Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-04-17
ASYLUM HEAD
WRITES LETTER
DR.. APPLICABLE OF MT. PLEA
ANT INSTITUTION DENIES I
RECENT CHARGES.

Mt. Pleasant, April 15.-Superin-
tendent Applegate, of the state hospi-
tai for the insane at this place, has
made public letter, in which he de-
MES the charges as set forth in the re-
port OF the legislative committee ap-
pointed to investigate the state insti-
| tutions. He states that the hospital
was never in better condition than at
present, and that no complaints were
made by any of the patients during the
visit of the committee. Superintendent
Applegate's letter is in part as fol-
| lows:
| We feel that this committee was not
justified in making such report
| against this hospital or any other of
our hospitals for that matter. There
were only four complaints against
| this institution, two of these were
prior to the beginning of my admins
| tration eight years ago, and, of course,
know nothing of them. The other
two I had every reason to believe were
satisfactorily explained to the COM
mittee.
In Justice to this hospital, l desire
! the public to know that this COM
/ nnittee entered this institution unan-
nounced and 1 Immediately took them
| into every ward in this hospital and
as we entered each ward, l introduced
the committee to the patients as the
|
who were here for the purpose of re-
ceiving their complaints if they had
anv to make. 1 also urged the com
| mittee to talk to the patients and en-
| ployes.
No Complaints Made.
| The committee was surprised to find
| that the patients had nothing to say
| against the institution and there was
| but one patient of the 1,065 who COM
| planned and he merely reiterated what
| he had already written them in pre-
! vious letters.
In this connection 1 desire to state
that the isolated and exceptional cases
of abuses. which are liable to occur in
any institution where large number
of patients are admitted each year,
and necessarily a large number of
people are employed. are very few in
our Iowa institutions. where such vigil
| lance and strict discipline Is maintain
| ed; because every patient in these
institutions who know enough to COM
| plain knows that he has a perfect
right to make known to the officers,
superintendent or board of control any
unkindness or abuse. He further knows
that every complaint is promptly and
| thoroughly investigated, and if the
employee is found guilty, or even if
| there is only a suspicion that he is
guilty of unkindness he is Immediately
| discharged
There is absolutely no truth in the
statement that there is a secret un-
derstanding among employees to shield
each other Such a condition would
be practically impossible under the
| present system.
| The committee stated before leaving
that the more they investigated the
less they found to be actually true, and
they openly expressed themselves as
being well pleased with the cleanli-
ness of the institution and the orderli-
| ness of the patients.
Defends Employees.
In defense of our employees who have
been so unjustly accused, 1 want to as
sure the public that the young men
and women who are so self sacrificing
as to enter this work should receive
| encoura cement instead of being con-
demned. This committee or the public
have no more right to accuse all of our
employees of wrong doing, because
some one of them had done wrong, any
more than to condemn all the citizens
of your city because a few have vio-
lated the civil laws Of the community.
] firmly believe that the employees OF
this hospital rank as high as in any
similar institution in this country.