The institution is under the control of five directors, who receive their appointment from four different sources, and their terms of service expire at different times, with the theory that thus there will be little party domination. While this may be a correct theory, its practical results are not always such as the theorist might wish for. While in the earlier history of this asylum men of average ability were appointed directors, their selection of a superintendent was not fraught with results to which the citizens could point with any pride. The later experience has somewhat reversed the terms. The incumbents of the position of director have given little evidence of any qualification for the administration of so great a trust as the care of six hundred human beings who have no ability to care for themselves; and their superintendent for several years has proved his competence to render the institution at least a place of protection and comfort for the unfortunate residents, and has established his own character for honesty and executive ability.

But a political simoon has just swept over our State, and, under the euphony of "re-organization," boards of directors have been appointed who have removed the superintendents of all our asylums, displacing men of honesty, efficiency, and, in some cases, of many years' experience, as alienists, and replacing them by men of no experience in such institutions, whose chief recommendation for the place seems to have been their relation to political manipulators, or their willingness to give office to the relatives of such. Our own asylum has not escaped the fell storm, and a new board of directors has been appointed, none of the members of which, so far as known to the public, possesses any qualification for the important position they have assumed.

With this summary of medical charity in Cincinnati, I ask your attention briefly to some suggestions for its improvement.

The hospital and infirmary being associated in purpose, and frequently charged with the care of the same individuals, it seems but reasonable that they should be united in administration. The hospital board, as now appointed, is little liable to political manip

ulation, and is well adapted to the conduct of the two institutions. The change in the management of the infirmary, to which I have already adverted, prompts me to more strenuously urge the importance of this association of administration. By a careful winnowing out of tramps and impostors, sufficient accommodation might be obtained there for a home for incurables, a class which earnestly appeals to us for succor, not simply because the afflicted one may receive more and better care, and a burdened life be made lighter, but because the presence of such an one in the home of a poor family tends to the impoverishment of all. This establishment, possessing ample grounds, is susceptible of being made very attractive, and of affording proper employment for this class, which is so deserving of our consideration.

For the improvement of the administration of the Longview Insane Asylum, I offer no suggestion other than is contained in the "Propositions" long since adopted by the "Association of Superintendents," which are the embodiment of the best wisdom on this subject.

Pertinent to the management of our hospital, especially, is a suggestion upon a topic I think of much importance. There is a large proportion of the inmates of our hospital who are the victims of a voluntary life of vice. Again and again do they return to us suffering from the consequences of their licentious habits. That such applicants should be treated, is undoubted; but that, when cured, they should be discharged from the hospital, is very like a premium for vice, for many of them are more comfortable in hospital than anywhere else. I would suggest that patients who have been treated for the diseases under consideration be compelled to pay the expense of their care by performing labor that may be devised for the purpose.

The text allotted me has restricted me to an examination of the medical charity of our city; but I regard it as but a single branch of the great work devolved upon the community, and to whose efficient and judicious administration most serious thought is required. The manifest existence of a pauper class, the tendency of our pauper population to the cities, the recognized dependence of pauperism upon indolence and vice, and its heredity, and, on the other hand, the defects and ill results of our charities, admonish us that they need the most careful study and the most systematic administration. A step in the right direction has been the organization of our State Board of Charities. We have ample testimony

to the excellent results of the labor of this body; but its limited number, and its organization, render it inadequate to meet all the requirements. For a full and effectual accomplishment of the work of charitable administration we require, 1st, a State Charities Aid Association, which by the social, moral, and intellectual standing of its members shall compel the respect and co-operation of all managers of public institutions; 2d, a system of co-operative benevolence, in which shall be associated all charitable organizations, who shall delegate to a central bureau the duty of determining the merit of every applicant for relief, and the character of the charity to be administered; thus cutting off the opportunites for continued imposition on the one side, and directing the indiscreet hand of charity, on the other.

Without discussing Dr. Taylor's Paper immediately, the next Paper was read, as follows:

:

OUT-DOOR RELIEF ADMINISTRATION IN NEW-YORK CITY, 1878.

BY HENRY E. PELLEW OF NEW YORK.

