Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1905 — POOR FARM FACTS. [ARTICLE]

POOR FARM FACTS.

False and Misleading Statements of Rensselaer Republican Refuted. The position of superintendent of the county poor asylum is no “soft snap” these days and on the contrary is one of a vast deal of labor and responsibility. There are now 16 inmates at the asylum many of whom are almost helpless either from age or mental or physical defects and to give them the constant and efficient care that they require is an enormous labor. Nearly half of these inmates are of advanced age and six of them from 80 to 105 years old. When Mr. Blue took charge about two years ago there were only eight inmates. By the next quarterly report the number.had increased to 12 and has varied froih that to 17 ever since. In spite however of the greatly increased expense of this increased number of inmates, so careful and successful a farmer and manager is Supt. Blue that the asylum is now more nearly on a self supporting basis than since anyone can remember. —Rensselaer Republican. The above is about as reliable as anything pertaining to the management of county affairs ever is that appears in the above named paper. The Democrat has published the quarterly reports of the various poor farm superintendents as made to the board of commissioners for several years past, and we have published thorn as they appear on the records in the county auditor’s office, too. They speak for themselves. To again verify these figures we went over the various reports a few days ago, and we find the receipts and expenditures of the farm for the past five calendar years to have been as follows:

RECEIPTS. EXPENSES. 1900.. Ji, 760.07! $3.i70-33 1901.. 1,781.48 2,695.73 1902.. 1,075.00 2,414.27 1903.. 2,791.34 J 3.661.78 1904.. 1,753.82 2,880.98 fOfthis amount $8:11.97 waa turned in by ex-Supt. Hardy when retiring, on March 1, 1900. sOf this amount $1,499.97 waa turned in by ex-Supt. Clark ou retiring on Feb. 1, 1908. Mr. Clark served as superintendent two years and eleven months, and during that time, notwithstanding hundreds of dollars was paid out for tile, furniture, bedding and other extraordinary expenses, the total expenses were $8,280.33. (including Jan. and Feb. 1900, and not including Jan. 1903, as the figures of expenses are by calendar years;) while the total receipts for the actual time of his administration were $5,159,55, or an average of $147,45 per month.

This leaves a deficit for the entire three years of Clark’s administration of $3,120.78, or less than S9O per month, and the farm was very much improved in every way during this time, there was threefold the stock and produce there at the end of his administration than there was when be went there, and much more than at present.

Mr. Blue, up to Jan. 1, has served one year and eleven months. The total expenses of that period have been (including the month of January, 1903) $6,542,76, while the receipts for the actual time he has had charge of the farm have been but $3,045,19. It will thus be seen that the deficit for the period of his administration has been $3,500, or over $l5O per month.

Daring Mr. Blue’s administra-

tration there was little more if as much extraordinary expense as under Mr. Clark’s administration, and for the past year there has been none whatever. The average number of inmates of the poor asylum under Mr. Clark was 10; under Mr. Blue it has been 13, and no report of Blue’s has shown more than 16, and but one report of Clark’s as few as 8.