Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-10-03
pr. E. Frisch Presents Start ling Facts Concerning
 Poor House.
GOULD AND DONAGHEY
COmpIimemted For Their EH"rt>-En-
 larged Asylum For the Insane u Sad Necessity.

The Poor House is, as l nave lhai- cated in my Thursdays article splen- d;dlv administered, despite the handi- cap of inadequate equipment. IT IL were not burdened with other troubles, the superintendent would be compara- lively free to make the very best use of the few resources at his command But it is burdened with other trou- bles and these all arise from the cir cumstances that the State, and to a less necessary extent, the County, does not possess enough specialized institu- tions to accommodate the various peo- pie who become public charges. The consequence is that the County Judge is compelled, against his own will, to of the Poor House, employing it for several alien purposes that should be filled by other institutions. It is used as a hospital and convalescent ward
 it is used also as an asylum for the insane and the feeble minded. The deaf, mute, epileptic, para1yt1c and de- formed are sent there: indeed all the defectves and dependents except or phans, though even these latter must occasionally be housed there amidst the insane and epileptic, morphine eaters and other miscarriages of na- ture who are apt to cause chills to creep down the spine of children.
 Different Classes of Inmates.
 Now nearly all these different class es of inmates require different kinds of treatment in institutions especially designed for them. In what enlighten- e, Northern state would they think of keeping consumptives in the same building with the blind or, worse still, with epileptics? Indeed. in several of the most progressive states where these things are studied scientifically and earnestly. even such closely re- sembling classes as the insane and the feeble-minded are treated in sepa- rate institutions since it has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that their ailments are entirely un~ like. insanity being due to derange- ment of the brain, while feeble-mi edness is due either to lesion or to o1T,, hut Accordingly New York, Massachu- setts, New Jersey and many othe5' states have established separate in- stituti0ns for the feeble minded and few are even segregating epileptics. Il had the privilege of hearing E. R
 Johnstone. the superintendent of the school for feeble-minded children at Vineland. X. l., this summer Mr
 Johnstone is recognized to be the greatest authority in his line He is loud in his advocacy of separate in- stitutions. Ny visits to the Rhine lander School, privately supported school in Kew York City, and to Ran dall's Island where the public wards of the metropolis thus afflicted are kept, confirmed the ideas expounled by Mr Johnstone.
 In view o1 the necessity for treat ing each different class of inmates in an institution pu-posely planned for it, one can imagine the difficulties that face the superintendent of our Poor House who has to take care of any case that is sent to him, no mat ter how out of place it may be in poor house. And it is to be said to his credit that he handles this en- barrassias situation very ably. Among the no persons cared for in the Poor House during the year ending with September 30, 1909. three were insane. three totally blind, nine had the mor- phipe habit and one was feeble-mind ed Three white confinement cases were brought there, of which, however. one was sent to Hot Springs and an- other to Monroe, La, where they came from. The third woman gave birth to boy, whom she later deserted in Tamo. Ark, and who since died from neglect. Neither the confinement case, nor the insane, nor the feeble-minded nor the blind properly belong in a Poor House. But what could the county judge and the superintendent of the Poor House do? T1ere being no other accommodations in the coun- ty or the State, they had to receive , them at the Poor House out of pity S sake. However, the citizens will have to do something to relieve these bad conditions. Movements in the right direction have already been started