Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-18
more INSANITY
IN The CITIES
VICE AND DISSIPATION OF
URBAN LIFE SEEMS TO
CAUSE INSANITY.
ASYLUuS ARE OYERCRO%DEO
DR.. Joseph A. Hill Discusses In
crease of Insanity in
Country.
ASYLUuS ARE OYERCROxOED


crease? This question is discussed
by DR.. Joseph A. Hill in the govern
ment report on the insane in institu'
tons, soon to be issued by William
j. Harris, director of the census, in
the department of commence. That
there has been an enormous Increase
in the number of insane under insti-
tutional care Is made evident by the
statistics presented in this report,
but, for reasons there set forth, this
in itself al not be regarded as con-
elusive proof of al increase of in
sanity in the general population out
side of Institutions.
The number of insane reported in
institutions Increased from 150,151 in
1904 to 1871 in 19l9-an increase
of twenty-five per cent in six years.
The total population of the United
States in the same interval increased
only twelve per cent. Therefore the
insane in institutions increased twice
as fast as the population. In 1904,
out of every 100000 persons in the
total population, 1S4 were reported
in institutions for the insane; by 1910
the number had Increased to 2O4. In
other words, in 1904, Il person out
of every SAB was confined to al in
stitution for the insane; in 1910, one
person out of every 400. There was
a similarly marked increase in the
number of annual admissions to these
institutions, 6O,769 persons having
been admitted in 1910, as compared
with 1852 in 1904, an increase OF
twenty-five per cent. The number of
admissions per 100000 population in
creased from sixty-one in 1904 to six
ty-six in 1910.
These increases are at least partly
attributable to the etension of the
provisions made for the care Of in
sane persons and to the growth of
the practice of placing them in insti-
position and willingness on the part
of the public to accept institutional
treatment. The old-time horror of
the lunatic asylum, fully justified,
perhaps, by the inhuman practices
formerly prevailing in such institu-
tions, has largely disappeared, and
it is coming to be recognized that
the modern institution for the insane
is simply a hospitalvfor the treatment
of mental diseases, fulfilling essen
TALLY the same purpose in the COM
munity as any other hospital for the
sick. In the interval between 1904
and 1910 the number Of institutions
for the insane increased. from 329
to $50, the average number of in
mates per Institution increasing from
45S to 512.
AsyIums O~vercrowded.
Notwithstanding these develop
ments, the provisions for the institu-
tional care of the insane are still
very inadequate in most parts of the
United States. There are general
complaints of overcrowded institu-
lions and of the necessity of turn
ing patients away. Under such cor
ditions, the construction Of a new
hospital for the insane or the extern
sion of ar existing n may be fol.
lowed by an increase in the number
of insane in Institutions without be-
ing indicative of any increase in the
prevalence of insanity in the commu-
nifty fromwhic h the patients are re-
ceived.
At the same time there has been a
great improvement in the agencies
for discovering cases of insanity and
bringing them under institutional
care. The advance in methods OF
medical diagnosis leads to the de-
lection of mental disease in cases
brought o general hospitals for the
sick. The institution for the insane
is becoming more generally accessible
not only by the increase in the num-
Der of such institutions, but also by
the improvements in the means OF
transportation and communication.
The automobile is mentioned as a fac
tor of some importance in this con-
nection, making it possible to bring
to the hospital patients in poor ply
steal condition. These are some of
the influences which, as stated in this
report, may have Contributed to the
apparent increase of insanity OF to
the increase in the number Of recog-
nized ald recorded cases without be
ing indicative OF any actual increase
The author Of this report believes
that there has been, at the same time,
an actual increase of insanity, but
that it is not as great as the statistics
of the number OF insane in institutions
would indicate.
Al increase OF insanity is probably
in some degree a natural cOnse
quence of the rapid growth of cities
in the United States. Between 1880
and 1910 the proportion of the popu-
lation Of the United States living in
urban communities increased about
1870 per cent, while the rural popula-
ton increased only about forty per
cent. AS a result forty-six per cent
of the total population OF the United
States was urban IN 1910, as compar.
ed with twenty-nine per cent in 1889.
The percentage living in cities OF
over 100000 inhabitants nearly
doubled in the same interval, being
1874 per cent in 1880 and twenty-five
per cent in 1910.
More insanity in City.
There has been a popular impress
sion that the lonely isolation OF coun
try life is an important cause of in.
sanity. The statistics, however. iadi.
cate that more insanity is caused by
the stress and strain, the keener com
petition, the congegted housing con
ditions, and the vice and dissipation
of city life. In proportion to pop
ulation the number OF Inmates OF hos
pitfalls for the ingane received from
urban communities is twice as grea,
; as the number received from rural