Montana labor news., 1937-09-02

Federated Pictures)
practical psychology in this connec-
ton. The main interest of DR.. Ter
rill seems to be in the operative
cases; thorco-plastic, pneumolysis
and phrenick operations. Indica-
tons are that after a year or two
more of experience with these op-
erations DR.. Terrill will set himself
up as a specialist in this line. A
laudable object but why pursue it
at the expense of the other cases in
the institution?
Among other foolish rules that
they have here is one which makes
it a crime for patients of opposite
sexes to speak to one another or for
nurses off duty to speak to men pat
tents. Just the other day three or
four of the boys were told" about
this. One of them had been seen
talking to the mother of one of his
schoolmates. Must have thought
him a very precocious youngster, in
deed! One evening last summer
some of the boys on the top floor
of the new building, hearing the
voices of the women patients so
plainly from the ward below, struck
up a conversation with them. Such
conversations were an irregular oc-
currence for approximately a week
when a nurse, who had first treated
it as a joke, reported it to DR.. Ter
rill. So, DIR. Terrill went up and
gave these fellows a pretty stiff lee
ture on it. Among a lot of other
things he told them that romances
were nearly always fatal to persons
afflicted with tuberculosis till
then, no one had thought of roman
ces - and wound up with the advice,
wait till you get out of here and
find yourself a nice girl" Until
then they had thought that a girl,
except for her physical condition,
could be just as nice after having
7. B. as before. He went into the
women's ward below, presumably
to give them the same lecture and
advice, but met with such a storm
of tears that he withdrew in discom-
future. Knowing that people are in
clined to judge others by themselves
We wonder what kind Of thoughts
reside in the mind which prompts
such rules and regulations. We
know that some restrictions must be
placed on those who have no self
restraint but what harm can come
from men talking to women in broad
daylight and in plain view of every
one; or in the above mentioned boys
talking to the mother of his school
chum? When will they learn that
driving the relation between men
and women underground often drags
them in the dirt; that no harm can
be expected from ordinary social
.intercourses between the sexes gov
erned by the accepted conventions
of the outside world? Most of these
people are mature men and women;
is it necessary to herd them around
like prisoners to protect their NOR
ais? Indeed the foolish often oc-
cupy the seats of the mighty
In view of the above facts it seems
that it is time that Labor looked in
to the situation at Galen and took
steps to secure fair" action from
the heads of Galen Sanitarium re-
CARELESS of their mental attitude.
The majority of the employees here
have been crying for months to be
organized but SC far no bona fide
labor organization has given their
appeal any consideration. If Labor
will not help them organize, the
least that it a do is to step in and
give them all the protection possible
unjust discharge and see that
all new employees are citizens of
Montana. And a little closer check
on the care given the patients will
have a wholesome effect on the in
stitution. This is a bad spot; let us
do something about it.
The writer can, and if pressed,
will substantiate every statement of
fact in the above article.