Library Collections: Document: Full Text

For the first four years the average number of pupils was forty; during the next ten years the average number was one hundred and twenty-five; during the last ten years the average number was probably one hundred and fifty.

Very few have come to the asylum in a positively vigorous state of health; many have come much diseased and enfeebled. During the whole twenty-four years there have been but sixty-one deaths.

The schools, the domestic affairs, the out-door operations, and, in short, the general administrative affairs of the asylum have been conducted in a manner to command the unqualified approbation of the undersigned trustees:

JAMES W. TITUS,
FRANKLIN TOWNSEND,
ALLEN MUNROE,
LAKE I. TEFFT,
LYMAN CLARY,
GEO. F. COMSTOCK,
F. D. HUNTINGTON,
E. W. LEAVENWORTH.
(JOHN BIGELOW,
NEIL GILMOUR,) -- Ex-officio Trustees.

To the Trustees of the New York Asylum for Idiots:

GENTLEMEN -- I herewith submit a report of the affairs of the institution of which I have the immediate charge, for the year ending September 30, 1875.

The whole number of pupils connected with the asylum during that period was 216.

The average attendance for the school-year of 48 weeks was 210. Of this number 180 were state pupils. The remainder were pay pupils, either in full or in part of the actual cost of their maintenance and instruction.

The actual cost for board and instruction of each of the above average number of pupils in attendance was a little less than $200 a year.

Accordingly, the charge for full-pay pupils from the state of New York has been but $200 a year, with two exceptions. The two exceptions named have been cases requiring special attendance. For the few pay pupils from other states, in the asylum, the charge has been $250 per annum, to meet the actual cost of maintenance, and a reasonable charge for rent.

It will thus be seen that there has been no disposition on the part of the management to speculate out of the misfortunes of any of its citizens. The aim has always been to keep down the current expenses of the asylum to as low a point as was consistent with the well-being and proper training of the pupils. By so doing the interests of the tax-payers have been protected on the one hand, and on the other, no family has been reduced to indigence by the effort to keep a child in the asylum at an exorbitant rate of payment.

Wealthy persons naturally seek to place their children in private asylums. As a rule, therefore, the pupils in this institution are from families in moderate circumstances, from indigent families and from the very poor. Many of the pupils were a public charge before coming here. Many came on application of county superintendents of the poor. Of these last the great majority would ultimately become a public charge, because of their mental incapacity or the fact that they were either whole or half orphans. The general dependent social condition of our pupils will, perhaps, be as well illustrated by the following statement as any other:

In our last report to the board of state charities, of the 196 pupils from the state of New York, 56 were whole orphans and 84 half orphans, leaving only 56 who had both parents living. Of the whole number, 196, 92 were children of native and 104 were children of foreign parentage.

The degree of improvement in the condition of the pupils, resulting from their residence in the asylum, will in a large measure inure to the benefit of the public, in their diminished helplessness and unproductiveness, if they become the future wards of the state or the several counties. Of many of them it might be said that, out of their dependence and incapacity, will be developed some degree of self-care and productiveness.

During the year past four deaths have occurred. Three of these were from pulmonary consumption; the fourth from congestion of the lungs. But in this case an investigation revealed the existence of tuberculous disease of the lungs. Aside from these cases, there has been almost no sickness among the pupils. The site of the institution is a healthy one, and the diet and regimen seem to be well adjusted to the needs of the class for whom they are provided. The total number of deaths for more than 24 years in the history of the asylum has been but 61.

The present capacity of the asylum buildings is about 220, depending a little upon the ages and sex of the pupils. During the last year it has been nearly full, and the present year there will doubt-less be no vacant beds.

In accordance with the efforts of the state board of charities to get the children out of the county poor-houses, the superintendents of the poor of the several counties have sought to obtain admission for idiot children now in their charge in the county poor-houses. This has been met by the management of this institution to the extent that the state provision would allow.

The county authorities are also anxious to rid the poor-houses of other idiots who are too old for instruction, and yet need management and care other than that afforded by the county poor-houses. It has become quite obvious that the present state provision in the way of buildings for the reception of teachable cases of idiocy is no longer adequate.