Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1899-11-30
FACTS ABOUT INSANE
An Iowa City Educator Investigates
the County Care of Insane
Problem.
Conclusions to Be Presented in a
Thesis Prepared For Univer.
sity Degree.
Board of Control and DR.. GiIman's
Management of the Mt. Pleas.
ant Hospital.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, Nov. 80 Mr.. F. c. En-
sign, principal of the Iowa City high
school, has been carrying on an indie
pendent investigation of the county
care of insane. He is doing this TO se-
cure material for his thesis in the po-
litical science department of the State
| University, where he is a candidate for
the Masters degree. His Investigations
have been thorough and painstaking
and entirely without prejudice, since
there is, in his case, no motive for
prejudice in the treatment of the sub
| ject. Mr.. Ensign is a bright young
/ man, a graduate of the collegiate de-
| partment of the university and an
earnest student. He has done and is
doing excellent work and his present
purpose, to throw light on the question
from an unbiased standpoint, is high
one. His findings, when they are pub
lished, will be of the greatest import
ance in the solution of the problem. He
has visited about twenty counties and
has managed, it is said. to find the true
and complete facts in most places. He
is highly spoken of by the university
people. who regard him as thoroughly
dependable and good observer, as
we'll as thorough student.
1
A writer in the Ottumwa Democrat
eXcoriates the board of control sor re-
| framing from publishing. as soon as
known, all the facts in regard TO the
mismanagement of the hospital at Mt.
| Pleasant by the late DR.. H. A. Gilman,
and insists that the bondsmen IF the
! dead superintendent should be pursued
| with all the rigors of the law, just as if
that had not already been done. This
correspondent thinks that the horrors
| described by Charles Dickens in
| Nicholas Nickleby'' are comforts
compared with what has been made
possible in Iowa institutions by the
| long established custom of secresy in
| the mismanagement of affairs in our
1 state Institutions. 1t is alleged that
| twenty-five little children died like
! rats in a trap because of lack o4 sani-
tary and heating arrangements and
/ proper care" in the orphans home in
/ davenport. The position of this writer
| though somewhat incoherently stated,
evidently is that as soon as the board
1 learned. which it did almost mmedi
ately when it took charge, that things
| We're not right at Mt Pleasant; that
money had been squandered for ex-
| pensive and useless barns for the
superintendent horses; that the saai-
tary arrangements We're something
awful; that dishonesty stared every
/ one in the face. that ancient methods
! of treatment We're in vogue: that DIR.
| Gilman was at the mercy Of many OF
| his subordinates. and a great many
other things like that, the board should
| have gone into the newspapers and
raised great hue and cry in the, state.
/ Ii would have been very easy to have
started the biggest sensation Iowa has
| had for many years, but what would
4 the result have been? There would have
been a panic among the friends of the
| patients and demands would have been
made for the removal of the patients
/ that could not have been satisfied.
They could not be taken away; all that
could be done was to improve the con-
Editions as fast as possible, and this has
been done. 1t now rests with the legis-
/ lature TO do the rest. If a great public
exposure OF the conditions known to
death of DIR. Gilman the administration
lof the institution would have been SER
iously interfered with. The working
| force of such an institution cannot be
! changed in a day-it had to be done
gradually, and that has also been done
! by Dr. Hoyt the present superintend-
ent. There was great rejoicing in the
offices of the board of control when DIR.
I
sponse to an urgent telegram from
Governor Larrabee, saving that he
would accept the superintendency of
the Mt. Pleasant hospital. He knew
| what it meant TO tackle this institution,
| and the board knew that man of less
| nerve, resolution. resource and scien-
tific skill would fail. He has done ali
the board expected he would do by
bringing order out of chaos.
| There was another thing to be con-
sidered at this time. too. DIR. Gilman
! had a great many friends in the state,
and in Mt. Pleasant he was almost
I dolized by the people. Such charges
as the institution called for would not
have been believed by the people Of the
| state without the most complete proof
| and this has been accommodating ever
since his death. The board saw moth.
| ing to be gained by springing a sensa-
| ton of this character. and there was
much risk in it. 1t was wisely thought
better to quietly reform the institution
without unnecessary notoriety and
make calm statement of the facts,
without sensationalism, after the work
of renovation had been completed. No
one can reasonably deny that this was
the proper course. 1t took the people
of Mt. Pleasant a long time to get rid
of their exalted idea of DR.. Gilman, for
they had much reason to love him.
They saw only the exterior his many
good qualities of heart. They saw him
I with his arm around patient but they
did not see his hand in the patients
pocket.
One of the reforms instituted by Dr.
Hoyt has not been spoken of by the
newspapers. and yet it is noteworthy
act, and has a place in history. This
consisted in tearing down the high
board fence or stockade that surround
| ed good part Of the institution and