Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-12-17
The Report Of the Legislative Joint
Committee on the Insane Asylum.

Inc committee mud, as the result of their
visit of inspection and investigation, that
/. The superintendent, Dr. Draper, is a man
of unusual intelligence, ability and humanity.
and his administration is that of an accom-.
plished gentleman and cultured physician.
He has deservedy attained an enviabie repu-
tation III this department of medical science.
to which he has devoted his life.
.. There is apparently positive disposition
on the part of the trustees, officers and sub
ordinates, under the circumstances, notwith-
standing their exaggerated ideas as to the ca
pacity of the institution which have ALWAYS
obtained with them, to do all that is possible
to properly support and care for the unfortu-
nate persons confded to their charge
3. The buildings are clean and temperature
generally equable, the patients are decently
and comfortably clad and the culinary ar
rangements modern in style and in proper
condition.
4. The artificial forced ventilation, by the
fan operated by the steam engine, has much
improved the atmospheric condition of the
several wards
.. The new brick workshop and ice-house.
and the alterations and partial reconstruction
of the wards in the rear WINGS is an adyanc-
ing step in the right direction. These i'm
provements, permanent in their nature, and
general repairs and renovation, have cost dur
ing the two years ending July LIST, 1880, 49,
24S. 30.
After making this acknowledgment of the
generally favorable and satisfactory condition
of things in the institution, the committee
proceed to point out ''some of the decided
disadvantages and glazing improprieties con-
nected with the present relation between the
state and the asylum difficulties not attribu-
table to defects of management, but resulting
from circumstances beyond the control of
any management of the institution, and which
can only be remedied by a resort to radical
Methods
These disadvantages" and difficulties"
consist, list, in the fact that the asylum sis
legally independent of state authority" the
state having mo absolute rights, except such
as it obtains by virtue of its contract to board
the insane who are dependent :" I'd, in the
fact that 1.-THE buildings are not suitably ar
ranged to secure ventilaton;" Sd, there are
at least 100 patients too many at Brattleboro"
4th, by reason of the limited means at the
disposal of the management, sufficient at
tendance is not furnished so that the insane
can exercise manual labor out of doors :" 9TH,
there is too much appearance of confine-
ment;" lastly, as stated by us last week, the
committee refer to the exhaustive report of
Drs. Fassett and Goldsmith and Hon. VIM.
H. Walker, of 1873, and concur in their con-
illusions"
The committee think that an expenditure
of $10,0 900 in connection with the house of
correction would furnish accommodation for
fifty thoroughly demented patients, including
the convict and criminal classes, at a saving
of expense which would cover the amount of
the expenditure within the next biennial term.
They ''are of the opinion, and so deliberately
state, that the people cannot longer afford to
continue the present anomalous condition of
| affairs with an institution which has nothing
of the state about it except its name" and
they therefore recommend that, without any
longer Sinking its duty the state build a new
asylum with capacity of 300 patients.
The report of the committee is neither
more nor less than piece of special plead
ing for the erection of a state asylum 1t is
one more effort in the same direction in which
certain interests in the central and northern
portions of the state have been pushing for
| years past The notable feature in the mat
ter is the complete change of tactics which
these interests have been compelled by force
of events to adopt. In former years il has
been their custom to try to carry their point
by wanton attacks on the Brattleboro institu-
ton, grossly misrepresentiug its character and
methods, and leaving no stone unturned in an
effort to injure it and break it down. At last.
however, they are compelled to recognize the
high character and standing of the Vermont
Asylum, and to admit that no abuses exist
there, and that its management is vested in
the hands of competent and accomplished
| physicians and officers and the ground on
which they now urge the erection of state
institution is that the state ought to have full
control of its own patients. With the ground
thus taken We find no fault, for we have al
ways explicitly held that no one in this sec
ton of the state will object to the cree
ton of a state asylum, the rest of the state
being willing, provided an attempt be not
made, us a means to that end, to blacken and
break down the Brattleboro institution.
1t would be easy to go through with the re-
port of the committee, step by step, and
point out the fallacY of much of their reas-
oning, and show that many of their argu-
ments and statements are not founded on
fact. 1t is not worth while TO do this, how
ever, and we only refer, in closing, to tie in
consistency and speciousness of the plea that
1.-THE state now farms out its unfortunate in
sane to private corporation, which is indie
pendent of its control, and in which the state
has no absolute rights" To the ordinary
observer it would seem, and it is in point of
fact true, that, through its board of superVis-