The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-04-14
The Weak and the Wicked.


idiotic, blind and deaf and dumb in the
United States In every million of pop
ulation there were 1884 victims of in
sanity, l ,533 idiots, 976 blind and 675
deaf and dumb.
Apparently there was a large increase
in the proportion or these defective peo-
Pile as compared with 1870, 1860 and
1850, But the proportional increase
seems to have been due chiefly or alto
gether to more thoroughness in gather
ing the statistics concerning them. An
exact and trustworthy census, of the in
sane especially, it is almost impossible
to get. In the first place, what is the di-
viding line between sanity and insanity?
We have seen how, in a recent case, a
jury decided that man was sane who
was pretty generally pronounced lu-
matte by the professional experts in men
tai disease. Whether Guiteau was a
responsible agent has hardly yet been
decided, though the brain of the assassin
has been dissected. And, sane or insane,
he went abroad among men during life,
and doubtless was about as well balanced
mentally as thousands of men and wom-
en- who are on the streets to-day. Very
many drunkards are the victims of as
genuine and as dangerous mania as
that which affects large part of the
population of our insane asylums, and
the number of people who are subject to
insane impulses, or who are what is
called half-cracked, is multitudinous.
Besides, families are slow to acknowl-
edge insanity among their members, pro-
vided it is not of sort to compel seclu-
sion in an asylum. But, to cover such
cases SO far as possible, the Census
Bureau sent out blank forms of return
to 100000 physicians in the Union, four
fifths of whom responded with the de-
sired information, and by the lists they
sent the regular returns of the enumera-
tors were corrected. Under such Cir
cumstanceS, of course the total number
obtained was pretty sure to be much
larger, proportionately, than it was in
previous censuses, when equally thorough
methods of obtaining returns were not
adopted. But even then we cannot take
the figures with entire confidence. The
result is an approximation only. At
least, we do not get from the census for
1880 sufficient data to enable us to answer
the question whether insanity is on the
increase-that is, whether the ratio of
new cases to the total population is grow
ing larger.
1t seems fair to conclude, however,
that there is no decline in the proportion
of insanity. The number of the insane
manifestly grows at least with the in
crease of population. More than that
cannot be deduced from the census table.
Out of a total of 81 1897 insane re-
turned in 1880, "A, 408 were males and
1889 females; 65,651 were natives and
26,346 were foreign; 85,840 were white
and 6,157 colored, We see, therefore,
that insanity attacks women oftener than
men. Of idiots, however, the total of
rs, 1916 was made up of As, 500 males and
31,5S6 females. The negro population,
too, is much more liable to idiocy than
insanity the number of colored idiots
being 9,579 to 6,157 lunaties. The for
eign population, however, contributed
only 1907 to the idiots, while it's insane
numbered 26,346. The tendency to in
sanity among the foreigners is very
more than one-quarter of the whole num-
Der of insane, while there were only
about one-seventh as many of them in
the Union as natives. 1t is suggestive
to observe also that there is the same in
creased tendency to insanity, but in a
less marked degree, in natives who re-
move from one part of the Union to
another, especially from the Atlantic to
the Pacific coast. The immigrant is SUBJ
jected to an unwonted strain, and the
law of the survival of the fittest works
with especial rapidity in his case. Life
in the old grooves he might sustain with
out mental damage, but in new paths he
loses his wits. 1t is the strong birds
which stand the migratory flight; the
weak ones drop by the way.
Of the blind there were more males
than females, the total number having
been 48, 1928, made up of 26, 748 males
%, 1870 females. The same was the case
with respect to the deaf and dumb. Out
of total of 33,S78, there were 1867
and 1871 females.
The total number of paupers enumer-
ated in almshouses was 67,067, besides
whom there was great body of outdoor
paupers, of whom the statistics are mani
testify so incomplete that they are of no
account whatever The total, according
to the census, was 21,598; but how
worthless these figures are is shown BY
the return from Boston of only thirteen
outdoor paupers for the whole city.
The number of prisoners in confine
ment in the United States was SO, 255
against 49, lunatics confined in asy,
lums. In the number of prisoners, how
ever, were certain persons charged with
ofenses and awaiting in county jail;
their trial; and there were some insane.
Prisoners held for debt, however. were
not included, nor were witnesses locked
up to secure their testimony. OF i'm.
prisoned debtors the total was forty
eight, and of imprisoned witnesses 1O7
1t is creditable to our civilization that
these figures are so small; but that there
are any such prisoners is a blot on our
legal system.
The total number of felons at hare
labor in prisons and penitentiaries was
3O,623, and 1883 convicts were at worl
outside of prison walls, under lessees OF
under county officials. About 43, 900 OF
the prisoners did some work, and Is, OOC
were maintained in idleness; 81, 1856 were
males and 5,069 females, 46, 1873 native
and 1927 foreign, 1924 white and
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