Supervision over Penitentiaries Reformatory Municipal prison Assembling of criminal statistics Conduct of prison industries Superintendence of transfer of prisoners. A special section on prison labor as shown in the accompanying chart completes the general organization of the Bureau of Restoration. Community Welfare Organization. One of the chief interests of the Department is that of community welfare organization and community service. The county plan of organization has not been satisfactorily worked out in a sufficient number of cases. Much progress, however, has been made and the outlook is promising. Dr. Potter says: The need of developing a county consciousness for the social welfare of the handicapped groups in those communities was very early felt. The wide breach frequently found between the poor law officials of a county and the philanthropic public, largely due to misunderstanding of aims and purposes, made it imperative that the Department should endeavor to bring about mutual understanding and coöperative effort. To that end a Field Representative was appointed to promote this undertaking. The work of this representative is educational, coöperative and promotive. Numerous calls for his services have been received and we believe that as a result there is developing in many of our counties a definite sense of social responsibility and a keen appreciation of problems to be solved. The present-day trend in official charitable work is away from the Pennsylvania system with its paid directors and overseers of the poor and toward the appointment of unpaid boards of trustees who employ full-time trained service to carry out their policies. We do not believe that the people of Pennsylvania have as yet come to the point of wishing to change their traditional policy and we do not recommend it but we do believe that the time has come for more complete understanding between public and private charity and more effective coöperation if the costs of this charity are to be kept within bounds. The Department during the past year has been able to render considerable service to many communities which were studying their own problems. The great mass of statistical material relating to charities which is in our files is at the disposal of the City and State Chambers of Commerce and is frequently consulted by them and by Community Chests and Welfare organizations. We are also able to render special consultation service on social, accounting, nursing, engineering and other problems. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Among the most important developments of the last year and the new legislature are a number of new laws and appropriations with reference to specific institutions, such as Torrance State Hospital, Laureton Village, Muncy Farms, and Rockview and Eastern Penitentiaries The State General Hospitals for new building and maintenance Three new laws marking advance in prison labor matters The abolition of the sheriff's fee in certain counties Two new acts sponsored by the Children's Commission governing adoptions and bringing infant boarding houses under regulation by the Welfare Department A continuation of the Children's Commission Authority for the appointment of a commission for the study of prison parole The establishment of a State Council for the blind in the Department of Welfare, to include the Secretary of Welfare, Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Secretary of Labor and Industry, and four others to be appointed by the Governor. A new law to check improper collection of moneys by irresponsible organizations Voting of a lump sum of one million dollars to the Department of Welfare for general medical and surgical treatment of the indigent An amendment to the mental health act of 1923 The Arow law for identification of babies in maternity institutions by foot-prints The Guerin law, under which juries may specify capital punishment or life imprisonment in firstdegree murder cases. Under the old law capital punishment was mandatory An amendment to authorize the loan of fifty million dollars to complete state building program, to be approved by the next legislature and then submitted to popular vote. Finally the charts on the following pages will give a comprehensive picture of the entire Pennsylvania plan. THE CHAPTER IX THE NORTH CAROLINA PLAN1 HE present system of public welfare in North Carolina has had a rather unusual development in that it did not evolve slowly and gradually over a long period of time. It is true that provisions for the old system were of long standing, but the new system grew up rapidly in what was, as far as public welfare was concerned, practically a sleeping state. It was thus some time before North Carolina really understood what had been opened up to it. The old North Carolina Board of Public Charities which preceded the new system existed from 1868 until 1917, but it had functioned only in a limited way, and thus can hardly be regarded as a step in the development of the present system. During this time, however, a small group of interested citizens, headed by "the father of public welfare in North Carolina,” A. W. McAlister, of Greensboro, had been conferring and planning for some time before the new plan materialized, and its materialization was due to their plans and efforts. But the transformation was sudden and so sweeping and the new plan so big that it caused as much comment abroad as it did at home. 1 Most of the material in this chapter was provided by Commissioner Kate Burr Johnson and Miss Nell Battle Lewis. |