The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-01-04
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SIS
attachments and to fix a limit of time for the
| presentation of claims to the receivers. 1t is
| not clear that such authority is included in the
general powers with which the justices are in
vested by the section referred to.
THE SCHOOLS.
One Of the first and most conclusive tests
| that are applied to State to determine its gen.
| eral quality and the degree of progress it has
l arrived at is the inquiry into the measures it
! adopts to promote aud diffuse education and
| the amount of the public contribution towards
the support OF schools. The wise and liberal
| policy pursued by our own State may well
cause the test to be invited rather than avoided.
| Leaving the management and control of the
schools to their respective communities the
stare yet exercises Strengthening and health
| fal lniieuce upon them in many ways. Even
| by the simple and jas5 requirement Of vouchers
for the lawful use of the aid it supplies, it in
| cldentally produces an important and benefi.
eial effect in that it compels care, method and
| accountability in the condact of the affairs re-
lating to schools. A wide and legitimate field
| OF usefulness is before it in providing for bet
| ter quality of instruction. The fact has long
| been apparent to all conversant with the sub
lect that the difficulty of procuring competent
teachers is the chief hindrance to the improve
/ ment Of the common schools. The State has
| attempted to meet the want by the institution
| OF two normal schools for training teachers;
but their inadequaey is evident when their
4
| required. The Superintendent of Common
| Schools advocates, as an expediant for ensuring
| the employment of better class of teachers,
| the establishment by law of boards of exsmina-
| tlon In each county whose certificate shall be
| indispensable to every teacher. He proposes
| that the members of the several boards shall be
appointed by the Governor and Council aud
| shall not be entitled to compensation from the
| state, but shall bs authorized TO exact in re-
| turn for their services the payment of a small
! fee by each person examined as to his qualifca-
| tious for a teacher. Well qualified teachers
| would gladly hail the opportunity to procure
credentials from such body and municipal
| officers would welcome a device that would
lessen the risk of employing competent instruc-
| tors.
The Superintendent also recommends the
holding of Normal Institutes at convenient
| places, to continue not less than four weeks
each. The Teachers Institutes of former years
| held sessions OF such brief duration that they
| could do little more than inspire their attend
ants with the desire to fit themselves more
| thoroughly for the profession of teaching
| Normal Institutes, conducted according to the
| plan suggested, would not only awaken the
desire for improvement but supplylthe means Of
| gratifying it. Their estimated annual cost is
| two thousand dollars. Both the County Boards
| OF Examination and the Normal Institutes
seem eminently worthy of adoption as instru-
| mentalities for remedying an evil that seriously
| affects the character of our schools.
| The present plan of distributing the moneys
1
| schools according to the number of scholars in
| each city, town or plantation-is Just in prin-
| ciple, bat has 30 other accommodation. The
| Superintendent has made calculations to test
the question in all its bearings, and has reached
| the conclusion that an apportionment on the
| basis OF the aggregate number of days attend
| auce would be as just as the method now in
| force and would be an improvement on the
| present system, inasmueh as it would induce
| fuller attendance. The prospect of accom-
| plishing such result by so slight modi6ca-
| ton OF the law warrants the change, if only as
| matter of experiment.
The Free High Schools were about the same
IN number the past, as in the preceding year.
| 1t is not probable that any increase of the
| appropriation for them will be necessary. am
| still OF the opinion expressed by me on
| former occasion, that the State should exercise
| some supervision over these schools by means
of agents appointed by the State Superntend-
| ent to inspect them. The High Schools would
| be benefited no less than those of lower grade
| by the elimination of Incompetent teachers
that would be erected by the proposed county
( board examination.
The Eastern Normal School and the Western
| Normal School are both in prosperous condi-
| ton and ara doing good service to the State.
| An annual appropriation of fifteen thousand
dollars from the school fund has been made for
| their support. An inspection of the Eastern
| Normal School building by a competent archi-
tect, at the instance of the trustees, has led to
the making of repairs on the building, and the
| strengthening OF some pOrtl0n9 OF IT, The
balance remaining from the last appropriation
Will probably detray the expenses of the work.
