The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-03
The Broader Question.

Anoka still 90 as 'opes" that the next
or some subsequent legislature will
complete the beginning made by the
commission and locate another insane
hospital there by providing the money
to erect one on the tract near that city,
whose purchase was so expeditiously
made by the commission in order to
nail the project to that locality. The
papers Of the little village on the banks
of the exhilarating Rum scarcely per-
init week to pass without some agita-
tiop of the subject; and, as the open
ing of another state campaign draws
nea~, their devotion of space to it en-
larges. To them there is no other or
greater issue to be tried this fall and
dc cided next November than the con-
stIuction of another hospital for the in
sane at Anoka. Feeling thus strongly,
pre- JUDGED by their pride of locality, it
is rot to be wondered that they depart
from fairness, and that they attri-
butte motives of hostility to their town
to those who believe that the extern
sion of these institutions has already
gene too far: that the principle is
wrong, that the expense is unjustifiable,
and that the saner and less costly
method of caring for this class of I'M
frrtunates should be adopted.
The Herald accuses the ST Paul pa
pers" of opposing the present system
simply in order to defeat Anoka's am
bition to have the next hospital What
ever motive may influence the
ether papers Of this city, The
Globe has been too consist
ent in its opposition to the whole sys-
tom to be included justly in this ar
raignment. So far from not contending,
as the Herald charges, that the pre-
that the rate of increase of insane is
rapid, The G l o he S made these facts
one of the grounds of its opposition to
the system. 1t has pointed out that the
title "hospital' is misnomer when it
covers the chronic insane, those who
have been treated and found incurable.
They are then subjects for asyIums, not
HOSPITALS; and it is absurd to keep
large staff of experts to care for those
who need little more care than mere
oversight. 1t does ret follow, because
this position is taken, that papers tax
ms it admit" as the Herald rather in
temporarily charges, that they have
hitherto been FOOLS" It would rather ar
que that, if tardily, they begin to see
that the burden of the present system
is growing so rapidly that it must soon
break down of its own weight. When
the annual rate of increase of insane is
double that of the population, and
when the expense of maintenance here
is double that under the Wisconsin
Plan. where the chronic insane are sep
arately cared for, it becomes apparent
that the charity of the people is heav-
lily and unnecessarily taxed.
1t may not be perceptible to the Her
aid that the question has broadened;
that 1t is no longer whether Hastings
OF Anoka shall have the hospital, but
whether another one shall be built;
whether it is not better for the public,
more humane to the incurables them
selves and to their relatives that the
county plan be adopted. If the Anoka
papers viii scan their country ex-
\ changes, they will find ample evidence
that the broader view is the one being
mere and more taken as the subject is
discussed If they intend to make the
contest on their narrow basis it is quite
time to lay aside their reluctance 'to
enter into an extended discussion of the
merits of the two plans, and proceed
at once to demonstrate the superiority
of the prevailing system. Even then,