Library Collections: Document: Full Text

OFFICERS.

SUPERINTENDENT:
G. A. DOREN, M. D.

MATRON:
MISS ALVIRA WOOD.

ASSISTANT MATRONS:
MRS. I. WHITE,
MISS E. E. RADWAY.

HOUSEKEEPER:
MRS. M. A. YOUNG.

TEACHERS:
MISS S. P. YOUNG,
MRS. O. M. SAWTELLE,
MISS M. F. COZZENS,
MISS E. J. BALCH,
MISS M. E. COOK,
MISS L. PETHERAM,
MISS IDA KIPP,
MR. JAS. EGGENBERGER.

STEWARD:
B. N. EASTMAN.

IN CHARGE OF NEWARK BRANCH ASYLUM.
MR. AND MRS. C. C. WARNER.

IN CHARGE OF FAIRMOUNT FARM:
MR. AND MRS. S. S. RAINE.

TRUSTEES.
ALLEN MUNROE,
GEORGE F. COMSTOCK,
FREDERICK D. HUNTINGTON,
FREDERICK HYDE, M. D.,
NATHAN F. GRAVES,
ALFRED WILKINSON,
FRANK HISCOCK,
GEORGE B. SLOAN.

STATE OFFICERS -- Ex-officio TRUSTEES:
GROVER CLEVELAND, Governor.
DAVID B. HILL, Lieutenant-Governor.
JOSEPH B. CARR, Secretary of State.
IRA DAVENPORT, Comptroller.
WILLIAM B. RUGGLES, Supt. of Public Instruction.

PERMANENT CHAIRMAN:
FREDERICK D. HUNTINGTON.

SECRETARY AND TREASURER:
ALLEN MUNROE.

EXECUTIVE COMM1TTEE.
A. WILKINSON.
NATHAN F. GRAVES.
FREDERICK HYDE.

STATE OF NEW YORK.

IN ASSEMBLY,
JANUARY 15, 1884.

THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE NEW YORK ASYLUM FOR IDIOTS.

To the Legislature of the State of New York:

Agreeably to the provisions of the act establishing this institution, the undersigned trustees respectfully submit this their Thirty-third Annual Report.

RESOURCES FOR THE YEAR.

CLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURES.

On current expense account of the New York Asylum for Idiots, for year ending September 30, 1883.

From an examination of the books of the asylum we are able to report that on the 30th day of September, 1883, there were outstanding obligations and cash assets, in the following amounts:

OUTSTANDING INDEBTEDNESS, SEPTEMBER 30, 1883.

ASSETS, SEPTEMBER 30, 1883.

There are enough supplies on hand to balance the excess of liabilities over assets.

The appropriation required for support for the coming year will be $63,000, the number of pupils accommodated being increased over those cared for heretofore. For the same reason, the appropriation for the custodial department should be $18,000. The number now under care requiring these amounts based upon the expenditure of this year.

The loss sustained by this institution in the death of Dr. Wilbur is well known to the public. A part of this report has been devoted to his memory, to which all interested in good works are referred.

The duty of securing a competent physician of experience, as successor to our lamented superintendent, was of the highest importance. Extensive correspondence was had with those specially interested in this great charity, and a committee visited several asylums for the purpose of obtaining larger knowledge of those in charge.

Page 2:

Dr. G. A. Doren, for twenty-three years superintendent of the Ohio State Asylum, was unanimously selected, and we congratulate the State on his acceptance.

The recommendations for the farm at Fairmount made in our last report are renewed; the want is still more pressing, and we urge that that sum be reappropriated ($10,000).

