Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-06
MORE ASYLUMs.

lum insist that another asylum Tor the IN
sane must be built, and that right speed
lily. There is no denying the force of the
figures presented Given, that the two
ayslums now maintained are full to over
flowing and more, and it becomes simply
question of humanity. What shall be
done in the PREMISES" is susceptible of
but one answer: "Care for the wards of
the State" But it does not follow that
there shall be expended vast sum in Sc
curing architectural effects. The applica-
ton for an additional asylum, as financial
proposition, could not come at more in
opportune time. The Republican party
being in legislative ascendency, with a
treasury impoverished by the folly and
stupidity of a Democratic Administration,
will not be inclined to vote a dollar for
public works not absolutely and impera-
lively demanded. If then, a new build
ing must be erected. and if the present
Legislature is forced to order it, the sever
est economy is likely to be observed.
There must be no possible margin left for
jobs, and no thousands expended in mere
ornamentation. Perhaps it will answer if
perfectly plain main buildings are now
erected, leaving it to better days to erect
fronts that will be in keeping with the i'm
portance of the State. More will depend
upon spaciousness of grounds and the SUI
periority of location than upon architect
ural display and massiyeness of buildings.
The statement that the Napa Asylum
which cost altogether too much money, is
now so overcrowded that classification has
ceased, and the prospects Of recovery and
the right treatment of patients are thus
impeded, is one that appeals most strongly
to the humane sentiment. The Republican
party has always proved equal to emer-
gencies and brave enough to do its duty
But ii is certain that if the insane are to
be provided with additional quarters by
the present Legislature, it will be done
with greater reluctance than has charac-
terized the ordering of any previous public
work, and that it will bemore economically
planned and securely guarded from "pick-
ing and stealing" than in any preceding
case.
With this demand for an additional
building, it is scarcely probable that dis
tinct structure for the treatment of dipso-
maniacs will be ordered. Yet it is perfect
ly clear that such an institution is greatly
needed. 1t has been needed in
California for twenty years, and the neces-
sity for it grows more pressing every
month 1t is impossible to ignore the
statements of that distinguished body of
men known as the State Medical Society.
1t is emphatic in declaring that such an in
stitution for the treatment of dipsomaniacs
is imperatively needed; that the disease is
far more prevalent than the public has
knowledge of and is prolific source of crime
and misery. They affirm that if the State
gave authority for the treatment of this
class of insane people in an asylum, the
great mass of them could be cured I'm
like other insane, almost all those afflict-
ed with dipsomania are susceptible OF radi-
cal cure. But as the law now stands,
treatment of them in insane asylums is
affirmatively forbidden. 1t may, how
ever, be possible, if another
asylum for the insane is ordered
erected, that a portion Of it can be set
aside as dipsomaniac hospital In that
case it might be made largely self-sup-
porting, since probably six-tenths of those
in condition to be treated are from the
class of men who have some means, and
their estates can be made to pay the full
expense of their care and cure. An asylum,
of this kind has been eminently successful
in the State Of New York, and has proved
one of the most beneficial of all the insti-
tutions of that State If, then, n new
building is to be erected, it would be wise
to thoroughly consider the proposition to
set apart section or wing of it-a de-
tached and isolated building would be bet
ter-and a part of the grounds for the re-
ception and treatment of dipsomaniacs 1t
should be borne in mind that the serious
ness Of this subject arises not so much out
Of the destruction here and there 81 the
home and life Of an original dipsomaniac,
as from the fact that the man so afflicted,
in the majority OF cases, transmits to his
progeny the seeds that spring up in new
crops of dipsomaRiaes, and ihus the evil is
rapidly augmenting, and in increasing
ratio with the passage Of time. So long as
We interpose no barrier to the making Of
diposomiacs, and stand idly by while poi
sonous compounds grind out grists of ruin
and misery, let the State at least care for
the miserable victims, and isolate them
until treatment effects cure.
THE San Francisco Call SAYS that in
very many cases in San Francisco last
year real estate was assessed at It's full
cash value 1t adds that there is outside
land taxed at much less than Its real
value, but objects to property already as
sessed at real value being increased in
assessment valuation in order to reach the
under-taxed lands. 1t is true that a uni
form addition to an assessment roll works
hardships in the cases where property is
properly assessed, but how else is the State
to compel local assessors to do their duty
except by just such processes Of equaliza-
ton as that to which the Cal objects? To
allow the under-asseSsed lands to escape in
order to prevent over valuation of other
property, is to set up system which per-
mits local assessors to favor whom they