61ST CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ( DOCUMENT 2d Session. No. 765. LAWS RELATING TO THE COMMITMENT OF INSANE TO GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR INSANE. LETTER FROM THE ACTING SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, TRANSMITTING A COPY OF A COMMUNICATION FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR SUBMITTING AN ESTIMATE OF APPROPRIATION FOR EXAMINATION OF LAWS RELATING TO COMMITMENTS TO THE GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. MARCH 9, 1910.-Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, copy of a communication from the Secretary of the Interior, of the 7th instant, submitting an estimate of appropriation in the sum of $12,500 for the expenses of a commission to examine into the laws relating to the commitment of insane to the Government Hospital for the Insane, and the ascertaining whether additional accommodations are required at that institution, etc. Respectfully, CHARLES D. HILLES, Acting Secretary. The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: I transmit herewith an estimate in the sum of $12,500 for the expenses of a commission to examine into the laws relating to the com mitment of insane to the Government Hospital for the Insane and the ascertaining whether additional accommodations are required at that institution, et cetera, and have to request that the same be forwarded to Congress with a view to its favorable consideration. Very respectfully, The SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. R. A. BALLINGER, Secretary. Estimates of appropriations required for the service of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1911, by the Interior Department. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. Commission to examine into the laws relating to commitment of the insane to the Government Hospital for the Insane To enable the President of the United States to appoint four persons, two of whom shall be physicians, skilled and recognized alienists, one of whom shall have had experience in the care of the crimina! insane; one shall be a criminologist and one a resident of the District of Columbia, who, together with the Assistant Attorney-General for the Interior Department and the Superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane, shall constitute a commission to examine into the laws and practice governing the commitment of insane persons to the Government Hospital for the Insane, the transfer thereto of insane criminals and of persons charged with crime becoming insane while in the custody of the officers of the United States; the housing and care of such incompetent persons; and ascertain whether additional accommodations are required, and, if so, the character and extent thereof, and submit a report of the results of its examination, together with recommendations as to what, in its judgment, may be necessary to relieve present difficulties and adequately provide for the future. In connection with its investigation, commission may visit and inspect such hospitals and prisons outside of Washington as it may deem necessary. No compensation in addition to their present salary shall be paid to the Assistant Attorney-General for the Interior Department and the Superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane; they will, however, be allowed and paid from the moneys hereby appropriated the necessary expenses incurred by them in connection with work on the commission. For the purpose of carrying out the foregoing provisions, including the compensation of the commissioners, which shall be fixed by the President, and the expenses of the commission, there is hereby appropriated the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. The report of the commission provided for above shall be completed and submitted to the President on or before the first day of December, nineteen hundred and eleven, and a report thereof, together with an itemized statement of the expenses incurred hereunder, shall thereafter be duly submitted to Congress (submitted)... $12,500 NOTE. The estimates transmitted to the department by the superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane, May 12, 1909, carried the total of $704,000. In pursuance of the policy adopted by the department to reduce the estimates to the lowest figure consistent with good administration, items aggregating $332,000 were eliminated from the above-mentioned estimates, and the estimates for this department as transmitted provided for the total of $377,300 of money for the maintenance of the Government Hospital for the Insane for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1910. Subsequently the superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane, after conference with the board of visitors of the institution, transmitted a new estimate in the sum of $470,000, which items were: For the construction and equipment of an epileptic group, to accommodate For the purchase of additional land for the Government Hospital for the $160,000 ... 100,000 For a new dairy barn, with the necessary roadways and grading, and the extension of heat, light, and water systems.... 