This institution was occupied nearly thirty years ago. No appropriation has ever been made directly for repairs -- those pressing and absolutely necessary having been made from the ordinary fund. The total amount expended annually for all purposes has been low, notwithstanding. The natural decay worked by time, to say nothing of wear, renders a considerable amount of repair necessary to prevent waste, as well as for the safety and comfort of the inmates. Another fear also oppresses us, and that is, the exposure of this institution to the dangers of a fire. In connection with the repairs necessary to be made, we urge that all possible precautions be taken to render the buildings secure, and to facilitate escape in the case of fire, or an alarm from fire. The terrible and frequent lessons experienced by the absence of these provisions, in the case of strong men and women, will enable all to imagine the horrors of a fire at this institution in its present condition. Estimates based upon well-considered plans have been made, and we urge the appropriation for these purposes of the sum of $42,500.

This institution now has in charge, including the branch at Newark, about five hundred persons, one hundred and forty of whom are in a rented building. We, therefore, recommend that an appropriation be made to purchase land and provide safe and economical buildings for the accommodation of as many imbecile persons as the State shall determine. The number that should be provided for at once is not less than four hundred and fifty.

F. D. HUNTINGTON,
N. F. GRAVES,
ALLEN MUNROE,
ALFRED WILKINSON,
F. HYDE,
GEO. F. COMSTOCK,
FRANK HISCOCK,
GEORGE B. SLOAN.

TREASURER'S REPORT.

ALLEN MUNROE, Treasurer of the New York Asylum for Idiots, in account current with the State of New York, for cash received and expended for the general supplies, and the salaries and wages of officers, teachers, attendants and servants of said asylum, during the year ending September 30, 1883.

RESOURCES FOR THE YEAR.

DISBURSEMENTS.

NEW YORK ASYLUM FOR IDIOTS, SYRACUSE, N. Y., October 10, 1883.

We certify that we have examined the above statement, with tables annexed; have compared it with the treasurer's books and with the various books kept at the asylum, and the bank book, as also the vouchers for the moneys expended; and find the same correct.

N. F. GRAVES, ALFRED WILKINSON, F. HYDE, Executive Committee.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.

To the Trustees of the New York Asylum for Idiots:

GENTLEMEN -- The annual report of the affairs of this institution for the year ending September 30, 1883, is respectfully submitted:

MOVEMENT OF POPULATION.

The causes of death were: Consumption, 2; congestion of lungs, 1; pneumonia, 1; diarrhoea, 1; total, 5.

Of those discharged, fourteen have been removed by friends; five because they received all the benefit which they were likely to derive in the department for their training, and have been dismissed to make room for those of whom improvement is hoped for; five were insane; four have been removed to the Newark branch. It is deemed proper here and in this connection that the recommendations of my honored predecessor, and indorsed by this board of trustees, and which has also been recommended by the writer in another field of labor and there successfully applied, should now be renewed in behalf of custodial and industrial departments for this class. With the application of intelligent and humane efforts for the betterment of the helpless and dependent classes, the feeble-minded are recognized, and efforts for their relief applied by sending them to an institution organized for their improvement, not only from families, but from local and public charitable institutions. With the death of parents and guardians, these would, with the public beneficiaries, drift back to the alms-house to a certain extent, thus undoing the good that has been done, and possibly increasing, rather than diminishing, the public burdens. The remedy for all of this is simple. The gentle isolation and insulation of all of the class in institutions organized for their care and protection, and having them contribute to the extent of their capacity to their own support. To this end, that which has been commenced and pursued wisely enough as an experiment in behalf of custodial care of both sexes in connection with this institution should now take permanent and enduring form. The experience of the writer in this field of labor, already alluded to, warrants this positive recommendation. For this purpose, nothing in that experience proved so beneficial and elevating to the children as productive farm and garden labor. In the co-operative work of such an establishment, the work is not confined by any means to one sex, nor is the entire breadth and depth of human sympathy and charity reached in such cases until efforts for their relief and elevation go beyond simply feeding, clothing and the development of their mental capacity, unless they are also trained to habits of industry and to systematic and productive labor. In the cases of those who have homes to go to, their presence will not be a burden to themselves and their friends. Others will be capable of self-support; still others will be left to the care of the public, and by careful training can be made happier by regular labor, and contributing that much to their own support, it being but just to have them accomplish whatever they can in this direction as well as humane to give them definite occupation. Much more might be said upon this subject, but with the facts before the public, a given number of dependent ones to be cared for, it will only be a question as to the best way in which to do it. This has been fully answered for the girls at the Newark branch of this institution, where a cheerful and happy family demonstrate that it is a more humane provision in behalf of this class to gather them into such a shelter than to permit their exposure to the vicissitudes of life outside, possibly to increase their kind. Each instance a monument of neglect of society, and criminality of individual members thereof. It is further answered in the case of the boys at Fairmount, where a happy colony of working boys are each day performing the labor assigned them. This family or department is capable of indefinite enlargement, its limit being facilities for employment and accommodation for the children. All of the work of extensive farming and gardening can be well done by them, and the products so ordered that they may be used in the institutions. The interchange of labor and co-ordination of work suggest vicinity of location of the several departments, to say nothing of the facility of administration, economy and careful oversight.

