Number of defective, dependent, and delinquent persons in each 100,000 of the population of South Carolina and of the United States, according to the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth U. S. Census. U. S. So. Ca. U. S. So. Ca. U. S. So. Ca. U. S. So. Ca. It will be observed from these totals that the burden of these classes has always been less in South Carolina than in the country at large, except for the decade embracing the period of war and reconstruction. The humane and enlightened treatment of THE INSANE is of modern origin, and takes date from the efforts of Dr. Pinel, in Paris, in 1791, and of William Tuke, of York, England, in 1796. Virginia was the first State in the Union to grant aid to this charity, and South Carolina was the third. In 1828 the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, with accommodations for 120 patients, was opened at Columbia. It was a handsome fire-proof building, with extensive grounds, costing something less than $100,000. Since this date extensive additions and improvements have been made. On November 1st, 1877, 310 patients were accommodated. Under the able superintendence of Dr. P. E. Griffin a number of large and commodious buildings have been added, and in the year 1882, 755 patients were under treatment. The Institution is supported by an annual appropriation from the State of $70,000 or $80,000, and during the last few years of $20,000 or $30,000 in addition for buildings and improvements. There are also accommodations for the insane in the Roper Hospital, in Charleston, a charity founded by a bequest from Mr. Thomas Roper, in 1854, and aided since by the City and State. The results of the treatment in 1882 are as follows: Deaths, 10 per cent : cured, 8 per cent.; discharged, improved, or on trial, 6 per cent.; discharged on other accounts, 4 per cent.; remaining at the Asylum, 72 per cent. The great apparent increase in the number of the insane since the census of 1870 is not attributed by those who have studied the subject 1.1ost closely to any "sudden and surprising increase in the number of unfortunates" themselves, but to the more careful and accurate methods a lopted in their enumeration. Owing to the very defective manner in which data regarding this matter have hitherto been collected, it is doubtful if there is anywhere positive evidence that this class of diseases is on the increase, much less as to the rate of such increment, if any. As regards the number of the insane in hospitals, especially for their treatment, it appears, from the tenth census, that 44 per cent. of those in the country at large were found in such institutions, while only 37 per cent. of the insane of South Carolina were found in such institutions. It is possible that the enumeration of these defectives was more thorough in this State than elsewhere; on the above showing it must at least have been as thorough. But, making no count of this, the figures of the tenth census fall far short of showing the actual state of the case in South Carolina at the present time. The number of the insane in hospitals on the first day of June, 1880, is given at 416 by the census. By Dr. Griffin's report it appears that, on the 31st of October, 1882, there were in the Asylum at Columbia 550 patients, besides 255 others under treatment, during the year. So that, allowing that the 1,112 insane enumerated in 1880 had increased to 1,200, and making no account for those in the Roper Hospital, or for such insane of the State as were under treatment outside of its limits it appears that more than 60 per cent. of these unfortunates were receiving treatment at the State Asylum at Columbia, nor will the character of this charity be lessened by stating that only 25 of this number were pay patients. In this connection it is to be noted that Dr. Griffin has practiced the system of release on probation to a greater extent than has been done in any other asylum. Giving the results of his experiments in this line in 1882, he says: "There were sent home 93. Of those who were afterwards discharged as cured, 35; as improved, 13; as unimproved, but able to be cared for at home, 6; died, 5; 18, who were recently released, are still absent, and only 16 have returned. It is gratifying to state that, so far, there has been no instance of violence on the part of those released." Should this plan prove equally successful in future, it will largely increase the number of those who may enjoy the charity of the State. The insane belong not only to the defective, but also to the dangerous classes, and if the opinion now growing among jurists is well founded, that the delinquent classes are largely recruited from these defectives when neglected, the State, taking the greatest care of its insane, may hope, in a measure, to be freed from the incalculably greater burdens of criminals. In 1880, while there were 350 criminals in the insane asylums of the Union, there were none of this class in the State Asylum at Columbia. By the tenth census, only 29 per cent. of the colored insune of the United States were receiving