It is not surprising that the question of out-door relief should have become one of the most vital in our country, touching as it does not only the moral and physical well-being of the present, but the prosperity and efficiency of many a succeeding generation. The injury now inflicted through ignorance, mistaken notions of philanthropy, or simple generosity, by those concerned in relieving the sufferings of others, is not confined to the existing age: if it were, there would be less anxiety about the statistics of pauperism, and less desire to interfere with the free indulgence of indiscriminate acts of benevolence; in fact, the future might then be left to take care of itself.

We do know, however, that the unsystematic relief of any class or section of the poor creates an increase in the number of those who will rely upon it for support, will look upon it as a right, and who will evade by every possible means whatever checks or tests may be imposed upon the applicants for it. The well-known history of the Jukes family offers a forcible illustration of the manner in which hereditary pauperism becomes here, as in all ages and places it has become, the cancer and opprobrium of human society. It will be remembered that the number of persons in that interesting family, traced through six generations, amounted to seven

hundred and nine, all paupers or criminals; "Margaret the mother of criminals" being one of the six original vagrant girls.

The history of" Smith's Poor Kin Charity" in London will also serve as a warning on this point. The interest of a certain sum of money, invested in land, was left some two centuries ago to be divided annually, one half in relieving the captives of Turkish pirates, and the other half among the poor kindred of the testator. A hundred and fifty years later the whole sum became applicable to these "poor kindred," then only fifteen in number; but, as the property increased in value, so did the claimants multiply, until, at the present time, an income of sixty thousand dollars is available for the relief of destitute Smiths, some hundreds in number, whose claim seems to be established rather on idleness and improvidence than on decrepitude, sickness, or misfortune.

It is in a new country like this, full of generous, sympathetic, open-handed individuals, too busy to spare time for investigation, too impulsive to restrain their charitable feelings, that the experience of other countries becomes so valuable. Human nature, in

its most important points, is always and everywhere substantially the same, however much the differences in circumstances and relations have modified the manners and conduct of men in various times and countries.

[The administration of out-door relief is therefore one of those subjects which need careful, and, to a certain extent, scientific consideration, in order to ascertain the principles which should govern it : the application of those principles would naturally vary in different places, adapting itself to local requirements Unsystematic charity

has a tendency to undo or to counteract the effect of natural laws no less than the principles of social science. It puts a premium on idleness and improvidence as compared with industry and thrift; it enables the vicious and the hypocrites to gather in that which was intended for the unfortunate and broken-down wayfarers of life; it weakens the incentives to industry, provident habits, selfdependence, and family duties; it attracts the most worthless of the vagabond poor from the country, to the great injury of the cityresidents; and it swells the expense of city government by the increase of police-force and the amount of disease, intoxication, and crime introduced, all consequent on the unrestrained exercise of independent and individual charity.

The history of out-door relief administration in New York serves to point the moral, and to illustrate the fact, too often forgotten,

that charity, no matter how extensive or how well-intentioned, is utterly helpless and incompetent to cope with pauperism, unless it it is based on a common system, directed by common principles towards one common object, the moral and physical improvement of the poor, and the extirpation of pauperism by the removal of its causes and the relief of its results.

In New York out-door relief is distributed or controlled under different forms:

I. By the State acting through the State Board of Charities and the Emigration Commissioners.

II. By the city (a), as represented by the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, and the Police Department; and (b) by certain institutions and asylums under private management, but mainly supported by public funds, under special laws, and subject to official inspection; and

III. By the dispensaries and similar medical charities, and by a multitude of charitable, benevolent, parochial, and other organizations, which are dependent for their support upon subscriptions, the good-will of the public, and other private sources, supplemented, in some instances, by the excise fund.'

In following this order the question first arises, What is a pauper? and who are entitled to receive public relief in the city and county of New York?

The "pauper," according to law, may be defined as a poor person, who from old age or decrepitude, sickness, blindness, lameness, or any other disability, is unable to maintain him or herself by work. Such persons are primarily chargeable to their own relations, parents, or children; these failing, the overseers of the poor, i.e., the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, are liable, and the question of settlement arises. Any one who has been a resident and an inhabitant of the city for one year immediately preceding, and all members of the same family (unless separately settled), would be considered to have gained a settlement, and must, if necessary, be maintained by the city: if, however, such persons have not resided long enough to gain a settlement, the superintendent of the poor is charged to support and relieve them at the expense of the county, to be recovered if possible.

I. The large population of New York, its constantly shifting character, and the difficulty, expense, and labor of exchanging and corresponding with other towns of the State, and with other States, interfere with more than a nominal compliance with this law.