Page 3:

There are certain repairs and improvements which were contemplated by my predecessor which are necessary for the comfort of the household. They consist of the enlargement and raising of the rear central part of the north building. The construction of water-closets and baths for same. The provision for the north wing oft additional dormitory and other needful room for the particular class of children there accommodated. For the main or original building much in the way of repairs is necessary. The stairs and considerable of the flooring and ceiling require replacing. If this is to be done, and it should be done to prevent waste, I would most respectfully urge that it be made as far as possible fire proof, the doors and ceilings, to prevent spread of fire, and the stair-ways should be of non-combustible materials, and made in such manner as to secure escape in case of fire, or panic from a fire alarm. The laundry and bakery, which were built for a much smaller household than we have at present, also require repairs and additions for the economy and comfort of the establishment. The same is true of the internal water service. Estimates for this work are herewith submitted.

On every hand, turn where we may, the results of the conscientious and painstaking work of the late Dr. Wilbur are manifest in the wisdom and forethought of the provisions made for this class at this institution, and to one unfamiliar with the hopes and fears for the future of all of the helpless and dependent classes of this world, experienced by the charitable heart that has arranged it, there has been left a record at frequent intervals of his recommendations. It has been his mission to plant, as it is that of others to water, that those who are in need may gather according to their wont from the most beautiful of all growths -- charity. He having been a pioneer in the work, and the executive of this department of charity of the State, the administration thereof has been like that of a wise physician or surgeon, conservative, demonstrating and diagnosing accurately the existence of disease, studying carefully its form and pointing out its treatment with wisdom and success to the point of more radical treatment in the dealing with it according to its extent, when he was cut off in the full tide of his usefulness and experience, and before the execution of plans for the further relief of community at large in the care and training of these unfortunates. Other and younger communities, profiting by his experience, have been able to provide more thoroughly for this class, and monuments to his disinterested and conscientious work have been built to him by them. It will, therefore, be in no spirit of change, but rather in furtherance of his plans that a coordination and extending of the benefits of this institution to the limits of the wants of the people of this great State, that recommondations -sic- for increased accommodations and facilities are made.

