The Springfield herald., 1909-02-05
NEEDS OF THE
INSANE ASYLUM
IMPORTANT STATE INSTITUTION
AT PUEBLO SUFFERING FROM
PUBLIC APATHY.
MORE ROOM REQUIRED
PROVISIONS SHOULD BE MADE
FOR MORE LAND AND NEW
BUILDINGS.

Denver.-The News prints a strong
article by P. C. Rawling in regard to
the urgent requirements Of the Colo
rado state insane asylum. 1t is in part
as follows:
1.-THE Colorado state insane asylum
at Pueblo is front-rank institution
OF those which are suffering from pub
lie apathy. Two hundred and more of
Colorado's insane population are drift
ing into chronic and incurable condi-
tion, because there is no room for
them at Pueblo. The asylum is taxed
TO the limit of its accommodations to
care for the present population of 900
demented and insane men, women and
children. The asylum needs more land,
new cottages. workshops, library. a
well equipped laboratory, an artesian
well and a hydro-therapeutic bath
house. AS to its administration as a
state institution, 1t should be taken
from under political control, and 1t
should be made a specific department
OF the civil service.
1.-THE asylum Is situate on level
ground, about two miles from the city
of Pueblo. The location is good one.
The climate is healthy; at once mild
and bracing. A high wire fence sur
rounds the grounds. These are laid out
in well-kept lawns, in the immediate vi
cinity of the buildings. In summer the
lawns are beautified and shaded by a
healthy growth of elm, cottonwood and
other trees. There is also an orchard,
for the fruits of which the kitchens OF
h. do
1.-THE most obvious need of the asy-
lum, even to an uninterested visitor,
is more land. Several states in the
Union make legal provision for one
acre Of land to each insane patient.
The Colorado institution owns and has
the use of only $50 acres of land. The
argument which has been made for
more land in connection with most OF
the state institutions can be applied
with redoubled force to the insane asy-
lum.
Let 1t be understood, then, that 1t
would be financially advantageous to
the state to give more land to the Pu
eb1o asylum. The agricultural pro-
ducts, alone, of such large population
as that of the State asylum-provided
the available energies of that popula-
ton could be applied to easy and
healthful farming pursuits - would
make thet institution self-supporting.
and would relieve the citizens of
large burden of taxation. And this ar
gument is in line with another and
more compelling one. The insane need
occupation. They require all the out
door life they can get
1.-THE asylum needs more cottages.
The board of control has asked the
Legislature to appropriate $15O,O00 to
be used for the immediate construction
of three cottages. The proposed cot
tages will each accommodate 100 pa
tients. One is needed for the women
and two for the men.
"The asylum needs industrial work
shops. The arguments for the estab
]ishment of such workshops are nearly
the same as those have indicated in
connection with the need for more
land. The manual skill of some of the
insane should be applied to productive
labor.
"The state is nothing in pocket by
Its neglect of the insane. The two
hundred and twenty that cannot en-
ter Pueblo have all to be cared for at
public expense. What is done imper-
fectly by the county commissioners
could be properly done, and at lesser
cost, by the trained alienists and
nurses of the Pueblo asylum"