exclusively on the "cottage plan," making the asylum in the Northern Peninsula the only institution of that character so constructed in the State. The Home for the Feeble-minded and Epileptic will be able to care for about 250 inmates at the beginning, and eventually will probably have to be enlarged.

MINNESOTA.

BY C. P. MAGINNIS, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

The State of Minnesota has continued to make progress during the past year. Sept. 1, 1894, a terrible forest fire swept over Pine County, destroying more than 400 lives and leaving 2,700 fire sufferers to be cared for. A State relief commission was organized, and about $150,000 in cash was received and disbursed, besides large quantities of supplies. More than 200 houses were built, and a large number of the people had to be maintained until they could raise a crop. Nearly all of the sufferers have been restored to selfsupport, and all relief has been withdrawn.

The emergency caused by the panic of 1893 was wisely met by our charitable agencies. So far as we can discover, a very small number of those who received assistance at that time, who were not previously dependent, were pauperized. More care was exercised than ever before to investigate accurately, and to give for the real good of the individual. The people of Minnesota have a lively interest in this line of work, as is indicated by the fact that Minnesota has 71 members of this Conference, being exceeded only by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.

The Minnesota State Conference of Charities held its third meeting in St. Paul in January, 1895. There was a large attendance, and much valuable discussion.

Our insane population continues to increase at the rate of about 7 per cent. per year, which is a good deal more rapid increase than that of the general population. Our criminal population, on the other hand, does not increase; but the number of prisoners in the State is smaller than it was two years ago.

The legislature of 1895 enacted the following important laws:

1. An act to appropriate money to enlarge the State Hospital for Insane at Fergus Falls, the State Soldiers' Home at Minnehaha

Falls, the State Reformatory at St. Cloud, the School for the Blind, and the School for the Feeble-minded.

2. An act for the establishment of a fourth hospital for the insane in the vicinity of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This institution will be built on the "cottage" plan.

3. An act to change the name of the State Reform School to the "State Training School," and to establish an agency for the care of children after their release, on trial.

4. An act to abolish the contract system at the State prison, and to restrict the number of convicts that can be employed on any one industry to one-tenth of the number of free laborers employed on the same labor in the State. The "piece price plan" is permitted.

5. An act to purchase a new plant for the manufacture of binding twine from sisal and Manila. The State discards $35,000 of machinery formerly used in the manufacturing of hemp binder twine.

6. An act to submit to the people an amendment of the constitution providing for a State Board of Pardons.

7. An act to provide for the treatment of inebriates at the Rochester State Hospital, and authorizing their compulsory employ

ment.

8. An act authorizing the establishment of loaning banks to loan money to the poor at reasonable rates, in order to protect them from the exactions of pawnbrokers and chattel mortgage sharks.

MISSISSIPPI.

BY SUPERINTENDENTS OF STATE INSTITUTIONS.

The Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum was established in 1885. It has a capacity of 800 inmates. The number on hand Dec. 31, 1894, was 739. The current expenses were $109 per inmate. The superintendent reports a gradual improvement in the service for several years past.

The Eastern Mississippi Insane Asylum at Meriden was established in 1884. It has a capacity of 250 inmates. The number on hand Dec. 31, 1893, was 243. The expense per inmate is not reported. The laws have recently been changed, so as to make admission free to all residents of the State.

No other report was received from the State institutions of Mis

sissippi. There is an institution for the deaf and dumb at Jackson, also an institution for the blind. The State prison is located at Jackson, and the convicts of the State are kept on the lease system.

MISSOURI.

BY MISS MARY E. PERRY, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

There have been no radical changes along the line since my report of last year. No new institutions have come into existence, no new offices have been created; but much detail work has been done in the teaching and government, which will result in the comfort and betterment of the dependent and delinquent classes.

