fare work, notably in helping to secure the passage of the Mothers' Aid law and in the work for crippled children. County Boards of Public Welfare: The powers of county boards of public welfare should be enlarged so that their members may have some voice in the appointment of the county superintendent of public welfare who, under the present law, is chosen by the county commissioners and the county board of education. The county board of public welfare now serves only in an advisory capacity to the county superintendent of public welfare, and its responsibility is so slight that, except in the case of members especially interested in the work, the board is apt to be less effective than it should be. The idea that service on the county board of public welfare is valuable public service should be encouraged. Prison Conditions: There should be a continuing board of directors for the State Prison. This is necessary for an unbroken and constructive policy of prison administration. As constituted at the present, the entire personnel of the board of directors of the State Prison may be changed every four years. The State Board of Health, the State Board of Agriculture, the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare and the board of every other state institution is a continuing board. What has been found to be a satisfactory policy for the organization of these boards should apply equally to the State Prison. A separate prison for women under a separate board is needed. Separation of men and women in penal institutions is essential in the conduct of a good system. There are any number of women. offenders in North Carolina who need corrective punishment and physical treatment for whom the state is now doing practically nothing on account of inadequate institutional facilities. A study of the county chain-gang system should be made. This system should be studied both as an economic and as a social problem with the idea of transferring control of these prisoners to the state. Women in Charge of Women Prisoners: Whole-time or part-time matrons should be employed in all jails in which women prisoners are confined. These matrons should carry the keys to the cells of the women prisoners which are now generally carried by men, the jailers. Furthermore, women should accompany delinquents and feeble-minded girls or women to State institutions. A Whole-Time Superintendent of Public Welfare in Every County: and in the Larger Counties Additional Officers to Assist Him: The public welfare system in North Carolina can never hope for full success until every county is organized for the work with a whole-time superintendent of public welfare. No part-time officer can fulfill all the duties of the position which, as a matter of fact, are too great for any one person. And it cannot be expected that the superintendent of schools who acts as ex-officio welfare officer in counties where there is none can discharge these duties in addition to his regular work. Every county in the state has its unfortunate people, the delinquent, the dependent, the defective and the neglected, who should be under the supervision of an officer directly responsible for their care, as the superintendent of public welfare is. In the larger counties the superintendent of public welfare should have adequate assistance by probation officers and school attendance officer, and clerical help. A Better Understanding of Public Welfare: But after all perhaps the greatest problem in North Carolina is still one of interpreting the meaning of public welfare to all the people. This applies scarcely less to the highest officials, to the college professor and professional man, than to the great mass of people throughout the state. It does not help matters to say that such a condition exists in other states also. What is needed is to get out of people's minds the twofold impression that public welfare is, on the one hand merely a sentimental, supplemental sort of work, and on the other the impression that it has always been and therefore must always be subject to careless methods and political influence. This is, of course, a difficult problem and one which will take a great deal of time. It will involve the doing of good work by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare and by the county systems. It will involve the other problems already mentioned. It seems but fair to say that North Carolina has made some progress in this direction and that the system as a whole has been successful, as may clearly be seen from the story which has just been presented in this chapter. CHAPTER X THE COUNTY AS A UNIT FOR PUBLIC WELFARE RECENT EMERGENCE OF THE RURAL PROBLEM A MERICAN programs of social service are urban born. Hebrew tradition has it that the first city was built by the first murderer, and throughout history cities have had an unenviable reputation as destroyers of populations, as social vortices forever dragging down the race to physical and spiritual ruin.. It is not strange that we should have discovered our social problems where tradition had convinced us we should find them, and that in consequence American social work should attain its primary growth in an urban environment. It was in the city that we first became aware of such problems as health, destitution, crime, unemployment, family disintegration, recreation, etc., and our social service programs have come to have a predominantly urban cast. Hence until recent years the major portion of social effort has been exerted on behalf of a minority of the population. "Man made the city, God made the country," we naively said, and left it largely to the Almighty to keep watch above His own. But recently have we become aware of what a multitude of rural conditions there are with the initi |