sent to the Butler Hospital for the Insane, in Providence, and the expense is borne in part by the State. Other State beneficiaries are sent to institutions without the State, viz.: six at the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, at Hartford, ten at the Perkins Hospital for the Blind, at South Boston, and two at the Massachusetts School for Feeble-Minded and Idiotic Youth.

Second. The institutions of the State are free alike to all classes.

Third. No change in legislation during the past year.

Fourth. The poor of the State are cared for mostly in poorhouses or by outdoor relief.

Fifth. Rhode Island has one State prison, one State workhouse and five county jails. Of the latter, the one for Providence county is the only one of importance. It is in the same building with the State prison, and to it criminals are sent from all parts of the State. The other jails are mostly used as houses of detention.

The Providence Reform School is maintained by the State, but it is governed by trustees appointed by the city of Providence.

All the State institutions proper are located on what is known as the State Farm, six miles from Providence, containing 433 acres, and for intelligence and economy in management there is, perhaps, no State superior to Rhode Island. The penitentiary, recently completed, is probably the best structure of its kind upon this continent.

No report rendered.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

TENNESSEE.

First. Tennessee maintains a deaf and dumb asylum at Knoxville, and an insane asylum at Nashville.

Second. The deaf and dumb and blind schools are free. The insane asylum charges patients able to pay, which is a small proportion.

Third. No changes in legislation during the past year.

Fourth. The poor are put up at auction to the lowest bidder, and the counties foot the bills.

Fifth. The prison system consists of a jail in each county, a workhouse at Nashville and Memphis, and a penitentiary at Nashville. The penitentiary convicts are leased out.

This report is brief, but it is explicit and expressive. The poor are sold out and the prisoners are leased out. "Twin relics of barbarism.'

TEXAS.

No report rendered. It is a pity that a State so vast, and with future possibilities so boundless, should be voiceless.

From unofficial sources, however, I know that Texas is not devoid of intelligent activity in charitable and correctional investigations, and I judge that much has been done that is quite creditable to the State. It is true my correspondent deprecates existing deficiencies, but I judge they are largely deficiencies that exist more or less in all States. He says, "We have but one insane asylum, and it is crowded to the utmost, being entirely inadequate to the necessities of our population, though most efficiently and successfully administered. Our next Legislature will no doubt make provision for an additional asylum, or for some system of county retreats for the insane. One great hindrance to our charitable institutions has of late been found in the exceedingly short-sighted and parsimonious policy of our Legislatures, which are not free from the prevailing demagogy of the age. We have as yet merely the skeleton-the anatomical outlines-of a great body of charitable foundations; we are as yet destitute of that soul and animating intelligence that comes from organized and systematic effort by competent and informed persons."

The want of accommodations rather than the character of accommodations is what is most objectionable in the charitable institutions of Texas. With a voting population two-thirds as large as Massachusetts, and a territory seven times as large as Ohio, and an immigration absolutely titanic in its proportions, it would seem that Texas ought to provide more liberally for its dependent and defective classes. At present, its lunatic asylum accommodates 275, the institution for deaf and dumb, 57, and the institution for the blind, 50.

The prison system of Texas is the lease system, common in all the Southern States, and, therefore, it is not surprising that my correspondent should write, "our penitentiary has been involved. in much trouble of late years, owing to the system of leasing and farming out the convicts." The report of the penitentiary sent me

*See note at the end of this address.

furnishes the following official record of discharges, deaths, pardons and escapes for the past five years:

And this with an average of about 1,500 convicts. Figures cannot well be more significant.

VERMONT.

First. The insane asylum is a private charity, founded by bequests perpetually devoted to that purpose. The State has, from time to time, made appropriations for improvements, which have been repaid by keeping insane poor. The State exercises supervision by commissioners and visitors.

There is a reform school for boys and girls, supported entirely by the State.

Second. Free alike to all. Paying patients are received at the asylum. The poor are supported by the State there. Another class, not wholly paupers, but whose families cannot afford entire support, are aided by the State.

