USA > Connecticut > Tercentenary pamphlet series, v. 3 The Beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Connecticut > Part 39
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sanctity of the individual's right to live by providing the necessities of life through public charity." The contract system under which the towns had maintained almshouses or farmed out their poor to the lowest bidder became un- lawful under legislative act on January 1, 1887. Although the state forbade selectmen to contract for the care of town poor, the state itself continued for some time to con- tract for the care of state paupers.
As time has gone on charity has become less sentimen- tal. It has been learned that self-reliance in the individual is of great importance to the state. Impaired health, how- ever, has created the need for so much charity and cor- rection that whatever the state has accomplished toward protecting the health of its citizens-it has accomplished much-has been and is of immeasurable value both in preventing and in remedying indigence. Furthermore, by legal enactments and administrative measures, there has been developed a practical and uniform system for the care of the indigent through governmental agencies. The towns of Connecticut are responsible for the care of the indigent who have settlement therein : the state is charged with the responsibility for the others, and for this pur- pose has operated through the department of state agencies and institutions. This department, which was created in 1919, was merged with the department of pub- lic welfare in 1935. The former department was sub- divided for administrative purposes into the widows' aid division, the state aid division in charge of state paupers, and the division of institutions responsible for the col- lection, from those liable, of the charges for maintenance of inmates in institutions. Industrialized Connecticut found it necessary to expend in 1934 over $1,500,000 for the support of state paupers, over $700,000 for widows' aid; and the towns in the state had to expend over
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$10,000,000 for the support of their poor. A commission to study the pauper laws was approved by legislative act June 21, 1935, and directed to report its findings to the next ensuing session of the general assembly.
Various methods have been used in administering aid to outside poor, but an act passed in 1884 required over- seers of the poor to keep full and accurate records of the paupers fully supported, of the persons relieved and par- tially supported, and of the travelers and vagrants lodged at the expense of the respective towns. Fifty-three of the one hundred and sixty-nine towns in the state maintain almshouses. The remainder assist their needy in hospitals or boarding homes. The almshouses and licensed board- ing homes for the aged are under the supervision of the office of the commissioner of welfare. The advisability of consolidating the almshouses of several towns to the end of assuring better care for the poor has long been under consideration, and a system of district welfare homes was recommended in the 1932 report of the Connecticut com- mission to investigate the subject of old-age pensions. The state department of public welfare had previously recommended similar enabling legislation. Nevertheless, no action has been taken, and this problem still awaits solution.
The welfare activities of the state were coordinated on July 1, 1935, by a merger of the department of public wel- fare with the department of state agencies and institu- tions to which had been added a bureau of old-age assist- ance. These activities were consolidated under the ad- ministration of a commissioner of welfare and a public welfare council. The most important duties of the council are to approve appointments of subordinates by the com- missioner and to collect information relating to state charities.
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The general assembly of 1935 passed an old-age assist- ance act for citizens not receiving institutional care, who attain the age of sixty-five, and who have not sufficient means to support themselves. An annual tax of $3 was imposed on persons between twenty-one and sixty years, and $35,000 was appropriated to defray the expense of administration until the tax should become due on April I, 1936.
Private provision for the aged includes forty denomi- national, nonsectarian, and fraternal institutional homes. The oldest is the Widows' Home in Hartford established in 1854 as the gift of George Beech. The newest is the Bradley Home for the Aged in Meriden which was incor- porated in 1935. War veterans are cared for at Fitch's Home for Soldiers and Sailors at Noroton Heights, which was taken over by the state in 1887. As no provision was made for women at the home in Noroton, the Women's Relief Corps Home was founded at Cromwell to care for disabled veterans of the Civil War with their wives. The number of guests at Cromwell has dwindled to nine aged widows of Civil War veterans, but the population at Noroton rose after the World War and, additional space being necessary, a new site has been purchased at Rocky Hill. Fitch's Home is conducted under combined state and national auspices. The state also gives financial aid to veterans' widows and dependents.