This institution now accommodates three hundred and forty (340) children at Syracuse, and one hundred and forty (140) at the Newark branch. The United States census reports in the year 1880 a total of 6,084 persons of this class in the State of New York. The census also reports 14,111 insane persons in a population of 5,082.871. The same census reports in the State of Ohio 6,460 feeble-minded, and 7,286 insane, in a population of 3,198,062. Or in other words, there are classed as feeble-minded in the State of Ohio 376 more persons in about three-fifths the population of the State of New York. There are over twice as many insane enumerated in New York than of feeble-minded, while the same report makes the number of the two classes about the same in Ohio. There are undoubtedly many feeble-minded persons classed as insane in the census reports for this State, as the relative number of the class are about equal everywhere. If all of the children of this class could be reached in this State, the number of the feeble-minded would probably exceed that of the insane. In dealing with the questions of pauperism, public health and crime this is a class whose condition cannot be ignored, and it is important that the condition be recognized in childhood rather than later, and that they be searched out in the family, in the alms-houses, orphanages and other refuges, and every means applied during the early years of their lives to the highest mental and industrial development, that they may lead productive and honest lives to the extent of their capacity rather than suffer the neglect they now endure, retaliating upon society by increasing their kind, and whose increase will in their turn burden the community, with their care if helpless; or in the interchange of infirmities of this condition compel their conviction and custody as petty criminals. If there be any obligation toward any, it is certainly equally strong toward all. And if the capacity of this institution be doubled for the training and development of young children it will scarcely meet this pressing want. The necessity for the admission of imbecile children whose parents were in this condition before them is waste of this provision, for the reason that this source of unfortunate life could and should be prevented by the custodial care of such cases. A sufficient number of cases will always tax the care of the public where the causes that have lowered the vitality of parents of average mental strength predisposing their children to imbecility, to say nothing of the accidents to infancy and childhood, without this seeming organization for the propagation of this condition by systematic neglect or exposure of its unfortunate subjects. The condition of an idiot mother of a number of bastard children, for whom refuge is sought by an alarmed community, is no less pitiable than the pleadings of a mother for the protection of an imbecile daughter whose ruin is apprehended, or the same plea urged by the thoughtful officers of orphanages, who have brought their wards to the age of discharge, and which is really that of the greatest danger to themselves as well as the community that neglects them. The remedy for all of this is the increase of the capacity of this institution in its training department which will prepare them for useful and industrious lives to the extent of their capacity. Thus doing away altogether with the cost of care in many cases and lessening it greatly in others to friends or to the public, if the latter is required to care for them. A great change can be made in nearly every case. The noisy and rude can be made quiet and orderly. The filthy can be made neat and clean in their persons and habits, and the feeble of limb can be taught to walk; the dumb to speak and sing; a large proportion to spell, read, write and draw. They can learn something of geography and still more in regard to the objects about them. The girls can learn to sew and do housework, and the boys to work in the garden and on the farm, while some will succeed in various mechanical employments. By skillful and patient training they can be taught good manners, good habits and to acquire self control, their mental and moral improvement keeping pace with improvement of their physical condition. What has been actually accomplished elsewhere may be thus formulated: sixty-nine per cent learn to work: seventy-four per cent learn to read and write; forty-three per cent make useful progress in arithmetic. All are improved in personal habits. With this result rewarding their early care and training, surely the burden of care later in life is greatly reduced by relieving their care-takers in the family and restoring them to the body of workers, and in the care of the public so preparing them that they can, not only care for themselves, but actually assist in the care and support of the younger and helpless of their class. No matter how much the individual may be elevated or improved, however, we do not feel nor believe that they should ever be encouraged to assume the social relations of life as the mentally strong. The transmission of their infirmity seems certain in any case. It should, therefore, be the duty of their stronger fellows to so direct their lives that the unsymmetrical shall not be called into existence. They should be gently isolated and insulated, their lives rendered happy and useful by careful development, seeing to it, however, that their infirmities pass away with them.

Page 4:

It should be remembered that there are latent qualities of mind to be seized upon, that will respond intelligently, if the instrument is taught to convey the requisite impressions. Opposite opinions cannot prevail in the minds of those who will give the subject a moment's thought, for it will be apparent that the mind, in itself, cannot be subject to the accidents and diseases of this life, for such a belief would be at variance with that which is prized by man above all else -- the hope of the immortality of the soul. The perishable part may be so imperfectly developed, or become so diseased, that it will fail to perform, in any degree, its offices, yet all will agree that the mind is intact, and that the idiot, whose mind is incased, as it were, possesses an immortal part as precious in the sight of Him who noteth even the fall of a sparrow, as that of one who wields a nation's power by the force of a mighty intellect. This subject has been regarded in this light by the State, which, in providing for this feeble portion of her children, is best following the lesson of the "one talent" carrying out the spirit of this people, that all within the State shall be educated, including special means for those who are beyond ordinary methods.

There has been expended already for buildings and lands for this institution, $214,300, or a cost of $612.29 for each person accommodated. As the census reports, taken four years since, show how inadequate this accommodation is, to say nothing of the actual experiences at this institution, an amount, equal to that already expended, will more than double the present capacity of the institution, and properly adapt the additional buildings to those now occupied. The proposed buildings can be made fire-proof within the sum named, and buildings of no other kind should be constructed for so helpless a class. If a comprehensive plan be adopted, it can be worked up to from year to year until the whole is accomplished.

The present buildings should be placed in a thorough state of repair and safety from fire. No appropriation has been made for repairs since the organization of the institution. The amount now required is too great to be taken from the general expense fund, and an appropriation for this purpose is respectfully urged. While making these repairs, certain precautions should be taken to protect the lives of the inmates from fire, also for the protection of the buildings; for the first, fire-proof stair-ways; for the second, fire-proofing ceilings and floors. Experience all over the world shows the necessity and humanity of such precautions.

The many additions that have been made to meet the pressing necessities of the times have made all arrangements and appointments different from the original design. A comprehensive plan, therefore, that will, while accommodating those who so need the benefits of the institution, restore the symmetry of organization and administration, greatly adding to the progress, comfort and happiness of the inmates by facilitating care and oversight, is a necessity.

Respectfully submitted,
G. A. DOREN,
Superintendent.

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE.

The committee of the board of trustees charged with the special oversight of the custodial branch of this institution herewith present their report of its affairs

The following are the statistics for the year:

The causes of death were as follows:

The object of the Legislature in establishing this department of this institution was the protection of adult female idiots and imbeciles. The cost of caring for this class in this institution is no greater than in the county poor-houses of the State. To this should be added the many advantages in the separation from other dependent, and frequently vicious classes from whom they require protection that cannot be had in the alms-houses. The lessening of the burden upon the public by limiting the number to be cared for, rather than encouragement to increase their kind by such exposure. The number of this class requiring protection is much greater than has been supposed, and is by no means confined to the alms-houses. They are entitled to training in their youth and to the safeguards that will secure to them the happiness and comfort of well-ordered, industrious lives. And it will be a sufficient return for such guardianship and care that they yield their quota to their own support, live a controlled life separated from the dangers that beset those who are in their mental condition. Their industrial capacity should be exercised fully for their own happiness, and then the reduction to a minimum of the cost of care and support will be realized. A considerable number of the class are capable, and under the direction of those interested in their progress, and responsible for their care, can accomplish much more than their own wants require. In the provision for the entire class in buildings near each other and with proper organization, all of this capacity can be thoroughly utilized. The products of the farm, garden and a certain class of shops being so ordered as to find entire use in the institution, the labor being performed by the boys. The girls performing their proportion of work that is appropriate to their sex, under the care and instruction of those required to attend them, even if permitted to live in a state of idleness. If trained to regular labor the number required to care for them need not be increased. Thus the strong and vigorous of adult age cannot only contribute to their own, but to the support and care of the more feeble of their fellows whether children or adults. For these and other reasons the custodial department should be in the immediate vicinity of the parent establishment, that all may be coordinated to the common object, the highest possible development in each case and the firm establishment of influences for improvement over all that pervades it. As a class they never stand still and are either growing better or worse. They can and should grow better. The elevating influence of their vicinity to the educational department and the softening influence of contact and association under proper conditions with little children in that department will be certain to have the effect that has been seen in experience elsewhere, and to be without these is a privation to them that should not exist, because unnecessary. Finally, it will be much less expensive, and can with a less expenditure furnish more of happiness, comfort and growth than otherwise. There should be procured more land near the educational institution, upon which should be constructed plain and substantial buildings adapted to the purpose, so arranged that others may be added as the wants of this class are provided for from time to time. This provision will in no way increase the burden for their care, for in most cases it is now being borne and must continue and possibly be increased. The cost of maintenance will be no greater. The cost for construction less.

