The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-23
LOST RELATIVES
RESTORED TO KIN
How Men Who Lose Men,
ories Are Cared For
SOME TYPICAL CASES
Tales Of the Work of the Deportation
Bureau of New York State Hos
pital Commission-Saves
State Expense
From the New York Sun.

series of narratives could be written of
the work of the deportation bureau OF
the state hospital commission were the
officials allowed to make public the de-
tails of all their cases.
Year in and year out DIR. George B.
Campbell, medical examiner; DR.. John I.
Mekelway, his first assistant, and DR..
j. L. Vandeman labor in their headquar-
ters on the 14th floor of the Metropolitan
Tower and wherever in the state their
duties take them to ascertain the history
OF weak minded aliens who have become
state charges When possible they find
their relatives and restore them to their
families in cases in which the patients
need only care and observation and are
not dangerous when at large Many are
the strange cases they encounter and
dramatic and often sentimental are the
denouements.
For instance, last summer a young man
was picked up by the police in this city.
Jagged, half starved. his mind almost d
blank He was wandering in the streets
with no idea of whence or how he came
here. or where he wished to 60 At Belle
vac. where he was sent, he could not
even talk coherently.
The deportation bureau was notified
and DR.. McKelway took up the case
Care and kindness built up the mans
body. but his mind was slow in recover
ing. and IL was not until December that
DR.. McKelway could get anything from
tim to indicate his former home He
then mentioned a small Indiana city In
curry there brought out that such a
Young man, even then weak minded, had
wandered away from home over two
years before. His family had given him
up for lost.
Could they have him back. his mother
asked They could. Would 1t be possi-
BILE to have him home for the family re-
union on Christmas day? On Christmas
morning, the young man, much improved
mentally and physically, stepped from
the train to the arms of his mother.
The care of his family will restore him
still further and under their watohfui-
ness he will have comforts and liberties
the state of New York could not give
him. And the state of New York is re-
iieved OF the expense of caring for him.
The latter aspect of the matter appeals
to the pocket of the taxpayer as much
as the other appeals to the sentiment of
the Individual. 1t is estimated that the
bureau has saved the state over $1,000 900
in the last fiscal year
The government medical officers at
Ellis Island are supposed to detect and
turn back all alien insane; some cases
get past them. In October more than
$4,000 aliens landed at Ellis Island an
average of nearly 260o day, with the
plumber on some days. running up to 5000.
To examine these for mental defects
Commissioners of Immigration William
Williams has a staff of q medical officers
and $50 attendants and nurses. and this
force must also care for all the sick de-
tanned at the Ellis Island hospital, some
ffaae
obvious that a thorough examination
cannot be made in each case. Congress
itself has recognized this in law pro-
Nding for the deportation of any who
become insane within three years of land
ing.
So thousands of detectives and victims
OF ncipient insanity are turned loose
every year. New York being the port of
entry. gets the most of them.
The bureau of deportation has an elab-
orate system of looking up alien insane
who become state charges. II found
within three years OF their landing the
United States government Is asked to
take charge of them, provided 1t can be
shown that the causes of insanity existed
before they landed. If this cannot be
shown. then the state is saddled with the
expense of looking after them.
II they are not violent but only inca
pable of looking after themselves. such as
epileptics, for instance, and need only
such supervision as a relative could give
effort Is made to find and communicate
with their families or near relatives,
whether they be in other states or in Eu-
rope. If the relatives will have them
they are sent to them at state expense
In a few days a young man will 60
back to Switzerland to his brother, who
will look after him. He was in the Bing-
hamton hospital. DR.. McKelway got
from him the names of two sisters in
this country and vague directions of
where they could be found. One was
found in Pennsylvania and one in JERSEY
City. The sister in Jersey City was over
at the office the day after she heard from
the bureau. She had lost track of her
brother and was glad to find him again.
She herself could not care for him, and
the brother who had remained at home
in Switzerland was communicated with
Fie answered that he would be GLAD to
have his afflicted brother back home and
would care for him.
So he goes back at state expense
But why at state expense?
Because in most cases the demented
person has no money of his own, and
his relatives cannot or will not furnish
the cost of transportation for him. But
it is economy for the state to do so.
The average cost of caring for patient
each yeHT ls $1o1 l. u0 average TIME a
patient stays in an institution is II years.
That brings the average cost of patient
to the state. figuring per cent interest,
zip to over $500. 1t is calculated that by
paying the expenses of those sent back
to relatives in the last year. both to Eu-
rope and to other states, New York saved
over sS.oo0,O00.
And all-at cost of 200, including
transportation of those sent away, and
the expenses of the attendants. About
$4,000 was returned to the state by the
government for those who were properly
federal charges
In spite of this saving, the cost of the
foreign born insane who were sent to
state institutions last year will be over
$70O0.000 before the state is through car
ing for them.
Not all are returned at state expense, |
nor are relatives always reluctant to re-
ceiye them. aN
A well dressed woman was found wan
dering around the Grand Central station. !
her mind blank, her talk incoherent,
and not thing to indicate who she
might be or from where. Her condition
was such that the authorities had little
hopesof finding out anything from her.
Four years she stayed In an institution
without telling anything that would help |
in a search for her relatives. Then one |
day. in one of her more lucid periods, |
She mentioned a city near Boston.
The bureau began inquiries and found