The Monmouth inquirer., 1896-03-12
Mr.. FRANCIS SPEECH

ON THE ENGLIsHTowE ASYLUM BILL,
4 Mr.. Francis remarks on The final
+ passage in the Assembly Of the bill
introduced by him to establish an
Asylum for the Blind at English
town.
Mr.. Speaker This Bill provides for
the founding Of an Asylum for the
/ care and instruction of the Blind of
/ this State
About one year and half ago Mr..
Frederick r. Wilson, formerly of New
4 Jersey, now of Chicago. convened to
Committee consisting of four per-
sons residents of this State a tract of
/ land, located at Englishtown in the
+ county Of Monmouth, consisting of
about 100 acres, as free gift TO the
state OF New Jersey, upon condition
that there be erected thereon an
Asylum for the blind.
+ The committee to whom the deed
was given brought the matter to the
attention of the Governor. at that
time Governor Werts And he in q
f special message to the Legislature rec
commended that bill be passed pa O.
yIdlng for the appointment of com
mission to inquire into, and report
/ upon the advisabiiity of accepting
+ the gift in accordance with the provi-
sions attached thereto.
The Legislature of last year acted
upon the recommendation of the Gov
ernor and passed a bill providing for
the appointment of commission to
/ make careful investigation of the
SUBJECT and report to the present
Legislature the results Of their delib-
erations.
The commission was duly appoint
ed and have made report Of their
Investigations and have recommend
ed that the State accept the gift.
have not time, Mr.. Speaker, nor is
1t necessary to recite all they say but
quote one of the several reasoDs
urged by them They say. in the
frst place, that they favor accep-
lance because the land is intrinsic
ally valuable and well worth accept
ing. 1t consists of fine farm of 131
/ acres "a re-survey having corrected
4 the original estimate) with two sets
of good buildings within the corpor-
ate limits of the Borough of English
town, Monmouth County. New .Jer-
sey, and it is valued at Sc, 900 in even
these unsatisfactory times. 1t was
formerly valued at S12, GOO, and is now
+ assessed for taxation at $4,000. and we
judge would sell for at least $4,000 or
$4,000 even now. Yet it is to cost the
State nothing, but is rendered as a
! free gift TO fhe people of New Jersey
/ by its present owner Mr. Frederick
+ r. Wilson now of Chicago. H.. but
( formerly OF Englishtown N. D.. to
whom the thanks of the State is Ger
tainiy due for such liherality and
generosity
Resuniing, Mr. Francis said. we have
IN this State, Mr.. Speaker. several in
stItutiOns of kindred character sup
+ ported IN whole or n part By thesfate
such as the Home for Feeble Minded
Women, School for Feeble Minded
Children, School for Deaf Mites. our
Lunatic Asylum and others which
might name. all of which are a cred
1t to our State. and by adding an
Asylum for our blind and incurables
to the list of the other worthy insti-
tutions, l have referred to. it will
place our State in front rank with
i our sister states. ia providing for her
own worthy and needy subjects upon
our own soil and within our own
borders
The appropriation which this bill
carries with it is a very small one.
The amount is about one tenth what
i IL cOStS ltie STATE eacn year IOf the
care of the blind and and incBrables;
or in other words 1t costs s.. 900 more
than the appropriations asked for to
pay for the support of the blind alone
now sent to other states.
To quote again from the report of
the Commission we find that accord
ing to information received from the
Comptroller, we are paying out $685.
932.57 annually on this account. to
private or semi-private corporations
chiefly here or elsewhere. of which
large sum, $23, AS rs annually is paid
to institutions outside of New Jersey.
in Pennsylvania, New York and Con-
necticut OF this amount the sum of
$13. 00S. II annually we pay for the
support and care of our blind alone,
and this all goes to institutions out
of the State. In these we now have
/ forty-nine blind patients, supported
and maintained at the public expense.
! But it is believed, that the number
of our blind altogether now exceeds
a hundred and twenty-five or more
! who ought to be provided for by the
! State
An institution of this character Is d
worthy one and commends itself to
all of us. In my judgment the bill
should receive the support of every
member of the House
Mr.. Walling also addressed the
House eioquently in behalf of the
dill, and it passed by the unusual vote
of 81 to o. receiving the support OF
every member present.