Los Angeles herald., 1906-04-27
LEGISLATURE MAY BREAK UP
THE PRACTICE
Movement to Check Action of Eastern
ers In Foisting WeaksM inded
Relatives on the Coast
Asylums Progresses

tion by an appeal to the Legislature at
its next session.
The judges of the superior courts of
Los Angeles are constantly annoyed
by receiving letters from eastern peo-
pie inquiring about the insanity con-
ditions here and trying to make ar
rangements to send their unfortunate
relatives to Los Angeles to be cared
for.
All these messages are turned over
to the clerks and singing rebukes are
generally sent east, but 1T does not
stem the tide of insane people who
are hustled to Los Angeles from all
parts of the country
Yesterday the following letter from
Sioux Falls, S. D., was received by
Judge Trask of the superior court:
From South Dakota
LOS Angeles County Judge-Dear
Sir: Will you please tell me if Cali
fornia has county or state hospitals for
the care of insane. Also If they are
maintained by the county or state or
If the patient or his relatives are
obliged to pay for his keep. Are his
relatives obliged to pay for his care
if they have property.
Sincerely yours,
MRS. MARY BLEEFURS."
The following reply was sent east
by Clerk Jack Wright of department
four:
yours addressed to county judge
received and same has been referred to
me for answer.
1.-THE state of California has asylums
for the insane. They are supported by
the state, but where relatives are found
able to contribute to the support of
the patients committed they are COM
pelled to do so. The state has returned
el,fy
other states.
1T is regrettable that there is not a
law to punish penurious relatives
who shirk the duty of caring for
their own"
Merely Dumping Ground
California and Southern California in
particular, is known throughout the
world as having more insane than any
other part of the United States.
Many lectures have been given along
this line and hundreds of investtga-
tions have been made, but in every
case the records have shown forth in
great black type and the investigators
have learned that three-fourths of the
patients sent to the insane asylums OF
Southern California are men and wo-
men. who have been In Los Angeles
only few months.
According to the statements of prom
inent medical men of the country, the
insanity record is due to small extent
to invalids and sickly people of all
character who come to California to
regain their health and being left here
without friends, care or comfort, often
become insane more as a result of
worry and sickness than from any ac-
tual disease of the brain.
But the other fact has remained un-
disputed that as the long line of pa
tients face the commissioners in Judge
Gibbs department of the superior court,
month in and month out the same old
story is repeated again and again,
and the accused men and women sit
before the judges and with quivering
lips tell how they have been sent to
California because they are burden
to their relatives.
Insane though they be, the fact that
they have been foisted off on others
to be cared for seems always the
thought uppermost in the poor wander
ing minds of the unfortunates.
AsyIums Are Crowded
The asylums of Southern California
are crowded with insane, and the long
list of applicants ever increases.
The situati became so strained dur
ing the last year that at q meeting of
the legisla ture bill was passed where
by the superintendent of all insane
hospitals in the state were ordered to
send back all patients who were not
violent In that way the feeble mind
ed and harmless insane were returned
to the county to be cared for. They
were sent to the county poor farms in
some cases, while in others they were
sent to the county hospitals.
In Los Angeles county number were
returned from the Highland asylum.
Several of the helpless were sent to
the county poor farm, but there, while
the life was easy and care free, they
received no expert medical attention
necessary to the insane patient. They
were treated in a kind way and ordi-
nary medical treatment given them,
but in many cas- es they became eX-
cited and caused trouble among the
helpless old inmates of the place.
At the county hospital they could
not be trusted in any but the insane
ward and the constant stir and eX-
c;tement among the desperately insane
patients soon caused them to return to
their old days of violence, so that what
treatment they might have received at
the state asylum had gone for naught
Examine Ten Foreigners
When the board of insanity COM
missioners met Wednesday afternoon
there were ten patients before them,
none Of whom had been born in Cali
fornia. Some of the sights were pitia-
ble but in almost every case Wednes-
day relatives were in attendance to
offer aid in caring for the patients.
The percentage of native Californians
who go insane is very small according
to the reports of the physicians. The
physicians who examine the patients
receive a fee of IS at each examination,
and a large force is kept busy attend
ing cases every day. The numbers are
daily increasing and California, over
burdened with the care of the unfor-
tunate helpless, will send up an appeal
to the state legislature to pass some
kind of law protecting the local
asylums.
with their relatives in the east and
the poor insane in California there is
little ever heard of the unfortunate in
the eastern homes and the family
skeleton is thoroughly buried in the
western asylum while the eastern
relatives, having gotten rid of their
responsibility, resume the pleasures of
society" said member of the insan-
ity commission yesterday.
A Complex Situation