The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-06-04

THE PUBLIC will hardly approve the
action of the insane asylum COM
mission in designating Davis County,
or the particular site chosen n that
county, for the proposed building:
that is to say, the public will not sd-
NIT that the judgment Of the COM
missioners is good in this matter.
We would not be regarded as saying
anything sgainst Davis County, nor
as pleading fer Salt Lake County.
Either county unquestionably must
have many eligible sites for tee pro.
posed institution; 80 alto have Utah
and Weber; but did the commission,
in choosing "the mouth OF Shep-
herds Csnon," " decide upon said
site solely upon the grounds of health.
fitness. adaptability to the purposes
of tee institution, coat of material tor
construction, and convenience of &C
cess from the different portions of this
territoryI?" That is what the law
said they shall do, and We will give
them credi. for honesty, bat their
judgment will be called into question.
II we are correctly informed, the cite
chosen possesses in less degree than
any other presented for consider
alton, the requisites provided in
the statute, with the single exception
OF "heaithfulness," and as to this
there can be little choice a5 to any of
the uplands of the four Counties.
There was one mistake in the act
creating the commission. The mem
hers of the board should have been
taken from counties other than the
four in one of which the asylum must
be located. The directors, to a
greater OF less degree, acted rs the
agents or solicitors of their respective
counties. and in so much IS this was
the case, they lost sight of the main
and important question. The rivalry
was strongly marked in the gentle
men, and whether or not the sdvan-
tsges OF their own counties blinded
their eyes to the same things in other
counties, it had the appearance of
doing so. But as to the place fixed
upon, we understand the selection is
not so definite as to be irreYooable,
and il this be true the commissioners
ought TO see that their blunder is rec
titled before it is too late. The locs-
ton Of the asylum in county is not
of so much importance to that county
as 10 occasion any great revolu-
ton, nor materially benefit its
surroundings; it is not worth
quarreling about. But It's location
at an ineligible point is Of serious
moment 70 the territory, which
must pay for the building and bear
the cost of the subsequent maiDten-
anca of the institution. The board
should be able to find a way to rec.ify
their mistake, if one has been made,
for The community, now and here
after, will hold the members respon-
sibls for any serious error of iudg-
ment that may be committed. The
members should disregard the spirit
OF rivalry that has apparently in
fuenced their action during the in
vestigations that have been going on,
and vote as if they were not person
ally interested in one county more
than another. Wherever the best
site can be found, the Instructions in
the statute being the guide, there LET
the asylum be erected. A commits
sioner cannot be blamed if his county
does not secure the institution, be he
will be blamable and blamed if he
puts it in his own county when pre-
ferable sites can be had in Others.