The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-03-05
AND THIS IS IN MARYLAND.
Insane WretchedIy Cared for In MANY
Places.

clans and laymen alike who are
interested in the welfare of Mary
land 5 insane.look with high dis
favor upon the bill which was
recently introduced in the Legis-
lature by Senator German. the
object Of which is to repeal the
law enacted in 1901, which pro.
vided that after January I, 1900,
the State should take care of the
INDECENT insane. They argue that
the passage Of Senator German 5
repeating bill will be a step back
ward, which the State cannot at
ford to take if it intends to make
any attempt to keep pace with
other States, and assert that the
present method of caring for the
insane in county almshouses is in
human, if not disgraceful.
BY those in a position to know
1t IS said that the conditions which
exist in some of the county aims
houses are deplorable in the ex-
IRENE. Many OF the institutions
are dilapidated and illkept, un-
sanitary and foul-smelling. In
many Of the houses the patients
have been allowed to mingle in
discriminatory together, without
regard to sex or color.
In speaking of the conditions in
some Of the county almshouses.
Mr.. \. G. Grasty, secretary Of the
Supervisors of City Charities, who
made an inspection of all the
county almshouses about two and
a half years ago, said:
No one who has not visited
these institutions can imagine
what the conditions in them were
when | saw them, more than two
years ago. What changes have
been made since then | do not
know, but at the time conditions
were deplorable. In the insane
department OF the Somerset county
almshouses, for instance, there
were at that time about s female
patients, some OF them just reach
ing womanhood. Instead of being
under the care of a competent
matron. l found that they were
being looked after by a man, who
slept in the same building.
The bathing facilities were
very meagre. When I asked the
man in charge how the patients
managed to battle he replied that
every now and then he took them
out and gave them a good wash
ing The negro patients were
confined in a building set apart for
them. This structure was dilapi-
dated, and was really nothing
more than little shanty. 1t was
poorly furnished and dirty, and in
it men and women occupied adj
joining rooms.
The Worcester county aims
house impressed me as being the
dirtiest place l eyer saw. Some
OF the rooms were extremely foul
smelling, and the faces Of the
patients living in them were caked
with SCOT and CRIME. Some of
them told me that they had not
washed their faces for a year. The
inmates did their own cooking,
Notwithstanding the fact that they
were mentally unbalanced And
such cooking as it was-dirty does
not describe il. There was no
supervision maintained over the
inmates, and the sexes were allow
ed to mingle together indiscrimi-
nately.
At another one of the aims
houses found that the party who
was entrusted with locking up the
patients at night was negro man,
who was himself an inmate of the
institution. Upon inquiry I was
told that three of the female pa
tients in the almshouse, represent
ing both colors, had given birth to
children, Of which he was the
father"
Mr.. Grasty's statements with
reference to the county almshouses
| confirms the detailed reDort made