Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-12-24
ners. Constant care is necessary to
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ners. Constant care is necessary to
keep the building clean and orderly
On the first floor are the living quar-
tiers of the steward and his family, the
kitchen, dining room and quarters for
the attendants and assistants. In the
basement are the kitchen and dining
room for the poor. A sort of curiosity
that is pointed out to visitors here is
the cooking stove which has been in
the building for twenty years and is still
doing duty satisfactorily. The women
and the men eat in separate dining
rooms here, and a glance at their
tables shows that they are well fed on
wholesome food, of which plenty is
furnished to them.
The Laundry.
The basement also contains the
laundry and the furnace room. The
Laundry was one place which was
picked out for criticism by one of the
inspectors sent by the board of con-
troll. He pointed out the fact that il
is dirty and has an unhealthful effect
upon the insane, which however,
seems improbable In the first place
it is kept clean except when the men,
coming in from work outside. leave
muddy tracks on the floor. These are
removed, however but any room which
is used so much cannot always be
neat. In addition to this. the furnace
room is adjoining. Nevertheless the
customary care is exercised here by
the steward and the laundry is not re-
membered by visitors as dirty place.
A Useless Complaint.
At any rate it seems rather improb-
able that this should have an effect
upon the health of the insane, since
their quarters are in an entirely differ
ent part of the house and they are not
allowed to go to this room at ALL
Are Well Treated.
There are at the infirmary now fifty
insane inmates. twenty-seven being
women and twenty-three men. Four
men and one woman are on parole.
Twenty-one men and twenty-one wo-
men are found IN the paupers' ward,
making total of forty-eight men and
forty-eight women at the institution
at the present time. The health of the
inmates is unusually good, and the old
age of some of them demonstrates
that they are well kept and we'll
treated.
A Big Saving.
The inspectors sent out by the
board of control recommended that
Wapello county send her insane back
to Mt. Pleasant, whence they were
taken recently by the county in order
that the expense of their keeping
might be less. The board of supervi.
sors object to the change and ask that
some of the powers now held by the
board of control be taken away, Civ
ing each county the right to conduct
its own affairs along this line They
support their claims with the indispu.
table facts as to the cost. While the
state charges the county $12 per
year or S144 per year for each insane
person, the county is now keeping its
insane at the county inflrmary at a
cost of $3S.57 per year, as shown by
Mr.. Wilson's books. This, of course,
does not include the value of the pro-
ducts of the farm which are used to
feed the inmates, but even if this
should double the total amount, which
is giving plenty of latitude, there
would then be saving of nearly one
half to the county
Easy of Access.
IN audubon 10 TINS, good argu-
ment in favor of the plan being follow
ed by the county is that relatives of
the inmates who wish to see them can
come to the farm at almost any time,
while at Mt. Pleasant it is said to be
very hard to see the inmates even af-
ter arrival there. Then, too, the coun-
ty farm is convenient place to re-
ceive people who are temporarily Graz.
ed from drink or drugs