Part V. State Institutions
- Wisconsin Workshop for the Blind
[p. 746]
OFFICERS.
OSCAR KUSTERMANN .........................................................................................................................
Superintendent
WILLIAM SCHROEDER ..................................................................................................................................
Instructor
MICHAEL ZANA ..............................................................................................................................................
Instructor
JOHN HEMMING .............................................................................................................................................
Instructor
The legislature of 1903, under chapter 432, authorized the
State Board of Control to procure proper quarters in the city
of Milwaukee, to be used as a workshop for blind adults residing
in our state. By instructing them in some trade, furnishing the
necessary tools, and assisting them in the purchase of material
and the sale of articles manufactured by them, the blind were
to be given a chance to become self-supporting.
The sum of five thousand dollars per year was appropriated
by the legislature for meeting the expenses of starting and
running the shop. In December, 1903, a suitable building
was rented at 1323 Vilet street and the workshop started. While
still in its infancy the results of the first year have clearly
demonstrated the benefits to be derived from this shop by blind
people of our state.
None of those who availed themselves of the opportunities
offered here, had any pervious experience in willow work,
the trade found most suitable for blind artisans, but among
these are a number of persons who have become experts in this
line and are now earning from four to nine dollars per week,
these earnings representing, as the law contemplated, the difference
between the cost of material and the price of the manufactured
article.
To lower the cost of raw material and in order to give the
blind workmen the benefit of such reduction, a willow farm
has been started in connection with the "Industrial
School for Boys" at Waukesha, and it is the intention to
also raise willow at several other state institutions on land
otherwise not utilized.
At the present time about thirty inmates are employed in
the Workshop for the Blind. The willow farms started at some
of the state institutions give promise of furnishing a sufficient
amount of willow for the use of the workshop in the near future.
The expenditure of money by the legislature has proven a wise
one and a large number of the inmates of the Workshop for the
Blind have become self-supporting. Probably in the near future
provision will have to be made for more capacity. The present
workshop is not of sufficient capacity to meet the demands upon
it. Many of the workmen in the workshop have become very efficient
tradesmen and there is a good demand for the products of the
workshop.