Volume 5 — THE MERCIFUL INSTITUTIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA.

BY PROF. CHAS. J. LITTLE, PH.D., State Librarian of Pennsylvania.

The State of Pennsylvania makes generous provision for her poor—or, since one half of the inmates of her alms-houses are foreign born, it will be better to say, for the poor within her borders. In the twenty counties of the state in which there are no alms-houses, and where the poor are cared for under the township system, there are expended perhaps $300,000 annually. How the poor are cared for under this wretched system, it were perhaps better not to inquire too curiously. In the remaining counties of the state there are sixty-one alms-houses, the total cost of maintaining which amounted in the year 1883 to $1,296,945. In addition to this sum, these same counties spend a quarter of a million of dollars in what is called “out-door relief.” Much of this latter expenditure is, judging from the report of the Commissioners of Public Charities, sheer waste.

These sixty-one alms-houses of the state shelter 8,630 inmates, of whom 2,328 are women, and 1,024 children. In the year 1883, 1,739 inmates of the alms-houses were reported insane. By act of the last legislature children over two years of age are excluded from the county alms-houses, and insane persons are ordered to be removed to the state hospitals. Unfortunately, the legislature neglected to appropriate the money necessary to carrying out this reform, and as a consequence, there has been serious trouble, and probably not a little suffering throughout the state. It would not do to speak of all these sixty-one alms-houses as merciful institutions. Some of them are branded by the Commissioners of Public Charities as abodes of cruelty; others, as breeding places of vice and immorality; others still as utterly inadequate, both in building and management, to the purposes of their existence. Among those thus branded are the alms-houses of two of the richest counties of the state—Chester and Cumberland. On the other hand, many of these institutions are worthy of all praise, the taxpayers having spared no expense in the erection and equipment of the buildings, and the management being intrusted to conscientious men and women.

In addition to this provision which the state has made for the poor within its limits, there are numerous private institutions for the care and comfort of the adult poor. There is, for instance, in Reading, a “Home for Aged Widows and Single Women,” which, at present, contains eleven inmates, its full capacity. Many more seek the benefits of this institution than can be accommodated in the two story brick dwelling which has been built expressly for its purposes. In Philadelphia there is a “Home for Aged Couples,” containing twelve inmates; an “Old Man’s Home” in West Philadelphia, containing 65 inmates; the “Penn Asylum for Indigent Widows and Single Women;” the “Maypother Home for Women;” a “Home for Infirm Colored Men and Women;” and the “Edwin Forrest Home for Aged and Infirm Actors.” These are undenominational. They are supported, partly by admission fees, which are required of those receiving the benefits of the various homes; partly by the property conveyed to the homes by the inmates, but chiefly by contributions and bequests of benevolent individuals.

The Roman Catholic Church supports, through the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, “Saint Ann’s Widow’s Asylum,” to which widows over fifty years of age are admitted; they also have a “Home for the Aged Poor,” under the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which has at present some three hundred inmates. Christ Church, Philadelphia, has a “Home for Aged Women,” as have also Saint Luke’s Church, in Philadelphia, and Saint Luke’s Church, Germantown. There is also in Philadelphia, a “Home for Aged and Infirm Methodists,” with accommodations for one hundred men and women.

Under the Constitution of 1873, the legislature is forbidden to appropriate any monies to denominational or sectarian institutions, no matter how large their scope, or how unsectarian may be their benevolence. But there is nothing to forbid generous appropriations to such homes for the aged and infirm as are not under denominational control; yet the managers of such institutions should bear in mind that in order to secure any help from the state, they should make report of their workings to the State Board of Public Charities. Next to the institutions for the adult poor, it will be best to consider the large provision which has been made both by the state and by private individuals for the care of children; especially for the care of orphans. First of all stands that magnificent network of charities which covers the entire state—

THE SOLDIERS’ ORPHANS’ SCHOOLS.

For these the total appropriations have been, in round numbers, eight millions of dollars. They were begun in 1865, and have therefore been in operation nearly twenty years. These homes may be divided into two classes: first, the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Schools and homes, of which there are twelve—three in Philadelphia, and the remainder in other parts of the state; and secondly, homes which have undertaken the education of soldiers’ orphans, but which are not exclusively devoted to that work. There have been admitted to these schools since the establishment of the system, 13,011 children; and there were in school on the 31st of May, 1883, 4,630 children, of whom 1,931 were girls. In the report of John W. Sayers, special inspector and examiner of orphan schools, it is stated that “the schools are fully up to all reasonable expectations; splendid work has been done, and is still being accomplished for the best interests of the scholars.” By the Extension Act of 1883, these schools will be continued until June 1st, 1890, at which time Pennsylvania may rest satisfied that she has discharged some of her debt toward her deceased soldiers in no ungenerous fashion. The schools will, by that time, have cost the state nearly ten millions of dollars; a sum which no citizen of the Commonwealth will begrudge to the children of the men whose bones are scattered from Gettysburg to the Gulf of Mexico.

Next in order to the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Schools is the magnificent charity of Stephen Girard, known throughout Pennsylvania, and throughout America, as “Girard College.” This institution, in its buildings, in its general equipment, in its corps of teachers, is one of the most remarkable in the world. The buildings were erected at an expense of two millions of dollars; subsequent additions have largely increased this original outlay. But the property and funds now in the hands of the Girard Trust amounts to nearly ten millions of dollars, and is administered with great care and intelligence. The gross revenue of the Girard estate in 1883 amounted to $931,295. By the will of Mr. Girard this college is for the benefit of poor white male orphan children. The first preference being given to orphans born in the city of Philadelphia, the second to those born in other parts of Pennsylvania, the third to those born in the city of New York, and the fourth to those born in the city of New Orleans. No child can be admitted before the age of six, nor after the age of ten. At present the institution contains 1,104 pupils. Under the will of Mr. Girard no attempt can be made to give these boys what is sometimes spoken of as “higher education;” the shrewd old merchant thinking it much wiser that they should be apprenticed to trades than that they should be turned into the world without capital to make a living by their wits.

Mrs. Eliza Burd, of Philadelphia, in the year 1848 founded a home for girls, which was handsomely provided for in her last will and testament. This institution, which is under the care of Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Burd was a member, is situated in West Philadelphia, and is one of the finest charities of the city. The grounds are extensive, the buildings are very fine, and the results thus far achieved have been of a most satisfactory character. In addition to these orphan schools there are in Philadelphia nineteen asylums for orphans and abandoned children. Some of these, like the Northern Home and Southern Home for Friendless Children, are undenominational. Others of them, like the Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and Jewish orphanages, are sectarian, and thus excluded from state aid. Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church has more homes of this character in different parts of Pennsylvania, than all other denominations taken together. In Philadelphia alone they have “Saint Joseph’s Female Orphan Asylum,” in charge of the Sisters of Charity, “Saint John’s Orphan Asylum,” in charge of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, “St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum,” at Tacony, an “Asylum for Italian Orphan Children,” “The Catholic Home for Destitute Orphan Girls,” “St. Vincent’s Home,” which cares for children who are under five years of age, and two magnificent orphanages in West Philadelphia. Indeed, it is difficult to know the exact extent of Roman Catholic charities of this kind in our state. Excluded by law, as are all sectarian institutions, from any participation in the public funds, they make no reports to the public authorities, and not accustomed to appealing to the general public for aid, their workings are known only to the members of their own communion. In the city of Pittsburgh the Roman Catholic Church has four Orphan Asylums, the United Presbyterian Church has an Orphan Home, the Episcopal Church has a Home for Orphan Children and Aged Women.

There is also a Protestant Orphan Asylum, and a Colored Orphan Asylum in the same city. There are homes for orphans in Beaver, in Berks, in Huntingdon, in Lancaster, in Perry, in Schuylkill, in Susquehanna, in Luzerne, and in York counties, other than those which are maintained by the Roman Catholics. A third kind of provision for the poor is

THE TEMPORARY HOME.

Some of these are for friendless girls, for the time without occupation and without roof to shelter them; some of them are for those who have strayed from the paths of virtue, and who require the special care of those who have the courage and the Christian faith to deal with this phase of human wretchedness.

Of the first class we may mention: “The Western Temporary Home,” which is a shelter for those too weak to go to work, “The Boarding Home for Young Women,” and a “Home for the Homeless;” and of the second, “The Howard Institution,” under the care of an association of women Friends, for furnishing shelter, food and clothing to poor outcast women, and “The Midnight Mission,” which has for its object the rescue and salvation of fallen women. Here might be included the Inebriate Asylums, such as “The Franklin Reformatory,” whose object is the recovery of drunkards to decent society. A peculiar charity of this kind is a “Temporary Home for Children,” which is designed to lighten the burden of parents whose circumstances are such as to prevent the proper care of their offspring. The number of children in this home is at present sixty-one; and the institution seems to be accomplishing a good work.

Allegheny City has a “Home for the Friendless,” somewhat similar to the one just described. In this home one hundred and twenty-five children are receiving care and support at the present time. It is impossible to do justice to the charities of Pennsylvania, in an article of limited extent; many of them can not be enumerated at all; some of them can only be mentioned; and hence I shall make no attempt to estimate either the cost of these charities or the value of their results. And much, in any event, would of necessity remain untold. No record is possible—at least, no earthly record—of the prayers, the anxieties, the thoughtfulness, the patient persistence of the men, and especially of the women, who sustain these charities with their energies and their love. Whilst others are helplessly bemoaning the evils of large cities, these faithful servants of him who went about doing good are quietly, but efficiently, working to rescue and save a soul from darkness, and a body from pollution. Every large city has its devouring eddies into which drift hundreds of thoughtless and ignorant creatures every year. Every large city in this state, let us thank God, has also its brave and earnest Christian souls who are ready to run no small risks, and to make no small sacrifices, if, peradventure, they may save a soul.

PROVISIONS FOR THE INSANE.

There are five Insane Hospitals in the State of Pennsylvania, under the control of the state, located respectively at Harrisburg, Danville, Dixmont, Norristown and Warren. The total expenditures of these five hospitals for 1883 amounted to $711,666. In addition to these there are “The Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane,” “Philadelphia Hospital for the Insane,” “The Friends’ Asylum for the Insane,” located at Frankford, near Philadelphia, and the “Training School for Feeble Minded Children;” the four latter involving an annual expenditure of nearly $400,000. The total number of insane confined in these institutions is 5,338, of whom 4,361 are indigent patients supported at the expense of the state. When the act of the legislature, already alluded to, shall have taken full effect, the total number of insane patients in these hospitals will reach at least 7,000. “The Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital” at Harrisburg was founded in the year 1848, and since that time the total amount appropriated by the state is $1,110,929. The district entitled to the benefit of this hospital is composed of sixteen counties, with a population of nearly one million; and the capacity of the hospital is only sufficient for twenty-seven per cent. of the insane persons resident in the district. “The Western Pennsylvania Hospital,” at Dixmont, was founded in 1855. The total amount appropriated by the state since that time is $1,022,128. In addition to what it has received from the state, this hospital owns 373 acres of land, which were paid for entirely by private contributions. The district in which this hospital is located is composed of thirteen counties, with a population of 900,000; and the hospital has accommodations for only twenty-two per cent. of the insane residents within the district. “The State Hospital for the Insane” at Danville was founded in 1868, and has received in appropriations from the state, $1,408,900. The district in which it is located is composed of twenty-one counties, with a population of 800,000; and the present capacity of the hospital for seven hundred patients, is sufficient for fifty-four per cent. of the insane residents within the district. “The State Hospital for the Insane” at Warren was founded in 1873. The total amount appropriated by the state since that time is $1,125,000. The district in which it is located is composed of ten counties, with a population of about 400,000 inhabitants. Its present capacity is six hundred, which is eighty-seven per cent. of the insane residents of the district. “The State Hospital for the Insane” at Norristown was founded in 1876. The amount appropriated by the state since that time is $9,616,846. The district within which it is located is composed of seven counties, with a population of 1,300,000. Its present capacity is eight hundred and four; that is for only thirty four per cent. of the insane residents of the district. “The Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane” is located in West Philadelphia, the hospital grounds covering 113 acres, upon which are erected two buildings, one the department for males, and the other the department for females. This is the institution which has become known throughout the country by the name of its long-time chief physician and superintendent—Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride. Although it has frequently received aid from the state, it is not a state institution. From the opening of this hospital up to 1882, the number of patients admitted was 8,673. Of these, 7,052 were residents of Pennsylvania, the remainder coming from all parts of the United States, Central and South America, and some few from Europe. The total annual expenditures for both departments during 1882 was $182,000. “The Friends’ Asylum,” at Frankford, has long been known in the eastern part of the state as a well conducted and generously managed institution.

It has at present about one hundred patients, all of whom are supported by their friends. “The Philadelphia Hospital” contains 617 patients, of whom 332 are female. Under what is known as “The Hoyt Lunacy Act” of 1883, the supervision of hospitals for the insane, both public and private, will be much stricter than it has ever been heretofore. That act was intended to remedy many of the evils which are constantly occurring in the treatment of these sorely afflicted people. A special committee of the Board of Public Charities is charged with its execution, which committee is composed at present of Philip C. Garrett, Henry M. Hoyt, Thomas G. Morton, E. Coppee Mitchell and W. W. H. Davis, whose names are a guarantee that the insane of Pennsylvania will be treated with scrupulous care, and that no sane man or woman need any longer dread that one form of incarceration which is worse to the healthy minded than either the prison or the grave—incarceration among maniacs. Akin to these institutions for the insane is the Training School for Feeble Minded Children, located at Media. This institution was founded in 1853, and has received from the state since that time the sum of $723,498. It also receives contributions from neighboring states, in return for which the children of contributing states are admitted to its benefits. The number of pupils now in the school is 428, of which about 200 are from the State of Pennsylvania. The total annual expenditure of this school amounts to $109,829.

HOSPITALS FOR THE BLIND AND THE DEAF AND DUMB.

The most noted of these is “The Institution for the Instruction of the Blind,” located in Philadelphia. The buildings of this institution are valued at $183,000; its funds and investments at $266,773. The average number of pupils in the institution for 1883 was 178; and the average number of state beneficiaries 145, for which the state granted the sum of $43,500.

There are also located in Philadelphia two working homes for the blind—one for men and one for women—into which are received many of the graduates of the Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. In the home for men there are eighty-five beneficiaries; in the home for women there are forty. The purpose of these institutions is, as far as possible, to offer employment and not alms; to make its inmates independent, so far as their disability shall permit. There is an Institute for the Deaf and Dumb located in Philadelphia, and a Western Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, located about twelve miles east of Pittsburgh. In the former of these institutions there are about 300 pupils; in the latter about 102. To the former the state appropriates $78,000 annually. For some reason, unknown to me, the appropriation of $40,000 asked from the legislature by the latter last session was not granted.

HOSPITALS FOR THE SICK AND THE INJURED.

