FEEBLE-MINDED ASYLUM.
On motion by Mr. BUNDY, the report of the Joint Special Committee appointed to investigate the condition and management of the Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children and the Soldiers' Orphan Home, recommending a change in the su- page: 56[View Page 56] perintendency (see pages 270 and 271 of these Reports) was taken up and read.
Mr. FOSTER hoped the report would not be concurred in. No Senator will more readily than he vote to condemn the mismanagement of such an Institution; but it is unjust to condemn officers when they have not the proper facilities to take care of these children. Then he was informed by the Superintendent that he had not had an opportunity to present his side of the case, and was also informed by a Senator who had a position on the Committee that he is willing to vote for a new Committee to investigate that Institution and give the Superintendent an opportunity to present his side of the case to the Committee, and every Senator ought to be willing to do that. If a second Committee is allowed to go there and investigate that Institution and reports anything wrong, not caring what side of the political question the management is on, he would vote to condemn it. He wanted the man who presides over that Institution to have an opportunity to present his side of the case.
Mr. BELL said: This report, in the last sentence, censures a gentleman whom I know to be, from personal knowledge and acquaintance, one of the most consciencious, upright, and worthy gentleman to be found in the State of Indiana--Mr. Ibach. If he has done wrong, he ought to receive censure; but if he has not, he ought not to receive censure. He has sent a petition to be presented to this General Assembly, which is as follows: [Praying for the appointment of another Committee to investigate the affairs of said Institution]. I can not conceive that any Member of the Senate would desire to censure Mr. Ibach for things which were taken entirely out of his control. He has made the management of such Institutions a special study, and his reputation is established in this and other countries as being a prominent specialist in such matters. Leaving personal matters out of the question, it is due to any man that he should be given a full opportunity to defend himself agairst any charges which reflect upon his conduct as a man or as an officer. He moved to refer the report of the Committee to a Special Committee of five, with instructions to inquire who is responsible for the abuses therein named, to afford an opportunity for officers to be heard, and to report the testimony to the Senate.
Mr. VOYLES--Certain duties are incumbent upon the Superintendent of this Institution for the performance of which he must be held responsible. He is there all the time--the Trustees are not. It is the duty of a humane man to see that these little children were properly placed in sleeping apartments. The dormitories were crowded while there were other rooms in the building that might be used for that purpose which the Superintendent said were used for reception rooms. It might possibly be that the next Investigating Committee will find the beds in better condition than this found them--it is to be hoped it will.
The food on the soldiers' orphans' side would not satisfy him. The Committee found the condition of the beds very bad. We tumbled the beds upside down, and found them entirely indecent and so unclean that there was a stench rose from them. If another Committee find the beds cleaned up and so report it can't change the facts as we saw them. For himself, if he were Superintendent, no such beds would be kept there one-half hour. He heard no excuse for such gross dereliction of duty. The motion for a new Committee would but open up crimination and recrimination, The Committee, acting under oath, sought to do right, and the evidence was of such a character it could not be disputed. He saw no necessity for another investigation.
Mr. BUNDY would not oppose a further investigation, because if there are other facts that ought to be known he was willing the people should have them. One of the sacred duties of the State of Indiana is to see that the orphans of her soldiers are taken care of, and properly taken care of. He would be the last person to oppose a free and full investigation into the management and condition of Soldiers' Orphans' Asylums. A communication has been read by the Senator from Allen [Mr. Bell], written by the Superintendent of that Institution, in which he asks that a further investigation be had--in other words, that the Committee appointed to investigate him be investigated. He says the members of the Committee did not make a fair investigation. This report is made on ocular proof and careful examination, and made from statements of the Superintendents who protests against this report. The fact he did not examine the bills of the Institution is enough of itself to condemn him. If there is any explanation of the purchase of rose geranium, rose-bud toilet soap or razor straps he was willing to hear it.
The Committee asked explanation of this, and the Superintendent stated he had no explanation to offer, because he did not remember of the purchase of these goods. These employes should not use the money of the State for their own personal ends. Then there is a large reception room in that building that might be utilized as a dormitory, and it is a shame that such a change is not made. There has been a new wing erected not quite as large as the original building, and there is more actual space given for the sixty-three feeble-minded children than the 165 soldiers' orphans. One or the other of these Institutions has got to die, for it is impossible to keep the two together. It is as impossible as it is for an idiot and a sound person to live together. It was wrong to put them together. It is not the proper thing to put a healthy child in the same building or in adjoining rooms with feeble-minded, idiotic children, and the State ought not to permit it to continue any longer.
