REPORTS FROM STATES

341 State institution of the State of Georgia is the Academy for the Blind at Macon. The State convicts are leased out.

IDAHO.

BY DR. JOHN N. GIVENS, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. Idaho has completed and furnished a Soldiers' Home. Legislation to build and equip a reform school was attempted, but failed.

The law by which patients have heretofore been brought to the State Insane Asylum by sheriffs for 30 cents per mile, travelled one way, has been changed, and an attendant is now sent from the asylum after the patient. The cost of the present plan is less than onehalf of the former arrangement, and the patients are brought to the asylum in a rather more comfortable manner.

The State Insane Asylum has bought another tract of land, and it now has in its farm 2,100 acres. About one-half of it is good farming land, and one-half is pasture land.

The proper feeding of the patients is the greatest problem of an asylum, and it seems that the only way to solve it is for the asylum to produce its own eatables as far as it can. As long as roast duck, currant jelly, and strawberries and cream, and tenderloin steak are to be figured out of the per capita cost of feeding the patient he is not likely to have many of these delicacies; but, if the asylum can have the land and the patient's labor can be turned back to him in eatables, there is no reason why he may not get them. Therefore, the Idaho Insane Asylum has tried to get, if not all, at least its share of the land that joins it.

In the State penitentiary most of the prisoners have been kept at work the past two years in building a substantial, high stone wall around the prison. The prisoners seem to be the better for the employment, and the State has gained that much valuable property.

ILLINOIS.

BY MRS. GLEN WOOD, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

nois is somewhat behind some of the older States in her system narity work, yet it is believed that her efforts in this work will be greatly improved in this and coming years.

in Chicago. At present the inmates number 26,-24 men and 2 Women. Broom-making is the only industry as yet introduced. The home, when completed, will accommodate 100.

In 1893, when the financial crash came, there was created what was termed the Central Relief Association. When the revival of business made it seem wise to discontinue this relief work and depend upon the regular charity organizations, there still remained in the hands of those in charge of the emergency society many valuable files,-- of some thirty thousand names,— which it seemed unwise to destroy hence the permanent organization of what is now called the Bureau of Charities. Consequently there was started in a modest way what may be termed a clearing-house for the various organizations of the city.

The establishment of settlements in the city has grown rapidly, the Hull House taking the lead under the direct supervision of Miss Jane Addams. There are now seven settlements in Chicago.

In reviewing the work of the State, it is pleasant to note another step in the right direction. At the solicitation of the State Board of Charities the governor has directed that women physicians must be placed in all the State hospitals for the insane. Also the Board has obtained the appointment of internes in the insane hospitals. These internes are appointed by competitive examinations, and the position is open to men and women alike.

A Juvenile Reformatory for girls has been temporarily opened in Chicago during the past year, pending the erection of a beautiful new home at Geneva, Ill.

All of our local charities are making advances along their separate lines. The Children's Aid Society of Chicago in October, 1894, associated its work with that of the Children's Home Society, the object being to extend the work and economize labor and expense.

INDIANA.

BY ERNEST BICKNELL, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

The biennial session of the General Assembly of Indiana was held during the months of January, February, and March, 1895. During the session many measures bearing directly upon the public charitable and correctional interests of the State were introduced and discussed. Those which failed of passage were the following:

A bill for the establishment of a State School for Dependen: Children, patterned after the Michigan system, prepared by the Board of State Charities. It received much favor, and would no doubt have become law had it not been that both of the great political parties had pledged themselves to establish a State Soldiers' Home.

A bill was introduced in the Senate for the establishment of five reformatories for men, to be located in different sections of the State. It was argued that this would save transportation expenses, and would enable the advantageous employment of the convicts in farm work and in the construction and repair of public roads. Not passed.

A bill introduced in the House, providing for the payment to convicts, upon discharge, of 10 per cent. of their earnings while in prison, failed.

Another bill which failed placed upon each township the burden of its own public outdoor poor relief. The present county system encourages extravagance and loose methods; and it was believed that, if each township was required to bear its own burden, the local officers in charge of levying taxes and distributing relief would be more careful, and could be held in stricter account.

A bill which passed the Senate, but failed in the House, provided for the removal of any veterans of the late war from poor asylums to comfortable boarding-houses, there to be maintained at the expense of their respective counties.

A bill for the establishment of the merit system in the employment, promotion, and discharge of all employees in the State charitable and correctional institutions passed the House by a large majority, but failed of passage in the Senate. This bill added to the present duties of the Board of State Charities those of a civil service commission. Public sentiment in favor of the elimination of politics from the management of the State institutions is rapidly growing, as shown by the favor with which this bill was received, and as further shown by the enactment of a law concerning the management of the State benevolent institutions noted elsewhere in this report.

The laws enacted by the legislature relating to the corrections and charities are as follows:

An appropriation of $75,000 was made for the construction of buildings for a State Soldiers' Home upon a tract of land given for the purpose at the city of Lafayette. Work has already begun upon the Home, and it will probably be ready for occupancy within a year.

A law was enacted requiring a license fee of $500 per annum from any person dealing in convict-made goods from other States, and requiring such goods to be plainly marked "Convict-made."

A commission of three senators was appointed to investigate the practicability of employing convicts in the constructing of public roads, and to report at the legislative session of 1897.

A law was passed for the transfer of insane convicts to insane hospitals, the hospital to which an insane convict shall be sent to be designated by the governor in each instance.

Another new law concerning convicts provides that a prisoner upon discharge from State prison shall be returned by the State to the county in which he was convicted.

In the direction of regulating expenditures for outdoor poor relief a law was enacted, requiring township overseers of the poor to keep a complete record of all relief given. This record must be filed with the county commissioners for approval. A copy of the record is also required to be forwarded to the Board of State Charities. By means of this law it is expected that expenditures for outdoor relief will be more rigidly scrutinized, and information as to the number of recipients of aid in the State, never heretofore secured, will be assured. Expenditures for outdoor relief by overseers of the poor in Indiana in 1894 were $586,000, an increase of $75,000 over the preceding year.

Of the eight benevolent institutions supported by the State, six have heretofore been in the hands of partisan boards of trustees. Salaries ranging from $300 to $600 a year were paid the trustees. The legislature of 1895 placed all the benevolent institutions in the hands of bi-partisan boards of control, and all salaries were abolished. All political tests in appointments or discharges are forbidden.

In

In the name of economy the legislature reduced the annual maintenance appropriations for all of the benevolent institutions. several cases the reduction was false economy, and will prove costly in the end.

Appropriations amounting to $100,000 were made for the extension of capacity of the insane hospitals; and $30,000 was appropriated to purchase a farm for the School for Feeble-minded and enlarge its hospital. It is believed that the capacity of the insane hospitals will be increased 300 patients or more in the aggregate by the appropriations made.

The annual appropriation for the maintenance of the Board of State Charities was increased from $5,000 to $6,000. The Board has now been in existence six years. It was created by a Demo. cratic legislature, and until this year has had no experience with. any except Democratic legislatures. This year, however, the legislature was strongly Republican; and some fear was expressed by friends of the Board that it would not receive the same friendly treatment which it had previously enjoyed. These fears were groundless, as the Republican legislature in many ways showed itself to be friendly and appreciative of the work which the Board has done and is attempting to do.

Total cost of public poor relief, excluding orphan asylums, 1894

$843,813.71

BY REV. R. W. HILL, D.D., CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

But little legislation affecting the institutions of the Territory has been effected since the last report. The most important legislation, however, will soon indirectly affect the prison system by causing the