Initial messages of Governor W. P. Hobby to the thirty-sixth legislature, state of Texas: Jan. 14, 1919 and Jan. 22, 1919. Page: 9 of 32
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GOVERNOR'S MESSAGES.
9
Southwestern Insane Asylum.
The report of the Board of Managers
of the Southwestern Insane Asylum,
at San Antonio, Texas, for the
year ending August 31, 1918, showed
there were 1960 patients in the institution
at the beginning of the
year; that 2723 patients were
treated; that the daily average number
of patinents treated was 1959;
and that 2015 patients were in the
institution at the end of the year.
The Superintendent and the Board
of Managers recommended, on ac-'
count of the need for more help, that
additional quarters for female employes
be built; and also recomnend
that funds be appropriated for the
purchase of additional acreage on
which the patients of the institution
may be used for beneficial and profitable
agricultural work. The report
of the institution is available
for detailed reference.
Insane Asylum, General.
The State of Texas maintains at
present three asylums for the insane.
These institutions are the State Lunatic'Asylum
at Austin, the Southwest
Texas Insane Asylum, at San Antonio,
and the North Texas Hospital
for the Insane, at Terrell. The superintendents
of these institutions advise
that the respective institutions
are taking care of ten per cent more
population than their capacity. In
other words, the institutions are
overcrowded to the extent of ten per
cent. There are also awaiting admissionto
the various asylums 640
whites and 278 negroes, or a total
of 918 patients.
The Thirty-fifth Legislature made
provision for the construction of the
Northwest Texas Hospital for the Insane
at Wichita Falls, and an asylum
for negro insane to be located at
Rusk.
If the Legislature accedes to the
suggestions made by the board which
arranged for the construction of the
Asylum at Wichita Falls, that institution
will accommodate 400 patients
by June, 1919, and the additional
number of 250 patients should appropriations
be made for buildings
outlined in the report.
Teie institution at Rusk will accommodate
by April 15, nine hundred
negro patients. By June, 1919, if
these two institutions are opened,
500 negro patients now in the institution
at Austin can be taken to
Rusk and the 278 negoes now on the
waiting list can be accomodated at
Rusk, and 122 of the n6gro patients
now in other institutions at San Antonio
and Terrell can also be accomodated
at Rusk.
If 622 negroes in the State institutions
and the 278 negroes on the
waiting list are placed in the Rusk
asylum the space now occupied by
.them in the three existing institutions
will have been released, and
after certain repairs and rehabilitation
of quaters, this space can be
made available for white patients.
You should bear in mind however
that the institutions are crowded
really beyond their maximum capacity
at this time, and the space thus
released might more properly be absorbed
in relieving that condition.
When the asyum at Wichita Falls
has been completed in June, 400 of
the white patients on the waiting
list, can be received there. This will
leave only 240 white patients on the
waiting list, and until the institution
at Wichita Falls can be enlarged
these 240 white patients now on the
waiting list can be accomodated at
the three present institutions, after
the repairs mentioned above have
been made, by continuing, to some
extent, the crowded conditions now
existing in these institutions.
It appears that by properly conserving
and increasing the facilities
at Wichita Falls, adequate provision
can be made for the insane in Texas.
It is not necessary to retnind the
Legislature-of the duty which the
State of Texas owes to its insane.
It was never intended that they
should remain in jail except for the
purpose of providing for their safety
and the safety of the public, which
should by all means be temporary, as
they are entitled to the facilities
which the State can furnish for their
care and treatment.
In communicating to you the condition
of the insane asylums of the
State, I feel that it is proper to incorporate
in the message proper at
this juncture a report filed by the
board selected by the Legislature to
erect the Northwest Texas Asylum
for the Insane. That report in full
is as follows:
"To the Senate and House of Representatives
of the Thirty-sixth Legislature:
"The undersigned, composing the
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Hobby, W. P. Initial messages of Governor W. P. Hobby to the thirty-sixth legislature, state of Texas: Jan. 14, 1919 and Jan. 22, 1919., book, 1919; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5863/m1/9/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .