Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-11-15

data by which to test the trustees arithme-
tie. lie judges, however. from various
facts, that the Asylum is not at present
losing as much on the State patients a. the
above figures would Indicate. lie gives the
existing provisions Of law applicable to the
insane and the Asylum, and maxes various
important suggestions of needed legislation.
The Commissioners recommend the enact
ment Of laws to more efiectualy prevent the
wrongful detention Of sane persons, claimed
to be insane. The State pauper patients,
he says, "haye no friends to move for their
release, and, what is worse, the State has no
otheer or board whose duty it is to move in
the matter of discharge (; the result is, the
paupers may be kept at the Asylum, at
labor, doing work to the value OF from 80
cents to :Sl.00 day, for the benefit of the
Asylum, the State all the while paying the
trustees So per week for the keeping Of the
patient, and there is great daL-
ger OF that class of persons being detained
IN the Asylum long after they ought to have
been discharged. There are such cases.
he thinks, now, needing careful Inquiry.
The Commissioners think the Superinten-
dent OF the Asylum should not be-as he
was for several years, though he is not
now-an examiner of persons for commit
ment to the Asylum, and recommend a
board of three supervisors, two of whom
shall be physicians, and none of them
officers of any asylum. who shall inspect
the Asylum or Asylums. investigate the
condition of the patients, and discharge
such as should be discharged. They shall
also hear complaints of patients and make
such orders as their cases demand They
recommend additional safeguards against
wrongful commitments to the Asylum, re-
quiring the certificate of two physicians Of
integrity and skill to the insanity of the pa
tient. and Furnishing by fine the giving of
certificates without careful examination.
They object to the inspection of all the cor
resDondence st the inmates by the officers OF
TIE Asylum. as now practiced; and recon-
mend a law giving every patient the privi-
iege OF writing once month to tine Cover
no: or Supervisors, and at all times to their
guardians or next of kin, without the let
tiers being read by any person connected
with the Asylum.
Mr.. Walker calls attention to the dispro-
portion OF State benefciaries to private pa
tients from this State, there being 333 of
the former and but 30 of the latter; and as
there cannot be so many more of the insane
poor than of the insane rich he
asks: Can it be possible that
the S:ate is being deirauded by
individuals and officers of the Asylum
com mbining to have private patients classed
as State benefciaries2" and recommends
the passage of q law, imposing severe
penalty upon any person who causes an
insane person to be wrongly classed as
State pauper.
THE CONCLUSIONS.
The Commissioners each endorse what the
others have reported, approve the cOnclu-
sions reached and present them as their
common report. The report concludes With
the unanimous recommendation that the
State should, without delay, erect a asylum
for the insane that shall b, sufficient for $50
patients, and 50 arranged thst the wards
can be readily enlarged 50 a. to accomm0-
dat, 500; that no sleeping room shall con-
tain less than 200 cubic feet oi air space
or l2O feet of floor space, and that the roon1
be 50 ventilated "a TO permit Il change OF air
once an hour, day and night; that 50 so
per week be appropriated for the first year
for each inmate-though they say thst it
will not eventually cost 50 much As that
The subject of the serious failure OF the
institution a. a hospital for the cure Of the
insane, as shown By the vital statistics Of
the Asylum, Sd pointedly presented
by Commissioner Atwatsr. Ia his report
Of two years ago. is not directly b,1ugh: up
by the Special Commissioners. Their report,
however, gives ample reasons why the in
stitution, under existing Conditions, must
necessarily be such failure Iu various
ways it sustains and strengthens DR.. At
waters conclusions. 1t il full of proof Of
the wretched nature uf the existing ar
rangement between the State aud the Asy
lum. And it arrives at the same main con-
clusion-,hat the sooner the State has an
Asylum of its own, the better.
State Commissioner CalderwoOd declares
in his report that 1T il time this talk and