IV
THE hospital is said to be one of the earliest known chari- table institutions. The oldest institution for the care of the sick in Connecticut is the New Haven Hospital, for- merly called the Connecticut State Hospital. It dates back to 1826 or 1827, was used as a military hospital dur- ing the Civil War, and afterward received such soldiers
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and sailors as the state or the port of New Haven might send to it. In 1892 the number of patients treated was 1,031 from ninety-one different towns and thirteen other states. Then, medical and surgical care was entirely free, and the cost for board was only partly met in the case of the poor of towns by annual appropriation by the state. Even now, each general hospital is dependent on the special arrangements that it may be able to make with the town, the county, and the state to reimburse itself for the care of those unable to pay their own expenses. For its part, the state customarily appropriates to each hospital an annual allowance proportioned to its capacity. These appropriations for 1935-37 total $738,500. As a consequence of this unsystematic and inadequate arrange- ment nearly every hospital finds itself compelled to make yearly appeals for public subscriptions to meet current expenses.
The Hartford Hospital, second to be organized in the state, was incorporated by legislative act in 1854 and established three years later. Medical and surgical care were free there also as late as 1892. The Bridgeport Hospi- tal, chartered in 1878, but not established until twenty- three years after the Hartford Hospital, permitted the patient to select his own physician under certain condi- tions, including paying for his services. There were in 1935 in Connecticut thirty-three state-aided general hospitals which cared for 112,306 patients during 1932. They are inspected by the office of the commissioner of welfare. Since 1927 private hospitals other than those caring for insane, tubercular, or maternity patients have been licensed by the state department of health. The New Haven Hospital started a training school for nurses as early as 1873 and the Hartford Hospital began a school four years later. Each offered a two-year course of instruc-
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tion. At present such schools are being conducted with a three-year course in many hospitals in the state.
In 1903 the state appropriated funds for care of tuber- cular patients at Wildwood Sanatorium opened in 1902, and Gaylord Farm, a state-aided sanatorium at Walling- ford, was opened in 1904. It was not until 1907 that Gover- nor Woodruff was authorized to appoint a commission to investigate means to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. Two years later authority was given to erect sanatoria in each county of the state as necessity should arise. Such institutions were established in Hartford, New Haven, and Fairfield counties in 1910. A fourth state sanatorium was established at Thamesville in 1913. A fifth for the treatment of tuberculosis of the bones was started at Niantic in 1920, but a new plant has been built at Water- ford which is a real sun-cure sanatorium-the only state institution of its kind in the country. From 1925 to 1935 appropriations for operation of these sanatoria amounted to over $17,000,000. They have a combined total capacity of 1673 patients. To the tuberculosis administration the state has appropriated $3,083,678 for capital outlay and maintenance in the biennium 1935-37.
The Connecticut board of health was established in 1878 and reorganized into the state department of health in 1917. Subsequently, the following bureaus were added to the department: preventable diseases, sanitary engi- neering, laboratories, vital statistics, venereal diseases, child hygiene, public health nursing, mental hygiene, and public health instruction. Connecticut was one of the three earliest states to establish the practice of making physical examination and health inspection compulsory for public school children.
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V
THE care of the mentally sick is a separate problem. Though it is still far from the goal, Connecticut has long realized that it is a matter of public concern and govern- mental responsibility to provide not only suitable reme- dial treatment but also adequate preventive measures. Even though mental disorder was then still regarded as demoniacal possession, there is record of public provision for the care of an insane person in New Haven in 1645. In 1699 the general assembly of the colony passed "An Act for Relieving Idiots and Distracted Persons," providing that the town selectmen were obliged to furnish care for insane persons who had no responsible relatives. After 1727, persons "under distraction and unfit to go at large" might be sent to the colony workhouse.