treatment, while 32 per cent. of this class in South Carolina were the recipients of State charity. This percentage is doubtless very largely increased since, as of the increase at the State Asylum, in 1832, the whites were 27 and the colored 33; and while the census makes only 132 colored at the Columbia Asylum on the 1st of June, 1880, Dr. Griffin reports 220 colored patients present on the 31st of October, 1882. Thus the numerous charges brought against the people of this State, of the ill-treatment of this race, is not sustained by the care of these helpless unfortunates. The increase in the number of IDIOTS, in consequence of the more accurate enumeration made by the tenth census, is about the same in South Carolina as in the United States. Of the 1,588 in the State, 7 are foreigners, and 782 are colored, including 2 Indians. There are no training schools for idiots in South Carolina, but 54 of these unfortunates are charitably maintained in the State asylums and alms houses. THE BLIND AND DEAF MUTES. Of the 1,100 blind in South Carolina, 669, or a little more than 60 per cent., are colored. Of the 564 deaf mutes, the larger proportion are whites, there being only 263, or about 46 per cent., negroes. The South Carolina Institution for the Education of the Blind, Deaf and Dumb, at Cedar Springs, Spartanburg County, was educating, in 1880, 16 blind and 50 deaf mutes. The institution is maintained by the State, and prior to its foundation, as early as 1834, the Legislature made an annual appropriation for sending deaf and dumb children to the Hartford school. PAUPERISM is an evil so slightly developed in South Carolina as to be of small concern. The comparative status of the State is most truly shown in this regard by the census of 1880, in which the number of paupers in alms houses is alone given. For the other years the number of persons receiving support on the 1st June in each year, is chosen as the most accurate upon which to base the comparison offered in table F. This number in South Carolina agrees very nearly with the number of paupers estimated to have been supported during each census year. This is far from being the case with the figures given for the country at large. There the aggregate number of paupers supported during the year exceeds those enumerated on the 1st of June of each year by from 52 per cent. in 1870, to 293 per cent. in 1860, and 168 per cent. in 1850. While the superintendent of the census states, as his opinion, that these figures are of little value for purposes of comparison, nevertheless, in the absence of all other data, so far as they may be relied on, they show that there has been from one-half to one-fourth the proportion of pauperism among the population of South Carolina that there has been in the country at large, saving only during the period of military rule and reconstruction, as shown by the census of 1870. Of the inmates of alms houses in 1880, 277 were whites and 242 were colored. THE CRIMINAL POPULATION of South Carolina has never been large, as will be seen by reference to table F. It has always been less than that of the country at large, except in the dark days of misrule, during reconstruction in 1870-days never to return, unless some social upheaval, of which no symptoms now appear, should occur. Of the 642 prisoners enumerated in this State in 1880, 586, or 91 per cent., were colored, and were confined chiefly for thefts. During slavery such offences were prevented or punished by home discipline, and when emancipation imposed the burden of their correction upon the public, the number of delinquents largely exceeded any accommodations available for them. As a consequence, South Carolina, in common with other Southern States, was forced to lease out her convicts. Measures have been taken to remedy this. Industrial establishments are being erected at the Penitentiary. Early in 1883, the Board of Directors of the State Penitentiary announced that, on the expiration of the leases now in force, no more convicts would be let out; and that hereafter all persons condemned to labor would be worked either within the Penitentiary itself, or upon State works, under the supervision of State officers. CHAPTER VII. MANUFACTURES. The occupation of the inhabitants of South Carolina has been more exclusively agriculture than that of most civilized communities. One great cause of this is, that the soil and climate here render agriculture more. profitable than in most places. A brief comparison of South Carolina with the country at large, as regards the relative values of farm productions and farm expenditures, will make this clear. The following data are taken from the compendium of the Tenth U. S. Census, the latest authority on the subject. UNITED STATES. Value of farms, including land, fences, and buildings Value of live stock on farms, 1st June, 1880. Cost of building and repairing fences, in 1879 Total outlay.. Value of all farm productions in 1879. . $2,213,402,564 28,586,397 $12,210,431,310 SOUTH CAROLINA. Value of farms, including land, fences, and buildings OUTLAY. $68,677,482 |
