The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1899-05-12

and other power to the natlOnal capital.
The former estate of Gen. Lee has
long been called Arlington National
cemetery, but. it has not been truly
national burying ground. It has been
sectional, in sense, because only the
soldiers of the northern armies were
national cemetery, because recently
the bodies of nearly 800 of the soldiers
of the United States, who fell in the
war with Spain, were brought from
Cuba and laid to rest in Arlington Ma
tional cemetery with the honors of war,
and with the president of the republic
as participant in the exercises. These
soldier dead went forth from southern
as well as northern states when the call
for volunteers was made. Therefore
the bodies of the brave southerners as
well as those of the north lie there
beneath the folds of the stars and
stripes, guarded by the soldiers of Fort
Myer, and where the rising sun each
morning casts over them the shadows of
dome of the capitol building.
While our national soldier dead have.
thus been inferred on the Virginia hill
side of the Potomac, scores Of sufferers
have been incarcerated on Maryland
heights, in St. Elizabeth's asylum for
the insane. Incarcerated is the prop
er word to use, for the overcrowded
asylum contains not only the sick, the
mentally alienated and the aged in
sane. There are criminals also there
who might better be in the infirmaries
of penal institutions.
In 1885 this site was selected and hos
Ipital buildings erected in order that
care might be taken of the insane from
every state ind territory. AS time
passed the buildings have been modern
ICED, additional quarters erected, and
all modern improvements placed at the
/ disposal, of the management for the
care and well-being of the unfortunates.
Among these hapless victims of viola
tons of the laws of health there are
scores of the youthful soldiers, of the
republic whose minds are unbalanced
because of the hardships they endured,
and the crimes to which theywere made
subject, because of the rapacity and
grasping cupidity of certain unconvict-
! ed criminals. -.
| Z: The present capacity of St. Eliza
beth sis; l,4o0. That many can be com
fortablys housed, bedded, boarded and
attended by physicians. and trained
nurses. But there are 1887 now with
III the walls and each room and ward
are crowded, AS usual when seeking
! Is ffx the responsibility for abuses in
governmentgei circles, the inquirer can
only ascertain that nobody is to blame.
lit is. the great big elusive nobody upon
whomi Responsibility is always fixed. !:
! J Under the act Of congress, 1882, the
attorneya general lis permitted to com
nit, Is st. sEiizabeth's. all insane per-
sons gS6ho.are Charged with F offenses
against the United States, and the at
Itorney general has literally construed
that laws Hence tits that there are in
the Substitution many vicious and many
convicted { person Some ofsthem are.
only slightly insane, and others have
been sedl,t there without ample evidence
OF their. insanity tsDuring the day
time they: riingles with the milder in
sane, and at3ni ght share the rooms with
Isomei innocent youths who should not
thus1b subjected TO cip q ts m NJ with
vice. ~ 81 s.,,.: &, & stts....s
within. tie tie walls s1bilii II ST. Blizabeth,s
there are heroes of Manila, Santiago,
San juan and Guantanamo and there
are also survivors OF other wars, hud-l
6led together with thieves, pickpockets,