Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1909-09-30

which puts the helpless and decrepl old people at the mercy of eXplOiteH;
 whose main interest is to get all they can out of them as laDorcrs without any thought for their health or moral ini 3rovement. has been wiped out from the statute books of the most ad- vanced states. In nearly all the otA CTS. it is dead letter law. So it IS likewise in Arkansas, where the county judges have shown themselves much more humane than the letter b. the law. In our county too this ant; quated law has been long ignored. h. stead of Farming out the manage ment to the lowest bidder, the insti-
 tuition is put under the charge of a 1 salaried superintendent who is con- l fronted neither by the temptation nor l the opportunity to exploit the in mates. The superintendent is expect ] ed to keep the expenses down as low | as possible, it is true; but not so low 1 as to damage the welfare of the in-
 mates. The chief end he is to keep | in view is not economy but care. How
 superior the salaried superintendent
 system is to that of lowest bidder plaa
 may be seen by comparing the old cru
 el contractors of inmate-laborers with the efficient and humane administra
 tion of the present superintendent,
 Dr. Sacconi, who received his medi
 cal education in the Imperial Medical | College of CrackoW, Austria, and has had many years experience as physi- l clan and custodian manager. Dr. ! Sacconi is ably assisted by his niece. | Miss Marie Fisher, formerly of St. |
 I Louis, highly intelligent and consid- crate young lady, who handles the fe- male inmates with exceptional under standing. When one finds out how carefully they nurse foundlings, de- serted by their mothers; how patiently they handle loathsome diseases and how wisely they deal with morphine fiends and the other cripples of for tune and victims of folly that are
 thrust upon them without warning and without adequate facilities for re- lieving them, one begins to value their temperaments as we'll as their ablll- ties.
 regarding the equipment and resour- ces of the Poor House. While allow ances for daily expenses are Suffl- cient, the sums granted for improve ments have been far too small. The Poor House has no sewerage system. consequently the sanitary facllltles are very poor. The superintendent recently installed some metallic tub baths, but even these are of little val ne without running water. Baths are absolutely essential in an institution like this where cleanliness is neces- sarv to insure the wellbein9 of the inhabitant. It would cost a consld- erahle sum to extend the city water system to the Poor House and ths necessary improvement has not been sufficiently urged by former judges or the county. The present county judge James Gould. who is not only capable broad humanitarian sympathies. may be expected to remedy this evil m the near future and may be relied upon to use his utmost efforts to make other Improvements also. Next to the installation of water and bath ing facilities, the most needed inn provement is fertilization of the 20 acres of land belonging to the Poor House Nine years ago. under the administration of an earnest county judge, Smith c. Martin, rich and abun- dant fertilizing material was provided and the Poor House inmates cultiva- ted the 20 acres of land. raisign an excellent crop of corn, cotton and Since then, for want of the tract of land which IS Of poor soil and ill-chosen in general