Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-01-05

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al satisfaction
In May, 1881, there was organized a sep
| arate department for the education of the
blind, which was placed in the charge of
| Prof. j. J. Dow, as superintendent. who
has been connected with the institute as
teacher of the blind since 1875. This
change in the system of its management
has proven advantageous to the institute
| in many respects. The deaf and dumb de-
partment continues in charge of Prof. J.
| L. Noyes, who has established AN enduring
record of great efficiency in his work,
during the many years he has labored in
behalf of this institution.
The Imbecile school occupied their new
building last February, and has since pros
| eouted its proper work more successfully,
under the superintendent of DR.. George
H. Knight. There is ample room in the
building occupied by the deaf aud dumb
for the requirements of this class for sew
eral years to come, but the schools for the
blind and imbecile are already overcrowd-
ed. The directors ask an appropriation of
| 100000 to erect and furnish additional
| space for these two departments. The
statement which appears in the report, that
there are now in the state eighty-four
/ blind persons under twenty-five years of
age who have never attended school, and
ifty-nine applicants for admission to the
! Imbecile school now waiting who cannot
be accommodated, is, of itself, an argu-
ment in favor of increasing the capacity
of these schools, that does not need to be
enlarged upon. I therefore recommend a
sufficient appropriation for the purpose
stated.
| There are now 125 pupils in the deaf
Hand dumb department; thirty-feur in the
Blind and forty-one in the imbecile. There
are 233 uneducated deaf mutes in the
state who have not yet received the advan-
tages offered by this school.
| The disbursements of the board for cur
rent expenses we're $44, 279.98 in 1881 and
| $49,S07.23 in 1882. Appropriations are
asked of $4,000 for 1888 and $4,000 for
| 1884 for the same account.
| The directors conclude their report with
the significant statement that, "Adhering
to what we regard as the strictest economy
compatible with success, we follow the un-
broken tradition of the past and report an
unexpended balance in the treasury"
| HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.
That portion of the First Hospital for
the Insane at st. Peter, destroyed by fire
in 1880, has been restored, and is now in
use. The east wing of the Second Hos
! pital at Rochester, the construction of
which was provided for in 1881, will be
ready for occupancy in part by February 1
prox-, and wholly completed early the
present year. The capacity of the perma-
nent buildings at st. Peter is sufficient for
the proper care of $50 patients, and those
at Rochester for $50, total of 900. There
are now connected with the two hospitals
872 patients-636 at st. Peter, and 236 at
Rochester, large number attached to the
former institution still occupying the tenn
| porary buildings that have been in use for
several years.
| The problem of providing for the future
wants of this class of unfortunates, is one
that will engage your serious attention.,
and any possible solution of it must involve
expenditures to a large amount. For
many years past there has been an annual
| average increase of about seventy in the
insane population of the state. The in
crease in the future, the same conditions
prevailing, must be somewhat larger.
Provision already made is barely sufficient
for another year, hence it is imperative
that measures should be 1naugurated at
this session of the legislature, to add to the
capacity of the state to care for these
people.
With view of determining the practi-
cability OF relieving the hospitals of the
care of any inmates of whose insanity
there was reason to doubt, or incurables
who might be cared for elsewhere,
requested the commissioners appointed
under the law for the inspection of hos
pitfalls, to visit them last August for a
thorough examination in this respect.
Their report was adverse to any discharges
being made. Subsequently I held con-
ference with the trustees and superintend-
ents of the hospitals and the members Of
the commission, at which the subject of
the care of these people and their future
requirements was thoroughly discussed.
AS result of this conference and of other
investigation personally made, I am i'm
pressed with the belief that the provision
the state must make for some years to
come can be most economically effected
by the construction of another wing to the |
hospital at Rochester corresponding to the |
one now approaching completion, and the |
erection of additional wards to either hos |
pital. from time to time as more room |
is demanded. These wards can be added |
at less than one-third the cost per capita, |
according to capacity, than the present
elaborate structures have involved; and the |
maintenance of the additional patients |
thus provided for will call for much less
proportional expenditure than would be
required in another hospital established in
q new location.
The trustees in their report give express
sion to this judgment by the recommends
ton of the addition to the hospital at st.
Peter, of ward to accommodate fifty pa
TENTS, for which they ask an appropria-
ton of $4,000 to be expended the present
year, and also the erection of another wing
to the institution at Rochester, estimated
to cost with furniture, 5000, to be COM
menced in 1884. These estimates of the
trustees, as also those for the purchase of
additional land at each hospital for the
purpose of providing employment for the
patients. recommend to your favorable
The officers of the two hospitals submit
full information relative to their manage
nent during the biennial period just
closed, from which it appears that care
md efficiency still characterize the conduct
If the affairs of these institutions.
The trustees report expenditures for the
past two years as follows: