number of state beneficiaries was 191. These were sent to the school under the provisions of an act of 1877.1 Whenever a pauper 2 or indigent imbecile child is found in any Connecticut town, who would be benefited by being sent to the Lakeville school, the selectmen apply to the probate court for such admission. If the court finds upon inquiry that the child is a proper subject for the school, it orders the selectmen to take the child to the school to be kept and supported there as long as the court deems proper. No child may thus be taken or committed to the school until the order of the court has been approved by the governor, and no child may be received at the school to be supported in any manner by the state without his approval. The state pays quarterly to the school $2.50 for each week a child committed by selectmen remains in the school. The difference between this amount and the actual cost of support, which averages about $100 a year, is paid by its parents or grandparents or, if the child is a pauper, by the town to which he belongs. The amount expended by the state for the fiscal year 1902 was nearly $21,000.3 There is call for a cottage department at Lakeville for the care of all epileptics in Connecticut who need specialized treatment. Present accommodations are inadequate for this work. Another need is that of some provision for those who have finished their term at Lakeville, and who in many cases are compelled to return to the almshouses or are neglected.* Feeble-minded adults are found in the " state almshouse," in town almshouses, and in the state hospital for the insane. Idiotic convicts when discharged from prison are cared for like the insane.5 1C. 113. 3 21885, c. 110, § 58. § 2787; Rep. Board of Charities, 1902, p. 123. 'Rep. Board of Charities, 1898, p. 62. § 2910. Vid. ante, p. 378. 6. DEAF AND DUMB For the education of the deaf and dumb, the state continues to use the admirable American School, at Hartford, for the Deaf,' and to a less extent the Mystic Oral School, formerly the Whipple Home School. In 1899 the committee on state receipts and expenditures recommended that no more aid be given to the Mystic School, because it was overcrowded, the children were not healthy, and the results were less satisfactory than in the American School, which uses an eclectic system of instruction. The state board of charities has from time to time criticised the administration and methods of the school, but it is still used. The governor is the agent of the state in contracting for the education of the deaf and dumb. The legislature of 1903 appropriated $55,000 for this purpose for the two years ending September 30, 1905. The amount allowed for each pupil has gradually risen from $175 in 1875 to $250 in 1903.* The governor chooses the state beneficiaries from the list of deaf and dumb that selectmen are required to return to him on or before November 1 of each year, stating the age, sex, and pecuniary circumstances of each." 7. BLIND Up to 1893 no change was made in the method of educating the blind. Selectmen made annual returns of the blind persons in their towns just as they did of the deaf and dumb. This is still the requirement." The state made appropriations, which were expended by the governor for educating blind children in the Perkins Institution in 'Present title by S. A., 1895, p. 145. 'S. A., 1903, no. 207. § 1831; from 1829, c. 24. Vid. p. 158. Op. cit., p. 26. • Ibid. Boston. It was noticed, however, that many of these beneficiaries returned to their old surroundings and, without direction or opportunity to adopt an industry, lapsed into their former helpless condition, while others lost their eyesight after they were eighteen and were therefore not permitted to enter the Perkins Institution. For this reason, a law was passed in 1893, which aimed to secure an education for every blind child resident in Connecticut. 2 This act created the board of education for the blind. It consists of the governor and the chief justice of the supreme court as permanent members and of one man and one woman, who are residents of Connecticut and are appointed by the governor for four years from July 1, one retiring biennially. The governor may remove these and appoint others for reasonable cause. The chief justice may appoint in his stead for two years any judge or ex-judge of the supreme or superior court. Until 1901 Until 1901 one of the appointed members had to be a blind person. The board meets annually at the capitol on the first Monday of July and may meet at any time at the call of the secretary, who must call a meeting at the request of two members. The governor or, in his absence, the judicial member, is chairman. The board adopts rules for its action and for determining who shall "receive its benefits." 5 The board appoints a secretary, who acts as treasurer and holds office during its pleasure, and prescribes his duties and salary. No member receives any compensation except a moderate allowance for time actually spent in performing special services at the request of the board. actual and necessary expenses of the members and of the secretary" are paid by the comptroller. The secretary's 1 Vid. Rep. Board of Charities, 1895, p. 56. "The 1893. c. 156. § 2287. . salary is paid monthly and all other bills at the end of the year, upon the certificate of the governor of the amount, after "a certified statement of expenses and of the amount paid for the salary of the secretary and as compensation for special services of the members" has been filed with the comptroller within one month after the close of the year. "The tuition and other expenses of the beneficiaries" are paid quarterly upon the certificate of the governor or judicial member as to the amount, "accompanied with a detailed statement of the items." No expense may be incurred except on the affirmative vote of three members." By a like vote, the board may provide for the education, for so long a time as it deems expedient, of "blind persons, or persons so nearly blind that they cannot have instruction in the public schools, who are of suitable age and capacity for instruction in the simple branches of education and who are legal residents" of the state. The expense for each pupil may not exceed $300 a year except that where parents are unable to provide for clothing and transportation, an additional $30 may be allowed for these. The board may contract for such education with any institution having proper facilities. It may compel the attendance there of any minor blind child. If his parents or guardians do not assent, a member of the board applies to the judge of probate where the child resides, who, after reasonable notice to the parents or guardians, inquires into the facts. If he finds the child is too blind to attend the public schools, he may place him in the custody of the board until further order, and this gives to it all the rights of a parent." In 1895 a law was passed in aid of the Connecticut In1895, c. 319, § 3. 11895, c. 319, § 3. §2285. §§ 2288, 2289. 1 stitute and Industrial Home for the Blind, started in 1893. The board has had a controlling interest in it from the beginning. This act permitted the board, by a unanimous vote of all its members, to expend $15,000 in providing such buildings, furniture, machinery, tools, implements, and apparatus for the use of the institute as it needed successfully to carry out the rules of the board for the instruction of the blind. These payments were to create a lien on the property, as in the case of the school at Lakeville. The institution was given authority to receive, hold, invest, and employ any property which might come to it, subject to such limitations as the general assembly might from time to time impose. Its property was exempted from taxation and it was authorized to sell in any part of the state without a license any goods manufactured in whole or in part by it, in furtherance of its purpose to instruct the blind.2 4 From the beginning the management of the institute was severely criticised by the state board of charities. They condemned the policy pursued for several years of maintaining a concert company, which raised funds for the institute but which took the pupils away for so much of the time as to prevent them from gaining the power of self-support.3 In 1899 the committee on state receipts and expenditures recommended a continuance of the kindergarten department, which prepared children for entrance to the Perkins Institution, but advised that the industrial home be abolished because of the expense of its management and the meagreness of the results. Several attempts have been made to remove the institute from the supervision of the board of charities, leaving it simply under the board of education, but so far without success. 'Rep. Board of Charities, 1895, p. 57. Though the allow 2 §§ 2292, 2293. 3 4 Rep. Board of Charities, 1896, pp. 59, 60. Op. cit., p. 29. |