50.000 160,000 For a new building for the criminal insane to accommodate 120 prisoners. The first three items represent those which were eliminated from the estimates as first presented. In view of the above facts, the Secretary made a personal visit to the institution, examined the conditions there, and as a result of his investigation was forced to the conclusion that the time had arrived when preparation should be made to accommodate the increased population of the hospital, which is bound to follow as a natural sequence. The approxi At the present time this hospital embraces approximately 800 acres. mate cost of the plant, including the buildings and grounds, is $4,500,000. The number of patients under treatment February 26, 1910, aggregated 2,872, and the officers and employees in connection with the hospital numbered 785, making an aggregate population on that date of about 3,657. This aggregate, however, is subject to change. Between 1900 and 1905 approximately $1,500,000 was spent for the erection of new buildings, etc., in the hospital extension. The additional space thus acquired is at the present time all in use, and it is only a matter of a very short time until the natural increase will again subject the hospital to overcrowding with its attendant evils in an institution of this kind. The Government Hospital for the Insane now cares for insane persons from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Revenue-Cutter Service, civilians employed in the Quartermaster's, Pay, and Subsistence departments of the army, persons from the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, insane inmates of the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers throughout the United States, the Soldiers' Home at Washington, D. C., the insane of the District of Columbia, insane persons charged with offenses against the United States and in the actual custody of its officers, and all persons who have been or shall be convicted of any offense in a court of the United States and are imprisoned in any state prison or penitentiary of any State or Territory and who during the term of their imprisonment have or shall become and be insane. The existing laws governing the commitment of these various classes of insane persons to the hospital do not adequately meet present conditions and need radical revision. Under the present laws, in the commitment of the insane from the District it is necessary to try each case in open court and in the presence of a jury. The necessity for such course is of doubtful propriety, as it can only have the effect of humiliating both the patient and the patient's relatives, and has a deleterious effect upon the condition of the person whose mental status is under investigation. In a majority of the States, the presence of the party whose insanity is to be inquired into in court is discretionary with the court, and likewise the trial by jury is in the discretion of the court. Persons not residents of the District are frequently arrested, tried, and convicted of vagrancy and other misdemeanors, sentenced for short periods in one of the correctional institutions of the District and thereafter becoming insane, are transferred to the Government Hospital for the Insane, and their relatives being unknown they become a perpetual charge on the United States. The law providing for the transfer to this institution of persons charged with crime in the custody of federal officers or after conviction likewise needs revision. During the period when Indian Territory was practically under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, it was customary, because they had no place in which to confine the insane in that Territory, to transfer persons committing minor or other offenses in that district on the slightest evidence of temporary mental aberration to the Government Hospital for the Insane; and even at the present time United States prisoners, convicted in various sections of the country and serving short sentences, becoming temporarily insane or mentally incompetent, are at once transferred to the government hospital; whereas, if they had been cared for in the district in which the crime was committed, after the serving of the sentence they would be immediately turned over to the custody of those charged with the care of the insane in the community of which they were legal residents, and the United States be not charged with their care and treatment. After very careful consideration of all the circumstances, and as a result of conferences had between officials of the Interior Department and officials of the Department of Justice, and representations which have been made by the superintendent of the Government Hospital for the Insane, indicating that conditions surrounding the commitment of the insane have been handled most satisfactorily in some of the States by the appointment of a commission, the conclusion has been reached that before any further appropriation is requested for the acquisition of additional land and the erection of further buildings, that a thorough study of this institution, together with the laws governing the admission of patients thereto from all the several sources, should be made by a commission of men thoroughly equipped and whose judgment upon matters of this kind should be of very great weight. 2d Session. No. 766. SUITS RELATING TO ALLOTTED LANDS, FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. LETTER FROM THE ACTING SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, TRANSMITTING A COPY OF A COMMUNICATION FROM THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL SUBMITTING AN ESTIMATE OF APPROPRIATION FOR SUITS RELATING TO ALLOTTED LANDS, FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES. MARCH 10, 1910.-Referred to the Committee on Appropriations and ordered to be printed. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, copy of a communication from the Attorney-General, of the 1st instant, submitting an estimate of appropriation in the sum of $50,000 for suits for removal of restrictions, allotted lands, Five Civilized Tribes, to take the place of the estimate for like purpose on page 442 of the Annual Book of Estimates for 1911, submitted in the sum of $25,000. Respectfully, CHARLES D. HILLES, The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, SIR: I have the honor to request that the following estimate be reported to Congress at once for inclusion in the estimates for the sundry civil bill for the next fiscal year: Suits to set aside conveyances of allotted lands.—For the payment of necessary expenses incident to any suits brought at the request of the Secretary of the Interior in the |