The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-12
.DR SEARCY TALKS
 OF CARE OF INSANE
Hospital for the Weak Minded
 is Not a Prison
STATE CARE IS THE BEST
He Is of the Opinion That Those Who Are Under the States Eye Are Better of Than at Home
 or In the Country.

Atlanta, Ga, May 11.-At the business session of the national conference or Charities and Corrections this morning Dr. J. T. Searcy, superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane at Tusca- loosa, Ala, discussed for what class of mental detectives should the state make provision and in what way. Dr. searcy said In part:
 He first briefly enumerated the various degrees of weak -mindedness and then passed to the question as to where the state shall draw the line in separating afflicted persons and placing them under treatment.
 A hospital for the insane he declared is not prison and the inmates are pa tients, not prisoners. Continuing ne said: Tn coming to my subject proper and attempting to answer the question as to what kinds of mentally disqualified persons shall the state provide for' have certainly opened broad feld' put I believe I can shorten my reply into few words. In this presence, before so many who have had great experience III such work, am ready to state that the state ought to care for all kinds.
 State Care the Best.
 "State care, generally speaking IS great deal better than home care anu neighborhood, municipal or county care. These. as a rule have proved notoriously insufficient improper and often inhuman' I need not go into any argument to snow | that state care is the best The straw was threshed over years ago. mat proposition was the text of much pniiah- | thropic agitation and discussion when the | building of insane hospitals by the state | was first inaugurated and extended over | the country. Nowadays the question IS not state care as opposed to other care, but whether state care shall be extended | so as to include not only the delinquent | insane, but all who are so mentally de1- | cient that they are dependent characters | The last question of the day is: In what order, in accordance with the numbers to be provided for, and the states financial | ability shall the classes be taken in hand, and how many of the classes shall be looked after In separate institutions|
 Delinquent Types the Nucleus.
 "As rule states begin this kind of work by providing for the insane proper the delinquent types first These gener- ally are the nucleus about which other | types accumulate, and as they increase in the state or the state hospitals they are separated off into other institutions l to themselves.
 Mentally deficient paupers are gener- | ally cared for in the county houses. There | Is a division of opinion as@ to whether | the aments and the dement's shall be cared for entirely by the states or the county care be supplemented by state help
 "There Is one principle, however, that seems to be quite firmly established in | this connection, that there should be 1 state supervision of all mentally disquali- | fled persons
 Another Step in the Evolution.
 '"There Is, also, nowadays another step l in the evolution of state care-whether l all classes of the mentally disqualified should be cared for in large state institu- tions or whether some of the classes at l least are not better maintained and treated in entirely separate wards in the same hospitals or in separate buildings l in the same colony. or in separate hos- l pitals in different parts of the state. In some states there is an approach to what may be called a colony of hospitals, under the same management in the same 1 locality. The principle of classification | and more or less separation as far as can be practically carried out, Is the best method. The expense Is lessened the more you can consolidate the maintenance, but for the excellence of the treatment and control there is limit to the amount of proper segregation. The accessibility of the institutions in the state also has to be considered.
 The Psychopathic Hospital.
 "The latest move in this direction in 1 some states is separate institutions. gen. l orally located near large cities for the l Of I | cases generally do better to be received and cared for separately from the others, and when their numbers warrant 1t and the expense can be borne 1t is well to have such provision made as far it can be done Some new cases get well promptly in such institutions and are saved the op- probrium of having been sent to an insane hospital, where the incurables are kept, and if the name of the institution be simply reception or a psychopathic | hospital where the doubtful or readily | curable cases alone are kept more early consent on the part of families and the patients may be obtained for them to go to the place. In such institutions, how ever, patients will accumulate unless they are promptly sent further when a chronic tendency Is shown.
 The Change of Century.
 Before I close l would like to draw attention to growing feature in the management of penal institutions which marks a very favorable change from the standpoint l have been advocating in this paper, of grades of human abilities of all kinds. A century or two ago, when mems abilities were considered free and | equal the insane were treated like the criminals: nowadays there is a tendency to treat the criminals like the insane"
 
 POLICE COMMISSION TONIGHT.