has been expended in
the current disbursements, over and above
what has been covered by the Stale tate.
1t shows simply that ir all the patients had
been from Vermont, or had been support
ed at the rate fixed by the Legislature from
time 10 time, the Institution would have
been now S133 ,040.71 IN arrears on the cur
rent expense account. In plain terms that
the State has not met the actual cost of car
ing for her wards, and the deficiency has
been made up from the surplus receipts Of
the Institution. These have been derived
exclusively from private sources. This
deficiency would be largely augmented,
had interest on the cost of the establish
ment, and the value OF the farm products
been considered, neither of which have ev-
er entered into account in any manner.
With more OF truth and reason, than of
error or injustice, might the assertion of
the Commissioner that ''the Corporation
have all the profits, and the State dearly
- l,o it,i
plicatlon.
1.-THE vital relation 10 the State" as shown
by tabular statistics in the report of the
Commissioner, give results totally at vari-
ance with facts, as will be seen by compar-
ing each table with its revision as shown in
the appendix 10 this review.
The Commissioner has not followed sta
tistical law, in arriving at his percentages,
which is that the per cent. OF recoveries
should be based upon the admissions, and
that of deaths upon the average resident
number of each year, or period Of years.
His results are, therefore, inaccurate, ex-
| cept as 10 the per cent. Of recoveries in the
first years, which could not be otherwise,
as at the opening of The establishment there
we're none TO be taken into account but
| every other period, however, there was a
previously accumulated burden TO be con-
sidered, adverse to recoveres, but bearing
| constantly upon the death rate. The pre-
misses being erroneous, it follows, of course
that all the conclusions from them are cal
culated to mislead the reader.
The first table compares The per cent. OF
recoveries in the first two with those of the
last two years. 1t is correctly stated at 32.-
| G2 for the first period, but not for the last,
the percentage being 25. % per cent, instead
| of sos, a very vital difference.
The per cent of deaths is incorrectly made
both in regard to the first and last periods
being cast upon the whole number under
! treatment in each instance, instead OF the
average resident number, which latter ba-
sis gives for the first two years 5.55 per
cent, and 500 per cent. for the last Two,
scarcely material difference.
The same table shows in the second place
tho percentage OF recoveres for the two
years ending the first decade of the Inslitu-
lion, and in the third place tho same for the
two wears just ended; and here we find
widely varying results. The first period
shows IS. Is per cent. Of recoveries and 9.24
per cent. of deaths; while the latter period
gives 25.22 per cent. of the former 10 5.66
per cent Of the latter.
The second table gives the comparative
results of the first and the last ten years.
The per cent. of the recoveries for the
first period is correctly stated by the Com
missioner at 1906 but for the second peri
cd is about 10 per cent. higher than there
given, viz, 32.04.
The percentage of deaths is 7.42 for the
first period and 7.O2 for the last, there be-
ing a fractional difference in favor of the
last ten years.
1he third table compares the first seven
years with the year 1854 alone, and is the
most fallacious OF all. Tho latter ear, as
the Commissioner states, was selected be-
cause the whole number under treatment,
(tbat is those in the Asylum at the begin
ming of the year, and those admitted dur
ing iha; year, taken together) conceded
with the number admitted during the first
named period; obviously no such compari-
sou could have been made, had statistical
laws been followed, unless for the purpose
of supporting preconceived theory; how
ever, tho legitimate results Of the compari-
son show larger per cent. OF both recov-
cries and deaths, than during tue first sew
en- years, hence so far as the percentage OF
recoveries goes Is in favor CT the single
years results.
We do not propose, however, in refuta-
ton of garbled statistics, TO resort to the
like method but rather 10 rest upon the
whole history of the establishment, for its
statictcal results, and then, as far as possi-
BILE, compare them with the results Of the
} other New England Asylums.
, The large number OF chronic cases carried
, by the Institution necessarily limits the ad-
/ missions, hence we find in most OF the
r New England institutions a more rapid
movement of the population than in this,-
and as The recoveres come from the cur
! rent admissions almost wholly, VIC should
expect to find larger percentage In those
, where the movement is greatest.
, The statistics Of the Vermont Asylum for
r the whole forty years are as follows: Per
Q centage of recoveries, 400; OF deaths, g.
, 35. For the last ten years they are as fol-
lows: Percentage Of recoveries, S2.O4i OF
l deaths, 7.02
The mean average of recoveries and
deaths in the Slate Hospitals OF New Eng
land Maine, New Hampshire, Worcester,
Taunton and Northampton, Mass; Butler
= Hospital, r. l., and Connecticut, for the
ten years past, is as follows: Percentage Of
recoveries, 32.14; Of deaths, 1925"
The Commissioner Justly anticipates tue