Public attention was called to the need of proper care of the insane by the State Medical Society in 1812. The society at that time appointed a committee to ascertain the number of lunatics in the state. Inquiry made of the clergy in the various towns produced unsatisfactory re- sults. A second census was attempted in 1821 and plans for an insane asylum were drawn up by the Reverend Thomas Robbins of East Windsor, Dr. Mason F. Cogs- well of Hartford, and others. The next year the general assembly, held at New Haven, passed an act establishing a "Retreat for the Insane." There were then more than 1,000 insane persons in the state and subscriptions of about $12,000 for the Retreat were obtained. Any sub- scriber paying $200 might at all times name one indigent patient to be received upon the most favorable terms. The governor of the state was authorized and requested to grant, annually for five years, a brief soliciting contri- butions for the benefit of the institution. A grant of
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$5,000 was obtained from the state and a site selected for the institution in Hartford. The expense of the origi- nal building was not to exceed $12,000. The successful establishment of the Retreat was largely due to its first superintendent, Dr. Eli Todd.
The institution still operates on the original site-a 35-acre tract. Selectmen may still send town charges there. The Hartford Retreat is one of the three oldest of its type in North America, and is said to be the oldest established by physicians in America. It has been com- pletely reorganized since 1931, and is now considered one of the most progressive hospitals in the country for the care of mental patients.
An attempt was made to establish a state institution in 1839 when it was alleged that there were 800 destitute insane persons in the state. The legislative committee, appointed to make inquiry, reported in 1840 in favor of a site of forty-eight acres in Middletown at a cost of $5,800, but no action was taken. In 1844, however, an appropriation of $10,000 was made to the Hartford Retreat to assist in the erection of more buildings. Two years later the state was supporting about one hundred patients at the Retreat. Twenty-two years passed before it was decided that a hospital for the care of the insane should be established by the state. Trustees appointed under the act met in 1866, and accepted a tract of 150 acres donated by the city of Middletown. The hospital was opened for the reception of patients in 1868. It now occupies 900 acres of land.
The first building was a four-story structure accommo- dating 200 patients. The building is still in use. It was crowded beyond capacity at the end of the first year. The population had increased to 345 in 1870 and 62 appli- cants had been refused admission, so more money had to
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be appropriated for buildings. By 1884 there were 450 inmates, crowding the increased facilities provided, and there was a waiting list of 80. Additional buildings were erected from time to time, but demands for admission have continued to exceed accommodations. There were 3,17I in the hospital on December 31, 1935. A second state hospital was provided for at Norwich, where a site had been offered in 1903. It was opened to receive patients the next year. The word "insane" was removed from the title of both hospitals in 1919. It was not until 1929 that a third state hospital was established at Newtown in Fairfield County. In 1933 Middletown had a daily aver- age of 3,189 inmates with normal accommodations for 2,321, and Norwich had 2,771 with a normal capacity of 2,645. Fairfield State Hospital was caring for 500 at the close of 1935, but plans have been made for an eventual capacity of 2,500.
Dr. Henry M. Knight was a member of a commission to ascertain the number and needs of idiots in the state in 1856. It so happened that the effort to secure a legis- lative appropriation failed at that time, but Dr. Knight was so impressed with the needs of the feeble-minded that he opened a house for their care, starting with one pupil in 1859. By 1862 twenty-five imbeciles were under his care. The school was incorporated and the trustees, aided by small state appropriations, bought land and buildings in Lakeville, where in 1892 there were accom- modations for 128 pupils, 100 of whom were state bene- ficiaries. Shortly before his death Dr. Knight saw pro- visions for the decent care of the feeble-minded enacted into law.
The state established an epileptic colony at Mansfield in 1909, and in 1915 it was decided to sell the Lakeville property, which had been acquired by the state two years
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before, and to transfer the feeble-minded to Mansfield. The transfer was accomplished in 1917, and the care of the epileptics and feeble-minded was consolidated in the Mansfield State Training School and Hospital. The capacity of this institution was 1,200 in 1935. The legis- lature in that year created a commission to select and purchase a site upon which to build an additional state hospital and training school for the feeble-minded, and $150,000 was appropriated for this purpose.
