Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-01-21


ule, from which you can determine how
much has been expended in each year Of
the last ten years on account of the per-
manent Improvement of the various insti-
tutions of the state Attention Is directed
to the very large sums expended for uses
| very largely charitable. Take for instance,
the year 1896. In that. year there was ex-
| pended:
For State Hospital For the Insane. ..s189 146 94
For the maintenance of lunatics in
county asyiums ..................... lSz, $50 "
For the maintenance of blind and
] feeble minded d................ 94, ,587 Oa
| For the Reform School For Boys - 60,79S 21
i For Normal school l................. 81, 1888 on
For industrial education. ..... 1854 rs
For the Reform School For Girls. 81 458 81
| For the Home For Disabled Soldiers. To- 1856 GO
For deaf mutes... Observation-Disclosures. 38076 GO
Total ........................>.. $500. AIS 50
These figures indicate that the state Is
doing very large work for humanity and
for education outside of the maintenance
| of the public schools
| The only direct tax levied upon the peo-
pie by the state is the state school tax,
which for the past fiscal year amounted to
81, 1876, $40, all of which was collected and
paid out to the several school districts In
accordance with law.
Care of tho Insane.
The particular attention of the legisla-
| ture and the committees of the respective
houses to whom shall be assigned the sub
! ject Of the care of the insane is directed to
the annual report of the managers and Of
| ficers of the state hospitals for the year
ending Oct 81, 1896. Especial attention is
called to what the board of managers has
said in that report with reference to county
asylums. The provision of law which now
gives to each county maintaining its own
asylum for the insane the sum of SO per
week per head for the care of persons con-
| fined In any county lunatic asylum is just
ly criticised as being unfair to those coun-
ties which do not maintain buildings for
the insane, and also as encouraging the
erection of inadequate and improperly con-
Quoted and located buildings under the
name of county asylums.
The law governing the admission of In
digent patients to the state hospitals for
the insane directs that they shall be sup
ported there at the expense of the county in
which they are legally settled, but the price
to be paid for such support is limited to-
the maximum sum of $3 per week for each
patient It is impossible to see any salts
INDECENT insane patients shall be supported
In the state asylums at the expense of the
counties and then providing in another act
that II the counties maintain their own in
digent insane, the state shall pay them 50
per week for each patient When the act
authorizing payment to the counties for
patients maintained in county asylums
was. first passed in 1878, the sum was fixed
at 81 per week for each patient, which was
the amount paid until 1883, when an
amendment was passed doubling the sum
and fixing 50 per week for each patient to
be contributed by the state to the respeo-
tive counties maintaini ng asylums for the
insane. 1t is well to consider whether any
just ground exists for the continuance of
this payment at all, but at any rate see
no reason why tire amount paid should not
be reduced to the original sum of 81 per
week. / am credibly informed that in some
of the county institutions the whole cost
of maintaining the insane amounts to a
considerable sum less per week than the
counties collect from the state for that serv-
Ice, thus throwing the whole burden of the
support OF these county patients upon the
state, when by another provision of the
law they would have been required to pay
SO per week for their support at the state
institutions. The state paid out during
the last year to the different counties hav-
ing county asylurns the sum of $137, 335. 81
on this account, very large contribution
from the moneys of the state toward the
maintenance Of persons which the policy Of
the law seems to direct should be main
tained at the expense of the localities In
which they are legally settled. The ex-
pense to the state of maintaining both the
large state hospitals for the same period
was only about $40, 900, a sum exceeding
by less than So, 900 the amount paid to the
different counties for the maintenance of
insane patients at county asylums
The board of managers further calls at
tention to the fact that while the state hos
pitals are conducted on nonpartisan basis,
the county institutions which are managed
by the boards of chosen freeholders are
naturally affected, If not tainted, by local
influences, political and otherwise They
point out that in only two Of the county
institutions Is there resident physician or
competent corps of nurses, and that for
political reasons in most of the counties a
far higher rate of wages is paid to attend
ants than is necessary and an inferior or
der Of service Is obtained. They state-and
concur in their opinion-that the growth
Of such institutions will in the end work
many evils, besides detracting from the ef-
forts Of the state in the establishment and
maintenance of the two great institutions,
which compare favorably with all Others of
their kind In this country.
To this report is attached the detailed
account of visitations made by the board of
managers to different county asylums, and
respectfully request that particular study
and attention be given to the statements
contained In these detailed reports
The subject of the care of insane con-
yicts ia also discussed In this report. 1t is
undoubtedly desirable that as soon as pos
sible place shall be provided where such
convicts can be separately detained and
treated; but, in view of the large extraor-
dinary expenditures that the state has in
CURED for projected improvements at the
state hospitals, at the state prison and in
the erection of the state refornatory, the
condition of the treasury would not justify
the undertaking of such new work at the
present time. It may be worthy of consid-
GRAFTON whether or not part of the re-
formatory building to be constructed at
Railway cannot be adapted to the special
purpose of maintaining the convict insane
The suggestions in this report as to ad-
ulGlODal kaIeguaTu IN In6 pfOVlSlOu6 ol tA0
law governing the adjudication of insanity
and the commitment of insane persons to
the asylums seem to be wise, and recon-
mend that the legislature embody those
suggestions into law.
State Prison.
The addition recently made to the state
prison will shortly be fully completed and
adapted to the use of convicts. This will
provide 200 additional cells and will relieve
the overcrowded condition of the prison
and probably furnish cell room enough for
the requirements of the state for at least
five years, by which time the state reforma-
tory, now in process of construction at
Railway, will have been put into operation. |
The large Ienitentiaries in the counties of
Hudson and Essex, to which persons con-
yicted in those counties Of minor offenses
are now most frequently sent. together
WIN un6 eDiargemJnt OF jail room IN some
of the other large counties Of the state,
have very much relieved the call upon the
state prison for additional room, and there
would seem to be no immediate haste,
therefore, In completing g-at any rate to
=