Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1911-05-26
INVESTIGATING LOCATIONS
The Board Of Control Makes An
Official Visit To Great
Bend.

and c. d. Shukers, constituting
the state board of control of th'
charitable institutions. made al
Official visit to this city on Tues
day of tbs week, inspecting sight
which have been Offered them up
: on which to locate the new state
hospital, for which the last leg
lslature made an appropriation Of
a hundred thousand dollars to be
gin with. They were accOmpan
led by Frank Jarrel, publicity
agent of the Santa Fe, and H. A
Tiee, division superintendent Of
the Santa Fe.. They arrived or
the morning train from the east
and were met at the station by
a committee composed of business
and professional men, with auto
mobiles. They were shown all
over our little city, and we are
pleased to say that they were
very favOrably impressed with
what they saw, and expressed
themselves as delighted with the
city. The party stopped at the
home Of Fred Zutavern for an
inspection of his lawn and gar
den, and each one was decorated
with a rose.
They were aiken to the Com
mercial club rooms and the vari-
GUS proposed sites fully explain
ed to them, the entire situation
being gone over. Each member
Of the board made map and
took other data concerning the
sites, so as to be prepared when
they came to make their decision
on the matter.
After dinner at the Briggs ho-
tel they were taken in automO-
bileS and shown. the various
tracts of land. This took up a
large part of the afternoon. On
their return to the city another
stop was made at the home of
Mr.. Iutayeln. 1t waS>the mten-
tiOn to have visited alb the busi-
ness houses, but as they were com
PEELED to leave on the early train
for the west this was impossible.
Another session was held and var
louis matters concerning the inSti-
tuition discussed. Then a visit to
the light plant, the Walnut Creek
mill, and the Moses mill, and it
was time for their train.
They expressed themselves as
greatly impressed with the con-
ditiOnS as they found them here.
and saw a couple of tracts of
land which in their opinion would
be hard to beat. They desire to
secure section. The hospital
Is to- be managed ON the farm
cottage plan, and as many of the
patients as possible are to be
worked. They do this at all in
StitutiOnS, in order to lessen the
cost of maintenance to the state.
To illustrate what the institu-
.tiOn would mean to our city, we
will give a few facts given us
by one of the members of the
board. The state hospital at To-
peka and the one at 0sawatOmie
are full. There is a patient in
this county now waiting for a
chance to get in for treatment.
At the rate that the institutions
have been filling up, in twelve
or fifteen years from the time
. the new one would be ready for
occupancy, it would contain about
1900 patients, which requires a
maintenance fund of about $125.-
600 per annum. 1t would require
about three hundred attendants,
carrying payroll of about $75,-
600. Of this. latter amount, prac-
tlcally every cent would be dis
bursed' in our midst by the at
tendantS, for their own expenses.
Of the first amount, nOtwithStand
ing that heavy goods, and goods
of which great quantities are
used would be purchased on bidz.
about One-third would be spent
locally, for such articles and sup
plies as are needed in small guam
titles, and must be had quick.
This, seems to us, would be a
great addition to the business of
our community, and one that
should be secured. In addition
to this would be the revenue to
the city from a constant stream
of visiting relatives of the un-
fOrtunateS, which would amount
to a good many hundred dollars
per year. The location of this
institution in our city would meal
vastly more to the community
than our people realize. Even