8-113-1928 REPORT ON THE ALIEN INSANE IN THE CIVIL 27-11-20 To His Excellency, Honorable Martin II. Glynn, Governor of the The following study, made by direction of Hon. John A. Dix, former governor of the State of New York, deals with one important part of the general problem of lessening the burden of insanity in our commonwealth, namely, the problem of the alien insane, and is based upon: 1. Public hearings at the State hospitals for the care of the. insane. 2. Public hearings in the cities of Albany and New York, at which hearings were examined hospital superintendents, representatives of charitable organizations, private citizens, the chief examiner of the Bureau of Deportation and his assistants, the representatives of the various steamship companies which bring immigrants to this country, and representatives of foreign govern ments. 3. Statistics of the nativity and citizenship of every patient in our State hospitals obtained from a special census taken September 4. Investigation with reference to the following topics: I. Provision for and cost of maintenance of the insane in the State of New York. II. Increase of insane patients in the State hospitals compared with increase in general population. III. Nativity and citizenship of the insane in the State hospitals. IV. Nativity, parentage and citizenship of admissions to the State hospitals. V. Nativity and parentage of the insane and of the population in New York State. VI. Nativity, parentage and insanity in New York State and the United States. B.J. VII. Time of aliens in United States before admission to the State hospitals. VIII. Cost of caring for the alien insane. IX. Some of the causes of existing conditions. X. Eugenic effects. XI. Attitude of other states. XII. Suggestions received. This commission was appointed to examine into the questions relating to the alien insane in the civil hospitals of the State of New York, in order to ascertain existing conditions, the causes thereof and to suggest remedies therefor. While these problems of the alien insane are intimately connected with immigration it should be clearly borne in mind that the general subject of immigration is entirely without the province of this investigation. The great benefits which this country has derived from immigration, the relation of immigration to social, industrial, econo mic and other problems and to phases of the public health other than the prevalence of mental diseases and kindred topics are not embraced within the scope of this inquiry. The results of the investigation of the above mentioned topics are as follows: I. PROVISION FOR AND COST OF MAINTENANCE OF THE INSANE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK The State of New York maintains sixteen hospitals of which fourteen, under the general management of the State Hospital Commission, are devoted exclusively to the care of the civil insane and two, under the control of the State Superintendent of Prisons, to the care of the criminal insane. The valuation of the lands and buildings of the civil hospitals as appraised by the State Comptroller (Mohansic excepted) during the years 1911-12 and the personal property of these institutions, as estimated by the several superintendents in their reports of September 30, 1912, together with the number of patients under treatment on September 30, 1912, are shown in the following tables. During the period from 1900 to 1912 the expenditures for additions and betterments to the various civil hospitals and for the maintenance of the insane were as follows: During the year ending September 30, 1912, alone, the cost to the State of New York for actual maintenance of the patients in its fourteen civil hospitals was $6,240,882.01; for new buildings, additional lands, repairs, improvements, etc., $955,887.56, and for general administration, including inspection, deportation of aliens and scientific research, $163,766.86, making the huge total of $7,360,536.43. The enormous increase in annual expenditures shown in detail in the foregoing table was necessitated not alone by reason of the gradual rise in the cost of attendance and provisions in recent years, but also because the insane cared for in the State hospitals have increased. II. INCREASE OF INSANE PATIENTS IN THE STATE HOSPITALS COMPARED WITH INCREASE IN GENERAL POPULATION The total population of the State of New York, as given by the Federal Census Bureau was: The insane in civil hospitals of New York State for the same period were: In 1890 14,952 In 1900-22,088... 47.7 Total.. In 1910-30,445. Per cent of increase of insane 37.8 3.9 111.5 Chart B shows the foregoing graphically. The insane cared for in the civil hospitals have increased proportionately much more rapidly than has the general population of the State. This is readily apparent from the foregoing comparisons. * Estimated. |