The legislature of 1929 established the division of men- tal hygiene in the department of health, for the subject of mental hygiene has been said to be "the most important single problem in the entire field of public health and social welfare." A conspicuous Connecticut attainment has been the founding of the pioneer Society for Mental Hygiene by Clifford Whittingham Beers in New Haven on May 6, 1908. It was organized following the publica- tion of his book, A mind that found itself, and from the Connecticut society have grown national and inter- national foundations. On June 30, 1935, there were 6,545 persons in Connecticut state hospitals for mental diseases, not including private institutions. The population of the state was then estimated somewhat more than 1,700,000. The state appropriated $2,500,000 for Fairfield State Hospital in February, 1931. The cost to the state for maintenance of the insane and feeble-minded for the fiscal year 1934-35 was over $2,500,000.
Some of the earlier private hospitals for the care of mental diseases have been discontinued, notably Spring Hill at Litchfield, established in 1847, and Kensett in Norwalk, started in 1886. Elmcroft, opened at Enfield in 1888, continues to operate. All such private hospitals were required, after 1897, to procure a license from the governor.
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The authority to license private hospitals for the treat- ment of mental diseases was taken away from the gover- nor and given to the state department of health beginning July 1, 1935, but the duties of the public welfare council in regard to supervision were not changed. On June 4, 1935, the general assembly approved the creation of a commission to prepare and recommend a program for more efficient prevention and treatment of mental dis- eases.
VI
IN 1817, due to the initiative of Dr. Mason F. Cogswell of Hartford, the general assembly appropriated $5,000 to found an asylum for the deaf and dumb. This institu- tion, which was located in Hartford for over a hundred years, is the oldest school for the instruction of the deaf in the United States. The instruction was placed in charge of Thomas H. Gallaudet, who had prepared for the work by special study in Europe. An act of the fifteenth con- gress of the United States, approved March 3, 1819, granted to the asylum a tract of land equal to a township. This land, located in the Southwest, was sold, and the proceeds are applied to the use of the institution. More recently the Connecticut legislatures of 1919 and 1921 appropriated $500,000, so that a better site in West Hart- ford and a new building were obtained in 1922. The daily average of pupils present in 1934 was 235. Beginning in 1872, the state had supported some deaf-mute children at the Whipple Home School in Mystic, but in 1919 the state purchased the institution and renamed it the Mys- tic Oral School for the Deaf, since its pupils are taught lip reading and acquire speech rather than the sign lan- guage. There was a total of 116 pupils at the school in 1934, and a normal class for teachers in the oral method is
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maintained. There were 568 deaf mutes in the state in 1930.
A state board of education for the blind, the oldest commission for the blind in the United States, was es- tablished in 1893. To date, over 700 blind persons have been educated by the state, and many of the 1,854 now on the register are being helped by the state. During the last quarter century, with state help, the Connecticut Institute for the Blind has erected school buildings in Hartford and a trades department in Wethersfield. Much preventive work has been done, particularly since 1921, and great advances have been made in home teaching, in sales work, and in general social service.
VII
IN earlier days the care of children was not regarded as a state problem, but in more recent times Connecticut has recognized its responsibility. One hundred years ago two homes for orphans came into being in the state. The New Haven Orphan Asylum was incorporated in 1833 and the Hartford Orphan Asylum in the same year. Children who were public charges were cared for in almshouses, as a general rule, but the City Missionary Society of Hartford particularly objected to the idea of children in alms- houses, and was instrumental in persuading the state to appoint a commission in 1882 to make inquiry into the question. As a result of this inquiry five county homes were organized in 1883 and three more in 1884. The number of children committed to the eight county homes from 1884 to 1935 was 15,818.
