The Democratic advocate., 1907-08-16
STATE CARE OF THE FEEBLE
MINDED.
Address Delivered By Hon. Herman
Stump at the Third Maryland
Conference of Charities
and Correction.

Mr.. President and Members Of the
Maryland Conference of Charities and
Corrections
l thank you for the opportunity of pre-
senting my views in regard to the proper
care of the feeble minded and the urgent
necessity of providing sufficient accommo-
dations and maintenance for all idiotic,
imbecile and feeble minded children of in
digent parents in the State, and home
for those who are able to pay therefor, in
an institution owned and supported by the
State and conducted by State officials.
The care of insane demanded and re-
ceived early and prompt attention. The
General Assembly recognized the necessity
of taking into custody and restraining the
patients for their own good and safety of
the community, and from time to time
wisely expended large sums of money in
erecting asylums and maintaining the in
mates. Yet the care of the feeble minded,
not being so direct menace to the people
at large, but having equally as cogent and
imperative claims upon the body polite in
humanitarian and economical administra-
ton of its affairs, did not receive recogni-
tion until the year 1888 when at the solic-
itation of Drs. Pembroke, Thorn and Gun
dry, the Hon. Milton G. Urner and 9TH
ers, the General Assembly gave serious
consideration to this subject and granted a
charter to the Maryland Asylum and
Training School for Feeble Minded, and
authorized the expenditure of SIG, 600
for site and S., 900 per annum for main
tenance. With this sum farm contain
ing about two hundred acres, was pur-
chased, the dwelling thereon was converted
into an asylum and thirteen children ad
mitted. From this small beginning this
institution, under the fostering care of the
State and its Board of Visitors, has gradu-
ally grown to its present proportions, cap
able of housing two hundred children in
substantial granite built cottages with a
commodious administration building, all
furnished and equipped with every con-
venience necessary for the comfort, health
and safety of the children, its officers,
teachers, nurses and attendants, and the
State annually appropriates sufficient money
for the clothing, training, nursing and
feeding of them. All the cottages. are
now full and there are two hundred and
eleven applications for admission on our
waiting list, and many more would apply
if they were not aware of the utter inabil-
ity of the Board of Visitors to grant their
requests
The great benefits resulting from the
withdrawal of these imbeciles from every
section of the State were acknowledged,
and the Legislature in 1894 passed an act,
ch. 562, sec. 4, which provides, '"That
the Maryland Asylum and Training School
for Feeble Minded shall receive, care for
and educate free of charge all idiotic, i'm
beetle and feeble minded persons of this
State, the Board of Visitors shall consider
proper subjects to secure the benefits of
said asylum and training school, who shall
present certificate Of the Orphans Court
or County Commissioners of the city or
county in which such persons respectively
reside, that they or their parents or guar
dams are unable to pay for their mainten-
ance in whole or in part, etc., etc.
This Act is most comprehensive in its
terms and is an unequivocal recognition Of
the claims Of these unfortunate objects Of
humanity as wards of the State, and is
mandatory upon the Board of Visitors of
said institution to receive, care for, and
educate all Of them making application
who are found to be proper subjects for
admission.
The expenditures of our commonwealth
for the support Of the insane, blind, deaf
and dumb, and other helpless persons in
State institutions, and by contributions to