The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1897-02-12
OUR LANSING LETTER.
Breezy Bits of Gossip from the
State Capitol.
PLANTS FROM INSANE AsYLUMs.

Inmates Who Think They Are Unlawfully
Restrained Tell Frightfui Stories of Al
for Caring for the Unfortunates-specific
Tax ON Refined Products of Michigan
Mines-A Venerable Chestnut.
Lansing, Mich. Feb. "a great many
queer letters are received by state off,
Gals every month in the year. The
governor and attorney general are the
recipients Of most of them. their CORE
spondents being inmates Of the asylums
for the insane who believe they are be-
ing unlawfully restrained and who tell
frightful tales of the manner in which
the inmates are treated. OF course, the
tales are invariably imaginary and no
attention is paid to them. If these Off
Gals undertook TO investigate all the
charges preferred against asylum off,
Gals and attendants. they would have
to devote their entire time to these mat
ters and then they would not dispose
of more than half of them. Some of
the letters are very perplexing. Ere
quently one comes from patient who
gives no evidence whatever of mental
disturbance, and no one would suspect
from it's perusal that anything was
wrong with him. Every new governor
at once finds himself up a stump upon
receiving one of these splendidly writ
ten epistles. He is at loss to know
what to do for the oftener he reads the
letter or the more frequently he receives
one from the same person the more
convinced is he that the patient is tell
ing the truth, so intelligently does he
put the case. 1t is an open secret that
every new governor has to investigate
a few of these complaints before he is
convinced that they are all Of piece
the vagaries of diseased minds.
How Governor Luce Was Fooled.
heard Ex-Governor Luce tell once
how he was fooled in this connection.
Soon after assuming the duties of gov
ernor he received a most pathetic let
ter from an inmate of the Eastern asy-
lum at Pontiac. who complained most
bitterly of being unjustly restrained
and of the treatment the inmates were
subjected to by the attendants. The
letter was such a perfect piece OF COM
position that the governor was greatly
impressed with it. He could not get
his mind off the matter, and when he
received a second letter, apparently
even more intelligently written than the
first he was more than ever convinced
that the woman was telling of actual
abuses. There was not a suspicion Of
insanity or even of anything queer
about the letter, and the governor was
greatly wrought up. The matter both
cred him night and day. Finally he
could stand it no longer and he took the
train for Pontiac determined to inter-
view the woman personally and act
then and there in the premises. AS the
interview proceeded he became more
and more convinced that the patient was
being wrongfully detained and that the
abuses she complained of were actually
accomplished. There could be no doubt
of this. he thought, because never once
did she display the least signs of insan-
ity Impressed with the Importance OF
the duty which the awful details he
had heard thrust upon him, Governor
Luce arose to go fully determined to
institute an investigation at once. AS
he reached the door he paused a mo-
ment to make some inquiries as to the
woman's family relations. All these
were answered promptly and intelli-
gently until he asked her how many
children she had.
struck Her Weak Spot.
"Wel, now" she replied frankly. 81
really don't know. Sometimes / thinks
it's more, and sometimes less. Some
times think it's three and sometimes
I think it's seventy. I guess it's sew
enty, though
The governor had finally struck her
weak spot His investigation ceased
right there, for he discovered that, not
all that had gone before,
he was talking with an unfortunate
whose mental faculties were sadly inn
paired.
The fact that the cost of maintain
ing the insane has been steadily in
creasing in the aggregate notwithstand-
ing that the per capita cost has as
steadily decreased and is now at the |
lowest point in the history of the state, |
has induced many legislators to make a
study of this perplexing question. For |
the calender year 1896 the total cost to !
the state of caring for this class of UNI
was $492, 200, the population |
Of the several asylums at the close of |
the year being as follows: Kalamazoo, |
!, 1893; Pontiac, 1855; Traverse City, l. |
)13: asylum for dangerous and criminal |
insane at Ionia, 220 Newberry, 106; to- |
tai, 1852. The per capita cost of main |
.enance is S3.0S per week. The question |
which perpleXes the legislators is how |
TO increase the enormous annual ex- |
pense without lessening the care which |
the patients receive and which their |
condition makes imperative. Expert
ence in other states where costly ex-
oeriments have been made proves con-
that there is nothing to be |
gained by following the plan often rec
ofseparating the acute cases,
which require constant and special care,
rom the chronic and harmless cases,
which need only custodial care and |
which could be given in large num-
oers over to the supervision of a sin
gle attendant.
Divided into Two Glasses.
In speaking of this important matter
recently, Secretary Storrs of the state
BOARD of corrections and charities, who
has given the question careful study |
Turing the past few years. said:
LAS far as the cost of maintenance Is
the insane in our state in
ititutions are divided into just two
classes. The first class is made up of
private patients whose entire support
8 assumed by either the patient or his