The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-01-08
MO. STATE HOSPITAL
AT FARMINGTON
INMATES ENCOURAGED TO
WORK IN GARDEN AND ON
BIG FARM NEAR FARMINGTON
Prove Their Ability to Make Good by
Capturing Many Prizes at Missouri
State and Southeast Fairs.
tBY RoBERTUs LOVE-

(BY R0BERTUS LOVE-
New cottages are severely needed.
In some Of those now on the grounds,
built to accommodate 40 TO so men,
there are so patients. This necessi-
tates placing beds in Railways and in
other parts of the building, where it
was not intended that persons should
sleep. Also it crowds the sleeping
wards, the little white iron beds be-
ing placed so thickly that the patients
have difficulty in moving about.
Appropriations are needed for the
construction of additional cottages to
overcome this crowding, so that DR..
Scrutchfield and his staff may do their
utmost to facilitate the improvement
of broken mental faculties. Where
men are herded together so thiclly
there is less likelihood of general i'm
provement than there would be if
they had more breathing space and
a greater share of fresh air to
breathe. But for all that one finds
in these overcrowded cottages no un-
cleanliness, no odors, no disorder. l
have visited various eleemosynary in
stitutions, but never saw one that is
kept cleaner than State Hospital No.
4. The floors shine, the beds are
neatly made, the washrooms and dress
ing rooms are in perfect order. Eff
ficiency in attendance and in the hand
ling of the patiets is clearly evident.
The tidiness of all the premises serves
to relieve somewhat the inevitable de-
preston experienced by the visitor
to such place.
Hospital No. serves larger num-
ber of counties and a greater area
than does any of the other State hos
pitals of Missouri, the other three
being located at Fulton, st. Ioseph and
Nevada. At the Pennington insti-
tuition patients are received from SO
counties, covering Southeast Missouri
and including st Louis County, the
county paying $13 month for the
board and keep of each. In addition
there is number of private patients,
some of them from ST. Louis, whose
relatives pay SIS for each per month.
There is now in use new
cottage for patients suffering from
tuberculosis or threatened with it.
This relieves somewhat the pres
sure on other housing space, but,
nevertheless, more cottage room is
urgently needed. These needs will
be taken up by the Board of Managers
and the Superintendent when the
State Legislature meets.
Pennington, which has this big in
stitution as its close neighbor, is one
of the best known towns in South
cast Missouri. 1t is the capital OF
st. Francois County, in which county
lies most of the famous Missouri
Lead Belt. The town has about q
600 population, largely of the pro
gressive element, and is known ir
Southeast Missouri as "the city Of
churches"
The county has about 125 miles o.
good rock roads. Several of these
connect Pennington with other town:
in the county, so that the automobile
is popular vehicle.
Congressman Walter L. Hensley
representing the Thirteenth District
is a Pennington man, and it is an un
usual year when the St. Fraucoi'
County seat town does not supply {
member of Congress, foreign min
lister, railroad official of note, Oh
some other celebrity. The late Mar
tin L. Clardy, who was general so
licitor and vice president of the Mis-
souri, Pacifc-Iron Mountain, was {
Pennington man and formerly rep
resented the district in Congress
The Clardy farm is one of the SHOW
places adjoining the town.4-St. Louis
Republic.