The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-08-16
Barlow Man Deeply Concerned In
Welfare Of State Prisoners.
ABLY DISCUSSES CARE OF CONVICTS
Through Reading the Reports Of Camp
ofdelals Williams Attention ls
Directed to an Ever-Ab.
sorblng Problem.

NeAt IN importance 70 the oduCa-
ton Of the children Of the state comes
the care Of the convicts, the lunaucs
and the deaf and blind These are
charges, fixed charges that rest every
where upon the citizen and taxpayer
and cannot be avoided. A careful pc
rusal Of the last reports Of the officers
OF these institutions give us deep con-
Germ for their inmates are increasing
faster than population and this In
crease indicates a growing degeneracy
In mental, physical or moral condition
Of our people. These reports give
much interesting matter for there is
hardly state in the union where sim
liar institutions are 80 ably and faith
fully oficered. We are especially for.
tunate' in having such a capable and
experienced man as DR.. Powell at the
head Of our sanitarium The appre-
hension is that when he dies we cannot
I'LL his place for we cannot find a man
who has both his ability and his long
experience. The same can be said of
Professor Conner, in charge of the
school for the deaf. These two are
veterans in the service and have by
their long and faithful work allayed all
public anxiety about those institutions
But why should so many more chill
dren be born deaf and dumb than for
merly, and why should so many more
people become insane? Only a few
years age Prof. Connorreported1 05, and
now he has 215 in charge. Do folks
keep on marrying their cousins and
will the law keep on allowing 1t? AS
to the sanitarium, there seems to be
no limit, mo diminution Of the rapid
increase and as last as more room is
provided more still is wanted.
DR.. Powell reports that on October l,
1900, there were LOO whites and TAI
eolored on hand, and the new applica-
lions now average about six per day.
i OF course many die and it is a comfort
to know that many recover their rea-
son and are discharged. Two hun
dred and fifty-nine whites and ninety
four negroes were discharged last
year. One hundred and fifty-six
whites and 1856 negroes died. The doc
tor gives pleasant and easy employ
ment to all who can and are willing
to work. He is philosopher Of my
own kind, for he says he has found
that work, manual labor is more con-
duciye to restoration and contentment
than any other medicine. Gardening,
sewing, washing, canning fruits, etc,
Is done on a large scale. Much more
Of this is done than formerly and the
report shows an immense business.
Just think of last years work., 900
aprons, 1000 bedticks, 5000 chemises,
1900 calico dresses, TOO homespun
dresses, 4,700 pair drawers, $500 pill
low cases, 5000 pair pants $500 shirts,
1000 undershirts and quilts by the
score-crazy quilts, suppose-making
a total of over $4,000 articles made by
crazy women. Good gracious! what
an Industrial female family the doctor
has got. In this way he has greatly
reduced the cost of maintenance and
brought down the per capita to SILT.
But on the other hand, he has to be
continually repairing or replacing
something, for he says Insanity
means destruction and that the ten
dency of a large number of patients
is to destroy furniture, crockery bed
ding, clothing, lights, sash and some
times tearing their rooms to pieces. ,"
Now Just imagine what an army Of
lunatics we have. CartersviIe is quite
a large little country town OF $500
people. but three-fourths of them are
children under age. We have only
about 500 grown-up people who are fit
to be lunatics, but here at the santa
rum are three times as many, and the
number increasing every year.
But the report of the prison COM
mission gives us most anxiety, for that
concerns crime and involves the safe
ty of our people from the lawless who
fear not God nor regard man. The
maintenance Of the sanitarium costs
the state S275OO0 annually, but there
IS one good thing, and only one about
the convicts. They cost the state moth
ing after the trial, but on the contrary
they bring in considerable revenue,
and under the new system this reYe-
nue. is rapidly increasing. Gen. Evans,
Mr.. Eason and Mr.. Turner inaugurated
this system only two years ago and 1t
has already proved a signal success.
The state now nas the absolute con-
troll of all its convicts and has pur-
charlottesville