The Payment of Asylum Patients for their Work

Extract

It is unnecessary to expatiate to this Association upon the extreme desirability of inducing the patients in asylums to employ themselves usefully, nor is it needful to dwell at length upon the extreme difficulty that is often experienced in so inducing them. It may be taken as a fact that many inmates of asylums who are able to work are unwilling to do so, and, if we listen to their explanation, the unwillingness is not altogether unreasonable. “I was placed here,” such a patient will say, “against my will. I did not come of my own accord. I am under no obligation to facilitate the plans of those who put me here, nor of those who keep me here. My refusal to work is a protest against the deprivation of my liberty. If I have to engage in the work of the asylum I should, in the first place, forego my protest, and to that extent admit the justice of my incarceration; and in the second place, by making myself useful to the authorities, I should give them a positive interest in detaining me here all the longer. Besides, why should I give the benefit of my skill and experience free, gratis, and for nothing to those to whom I am, to say the least, under no obligation? The labourer is worthy of his hire. Before I came here I worked hard and long. I had no objection then to work, and why? I tasted the reward of my labour. I was paid for what I did, and the more I worked the more payment I received. Pay me here for my labour, and I am willing to work for you.”