The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1905-08-17
Board o. Control Issues Orders 10 Pro.
bate Courts.
REMINDED Of TIE STATUTES.
Committees Must Provide for Harm
less, lncurable Lunatlcs, as the
state institutions Are Not Of suM-
elent Capacity to. Care for all.

topeka. hHn., aug. l0.--lne DOaru
| Of control OF Charitable Institutions
has sent to county authorities the fol-
lowing circular:
ION the day we took charge, July
l, 1905, there were 1892 patients in
the Osawatomie state hospital, and
not single vacant bed, and papers
had been accepted for three more pa
ticnts. The Topeka state hospital had
1.049 patients, four vacant beds and
had accepted papers for four. Quite
a number Of patients were out on pa
role from both OF these hospitals, and
were liable to return at any time. The
school for the feeble-minded at Win
field, the only place in the state where
imbeciles and idiots are eligible (un-
less they are dangerous. to them
selves or others). had q capacity Of
375 and there were 372 In the insti-
tuition, with 81 out on furlough and "a
accepted applications. There was
room for few epileptics at Parsons.
We also found many Of the states pa
tients confined in jails and private
asylums, and the probate judge Of the
counties In which the insane are con-
fined In jails are insisting very strong
ly upon their admission. We would
like to admit every person that comes
In under every definition Of insanity,
but you can sec from the above that
1t is utterly impossible. Under Sec
tion 6570 only certain ones are eligI-
BILE. The law contemplates that the
counties will provide for all other per-
sons, and also that the counties will
provide for incurable and harmless
patients in order to make room for
the admission of others to the state
hospitals who are unsafe to be at
large and probably are durable.
"The policy of the state of Kansas
is practically the same as Wisconsin
and Nebraska.
"This board must do one Of two
things at once-either notify the
county authorities to remove all in
sane persons from the state hospitals
who are incurable and harmless to
the respective counties to which they
belong, at the expense of the county,
as is provided by section 1902, Gen.
eral Statutes Of 1901 and section
G591, General Statutes of 1901, or have
the officer who brings in new pa
tient from county take one of these
other patients back to his county with
him. And 1t may become necessary
to return the idiots in the state hos.
pitfalls to the different counties.
"The board does not believe in the
policy that was adopted in this state
by tho enactments of the legislature,
of 1901. We do not believe In state
hospitals and county insane asylums.
We think that the state should pro-
vide state asylums ana do away with
the county insane feature of it. and
allow all patients to be taken imme-
diately to the state hospitals, and If
the patient turns OUT to be incurable,
then to change him to state asylum.
The policy of having county asylums
is not scientific and is not economi-
cal. II is utterly impossible for each
county to have a county insane asy-
lum with a corps of skilled physicians
and trained nurses. AS the counties
pay all the taxes for the maintenance
of these institutions, and thus pay for
the care of these unfortunates. 1t
really makes no difference whether
they are taken care of by the state
or the county, but the state institu.
.tions are not of sufficient capacity to
receive all the unfortunates. and the
law will not permit us to admit
them"