The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-15
WRITES LETTER
TOLEGISLATORS.
Informing Them That if the
anoka Hospital Is Not
Built, on Them Will the
People Lay the Blame for
Neglect.

Again has the governor come to the
championship of Anokas claim for
the fourth insane hospital. regardless
of the emphatic way in which the leg
islature turned down that claim. Not
content with his veto of the bill an
propriating money for the establish
hent OF hospital at Hastings he
went farther yesterday and sent q
pointed letter to the legislature, in
Whlch ne said that if they cid not
provide proper accommodations for the
states insane wards, on them. and rot
on MN, would the people lay the blame
tor this 1nhuman conduct Of state af-
fairs.
The letter, which was read in the
senate first just before the noon hour
was as follows:
oeem 1t to be my duty to call the special
attention of the legislature to the den1drabIa
condition of the patients in the state bnsniti
1oT the insane, and urge the necessity for
ffahlng fIg such action as will relieve these un-
oluons, and save the state from the odium
winch winch a continuance of the present state of
by the managers of the three hospitals for
the insane that they have upwards Of 5Sn
patents aiIle now IN their charge who are pract-
cally uncared for.
me present legislature has included in the
general appropriation bill now pending some
9zIo,WV 9rS Ior new buildings or additions to the
present hospitals for the insane at Fergus
FANS, Rochester and st. Peter. These adj
qltons thus provided for will, | am informed
6S 9s the ozd managers OF the hospitals, accommo-
date Z5O to 2S0 additional patients still
Ieavlng 25O deprived of that care and shelter
"nlch men It Is the duty of the state to furnish
me STATE mas purchased and secured a
ste 1or the fourth hospital for the insane at
AhoKa. This site, including 60 acres of
IanG, t Is contiguous to the Twin Cities, and
easily easily accessible from Duluth and all North
western Minnesota, and appears to meet all
necessary requirements
IN laying the facts before your honorable
body, l simply report that which is well
known 10 every member, and | do so for the
purpose OF emphasizing the gravity Of the
sIee saJuatlon ana 70 urge your honorable body to
snnroPrint PrHpt actten IN the premises and to
appropriate sufficient sum of money to in
sure tne erection Of fourth hospital for the
insane would suggest the appropriation of
not less than 100000 by your honorabIe bodv
Iof thlS purpose, such additional sum as
may be judged absolutely necessary.
by the time this fourth hospital is built
even even II the utmost diligence is employed, the
nunlper OF insane patients in excess of the
number Of those who can be accommodated
at the other hospitals will be sufficient to GlI.
eaas, oads, OF nearly SO. From the standpoint Of
economy the present is an exceptionally favor
able time for the state to build this new
hospital Material is cheap and the working
men men are Dadly in need of the work which the
construction OF this building will afford and
tne cost or erection will, during the next two
years, be much less than if the work fs a.
layed But greater than the question of econ
omy is that Of humane necessity and Min
nesota cannot afford at this date to stain
the splendid reputation it has acquired for
the wise and generous care bestowed upon
lts fortunate wards. l am sure that every
member of your honorable body is as deeply
sensitive OF the honor Of the state as 7 am
and that singly and collectively they would
hold me remiss in doing my duty If I failed
to strongly draw attention to this exceedingly
important matter. And it is equally certain
that the people of the state will hold the legis-
lature as remiss in performing it's duty if ade-
quate provision is not made for the care and
comfort of the unfortunate insane.
/ would respectfully urge your honorable
body to make the appropriation of $100, 900 /
have suggested, for the erection of the fourth
hospital for the insane, on the site owned by
the state at Anoka for all the reasons here
stated, and if this is done l am confident your
action will meet the approval of every hu-
name, reasonable and right-thinking citizen
in the state.
The Hastings people were dumb
founded at the governors audacity.
Senator Schaller moved that it be
returned without approval, following
the executive precedent This was but
half seriously, however, and the SUBJ
sequent motion that the communion
tiOn be referred to the finance commit
tee was not opposed.
To what lengths the governor would
go in his battle for the Anoka hos
pital, members of the respective
branches of the hospital could not
agree. Some Of the friends Of Hastings
predicted that if the appropriation
asked for was not added to the OrlnI-
bus appropriation bill the governor
would veto that bill and force an extra
session on the state. 1t would be IN
line, they maintained, with the audac-
lty which characterized this action, and
there was no doubt about the govern
or's nerve or hardihood to do so if the
notion seized him.
One Of the Hennepin senators, how
ever, who is supposed to stand very
close to the governor, and that not
without reason, said last night that ne
did not believe this would go. He did,
however, incline to the belief that the
governors object was merely to throw
the responsibility for the present and
prospective condition of the insane hog
pitals on the legislature.
The Hastings people, on the other
hand, retort that the responsibility
cannot be shifted by any such ruse.
They insist that the legislature did
its full duty when it made an appro-
priation for the erection of a hospitaI
at Hastings, and that when the gov
ernor vetoed that BILL for reasons
which they will not honor with any
term more commanding than sectional,
he took the burden off their shoulders
and must carry it himself
Anyway, when the pot called the
kettle black, it laid the foundation for
some fine farce comedy dialogues be-
tween the Anoka and Hastings rac-
tions, each of whom calls the other in
consistent.
The Hastings people point to the ar
gument made by Senator Dunham
against the Hastings bill, to the effect
that the hospital was not needed, and
that the patients could be cared for
at the other asylums and ask them to
reconcile it to the position the governor
now places them in, for they seem to-
be at his elbows in the effort
Senator Culkin said last night, in
reply to the suggestion that the AnoKa
people were being accused of carrying
water on both shoulders. There arc
others If the Hastings people say that
to US they may look to their own. We
did oppose the location Of the hospital
at Hastings. We believed then that
the ether hospitals could Accommodate