The one purely state hospital in Pennsylvania is “The Anthracite Hospital,” located at Ashland. This is intended for the coal and mining regions, in which injuries are of such frequent occurrence. Unfortunately, this was not opened for the reception of patients until November, 1883; but already upward of forty-one patients have been admitted, and are receiving the benefit of medical care and treatment. Of institutions not under the control of the state, the most famous is probably “The Pennsylvania Hospital,” located in Philadelphia. Round this have grown up a number almost as famous—the splendid “University Hospital” in West Philadelphia, “The Orthopedic Hospital” for the treatment of nervous diseases, the Presbyterian and Episcopalian Hospitals, the Jewish Hospital, the new Stewart Hospital, founded by a distinguished Methodist physician of Philadelphia, the Wills Hospital for diseases of the eye, the Howard Hospital for Incurables, and the Children’s Hospital for the relief of sick and suffering children.

In addition to these are the “Preston Retreat,” one of the most touching charities of Philadelphia, and the “Maternity Hospital,” which has been founded to rescue unfortunate women in the terrible extremity into which their sin has driven them. Outside of Philadelphia there is the splendid hospital recently opened at Harrisburg, “The Western Pennsylvania Hospital,” “The Mercy Hospital” of Pittsburgh, the Hospital of Wilkes-barre, the Hospital of Scranton, the Reading Hospital, “The St. Joseph’s Hospital” of the same city, the “St. Luke’s Hospital” of Bethlehem, and the “York Hospital,” of York, Pa. The work of these hospitals it would be impossible to describe within the limits of an article like this. The patients within their walls not unfrequently receive, gratuitous, treatment equal to that for which the rich must pay enormous prices.

But it should be mentioned in this connection that in Philadelphia there are two Homes for the Training of Nurses, physicians having long since discovered that their skill and industry is frequently thwarted by the ignorance and incompetence of ordinary nurses. The women who are admitted as pupils to these homes must pledge themselves to the work for which they are prepared. They are taught by lectures, and by actual work in the sick room, how to handle and care for the sick; and when their education is completed their names are placed upon a register, so that those desiring trained nurses may secure them by application to the matrons of these establishments. A more important charity hardly exists within the state.

This article may be fitly closed by reference to those institutions which are founded for the care of children afflicted with that which is worse than disease—with a tendency to crime. Of these there are two now in operation—the House of Refuge in the city of Philadelphia, and the Reform School at Morganza, Washington county, Pa. The House of Refuge expends annually about $130,000, and the Reform School about $190,000. The total number of inmates in the House of Refuge is 671, and of the Morganza School 339, making an aggregate of 1,010. Perhaps there is no sadder chapter in the report of the Board of Public Charities than that relating to these schools. The statistics deserve careful study, and show how unwarranted are many of the assertions constantly made about the criminal classes. For instance, nearly one-half of these children are of American parentage, and of the 490 children committed, only 24 could read and write well; whereas only 125 were absolutely illiterate. Two hundred and eighty-five were committed for that which is set down in the statistics as “incorrigibility.” It would be curious to know just what this means, and whether, after all, the real fault was not chargeable to the parents rather than to the child. I can conceive of nothing more terrible than that which I fear lurks underneath this item.

There is now being erected at Huntingdon an

INDUSTRIAL REFORMATORY

To which all male criminals between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, sentenced for the first time, shall be committed. The purpose of this Reformatory is, if possible, to save to society youthful criminals. The jail and the penitentiary only harden the offender, and turn him forth hopeless, helpless, revengeful, and in his own terrible language, “To get even with the society which has punished and destroyed him.” Ex-Governor Hoyt, whose large mind and generous heart are only fully known to those who have close personal intercourse with him, was strongly impressed during his administration with the defects of our treatment of the criminal classes. He made himself a thorough master of the literature bearing upon this subject, and became an ardent, even enthusiastic advocate of the reformatory system; and during his administration, and since his administration, has done his utmost, in public and private, to further the completion and the opening of this institution, which, it is hoped, may be ready for occupancy at an early day.

Pennsylvania, which spends such large sums for its poor, which pours out its thousands for its insane, its sick and its afflicted, may well afford to spend even millions for the reformation of its criminals, many of whom are quite as much sinned against as sinning.