RELATIONS TO OTHER SCIENCES 247 



Let us see what the facts are regarding the economic loss of 

 insanity : 



There are in the United States now about 145,000 insane; 120,000 

 feeble-minded; a ratio of about 1 to 300. 



The annual increment of insane in Massachusetts, according to the 

 Massachusetts Board of Lunacy, is 400 in about 10,000, or 4 %. 



At this ratio, the annual increment for the United States would be 

 approximately, 5600. 



The cost of maintaining properly these 145,000 can be estimated 

 fairly on the basis of the cost of the institutions of the two large 

 states (Massachusetts and New York), where it is admitted the 

 work is at its highest efficiency. 



The plant for caring for the 22,000 insane of New York is valued 

 at $22,000,000 (Mabon), and the plants for caring for our insane, if 

 we are desirous to care for them in the way creditable to a great 

 civilized and wealthy nation, should be not less than $150,000,000. 

 To run this national plant the cost is, at a moderate estimate, $3.50 

 weekly, per patient. This is about the average in New York and 

 Massachusetts and most properly organized state hospitals else- 

 where. This gives the insane no luxuries either; for the average cost 

 of properly caring for the insane in private institutions is $12 to $25 

 per week. This with the interest on the plant makes the actual 

 objective cost of caring for the insane of the United States every 

 year about $40,000,000. 



This does not include the care of the feeble-minded. So far as the 

 state is concerned they are less of an expense because a large number 

 are cared for in families. Many do not need actual responsible super- 

 vision, and many can in a degree support themselves. Finally, the 

 feeble-minded are short-lived, while the insane live into and beyond 

 middle life. At the best, however, the idiot or feeble-minded are 

 persons whose lives are a burden and a sorrow beyond what is mea- 

 surable in money. An idiot cannot be supported for much less than 

 the insane, and it is safe to put down $20,000,000, yearly, as the sum 

 we pay for having the idiot with us. But $60,000,000 a year does not 

 represent all; 70,000 of the insane are men and presumably bread- 

 winners. The average worth to a community of a healthy worker is 

 about $400 a year. This sum is subtracted from industrial activity 

 by his sickness. Assuming that the 70,000 insane men could earn this 

 sum, we have a loss of $28,000,000 more per year. It seems to me 

 that it would not be far out of the way to say that the care and cost 

 of the diseased and defective brains of the country is over $85,000,000 

 annually, and is increasing absolutely at the rate of 4%. These 

 figures, perhaps, are not so very alarming to a nation with an income 

 of $600,000,000. It is a sum that would not quite run the city of 

 New York, or support an army or navy. But it is an item to be 



