The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-08-24
THE COUNTY INSANE.
Commissioners Charles and Dewey
make Their Annual Visit to Ra-
cine Insane Hospital.
WILL RECOMMEND AN ASYLUM

Racine County Can no Longer Care for
the Unfortunates of This County and the
County Board Will be Asked to Build an
Asylum at once-Mr Charles Thinks
That the New Institution Would be
Self superintendent Cost $40, OoO
]. H. Charles, Commissioners from
the Second ward, who was appointed
by the County Board to make an in
vestigation of the hospital for the in
sane at Racine, has completed the
work and is now busy making out his
report to be presented at the next
meeting of the Board.
Mr.. Charles was seen Friday evening
and talked very entertaining1y of his
visit to the home of the unfortunates.
He was accompanied by Commissioner
Dewey, who went along simply as an
assistant without any official sanction.
The two Commissioners were met by
superintendent Harding and were
given a free rein to do as they pleased
about the institution. Mr.. Charles
says that under Superintendent Hard
model. Every part of the house was
visited and was found to be in splendid
condition. The rooms and dorn1itories
were large aud airy and ventilated in
way to insure the health of the in
mates. One noticeable fact was the
cleanliness of the rooms. The dining
rooms were especially pleasing, and
11o SC Inv
the inmates, it was scrupu1ous1y neat
and clean. The inmates were found
all about the house working at the diff
| ferent vOCatiOns or else amusing them
selves with the amusetnents which are
generously provided for their comfort.
| Mr.. Harding stated that all the men
were permitted to work, but none of
them were forced to. Many of them
prefer to be kept busy and in some
cases work has proved the best medi
cine for the diseased mind. The asy-
1um has it's own library and the in
mates make good use of it. The asy-
1um has capacity Of 100, but there
are now 125 to be attended to. OF this
number twenty-five are from Kenosha
county. All the inmates from this
county were reported in good health.
In speaking of the report and the
recommendations which would be
made to the Board, Mr.. Charles stated
that he would ask the Board to build a
Kenosha county asylum at once. He
said that it was now a necessity for
such a building to be constructed, as in
the next few years it will be irnpossi-
bic for the Racine county institute to
care for unfortunates from this county.
Already the institution is crowded,
and while it is not intentional on the
part of the superintendent the Keno
sha insane are being pushed out day
by day. There are now ffty-seven in
sane patients under the charge of the
county. They are scattered in all
parts of the State and for each one of
them the county is 'paying 1925 week
for board and clothing, to say nothing
of large amounts expended by officials
for transportat Mr.. Charles
thinks that an asylum for the county
could be erected for about $4,000, and
if properly managed it would be al
most, if not quite, self supporting. At
present the care of the insane is cost.
ing the taxpayers of the county a little
over $4,000 annually and a large
amount of this might be saved by the
erection of a suitable asylum in this
city.