The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-01-12

United States. The census of 1850 gave
15.6l0 insane, that of 1860 gave 24.042,
that of 1870 gave 37,432, that of 1880
jumped suddenly up to 81 ,959 while that
of 1890 gives slight increase to 106, 252.
These numbers do not represent ade-
quately the real facts. The insane never
were fully counted until the census Of
1880, and then the very effort made to
be sure and get them all resulted in get
ting more than there really were. l had
copies Of the original returns for part
OF my State. and made thorough revs-
ion of them, and satisfied myself at the
time that errors Of duplication and of
misunderstanding by census takers of
what insanity really is had swelled the
returns between ten and twenty per cent.
The last census probably errs in not
enumerating quite all the insane.
There are, it would seem, hundred
thousand persons who ought to have
special care as insane, and who would
have it if the States had all made suffi-
Gent provision for them. This means
that hundred thousand persons are or
may be deprived of civil rights, and not
allowed to vote, il voters, and not per-
mitted to manage their property, if they
have any. The most of them are now
confined in hospitals or asylums, which,
however well managed, cannot be as
pleasant for them as their homes And
the expense to the public of keeping
these persons confined is great. The
average cost of buildings and grounds
for insane hospitals is over one thousand
dollars per capita, and the average cost
of support is nearly two hundred dollars
year. For one hundred thousand in
sane this means permanent investment
OF one hundred million dollars, and an
annual outlay of twenty million addi-
tional.
ONE of the causes of the apparent in
crease of insanity is the wider definition
now given it. Many cases of second
/. childhood, of nervous debility, of eccen-
tricity, of moral obliquity, of alcoholism,
of epilepsy and of idiocy, are now count
ed as insanity, that would not have been
so regarded a few years ago. The ten
dency now is to call all abnormal men
tai and moral action insanity. When
the city of Chicago was enlarged to take
in most of the outlying suburbs, there
was great apparent gain of population.
But the people had not actually been
moving into the city; it was the city
which was moved out to them. Nor is
this merely question of statistics.
When an inconvenient old grandfather
or troublesome wife is committed to an
insane asylum, there is something more
involved than the addition of one more
to the mouths to be fed by the State.
although that too, has its importance.
On the other hand large apparent
increase of insanity comes from the fact
that as proper institutions are provided
for them, the insane who have been hid
away in private families, often unknown
to the neighbors-and in many cases
very badly, because ignorantly treated
are brought out and placed in institu-
tions, where they are known and counted
as well as humanely cared for.
A cause of very large apparent in
crease of insanity is the accumulation of
the insane as their lives are heightened
by humane treatment. The State hos
pitfalls have not realized the glowing an
ticipations of their founders in the num-
Der of cures, but they have prolonged
life. This partial success, resulting in
neither killing ror curing, is just the
condition needed for the accumulation
of the insane in institutions, which ac.
counts for very large increase of asy-
lum population without any increase in
the annual number OF new cases. This is
one OF the instances of the paradox of
charity, that charity may increase the
very ills it was meant to cure.
A temporary increase of insanity has
come from the efforts of European local
governments to relieve themselves of
their burdens at our expense. Many
insane persons Of the quieter kinds have
been sent over here and are now found
in our public institutions. But the
greater care exercised over immigration
is now making it difficult to ship insane
and idiots into this country
1t is often claimed that city life is
! productive of insanity, and this is
cause of the general increase, since our
cities are growing disproportionatey to
the country. But the fact is. that there
is no such disproportion between in
sanity in city and country. In England
for long series of years there was
slightly less insanity in London than the
agricultural counties. For a similar
reason think that increasing civiliza-
ton is not a cause of an increase of in
sanity. There probably was as much
insanity among people of our race in
former generations as now, only it was
concealed from public notice, or it was
not called by that name. or it was not
allowed to accumulate as it does now
The law of natural selection weeded out
the unfit members of a community very
rapidly in barbarous ages. In default of
statistics an able English writer has