Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-07-20
The State Insane ASYLUM.

OAN u III AN0A@-0 1ANNN~C-@ ~N-N-~
the Legislature is the needs of the State
Insane Asylum. The special report OF
superintendent Powell, submitted in ac-
cordance with the resolution OF the
Board of Trustees, passed June 21st.
1881, succinctly presents the necessities OF
the institution.
The Superintendent says that the asy-
Ium is dangerously crowded in every
department All the parlors and sitting
rooms are occupied as bed rooms, save
one in the female department, and many
of the porticoes, some Of the patients
sleeping in the halls. The requirements
of the asylum and the cost of the i'm
provements are summed up as follows:
A building to isolate and check con-
tagious epidemics, 1924; two conva-
lescent wards, $67, e67; one amusement
hall, $6,574. These buildings the Super
intendent says are absolutely necessary
to promote and secure the healthy,
ameliorating and curative influences OF
the institution.
He dwells upon the particular need OF
the convalescent wards. which are so
requisite for the proper treatment OF
those whose cure they would hasten.
He further calls attention to the crowded
condition of the buildings for the col
ored insane, more than enough applica-
tions to fill which were on file before the
buildings were completed. Unless
prompt action is taken, future appli-
cants will be confined to the Jail. He
states that there are now awaiting vacan-
cies one hundred and seventy-six white
lunatics. Estimating the total number
of lunatics in Georgia by Kirkbride's
rule, of one to every one thousand OF
population, he concludes that there are
one thousand five hundred in Georgia,
which would leave six hundred unprO-
vided for.
The people of the State appear to be
alive to the necessity of action in the
premises. The project has been broach-
ed, and finds numerous advocates, OF a
branch asylum. We trust that the needs
Of this highly interesting class of our
people will be promptly met, but we can
not see how the establishment OF a
branch asylum will effect the end sought.
To be effective it must be almost, if not
quite, as extensive as the existing estab-
lishment. 1t will cost fully as much, if
not more, will require a new staff and
management, and will entail double re
sponsibility. At best it will require
some time to bring it up to the degree of
efficiency attained by the present asy-
lum, and, in our view, must fall short of
the expectations of its friends.
On the other hand, an enlargement of
the present asylum on a scale commensu-
rate with the probable needs of the State
for some time to come, will accomplish
all that can be desired. There is an album
dance of land contiguous to the institu-
ton, and the question of a site would
not come up. If necessary, the staff of
the asylum could be enlarged. and added
efficiency would thus be obtained. The
Milledgeville institution rests on a sure
basis, and whatever is done to improve
it is a guaranteed benefit and not an ex-
pertinent, such as a new asylum must
be for a time at least. By all means let
the helpless insane be provided for. but
let them be centered at Milledgeville and
have common treatment, support and
supervision.
We trust that liberal appropriation
will be voted for the enlargement of the
existing institution and for fitting it with
all the modern improvements. In this
way the needs of the patients and the in
terests of the people will be best sub
served. The work done on the present
asylum will speak for itself, while time
alone would reveal how much would
have to be expended on a new institu-
ton ere it served the purposes of its es-
Enlistment The usually large differ
ence between the estimated and actual
cost of public works should counsel our
legislators to ponder long ere they set up
in Georgia two institutions, one of which
properly supported would suffice for the
end sought.