The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-02-15
6,53S CRIMINALS OR
PAUPERS IN STATE
1888 of Them Are Insane - Towns
Spend $23S,971.5S Caring
for the Poor

MONTPELIER. Feb. 15.-At Il meet
ing of the Barre City Woman'S club Mon
day evening. Hon. T. l.. Scott. Judge Of
the city court. and w. III. Jeffrey, secre
tary of the state board of charities and
probation. were the speakers. In speaking
on public welfare as related to the work
of the state in general and the board of
charities and probation in particular, Mr..
Jeffrey said in part:
"On Jan. l. 1922. there were under
public and private. care the following
number: At your state prison and house
of correction mt Windsor. 29J; ut the
wOmen'S state prison and house of cOrrec-
ton at Rutland, %; in the state indus
trial school at Ncrgenncs, POI in the
various county jailS of the state. 81: at
the state hospital for the insane al Water
bury. l64. and at the BrattleborO Retreat
for the same class of cases, 4g4. making a
total population in these two latter insti-
tutions for the care Of the mentally sick
OF LIS. At the state school for the
feeble minded at Brandon about 80 and
60 more cases in the course of commit
ment To the new dormitory. In our two
institutions for the care OF inciuient tuber-
culOSiS at PittSfOrd and Barre there are
81 patients: at the Preventoriums -
and the state is paying for 10 incurableS
i'm three out-of-thc-State institutions: at
the Austinc Institute for the deaf and
dumb, -. and II more cases are being
cared for in Out-Of-the-State institutions.
mt the home for friendleSS women there
are seven women and y children The
home for destitute children with - the
l.. x l.. Mott home with nine: Warner
home at st. AlbanS. 26: Kurn Hattn
home at Westminster and SaxtonS River
%; vt. JoSeph's orphanage at Burling-
ton, 2:Sa; and the OrmSbee house ut Proc
tor. which cares for crippled children. L.
These figures do not tlke into account
the large number of children who arc re-
celving care in some form through the
efforts of the Children'S Aid society. or the
10 children and 81 mothers i'm 20 of the
cities and towns of our state who are re-
ceiving aid from my department under
the mothers pension law Since the eS-
adjustment of our board IL, years aga
nearly 400 children have been committed
TO our care and custody. and during the
past year and a half we have given medi-
cal. surgical and hospital care to more
than 100 children who have not been COM
mitted by the courts.
ION Jan. l. 1922. we had under our
supervision and care T93 men and women
who have been found guilty of every
crime known To our statutes from murder
in the first degree to the most triiling OF
oifenseS. These persons have come to u.
either through parole from the prisons or
after conviction in the courts upon proba-
ton.
ne law requires th.lt the OVerSCprS of
the poor shall make annual reports to
our department and they have recently
completed those for the year Just past.
They disclose that they were giving full
care TO 137 men and women and part care
TO 1,S91. or n total of 2.G2S who are
classified as our paupers During the
year. cur cities and towns have spent for
this item alone S23S. 971 IS.
These figures do not and cannot in
cludc very considerable number of per.
sons receiving free care i'm our hospitals
and from private charities Nevertheless.
they disclose the fact that 6.33S persons
are receiving charitable or correctional
care in this state
The sclective draft called for quota
of 1.O49 men from Vermont In order to
supply this number it was necessary to
examine i,65S and ont of these 1852
were rejected as physically defective We
are told that 90 per cent of the reflections
were due to causes which could have been
prevented
Il wonder if yon realize that while the
World war cost Vermont CD lives. the
same two years. 1917-191S. tuberculosis
cost Vermont 702 lives. and that during
the past five years I sos NermonterS died
with this dread disease. larger number
than the total population of Fayston.
Worcester and R0xbury combined So
successful has been these public agencies
that the death rate in Vermont has
steadily decreased from 531 in 1895 to
only $50 in 1920.,,--