The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-20
TOGETHER VIGOROUSLY DE-
NOUNCED BY DIR. SMITH.
FAvoRS A COTTAGE PLAN,
WITH MORE SYSTEMATIC EFFORT
FOR THE CURE OF THE HOPE
FUL CASES.
DAYS WORK OF THE CONFERENCE
New Officers as Nominated Are ChO-
sen-Interesting Address by DIR.
Helen BisseII.

Il consider that remark a personal
insult" exclaimed DR.. s. G. Smith, at
the meeting of the state conference of
corrections and charities yesterday
morning, II have not spoken of the
work as a minister of the gospel, but
as one interested, having studied it in
both America and Europe" Dr. Smiths S
remarks were made in reply to DR..
kilbourne, of Rochester, who said at
the close of the formers paper on 1.-THE
Future Policy Of Minnesota in Caring
for the Insane that whenever he
wanted to know anything about the
care of the insane he would not go to
minister Of the gospel. DR.. Smith, in
his paper, said that he considered the
care of the insane the most important
which had come before the conference,
and spoke Of the need for fourth in
sane hospital in the state which he
thought an appropriation would be Sc
cured for this winter. He said that the
new building ought to be large enough
to accommodate l ,0G0. He said that all
the care Of paying for the care Of the
insane was dismissed from the public
mind, as it Is argued that so soon as
any one is sent to the insane hospital
1t is supposed they are there for life
and no thought is given to their pos
sible recovery. DR.. Smith spoke Of
three plans for the building of hospitals
for the insane, any two Of which might
be combined, and advocated that of the
cottage plan. He was strongly in IA
vor of sound economics and favored
the building of cheap structures. He
believed that there should be a more
thorough classification and said that
the acute cases should receive the best
of care from the state. He said that
the state is bound to dc all it can for
the care Of its insane and that distinct
treatment should be used in the acute
cases. That all the money required
should be spent on the patient the first
year it Is in the institution, and that
the treatment should be expansive
That the patient should be well fed and
generally we'll cared for. That the
chronic cases are practically hopeless
and should be cared for as cheaply as
possible.
DR.. Smith thought that there are
hundreds of people in the insane hos
pitfalls who should properly be in the
almshouse, speaking particularly Of the
aged He said that had the county to
care for such cases they would be more
careful about adjudgirg old people in
sane. He also said that Minnesota
would in a few years have more in
sane people than any other state on
account of the Scandinavian population,
these people going insane more easily
than any others He advocated the
placing of convalescent patients In cot
To-
place for q short time for the purpose
o trying the change of scene. He also
spoke Of the need Of private hospitals
of this nature which would be easily
supported in this state, where there is
none.
Rev. DR.. Sammis took exception to DR..
Smiths plan for the building Of cheap
institutions, and said that it is the
duty of the state to erect such struc-
lures as will be a credit to the artis-
tic judgment of the state. Alexander
Johnson was heard on this subject and
told Of the work along this line in In
diana, where the state has entire
charge Of the insane and where there
are $50 inmates in the county poor
houses. He said that the word cheap
ness should be used with care. He
also said that Minnesota is the only
state which has adopted the state
plan with success. That Wisconsin
combined state and county care and
that Indiana had not begun to come
up to 1t. He thought the colony sys-
TEN good one. Prof B. Byers, of
Ohio, spoke Of the work in that state.
Or. Bissell said that in the care for the
insane, Michigan is the most compre-
hensive she had knowledge of, and
gave an outline of the system used
there.