ILLINOIS. 



queried to send attested copies of these resolution* to 

 cur Senators and Representatives in Congress, witli a 

 request that thi-v prenent them to their resp-'-tu.- 

 a* the voioo of the people of the State of Illi- 

 nois represented in the General Assembly, an I that 

 our Senators are hereby instructed and our Represen- 

 tatives requested to labor zealously to so change the 

 laws us to secure these results full and complete. 



Tho receipts of the State government dur- 

 ing the past two fiscal years (ending October 

 1, 1M78) had been $8,650,052.14, and the ex- 

 penditures for the same period $6,538,628.18, 

 leaving a balance of $2,012,228.96. The total 

 State indebtedness two years ago was $1,478,- 

 600.27, of which only $652,742.06 is outstand- 

 ing. Of this last sum $851,442.06 is payable 

 at the pleasure of the State, leaving a remain- 

 der of $195,300, the aggregate of the State 

 debt which is not subject, to immediate pay- 

 ment. The State is thus practically out of 

 debt, and after January 1, 1881, will be really 

 so. 



The following is an official statement of the 

 appropriations made by the Legislature for the 

 State institutions under the charge of the State 

 Board of Charities : 



NORTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 



For ordinary expenses $200,000 



For special expenses 22,080 



1222,080 



CENTRAL HOSPITAL FOB THE INSANE. 



For ordinary expenses $220,000 



For special expenses 85,499 



. 255,496 



SOUTHERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 



7or ordinary expenses $180,000 



For special expenses 18,000 



193,000 



EASTERN HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE. 



For ordinary expenses $90,000 



For special expenses 167,500 



INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. 



For ordinary expenses $156,000 



For special expenses 90,979 



lio,97j 



INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND. 



For ordinary expenses $46,000 



For special expenses 6,6*4 



52,684 



ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN. 



For ordinary expenses $100,000 



For special expenses 17,258 _ __ 



SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOME. 



For ordinary expenses $7fc.5ftO 



For special expenses 8,500 



68,000 



ETE AND EAR INFIRMARY. 



For ordinary expenses $84,000 



For special expenses 4,000 



88,000 



STATE REFORM SCHOOL. 



For ordinary expenses $50,0f>0 



For special expenses 6,600 



65,600 



Total $1,456,494 



The appropriations made for their benefit, 

 with the exception of the State Reform School, 

 by the last four General Assemblies, have been 

 as follows : 



By the Twenty-seventh Oenerml Assembly $l,WTjttO 41 



By the Twntyl*hth General AMuinl.ly 1.1- 



Hy the Twenty-ninth (ient-rml Assembly 1,'K' 



My the Thirtieth General Assembly 1,383,270 00 



The reports of the Commissioners are made 

 biennially, and the term ends on September 

 80th. At that date in 1878 there were in the 

 nine institutions 2,038 inmates. The total 

 number of beneficiaries of the State in the 

 charitable institutions during the past two 

 years was 7,549. The number remaining and 

 actually present in the institutions, September 

 80, 1878, was: 



Northern Hospital for the Insane 629 



Central Hospital for the Insane 684 



Southern Hospital for the Insane 458 



Institution for the Deaf and Dumb 403 



Institution for the Blind (In vacation) 7 



Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children 200 



Soldiers' Orphans' Home 290 



Eye and Ear Infirmary 65 



State Reform School 198 



Total. 



2,674 



This is an increase of 27i per cent, over the 

 number present at the close of the year 1876. 

 The average number for the two years in all 

 the institutions, in 1875-76, was 1,940; in 

 1877-'78 it was 2,280, an increase of nearly 

 20 per cent. The average for the next two 

 years, it was estimated, would be still greater. 

 Two causes operate to bring about this increase 

 the natural growth of the population of the 

 State, and the enlargement of the institutions, 

 of which the former is primary and the latter 

 an inevitable consequence. The increase in 

 cost does not keep pace with the increase in 

 numbers, and the per capita cost is steadily 

 diminishing. 



The subject of commitments to insane hos- 

 pitals was extensively discussed by the Commis- 

 sioners. The law of the State, as modified, 

 makes it a crime, not simply to receive or 

 detain an insane person " against the wishes 

 of such person," but to receive him at all with- 

 out a jury trial. But it was not framed for the 

 protection of the insane. Its obvious intent is 

 to protect sane persons from false imprison- 

 ment. The detect in the law, which is funda- 

 mental, is that it distinguishes between the sane 

 and the insane, recognizes a possible peril to 

 the former, overlooks the real danger which 

 everywhere and always threatens the insane 

 class, and extends the eegis of its protection 

 to that one of the two classes which least 

 needs it, because it is in the least danger and is 

 the best able to protect itself. The Commis- 

 sioners then proceed to say : 



There is something almost ludicrous in the idea of 

 " accusing " a man of insanity, as if insanity were not 

 a diseasernit a crime; and his "prosecution" and 

 " defense" by opposing attorneys, who, from want of 

 experience or or discretion, sometimes take this op- 

 portunity to display their legal acquirements and 

 forensic talent to an admiring world, is singularly in- 

 appropriate in a medical inquest, especially where the 

 sincerity of the patient's friends and even the fact of 

 his insiinity is doubted by nobody. In one instance, 

 in this State, to avoid the irritation of the patient, who 

 was aged and infirm, by the ordinary forms of court 

 procedure, the court, including judge, jury, attorneys. 