The Missouri State penitentiary is the most populous institution of its kind in the country. Dec. 8, 1894, there were 2,000 convicts, under the management of the humane warden, J. L. Pace. Discipline and order have been maintained, although whipping has been abolished. Mr. Pace's rather venturesome experiment of employing the women under contract to the shoe manufacturers has been proven an advantage to them both physically and morally, and also has made this department self-sustaining One-half of the total number of convicts now confined are under twenty-five years of age, and the warden is also grading the convicts more rigidly than has been done heretofore. Governor Stone, appreciating this, has committed many of these youths to the Reform School. The third biennial report of this school shows an amount of good work done; and, of the 299 boys who have gone from this institution, 144 are doing well. L. D. Drake, the superintendent, asked the General Assembly to revise the statute requiring the commitment of the boy until he reaches the age of twenty-one instead of eighteen, as as been heretofore.

At the State Industrial School for Girls there has been much improvement in detail work. A part of their last appropriation will be used in erecting a larger cottage for the accommodation of over 50 pupils, and for the erection of a school building, an entertainment hall, etc.

The law of kindness has been much in evidence in our lunatic asylums. Hypnotics are mostly done away, hygiene and outdoor work having taken their places, and but little mechanical

employed. The State Lunatic Asylum No. 2, at St. Joseph, has lately added to its plant 120 acres. No noticeable changes have occurred in the other institutions.

The

The

The Missouri School for the Blind received from the last legislature $200,000 to purchase a site for a new institution, the old building to be sold for not less than $150,000, which, with perhaps an additional appropriation, will enable them to erect a more commodious and better planned house for their separate, purposes. sloyd work, introduced two years ago, has proved a success. readiness with which the boys handle tools, and the products of their efforts in the various branches of carpentry, convince one that this is a useful branch of work. It is a pleasant deviation, and prepares the boys for work in many directions. This school is having its graduates take a course under a practical and scientific teacher in massage, knowing "that a practised hand and educated touch. often detect diseased tissue where sight fails." Offices and operating-rooms have been established in this city, where general, theoretical instructions are first given. This is followed by the operations of the instructor upon the bodies of the pupils; and they, in turn, begin work upon the teacher. After a certain progress they are sent out on regular visits to patients throughout St. Louis. In France and Switzerland, but more notably in Japan, 'massage treatment' is largely in the hands of the blind."

66

The women of St. Louis have cause to feel very grateful to the mayor for the confidence he has placed in their ability by appointing them to such responsible positions, two of them being among the managers of the House of Refuge, and two charity commissioners.

$10,000 was raised at the Saturday and Sunday Hospitals and Associations, an increase of $4,000 over last year.

At the solicitation of the Humanity Club, composed of earnest and influential women of St. Louis, the women prisoners in the jail and hold-over will be removed by day to a separate building from that occupied by the men, with a woman guard to have the entire supervision over them. This club has also been instrumental in having the mayor place all young children found on the streets in some of the seven charitable institutions which have been placed at their disposal for this purpose instead of having them sent to the House of Refuge.

Much work has been done by individual effort and private asso

ciations, free kindergartens established, Rumford kitchens opened during the past winter in different parts of the city, etc.

The legislature prohibited the county courts from placing the insane in almshouses. Hereafter they will be sent to the State asylum. The age of consent was also raised from sixteen to eighteen years of age. A bill asking for the school age to be five instead of six years was very favorably received by the legislature. Our latest experiment in charitable work is the Detroit or Pingree plan. This work has just begun, and more than 100 applications have been made for land. The plan promises to meet the wants of a number of unemployed.

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT.

BY REV. THOMAS M. FINNEY, D.D.

The St. Louis Provident Association was organized March 3, 1860. It was founded and has always been under the management of chief citizens, and does the principal part of the private charity work of the city. It combines relief work with the principles, aims, and methods of organized charity. During the past two years, under the careful management of the present officials, its operations have been greatly improved and enlarged, especially along the lines of methods of self-help, having an established and fully equipped laundry, two sewing-rooms, lodge and day nursery for women, and for men wood-yard and lodge. Its revenue in the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1894 was nearly $60,000 obtained by personal solicitation. This year this method of collecting was changed to solicitation by mail, which has proved a decided success, and will be continued. The financial support has always been liberal and sufficient. In all its history there has never been a deficit in meeting its expenses.

ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ.

BY MRS. LAURA E. HOWEY, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

We have but little to report. with not a cent of money at command, and two of the members of the Board ministers so busy with pastoral duties that visiting inst tions or giving much time to this work seemed out of the quest

The Board is only two years old,