Third. No new legislation.

Fourth. Each township supports its own poor, except insane, blind, deaf and dumb, and idiotic children, who are sent to institutions in other States.

Fifth. The prison system consists of county jails for detention whilst awaiting trial; a house of correction for minor offenders, and a State prison for convicts.

VIRGINIA.

First. Virginia supports three lunatic asylums, two for whites and one for negroes, with accommodations for about 1,000 patients, and also a deaf and dumb and a blind asylum.

Second. They are not free, but are divided into those who can and do pay, and those who cannot, but without distinction in treat

ment.

Third. No change in legislation during the past year.

Fourth. For the poor, houses are generally provided, but in some cases, paupers are boarded out with their friends in families. All are supported by county levies.

No report.

WEST VIRGINIA.

WISCONSIN.

First. Wisconsin maintains two insane asylums, an institution for the blind, and for the deaf and dumb, an industrial school for boys and one also for girls. The latter is owned by the State and controlled by a private corporation.

Second. The counties sending insane patients to hospitals are charged $1.50 per week toward their support, and for children sent to industrial school, $1 a week.

Third. The only changes in legislation during the year, is an act modifying the "good time law" applicable to convicts in State. prison. Under the old law, the "good time" to be earned was invariably five days per month; now it is one month for the first year, two for the second, and so on, increasing one month per year, until the sixth, and each subsequent year a convict may make six months good time per year. Per contra, for the first case of misconduct he forfeits five days, for the second, ten days, and for the third, and each subsequent case, twenty days; thus making both rewards and punishments for bad conduct cumulative in degree.

Fourth. The poor are cared for in poorhouses in thirty-two counties, under the charge of county superintendents, usually elected by the county board of supervisors.

In counties not under the "county system" of poor support (so-called), the poor are cared for by the towns.

Fifth. The prison system consists of a State prison, county jails, and the house of correction at Milwaukee.

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

For the full, clear, and explicit information in regard to the District of Columbia, I am indebted to the prompt courtesy of the President of the United States, who, having once been chairman of the State Board of Charities of the State of Ohio, fully appreciated the pertinency of the interrogatories propounded. I have time only for an abstract of what was furnished.

First. The charitable institutions of the District under Federal control are: A government hospital for the insane, which was established for the care and treatment of the insane of the army

and navy of the United States, and for the District of Columbia, — the expense of the two former classes is borne by the Federal Government, but the District provides for that of the latter classthe Columbia Hospital for Women, and Lying-in Asylum, which is mainly supported by the District; the Freedman's Hospital, which is under the charge of the Interior Department. There is also a soldiers' home, which provides for disabled United States soldiers, and supported by contributions from the enlisted men of the regular army.

The charitable institutions under District control are: The Washington Asylum, which comprises the features of an almshouse, a free hospital for the sick poor, and a workhouse for the confinement of persons committed by the municipal court of the District.

The charitable institutions under private control, receiving Federal and District aid, are: The Providence Hospital, which has a contract with the Surgeon General of the army to care for seventyfive transient paupers, who are admitted on orders from the officer, and paid for out of an appropriation made by Congress. The others are St. Ann's Infant Asylum, Little Sisters of the Poor, Women's Christian Association, Children's Hospital, National Association for Relief of Colored Women and Children, Columbia Institution for Deaf, Dumb and Blind.

Several other charitable institutions under private control have, from time to time, received liberal aid of like character, but the above are all that are now in that class.

Second. All the charitable institutions under Federal and private control hereinbefore named (except the soldiers' home), admit both free and pay inmates; but those under District control admit only the indigent, and, of course, make no charge for their care and treatment.

Third. No new legislation completed, but the commissioners have recommended, and Congress has under consideration, a measure to systematize the relations of the charitable and reformatory institutions of the District, and to place them under a Board of Charities and Corrections.

Fourth. The poor, in addition to the aid rendered by the organized charities already mentioned, receive out-door relief. The District annually derives $7,500 from the franchise of the Washington Market Company, and is required to expend it for the