The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-26
LIE RATES OF INCREASE.


The citizen who has given any
thought whatever to our public institu-
lions is first struck with the rapid in
crease in their number and next with
the equally rapid increase in their
expense. About every ten years re-
uuires another insane hospital with
intermediate annual demands for ex-
tensions of those built. st. Peter was
established in 1867; Rochester, begin
ming as an inebriate asylum, was
changed in 1878 into an insane asylum;
Fergus Falls was prepared for in 1885
and begun in 1887, and ten years later
preparations began for the construc-
ton of a fourth which eliminated in
1897 in the Anoka-Hasting deadlock.
Tea years seems therefore to be the
limit within which each new asylum
becomes so filled that need
rises for another. Intermediate
came the other Institutions, a
school for detectives in 1887;
for the deaf in 1868 for the blind in
1874; for the feeble-minded in 1879, and
the state public school in 1895. The
state prison was supplemented in 1887
by the reformatory, and 1889 the new
training school supplanted the old re-
form school There has not been a de-
u = ,Jo 80 r,&o ~
that has not seen one or more public
institutions, either correctional or
charitable, provided
And very plainly the end is not any
where in sight. The increase in the
number of those who are deemed fit
subjects for the states charities as
we'll as those needing it's correction,
is far greater than is that Of the pop
ulation. If this ratio is normal, the
time will come when these institutions
will become an insupportable burden
on property, unless, indeed, the senti-
mentality that has been the motive
force of their growth gives way to
common sense under the pressure of
their expense. 1t is possible to build
bridge that will break down with
it's own weight. The rate of increase
is an appropriate matter for study in
the investigation the G | o e is max
ing. The rate of increase of popula-
ton in the state has been intermittent
and at no period can 1t be taken as
normal. From 1880 to 1895, embracing
years of great and retarded increase,
the annual average gain was SIT per
cent From 1880 to 1890 the annual
rate was 6.674 per cent. From 1885 to
1895 1t was 4.0S6 per cent, and from 1890
to 1895 it was 400 per cent. The mean
annual rate would be about per cent.
Against this increase in population
we have an increase in the number
of insane of Z per cent compounded
annually. Taking our charitable and
correctional establishments as a whole,
the increase in the ratio of in
mates to population shows striking
gain in the former. Thus in 1870 the
ratio Of inmates to population was as
1 to 1882. By 1880 it had risen to to
GIL By 1890 it was 1 to $50 and in
1896 it was 1 to 321 That is, in 1896
there was one inmate in our charitable
and correctional institutions for each
321 of the population, or over three
times more than twenty-six years be-
fore. On the other hand the expense
per inhabitant has shown the same
lusty growth. In 1870 the biennial ex-
penditure for these institutions was
SO cents for each head Of population;
in 1880 it had risen to 81 cents; by 1890
it was SLAP, and in 1896 it was s162
While the ratio of inmates to popula-
ton had increased over three times in
twenty-six years the ratio of biennial
expenditure per inhabitant had in
creased nearly 25 times.
Meantime what has been the increase
of valuation of the property on which
falls the burden of supporting these
institutions and their officials and in
mates? While it is true that values
for taxation are much less than real
values, still the proportion is quite
stable from year to year and will in