Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-01-17
SOME OTHER AID IMPORTANT CoNsID-
ERATIeNS CONCERNING THE HOME
FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDED.

SOME OTHER AID IMPORTANT CoESID-
ERATIeNS CONCERNING THE home
FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDED.
No one can7ead the report Of the sew
eral officers scf the California Home fer
Feeble Minded Children and net be i'm
pressed with the imperative need of liberal
aid being extended by the State to that
institution. There ought to be entertained
no narrow ideas of economy in this matter
The policy that saves in the present, with
the certainty of immensely augmenting out
lay in the near future as an inevitable
result, is the policy of folly. As we have
said, the State can afford to start right
with this new and most important institu-
ton; it certainly cannot afford to go
wrong. If the mere matter of money saw
ing by Withholding from the need Of human
suffering is considered, then the very best
thing to do is to abandon this and similar
institution and thus save all outlay. De-
spite all the platitudes and sneers and
fault-fnding of the unwisely economic, who
make the assembling of the Legislature
the occasion for especially lively manifesto
lions, the representatives of the people will,
we believe, look upon this Junior of all our
public charities with breadth of view and
treat it with the same liberality that has
characterized our State policy in the past
toward the insane asylums and other de-
pendent institutions. The Home for the
FeebleMinded must be built anew-its
present structures are inadequate, i'll
adapted and worse located The State
should not attempt to patch them up or
extend them. They ought to be disposed
OF, ont of hand, and the institution given
building in a new location, suited to the
needs of the work in the hands of its phil
anthropic and large minded managers 1t
should be given site upquestioned for
salubrity, unchallenged in its facilities
for drainage and water supply and
calling for the least possible outlay for
artificial work, and no make-shift to those
ends be thought of.
1t is vitality essential, also, that the
Home have literally large farm of fine
soil and choice exposure under climatic
equability and adapted to diversified cult
ure. For it is a vital part of the scheme
of treatment of the feeble-minded to make
them self-helpful and reliant, that they
be taught to labor, and out of doors when
ever possible. Their surroundings must
all be of character to develop mental
power, train sluggish intellects into har-
mony with the broadest communion with
nature, and fashion the personal habits of
the idiotic to the methods of right living.
The epileptic can be improved, and expe-
rience proves that the condition of from
81 to SO per cent. is capable of very great
Improvement. But they cannot be treated
In confined quarters and ill-adapted insti-
tutIons. They must have air, sunshine,
plenty of room, opportunities for employ
ment and be subject to the minimum of
conditions that induce discomfort and rest
lessness The present location and build
ings of the Home do not favor that effec-
tive treatment Of such unfortunates that
can be secured if the State does its duty
by the Home, and the same is to be said
of the other character of inmates.
We have heretofore expressed the belief
that The true policy is to relocate the
Home, and that it should be given to a
county that has no public institutions and
where the sympathies and charities of the
people are not divided by other institu-
tional demands. The State is aided in its
support of the Home not a little by the
individual benefactions of the people. 1t
is wise to conserve this spirit and encour-
age Its enlargement, and this is best done
In community where there are no similar
or other public institutions addressing
themselves directly to the sympathies and
pride of the people of the locality. More
over, it is the part of supreme wisdom to so
distribute State institutions rs to eliminate
to the iurtherest extent local iealousies. 1t
is very unfortunate for any community
when the people of the State come to look
upon it as a dependent on State bounty.
But the location in one county of many
State institutions has precisely that effect.
The claims of other counties, besides,
ought to be fairly considered, and these
are of equal merit where needed conditions
are on level. A State institution in a
county is an fundamentally for quicken
ing local pride; it is one means of adyer-
Using the community and bringing the
natural advantages of a county into de-
served notice. 1t follows that it is .unwis-
dom to locate, as is now done, three great
institutions in Santa Clara county. for it
amounts to confession that we are poverty
stricken undesirable physical conditions of
soil, climate and eligibility for such insti-
tutions, when the truth is we are rich in