The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-17
STATE HOMES.
Many Improvements to
Be Made in the
Institution.
The EPILEpTIC COLONY
Anniversary Of the Battle
of Antietam Celebrated
at Vineland.

The Commission which was created by
the special act of the Legislature for
the purchase and equipping of the Home
for Firemen held another meeting on
Wednesday this week at the Home, near
Boonton, in Morris County, says the
Newark Sunday Call" The work OF
r~enovating and repairing is being rap
idly pushed, and the Commission expect
to deliver to the Governor a very well
equipped home, even better than they
had originally planned.
The home will be supplied with water
and electricity from Boonton. Prior to
this time the water was supplied from
windmills and the homestead was lighted
up from a small gas apparatus. The
paper hangers and painters are now at
work and will continue to hold possess
sion of the building for two or three
weeks more, when the work will be COM
pleted. The plan that is now under con-
sideration is to have the home opened
in September. 1t is not known just how
many inmates it will start with. So far
only a few have made application.
1t is thought now that a part of the
Slxly-HFG acres lndb are ti1OW 1liCiQQCo a
the farm will be disposed of for a reser-
voir for one of the water companies. It
is needed by them, n there seems to
be no particular opposition on the part
of the Commission to have them acquire
the land, believing that the construction
of the artificial lake on the grounds will
add to the beauty of the place. The
money that will be acquired by this ale
of land is to be used in erecting some adj
ditional buildings some years later. The
firemen of Newark are planning to furn-
ism the parlor of the home.
The Home for Soldiers and Sailors and
their wives at vineland is to be opened
also in September, with elaborate cere-
monies. Improvements are now being
made, and the home will be fully
equipped by the latter part of August.
There will be no trouble in filling the in
stitution at once. Applications are now
coming in freely, from old soldiers in par
ticular, and a few seek a place for their
wives. 1t is known that there are within
the State dependent persons entitled to
the benefits of the home in greater num-
bers than the home can support.
Notwithstanding the fact that it is only
a matter of "a few years that there will
be no more soldiers and sailors of the late
war, the State is making substantial i'm
provements, expecting that the building
will be given over, either for a home for
the blind or for a State orphanage. The
opening day will be the anniversary of
the battle of Antietam, September II.
The Epileptic Colony will operate. with
it's limited means this year, taking only a
few patients in the main building, which
will be the administration building, as
soon as the cottages and other buildings
are erected. Owing to an omission on
the part of the Legislature, the money
which the Appropriation Committee saw
fit to allow to the Board of Managers of
the Epileptic Colony was not voted for
in the general bills. The case was a
peculiar one. although the Appropriation
Committee allowed the Board of Manag-
ers such sums of money as they requir-
ed, which was to be specially %appropri-
ated by the Legislature. They did this
because when the Appropriation bill was
introduced there were a number OF bills
pending in the Legislature for institutions
and new State enterprises, and the APP
propriation Committee did not want to
vote these sums of money unless the
LEGISLATURE passed the bills that gave
powers for expanding the money to the
managers of the several institutions then
under consideration.
The result was that bills passed, but
contained no provision for money, so that
the epileptic managers find themselves
tied I'M for a year, having only enough
available funds to maintain the proper
,,as The work of reconstructing and
tanning will go on in a limited way.
The state Prison Inspectors have at
their command a sum of money appro-
nr,ated by the last Legislature Tor m
movements, principally in the womens
wing. which now is overcrowded, having
on1v accommodations for thirty prisoners,
while TIE female population of the wing
is now ~forty-six. There has been a natu-
raj increase. and the State has several
limited States female prisoners on its
hands. There are some doubts whether
the money will be expended this year Tor
the women's wing, because there has re-
gently been a new agitation for the erec-
tion of a separate women's prison. In
connection with the administration of the
present State Prison. or as a distinct in
st;tution. combining with the prison. GER
tair reformatory features that are neeu-
ed so as to relieve the county jails and
bring both the accidental and habitual
female convicts under better influences.
The expenditures that are beng made
so far in the prison is a new system Of
sewerage for the old wings. 1t has been
a matter of surprise that there has not
been an epidemic in the institution, con
sidering the very deficient sanitation they
have had. They will now drain direct
into the Trenton main sewer, and have all
the modern appliances. The work of lay
ing the new pipes is being done by the
~convicts.
The prison is greatly overcrowded ow-
ing to the fact that the State has recent
ly taken a large number of the United
States prisoners to board. 1t is profita-
BILE to do so, insomuch that the United
States Government allows thirty cents
for the prisoners. and the State figures
that it can maintain a convict for TWEEN
ty cents a day. and getting also his
earning value In the shops, which, of
course, varies as to the work to which
they are assigned, and which means a
good profit per diem for each United
States prisoner kept. 1t has, however.
crowded the place and made the regular
State prisoners uncomfortable, and until