Part: 12         Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536         Page 552553554555556557558559560561562563564565566567568569570571572573574575576577578579580581582583584585586587588589590591592593594595 of 1143

of people in state hospitals.

And the Governors Conference as such was just a spot affair. I mean, there was no idea of setting up machinery for a permanent organization, was there?

There was no idea of setting up machinery for a permanent organization, except that they did have a central information office in the so-called Conference of State Governors in Chicago, and it was run by a very competent man called Sidney Spector, up until about three years ago. And Bane and Spector ran the whole thing very much under their thumbs. Now, the state hospitals in the last nine years have become better, and there are more releases, many more, and the number of beds has declined, but the whole picture is still far from what it could be, because I feel that in this time we probably could have dropped the total population maybe 25 percent, if it had been energetically worked on by all states and really done full steam ahead. Actually, the total number of patients has only dropped overall about a little bit less than 10 percent, although there has been an enormous number of more patients treated and gotten out. The number of resident patients at the end of the year, between '55 and '62, is only about eight percent that it was in '55. If we had had more money, more staff, more personnel, we could have affected the states more. This is just what a little band of people did.

Were you concerned, or could you be concerned, in this