Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-09
THE MESSAGE.
Continued from page 81
Eastern Maine Insane Hospital.

Eastern Maine Insane Hospital.
The Eastern Maine Insane hospital
was opened July Sd, 1901, with one hum
bred and forty-seven patients VINO
were transferred from the asylum at
Augusta The number had increased
to two hundred and nine on Novem-
Der Goth, 1902, of whom one hundred
and fifteen were men and ninety-four
were women. During the twelve
months previous to this date, one hum
bred and eleven patients were ad-
mitted. Sixty-eight were discharged,
thirty-seven having recovered ana
twenty-six being greatly improved.
| Much has been done under the dlrec-
ton of the management to make the
surroundings of this hospital more at
ltractive. Trees and shrubs have been
PLANTED, necessary roadways have been
CONSTRUCTED. and the grounds nave
been graded and improved, so far as
funds available would permit Still
more. however, must be accomplished
to complete this work, and a con-
siderable appropriation will be neces-
sary to meet the requirements OF the
institution in it's various departments
and to provide furnishings and equip
Iment needed to maintain the hospital
lat proper standard.
A sufficient sum should also be pro-
lvided to meet the deficiency in running
Iexpenses.
State Prison.
There are one hundred and eighty
three inmates of the State prison,
Ithirty-six of whom are under life sem
tence. Forty-seven have been ad-
mitted during the past year; fifty-two
have been discharged, and four have
died. On account of the advance in
Iprice of nearly all food products, there
has been a considerable increase in the
cost of maintaining the subsistence de-
partment, but on the whole the prison
has made a fair showing and will not
Require so large an appropriation as
two years ago.
Only four of these convicts are wo-
. linen, but l am convinced that this in
stitution should have matron, whose
duty it shall be to take immediate
charge of female prisoners The State is
. not doing it's whole duty in this respect,
4 and 1 trust you will take some action
to place this department of the prison
on a right and proper basis.
4 Maine School for the Deaf.
I During the past two years the at
tendance at the Maine School for the
Deaf has largely increased, and the
school has made most commendable
progress and advancement in every
way.
Ninety-tWo pupils are now in at
tendance, nearly every county in the
State being represented. Nine teach
ers give instruction, and the course in
|cludes all the regular English
branches. Industrial training is also
: lgiven, the girls being taught sewing,
= cooking and the various duties of the
S household. while the boys are in
lstructed in wood working, glazing,
painting, printing and cobbling.
This institution is well managed,
land it's needs should receive your care
d full consideration.
: Bath Military and Naval Orphan Asy-
Ium.
There are sixty-eight children in the
Bath Military and Naval Orphan Asy-
lum. of whom thirty-seven are boys
and thirty-one are girls. They are from
four to fifteen years of age and all at
tend the public schools of the city.
This institution is doing good work,
and it's management is worthy of the
highest commentator.
State Reform School,
A proper classification of the one
hundred and forty-five boys in the
State Reform school requires the build
ing of two additional cottages modelled
upon the same general plan as those
already existing. Eighty-five of these
boys live in the original building, which
was erected about fifty years ago. This
structure should be thoroughly remod-
eled to meet the present requirements
of the institution. 1t is unfortunate
that so many of these poor children
should thus be congregated together,
as it is practically impossible to sep
arate those of vicious tendencies and
criminal instincts, from those who have
committed only trifiing offences and
who are simply the victims of poverty
| and misfortune.
1t is neither right nor just that this
institution should be termed a Reform
school and that it's inmates, who are
only children, should be stigmatized as
convicts. Nor should the time they
spend here be termed Imprisonment.
The school should bear some more APP
propriate name. / trust that the needs
of this school will receive your most
careful consideration, and that you
will grant a sufficient appropriation to
meet its reasonable requirements.
Maine Industrial School For Girls.
There are one hundred and forty
eight girls under the care of the Maine
Industrial School for Girls. OF these
sixty-nine are at the school, and the
remainder have been placed in homes
in different parts of the State. Dur
ing the past year twenty-one girls have
J been admitted, fifteen have come of
age. five have been permitted to marry,
and ten have been DISCHARGED