When the county homes were first opened lay people placed out the children and supervised them, but since the establishment of the bureau of child welfare within the state department of public welfare in 1921, trained social workers have been employed for that purpose. A
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number of the members of the City Missionary Society of Hartford favored foster-home placement for children in preference to the county-home idea, and therefore founded the Connecticut Children's Aid Society in 1892. Since 1921 this society has confined its activities to placing out children, and to adjusting them in their own homes, cooperating with both public and private agencies all over the state. The society now has an average of 300 children a year placed out in foster homes, and assists in adjusting in their own homes between 600 and 800 chil- dren annually.
The Newington Home for Crippled Children was estab- lished by the Connecticut Children's Aid Society in June, 1898, and was under the direction of that society until July, 1921, when it became a separate institution. From time to time the state has appropriated over half a million dollars for buildings at the Newington Home, for many of the crippled children are state beneficiaries. The chil- dren admitted must be of sound mind, for the care given at the home includes general education as well as correc- tive therapeutic and surgical treatment. There are facili- ties at the home for 200 children, including a ninety-five bed hospital.
Formerly children who violated law were tried in crimi- nal courts, but with the passage of the Juvenile Court Act in 1921 children offenders are now heard in separate courts or in chambers, and, in the larger cities, have been provided with their own probation officers. In addition to supervising state wards, the commissioner of welfare also licenses private boardinghouses for children, and carefully investigates the giving of children in adoption. The second child welfare commission, appointed in 1931, made many recommendations to the legislature of 1933 which failed to become law, but the measure sponsored
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by the commission, proposing that neglected and uncared- for children under six years old be committed to the charge of the bureau of child welfare, has become law.
The problem of providing physical care for children seems to have been solved, and attention is now concen- trated on the provision of proper mental care-a problem which has not been solved so well. Prevention rather than correction must be the principle of action. The present trend is toward foster homes and away from institutional care, toward skilled individual attention to children needing special care. The visiting teacher is at work in Connecticut, and social responsibility is recognized in the state for the protection of children of illegitimate birth. A board of priests was organized in the interests of de- pendent Catholic children in 1910, and this board em- ployed a child-welfare worker to cooperate with state authorities three years later. The Diocesan Bureau of Social Service, which has a child-welfare department, was established in 1930 with headquarters in Hartford and seven branch offices in the state.
VIII
THE first meeting of the National Conference of Charities and Correction in 1871 was the result of the desire of the Connecticut state board of charities and corresponding departments in eight other states to discuss questions of common interest.
An act, creating a commission to study the functions of the state government and recommend reorganization of the state departments to the next general assembly, was passed by the legislature on May 8, 1935. It is pos- sible that the report of this commission may involve significant changes in the organization of the state's sys-
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tem of managing charities and corrections as well as in other departments.
Since the financial crisis of 1929, Connecticut, in com- mon with other states, has had to meet extraordinary demands for relief of the unfortunate. The governor appointed a commission to investigate unemployment and discover means of alleviating the serious situation in 1931, but the depression continued, and the general assembly, at its 1933 session, designated the Emergency Relief Commission as the state agency to apply for federal assistance and to promote efficiency and effective- ness in the local distribution of relief. The 1935 legisla- ture continued the commission during the emergency period.
Compared to other states, Connecticut has maintained much of its traditional self-sufficiency. For its conduct of relief work, Connecticut may well take pride in its pre- eminence among the states of the nation during the economic and social crisis of 1933. It was foremost in the country, for it carried 89.5 per cent of its relief burden for that year. It accepted only 10.5 per cent of federal aid, which was the minimum among the states-twelve others received more than 90 per cent of their relief funds from federal sources. Though Connecticut received larger amounts from federal funds in 1934 and 1935, it continued to rank among the few states that provided a large per- centage of their expenditures for relief work. Considering the dense cosmopolitan population of the state, it is remarkable that no serious disturbances have marred the orderly procedure of life. In the matter of corrections, a national authority has commented that while "the prac- tices and institutions in Connecticut may not all be 'accord- ing to Hoyle,' it is notable how well they work." While the problem of dealing with lawbreakers is not yet solved,
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