Page 5:

Mr. and Mrs. Warner continue to discharge their duties in a manner that commands approval.

The following is a summary of

RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS.

Receipts.

Disbursements.

Cash Assets.

N. F. GRAVES,
ALFRED WILKINSON,
FREDERICK HYDE,
G. A. DOREN,
Special Committee in charge of the Custodial Asylum.

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, HELD AT THE ASYLUM, MAY 5,1883.

On motion of Mr. Wilkinson, Bishop Huntington was called to the chair. After remarks offered by the chairman relative to the death of Dr. Wilbur, a motion was made by Mr. Hiscock that a committee of three trustees be appointed, of which Bishop Huntington should be chairman, to submit resolutions to the board, expressive of the loss to the institution of its superintendent.

The chairman named Mr. Hiscock and Mr. Munroe to act with him as the committee.

Subsequently the committee, through the chairman, submitted the following preamble and resolutions, which, on motion of Mr. Graves, were unanimously adopted and ordered published and spread upon the minutes:

The trustees, meeting immediately after the grave has closed over the mortal part of our late associate, the superintendent of this charity, are oppressed not only with the sense of the great public calamity befalling the institution in his death, but with the sorrow of a personal bereavement. For the first time in its history the asylum is without its wise and strong head, its far-seeing founder, its efficient and judicious administrator, the master of all its multiplied activities and weighty interests. We miss, with heavy mourning, his inspiring presence, his radiant countenance, his uniformly cordial and courteous welcome, his clear and concise reports of his doings and his plans, and the contagious enthusiasm of his spirit in the great enterprise of his life. With all these manifold tokens of his signal power and skill around us on every side, it is not easy to realize that he is dead. Nothing but the Christian faith which constantly guided his own course, and satisfied his heart, can enable us to look with composure on his sudden departure from this scene of his living energies, attachments and successes.

With equal grief and gratitude we recall Doctor Wilbur's singularly beneficent career; the generous dispositions and genial manners of his youth; the early conception in his mind of the form of philanthropy, then scarcely known to the scientific world, which occupied all his after years; the steady growth of that fruitful idea, in clearness and comprehensiveness, till it became the passion and pursuit of his manhood, the man and the cause growing to maturity together; the patient zeal in him that overcame obstacles and waited cheerfully for final victory; the constant enlargement of his views by study, travel, keen observation and careful experiment; the widening, from first to last, of his intellectual vision, both in his distinctive and chosen science and in several related branches of sanitary and social reform; the persuasive appeals and convincing arguments by which he prevailed with the Legislature, with the public and with scholars; the firm hold he kept on the confidence of State officers and changing political administrations; his industry, his tact, his discretion, and the fertility of his resources; the permanent value of his frequent documentary contributions to the improvement of medical knowledge and practical measures of humanity, both in this country and abroad, giving him a more than national reputation; and, crowning perhaps all his other accomplishments and abilities, his inexhaustible devotion to the suffering objects of his care, making every poor, dark-minded, friendless child, every unsightly and dull pupil, not less than every helper or instructor in the establishment, marvelously attractive to his mind and dear to his affections.

Page 6:

Moved by these memories, the trustees adopt and place on record the following resolutions:

1. That in this hour of bereavement, we recognize in Hervey Backus Wilbur, M. D., the originator, and the leader through all its history hitherto, of this great public benefaction, and that we commend his distinguished services to the honor of its friends and supporters in all time to come.

2. That we pay a united and hearty tribute to him as a fellow-laborer and fellow-citizen, a philanthropist and patriot, a student and a teacher, a Christian gentleman and friend.

3. That we respectfully offer to his family our tender sympathy, congratulating them on the heritage of his name and character, and asking for them the comfort and protection of the Father of all the families of the earth.