TIE INSANE HOSPITAL.
The reports of the trustees and officers Of the
Insane Hospital give highly gratifying ex-
| hbt of the affairs of that institution [ am
| confident that the Superintendent is amply
| justified in the declaration he makes that 'at
no period since the institution was opened for
the reception of patients has it been in a more
| prosperous and satisfactory condition than at
| the present time" 1t contained four hundred
| and five patients at the commencement of the
! year. One hundred and ninety-four were ad-
/ mItted during the year, and one hundred and
| eighty-three discharged. The daily average
| number of inmates was fraction over four
| hundred and eleven, thirteen in excess of the
| average OF the preceding year. Ssventy-two OF
| those discharged are reported as recovered.
| The value of the hospital property has been
| greatly increased and the capacity of the in
| stitution for usefulness judiciousy promoted
/ by the many improvements made the past
/ year, The water-works have been thoroughly
| completed, the main building has been pro-
| vided with an approved system of faes for
| ventilation, and the laundry has been rebuilt
and refurnished The entire cost of these i'm.
provements, including the construction of the
| Water-Works in 1876. was $22, $40 %, all of
| which has been paid from the income of the
| hospital. The farm has been improved By
| laying underGrains and making roads, and the
| grounds around the main building have been
/
| been largely augmented within few years
and the entire estate is in the way to reach the
highest possible state OF cultivation and profit
| ableness.
The price of board has been reduced by the
| trustees from $4.00 to S3.75 per week. 1t is
| believed that this reduced rate will support the
| hospital without lowering the dietary of the
| patients, or trenching ia any degree upon their
customary comforts and privileges, and leave
| sufficient balance, with the funds now on
hand, to make such Improvements as are now
| and may be from time to time required.
am constrained to Invite your attention to
| the necessity which believe exists for another
| hospital for the insane. You will perceive by
the tabulated history of the hospital contained
| in the Superintendents report that the daily
| average number Of patients leaped from one
| hundred and sixty-seven in the year 1855 to
two hundred and four the following year, aud
| that from that time it has steadily Increased
| from year to year, almost without exception,
| until it reached four hundred and eleven the
| past year, more than double the daily average
number OF twenty years ago, and the highest
| in the history Of the Institution. While this
| marked increase in the number Of the insane
| admitted to the hospital has been going on, the
| population of the State has remained without
| material change Although, as the trustees
| Inform you, no applications for admission have
| been denied, the capacity of the hospital has
| been continually strained to the utmost to meet
| the demands upon it, notwithstanding the care
| taken to comply with the restrictions of the
| law IN regard 10 the class OF pauentS entitled
| to admission and treatment. 1t is the opinion
of good authority that the maximum number
of patients that can be well cared for in an in
| sttution of this kind, and under one SUPER
vision, is four hundred, and that it is desirable
in every respect that the number should not
exceed three hundred and fifty. Be that as it
may, our hospital has reached the limit of its
accommodations and it behooves the State to
| anticipate the time when the need of another
| institution will become too pressing to bs de-
| uied The present number of patients has
| been reached by such gradual approaches as
leave no room for the argument that it is due
to temporary and exceptional causes. Even
| allowing that it represents the full probable
! proportion requiring treatment for mental dis
| order, it still remains necessary TO provide for
the proportion due to the natural increase of
| the population of the State Besides experience
may prove that the operation of the law Of
1874, requiring the discharge of idiotic and
inc1rable inmates who may, in the judgment
of the Superintendent, be discharged with
safety to themselves and the public, has caused
the discharge Of some who ought to have been
| retained.
The Superintendent may have been or may
be under the necessity of advising discharges,
about TIE proprety of which he has misgivings,
| in Order In q Ia for