The Washington times., 1901-11-25
COLONY FORMED
FOR CONSERVATIVES.
DENVER'S ELF-SUPPORTINGPLAN
Scheme Backed by Wealthy Citizens
and Physicians of Famous Colo
RADIO Resort-Fruit Lands
Purchased.

DENVER, Col. Nov PA co-opera-
tive colony for consumptiyes, planned to
be self-supporting. in which patients in
the first stages Of the disease can 1.-Two
In tents and work outdoors in the dry,
health-giving air of Colorado, has made
a start in ten-acre tract OF fruit land
near Barnum. 1t is backed by several
men prominent in business in this city,
and about twenty physicians Of high
standing are watching the experiment
with :nterest.
If it is a success the colony viii solve
the biggest problem that the sanitariums
of this State have to face. and it VIII
probably save the lives of thousands CT
men from all over the country who dis
cover the disease while it is still in an
lncipient stage. but cannot afford to come
to Colorado and remain here in idleness.
Employment the Problem.
The great problem with the majority
of consumptives who come here is how to
stay in Colorado and to support them
selves by some healthful occupation dur
Ing the long period in which the wasted
lung tissues are repairing in the noun
tain air.
Hundreds come here each year, effect
partial cure and then, because their
money has given out and they cannot
afford to live any longer without work
ing return to their old homes and IN
healthful occupations only TO succuino 10
the disease in a few months. Hundreds
more go TO work here in Offices and stores
with the result that they derive little
benefit from their change of home and
only succeed in delaying the end Tor
little while
For these two classes of patients the
colony is founded. 1t has been incorpo-
ratzd as the Rocky Mountain Independent
Sanitarium Its present quarters are
only temporary. Thsy would not give the
colony a chance 10 expand. and the dream
of its directors is to see it occupying
about 1000 acres. self-supporting and IN
dependent OF outside labor.
Charity Not the Basis.
It is not charitable institution, nor is
st a mOney-making concern. Its constitu-
tion is framed with a view to prevent 1t
from becoming the latter.
Ii has been started and got under way
. by few local business men as their con-
tribution toward solving the tuberculosis
problem, and their idea is simply to help
consumptives to help themselves.
Only patients who can do outdoor work
or have money enough to pay for their
board for the present and are likely TO be
able to join the able-bodied workers before
that money is spent. will be accepted at
this time They Will have a good medical
treatment but it is upon the outdoor life
that the principal reliance is placed TO ef-
feet q cure.
To ensure the patients being in the open
air all the time they will sleep in tents
and will even eat their meals outdoors.
This is he plan followed in the temporary
quarters at Barnum. and the results have
been most satisfactory.
Twenty Consumptives There.
There are now about twenty consump-
tives there. Among them are a carpenter
aud a shoemaker. but the majority find
work on the fruit lands which now com
pose the homes territory.
The institution will stay near Barnum
until next spring. Then II will seek larger
quarters. When it is well established it
is expected TO make it capable OF living
entirely by itself, its inmates supplying
ali its wants. The idea is that men of all
trades viii 20 there and ply their trades
50 that the home will not need to buy
niach Of anything but materials.
Even in the winter the patients will con- |
tinue the tent life. That is the pivot on |
which the whole system hangs.
Some Of the present patients have been 1
at the sanitarium for about six weeks and 1
they find that their condition has been |
very perceptibly improved by the life 4
outdoors. They say that it is uncomfortt
able to go into heated rooms since their |
lungs became accustomed to the cold air.
War Nurse the Superintendent.
The superintendent of the colony is |
conyalescent consumItive. She is Miss |
Margaret S. Dunno. In the war with Spain 1
she served in Cuba as nurse. and at the |
close of the fighting she vas put in charge |
OF the officers ward in the military hospi- |
tai in Havana There her health gave way !
and she came to Colorado
She is trying to found auxiliary branch |
e. of the home in the East, with view 4
TO interesting philanthropic institutions 1
throughout the country in It before il /
launches out on a more extended scale 4
The land it will take Will be used princi-
paliy for fruit cultivation as that gives
the best field for labor, but some of il /
viii be grain and pasture land.
If the experiment continues 10 fulfill the
promise with which II has opened there
are plenty Of physicians ready TO encour- /
age it, and it viii have the most modern /
and complete medical equipment that it is |
rsa-eff,fp n pbtgfu