The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-23

\ stitute.
 ! Tne President The Chair has already recognized the gentleman from Lee. + Mr. Aarrison--If 1 understand the in- ktent of the committee. and that clause. | wouldn't 1t be better expressed SO as to hNye 1t read for the maintenance of the poor and idiots who are indigent. l MT. Oates-It means the same thing. | putting in that word afterwards and am pleased to say in this connection, in | justice to the committee, the way 1t came to be reported as 1t is, 'fnsane persons" was a knowledge upon the part of some of the delegates compos- ing that committee that insane persons | were sometimes incarcerated in jail. | and during the delay, incident to ob- taining the proper papers. sent them | to the lunatic asylum that they intend- | ed to provide for, but 1t seems to nc l that if idiots of the indigent charac- | ter, are provided for as well as the poor, | that 1t sufficiently meets the evil now. It will largely relieve. as am informed, l the lunatic asylum of these people, who are sent there as idiots, and give more room for insane, requiring the coun- ties to provide for indigent idiots.
 Mir. Foster-I was just going to sug- gest that the suggestion I made in line with the amendment of the gentleman from Pike. was that 1t provide for the poor, and also for idiots without re- gard to whether indigent or not.
 Mir. Oates-I do not understand.
 MT. Foster-To provide for the poor, and also idiots without regard to | whether they are indigent or not.
 MT. Oates-That would be objection able.
 Mir. Foster-The reason Is that there might be a class of persons who are not indigent. but the care of an idiot mem- Der of a family Is a great burden. and tends to produce pauperism among then. There Is no provision as the gem tleman stated, for the care of idiots In the Insane Hospital. Now. there will be ample provision for the insane. just as soon as the property at Mount Vernon is put In shape to receive pa- tients, there will be no trouble, but under the law, the hospital cannot take idiots although there Is always applt- cations for them. The point I make Is this. that the county ought to provide the place where the idiots can be taken care of. You take a family of ordinary circumstances, the care of an idiot member of a family Is very great burden to them, and just as insane are received in a hospital. there ought to | that was the reason I made the sug- gestion to the gentleman from Pike.
 Mir. Oates-I do not know just how the amendment reads. but think that this should be made to read "the poor and indigsnt idiots." and striking out "and insane persons
 The President-The time of the gem tleman from Montgomery has expired.
 MT. O'Neal-(Lauderdale- offer a substitute for the amendment.
 The Clerk read the substitute as fol- lows;
 "It shall be the duty of the Legisla- ture to require the several counties of the State to make adequate provision for the maintenance of poor and indi- gent idiots. The Legislature shall also make adequate provision for the care and maintenance by the State of in- sane persons.
 MT. lO'Neal-Mv reason for doing that was the information that had that in almost every jail in the State Insane persons are confined on account of the fact that accommodations cannot be secured at the asylum. If that Is true. the State ought to be required to make ample provision for all insane persons.
 MT. Oates-It Is durng the proceed ings to secure an order to have them admitted into the asylum that they have been incarcerated in the Jails. The asylum, however. Is the proper place for them, and the laws provide for that now, but am informed there are a good many idiots there who. as soon as the Legislature could act un- der this provision would require the counties to provide for the maintenance and the care of indigent idiots as we'll as of the poor. I suppose they would be transferred from the Insane Hospit- al to the counties.
 Mir. O'Neal--will the gentleman call my attention to the section which pro- vides for the maintenance of insane by the State?
 MT. Oates-M Is in every piece of legislation touching the Bryce 1nsane Hospital.
 MT. O'Neal-It Is in the code, but not in the Constitution.
 MT. Oates-You don't want to put It in the Constitution any further than that. I have no objection. however. II the Convection sees proper to put It in. it there is no ample provision for talk ing care of the insane at the Insane Asylum. As understand it, when an application is made to the asylum. they are admitted whenever there is accom- modation for them and they are ad- mitted in a certain order and 1t very frequently occurs that there is no ac- commodation end that an insane pa- tient Is not received, and they must De either taken care of by the county or by their families for very considerable periods of time. know as fact that there are quite a number of insane pa tients today in the poorhouse of the county of Mobile. and have been there for a very considerable period. do not remember any period when there were not quite a number of insane pa tients in the poor house. being cared for in our county, and in each and every instance application has been made for admittance of those patients into the asylum and they have failed of admittance.
 It seems to me that there ought to be some provision requiring the coun- ties under some limitation to take care of these people. Now. there are in addition to these in the poor house some few insane persons. palpably so, anyone meeting them can see 1t. who are not confined in the poor house or the asylum and I suppose the same conditions prevail elsewhere. 1t Is cer- tainly so in our county and 1t looks to me that there should be provision to remedy 1t. I suppose sometimes they could be forced upon the asylum, but as a matter of fact they are very frequently declined.
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