Under these circumstances it must be considered entirely within the lines of a sound and honorable public policy, for the State to require reports from all organizations, public and private, which receive money for the relief of the poor, and also to be equally in line with good citizenship and good morals for the managers of charities not only cheerfully to make such reports, even at some personal inconvenience, but also to exert their influence towards a very general compliance with the statute. CUSTODIAL CARE OF THE IDIOTIC AND THE FEEBLE-MINDED. In the scientific and carefully classified system of maintaining its dependent wards the State of New York has provided for the separate care of the idiotic and the feeble-minded. Until a comparatively recent date these unfortunates were the subjects of municipal or county care only. They were and are found in nearly all classes of charitable institutions throughout the State, and it is a matter of vital importance that they should be taken from society at large and placed in such surroundings as shall best provide for their needs, and free society from the danger which exists when they are not under proper custodial supervision. This danger is by no means imaginary. It must not be forgotten that in the young the power of imitation is strong, and injury may occur to impressionable young subjects by the close association of idiotic and feeble-minded persons with those healthy in body and mind. A far greater evil, however, exists in the neglect to maintain proper care and custody of the idiotic and the feeble-minded in order to obviate their tendency to propagate their kind. Were it necessary to go into details upon this point, we need only to state that of over three hundred women of child-bearing age in one custodial asylum for feeble-minded women in this State, more than 50 per cent. are known to have given birth to from one to three illegiti mate children previous to their entrance into that institution. The separation of these wards of the State into two general classes, the teachable and unteachable, has necessitated the establishment of separate institutions for each class. The State institution at Syracuse and the New York City institution on Randall's Island provide, as far as their accommodations serve, for the teachable class of the feeble-minded young, although the latter institution receives the unteachable also, while the State institution at Rome cares for the unteachable, idiotic class only. Between these institutions stands the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women at Newark, which retains the feebleminded in custody during the child-bearing age. The number of idiotic and of feeble-minded, of both sexes, under care in the four institutions mentioned, on October 1, 1898, was as follows: Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-minded Children.. 540 406 Rome State Custodial Asylum, at Rome... 342 New York City Institution, on Randall's Island....... 470 This gives the number of idiotic and of feeble-minded already under care in the institutions named, but by no means covers the number requiring such custody. The pressure from every section of the State for admittance to these institutions is very great, and no adequate provision exists to meet this want. In order to present this subject in an exact manner, a careful census of the number of idiotic and feeble-minded still held as subjects of county care in the almshouses of the State, was made by the late Dr. Charles S. Hoyt, Superintendent of State and Alien Poor. examination, completed in December, 1898, shows that 838 idiotic and feeble-minded cases in almshouses are yet to be provided for under State care. These cases are troublesome to the several institutions of which they are inmates, and do not there receive the custodial care necessary not only to their protection, but to that of the public. To provide for them, extensive additions will be necessary to the State institutions named or another State institution must be established. The latter alternative is preferable for several reasons. First. That the proposed institution may provide for a more equitable distribution of these cases from the several districts of the State. Second. That such institution can be mainly custodial and thus allow of a further and more complete classification of these cases throughout the State than is now possible. In connection with the first point it is a fact that the counties of New York and Kings contribute about sixty per cent. of the amount required annually for the maintenance of the idiotic and the feeble-minded of the State, and yet, the only public institution for the care of these cases located in this part of the State is maintained by the city of New York. The State institutions to which these wards in the eastern counties are sent are situ ated in the central and western parts of the State, and this requires the transfer of the great majority of the cases in such eastern counties to these distant points. A large part of the State is thus very inadequately provided for. An institution, custodial in character, and established in an eligible locality in one of the eastern counties, should be devoted to the care of the idiotic and unteachable, leaving the institution at Rome to provide for the same class in the remainder of the State. Such an institution, in a convenient and healthful locality, would, with proper economy and forethought, involve less outlay, for the simple, custodial structures required, than the cost of additions to existing and, in some cases, expensive, buildings already constructed for some of the institutions for this class of cases. The new work would be simply that of construction while any great extension of the accommodations at existing institutions would involve many costly changes. The Board would, accordingly, recommend the division of the State into two districts for the idiotic, and provision made equally for the mentally-defective poor of each division. A careful census of this class of inmates of the almshouses of the counties justifies such a division and the establishment of another such State institution. The eastern district should comprise the counties of Sullivan, Orange, Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, New York, Kings, Queens, Richmond and Suffolk. The remaining counties of the State would be included in the western district. This ar rangement would provide for the idiots and feeble-minded of each half of the State, according to population. In order to show the above facts clearly the following tables are appended: Table No. 1. Showing the number and sex of the idiotic and feebleminded inmates of the almshouses of certain counties of the State, to constitute the "Western State Custodial Asylum District." Albany County Almshouse. Onondaga County Almshouse. |