Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-05-31
Alarming Increase Of Insanity.
From Newark News.


New Jersey has hospital for the insane,
located at Trenton, and car able Of accomo-
dating about / ,250 patients. It is crowded.
In 1876 new asylum, one OF she largest
in this country, was built at Morris Plains,
at cost Of 50, ,25O, 900, to accommodate SEQ
patients. Since then more than quarter
OF million dollars has been expended in
adding new wings, until now it can provide
for about 1900 patients. Il, too, is crowd
ed. In addition to these two great institu-
tions, every large county in the State has
its own insane hospital, and in counties not
haying such institutions the almshouse will
be found to contain considerable number
Of those who are mentally unbalanced
According to the latest reports, the num-
ber Of insane dependents in this State has
Increased no less than 800 per cent. in the
past fifty years, and since 1891 the increase
has been Sc 2-3 per cent. This means that
insanity has far outrun the natural increase
Of population and is working fearful ravages
among the citizens Of New Jersey. In 1880
the total population Of this state was 489,-
703; it is now 2, IA, ,134, an increase of 1886
per cent, but in the same time insanity
has increased more than five times as rapid
ly as population. In 1890 the population
of New Jersey was l. 444, 933, and the in
crease since then has been little oyer
forsy-eight per cent, while the increase Of
insanity during the same period has been
1S 2-3 per cent. greater than that of popu-
lation
These are startling facts and figures, for
they show that with the best possible care
and treatment, with all Ithe modern appli-
anoes, with all the increase of knowledge,
labor-saying machines and methods OF
making life easy and comfortable, insanity
is constantly and rapidly gaining on pop
ulation. At least 1.2 per cent. of all the
people of this State, and probably more, are
now inmates Of the State and county in
stitutions for the insane.
What is the canse Of this tendency to
unsornd mindg What causes degeneracy,
mental and physical? Superintendent Nc
Connell, Of the Atlantic County asylum,
says that excessive liquor drinking is
largely responsible for the filling OF the
States institutions. He claims that where
the most liquor is drank the largest NUM-
ber of lunatics is found His observations
are most particularly applicable to the
South Jersey counties, in which alcoholic
LIQUORS are consumed in preference to malt
drinks, but they concur with the statistics
recently complied by The American Grocer,
which shows that in the last ten years the
per capita consumption Of alcoholic spirits
has increased in the United States from
1 .01 gallons to |. As gallons per year, while
the consumption Of beer has increased from
1888 to 18 so.
We, as people, are living too fast, too
strenuously, no doubt. and this is one cause
Of insanity, but as people we are also
drinking altogether too much, and this is
prolific cause Of mental degeaeracy. The
insanity records prove it beyond the shadow
Of doubt, and the records Of the county
iails. the reformatories and the State prison
add their irrefutable testimony to the same
sad truth. If temperance could be incul-
ated and practised, to say say nothing
whatever Of total abstinence, the prison
cells and the insane asylum wards would
pradually become depleted, and in time
almost totally emptied Of their wretched
inmates.