In a small town the maintenance of an almshouse is out of the question and it is necessary to aid the few paupers in their own homes or to board them with individuals. Outdoor relief is widely used in Connecticut, not only in these towns, where it is the most economical method, but in other places where it is utterly inexcusable, save in rare instances, and where its influence is to encourage dependence upon the public treasury. This seems almost inevitable in a town system. Where the work is entrusted to the local community, the public charities are not used by state politicians, but they are used by town politicians, and for this reason it is difficult to secure the wisest economy, especially in the matter of outdoor relief. Where the town idea is as strong as it is in Connecticut, it is almost impossible to secure adequate supervision, though the town system calls for it. The state board of charities has never been given, and it has feared to request, the authority it really needs in order to remove abuses in local administration. So far as towns are concerned, it is little more than an advisory body, whose suggestions may or may not be carried out. Even in the matter of securing statistics and the keeping of records by town officials, it has too little power. The town system breaks down in the case of those who require something besides ordinary relief. There is great need of differentiation, and here is where the Connecticut system has proved the weakest. Even regarding the primary distinction between pauper and vagrant, the towns will not act. There have been a few town workhouses in the state, but there are none now and there have not been for many years. Instead, the tramp is either sentenced to the almshouse, or committed to jail, or passed on, and is not in any case adequately punished, much less reformed. The larger towns can give something like proper treatment to the insane, etc., because they have enough of them to make it an object. The small town, on the other hand, can do nothing of the sort, and as almshouse support is cheapest, is unwilling ordinarily to send the pauper to a hospital or asylum until compelled to do so. This is the reason the state has had to take the initiative and provide itself for defectives of all sorts. In the matter of children, instead of erecting a state home, it assigned the duty to the counties, though under the present law the state pays most of the bills. The state board of charities believe that a district system of relief would prevent the dangers inherent in the town. system and at the same time avoid the difficulty of too great centralization. I think the experience of Connecticut indicates that they are correct, but until the temper of the average Connecticut town changes radically, there is little chance that this will be done. Connecticut has not made large use of state institutions and its experience with them has not been altogether a happy one. While the state insane hospital has been well managed, the other state institution, the boys' school, has been very far from the ideal. On the other hand, the girls' school and the school for imbeciles, both under private corporations, have been well conducted. It is very likely that the expense has been less than it would have been under state control. When it comes to more general institutions, like hospitals, the development of the last twenty-five years has pointed to the conclusion that when once subsidies are granted, there is no stopping. The aid will increase and new claimants for assistance will appear. It is next to impossible to proportion the amounts to the actual services performed. The growth of the county homes and the clamorous demands of private asylums for state money point in the same direction. 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