Norwich bulletin., 1920-12-14
BABIES AT woMEN's FARM
 COST STATE MORE MONEY

Because of the birth of sixteen ba- bies during the past year to inmates of the Connecticut State Farm for Wo- men at East Lyme, the directors have been obliged to secure an additional appropriation of 0,0Oo from the state board of control to meet the expenses of the institution until financial aid can be obtained from the legislature.
 An appropriation of $75,0e0 was made by the last session of the leg islature for the maintenance of the in stitutioh at East Lyme for two years. The appropriation for the first year went a long way, but the 'stork came so often during the past year that the en- tire appropriation has been exhausted and more money is needed at once Dl- rectors of the state farm explained to the board of control that the cost of raising the babies consideralE exceeds the cost of maintaining adult inmates. who can be put to work in the fields and
 elsewhere about the farm to help earn | their board Nurses for the babies come high and the extraordinary care required to keep the infant arrivals | free from disease boosts the figure
 higher The children arriving this year were all born few months after their
 mothers were admitted to the institu- tion.
 | The institution has become so crowd ed that it has become necessary to set
 up two beds in the superintendent's of- | flee nights, taking them down iu the morning. The place was intended to l accommodate between forty and fifty | inmates, but there are now seventy
 eight women there, and fourteen babies
 two having died-making a total of ninety-hve.
 Under the law establishing the state farm, babies cannot be kept there aftei
 they become two years. The mothers
 are discharged from the institution tC
 do housework in p-ivate families principally, and they are then consid
 cred to be able to provide for the sup port of their babies. In cases wher,
 the mothers are not able to care fol
 their children, the authorities of the In stitution have then: placed in privat,
 homes, ard there has been no difficult,
 in getting them placed up to this time In addition to the maintenance funs
 of $75,o00, the last session of the leg
 isiature also appropriated $150.0o0 fo
 the erection of a new reception building l a water plant and a sewage < d!sposa ! system. Some of the $40,ooo which thu
 board of control granted as specia maintenance fund was drawn from tn , sufficient balance to complete the build ing operations. , The directors of the state farm con template approaching the legislatur next month with request for an ap propriation of about s5O,oO0 for tn erection of a school on the grounds principally for vocational training such as in cooking. dressmaking an laundry, work, but also for teachin elementary subjectS of general educa tion.
 The purpose of the state farm Is t remove women of qhestionable reputa tions from communities in which the , are considered to be menace. Whe the institution was first established, tn ? inmates consisted almost wholly of wo men who had been habitual drunkard. , but after the United States entered tn | World war. and at the request of tn
 navy department and the health de partment, it was used to accommodat
 scores of immoral girls who were appre ? hended in the vicinity of the Unite States naval base at New London.