Iowa
Old Press
Nashua Reporter
Nashua, Chickasaw, Iowa
February 8, 1900
A man named Spencer and wife, near Lobelia, insane over
religion, offered their babe as a human sacrifice and held it
naked in the yard until it froze to death. Neighbors interfered
to prevent the parents from committing suicide. Spencer's feet
and hands were badly frozen.
Legislative Doings
In its last report the board of control made several suggestions
to the most efficient and desirable methods of providing for the
maintenance of the state institutions under the control of the
board. These suggestions were brought before the senate committee
on appropriations, and to bring the matter before the senate
Senator Garst had the suggestions incorporated in bills which
were introduced.
The first method of providing for the institutions and one which
the board prefers, is to make all the inmates of charitable
institutions wards of the state and to provide for the
maintenance of such institutions by the levy of a general tax.
The sum estimated to be necessary for the biennial period is
$1,316,000. This includes all the expenses of maintenance,
including a contingent fund and the building of necessary out
buildings. This system would remove all the insane patients from
the county institutions; it would keep such patients free of cost
at state institutions.
The second method provides that a per capita appropriation be
made for the inmates of all state institutions under the charge
of the board. The per capita allowance is to cover all the
expenses of the institution, and it is estimated by the board
that the following are the monthly allowances that would be
necessary: Soldiers' orphan home, $11; Iowa Soldiers' Home, $14;
College for the Blind (9 months in year) $22; Industrial Home for
Blind, $17; School for Deaf (9 months in year) $22; Institution
for Feeble-minded Children, $13; Industrial School for Boys, $10;
Industrial School for Girls, $12; State hospital at Mt. Pleasant,
Independence, Clarinda and Cherokee, each $14; Penitentiary at
Ft. Madison, $12; at Anamosa, $12.
The third bill sets forth the suggestion that the board deemed
the least desirable of the three. It provides that an annual
appropriation of $125,000 be made for a contingent and repair
fund for the 14 institutions under the board of control. It
grants the board the privilege of spending the money at
institutions where the repairs are most needed. In the past the
board has been able to spend repair money only on the special
institution for which it was appropriated and has been generally
hampered in this respect. This bill says nothing about the
general support of the institutions and leaves that matter to be
provided for by appropriations or whatever means the legislature
sees fit.
At present conditions are different at different state
institutions and the board seeks to do away with these
differences. At some institutions relatives of the inmates are
required to furnish railroad fare, clothing, and other expenses,
while at others the state pays all. The result has been that
counties have sent their charges where the cost was least.
Counties are charged a maintenance for children sent to the
Orphans' Home at Davenport and parents are required to furnish
clothing for children sent to the School for Feeble Minded at
Glenwood. The result has been that children who should have been
sent to Davenport and Glenwood have been sent to Eldora and
Mitchellville because it was cheaper.
[submitted by C.J.L., Oct. 2003]