tions averages about two hundred dollars for each inmate, part of which is derived from sources other than the State treasury. No charge is made by the State for board, treatment, or tuition in any of them; they are absolutely free to our own citizens. We have an able body of superintendents; we retain them in their positions, and pay them liberal salaries; and we think our institutions will compare favorably with those of any other State. We hear very little complaint of their management from any quarter. I may say that political considerations do not enter into the appointment of any of their officers or employés, so far as I know: both political parties are represented on their boards of trust. Our system of financial supervision has another advantage; it makes it easy for us to estimate with great accuracy the amounts necessary and proper to be appropriated for their support. The legislature has confidence in our estimates, and follows them with but little variation.

The contract for the new Hospital for the Insane at Kankakee, about fifty miles south of Chicago, has been signed, and the work commenced. The amount of the present contract is about a hundred and seventy thousand dollars. For this amount will be put up a centre building, one section of one wing, gas-works, waterworks, a kitchen, bakery, laundry, boiler-house, engine-house, coalhouse, &c., and the sewerage completed. All the working department is first provided for, so that whatever portion of the structure may be completed at any time will be ready for occupation and use. The plans adopted contemplate provision for two hundred and fifty or three hundred patients, in a hospital building of the ordinary type, and by some is supposed to contemplate an extension of the institution by a system of cottages or detached wards for patients who may require less severe restraint. They will, however, admit of enlargement and extension on the ordinary American plan, if the legislature should be unwilling to risk the experiment desired. The final decision of the question between the two plans, I suppose, will be left to the legislature. Many had hoped that, since our State was compelled to erect a new institution for the insane, the family or cottage plan would be tried, or so far experimented upon as to test its merits or demerits. From the fact that two cottages have been erected this year on the hospital grounds at Elgin, and believing, as they do, that it would be less expensive, more home-like, and much better for the patients, some are still encouraged to hope that the new village or cottage plan will meet with favor. But, for one, I must say that I have very

little expectation of such a result; so reluctant are our people to abandon, even for a time, the old beaten track and its errors for new and comparatively untried fields, and so great is the opposition of superintendents and architects of the institutions, and of the people in their immediate locality. This is not the time, however, to discuss such merits and demerits, or the reasons for such opposition, had I the inclination.

While the people of our State have for many years past done much, and expended large sums of money, for the relief of our unfortunate classes, it may safely be said, that since the organization of the Board of Public Charities, in 1869, their condition has been much improved, not only in our State charitable institutions, but in our county jails and almshouses, and that, too, with a constant relative reduction of cost. Within that period a large number of jails and almshouses of the most uncomfortable and inferior character have been abandoned, and new ones erected, well arranged, well ventilated, and comfortable, which are a credit to the age in which we live. Two asylums for the insane, one at Elgin, and one at Anna, — capable of accommodating five hundred patients each, have been erected; and the one in progress at Kankakee, when completed, will have equal, if not greater, capacity than either. One has also been erected by the people of Cook County, with capacity for four hundred; and the only State institution for the insane, at Jacksonville, prior to that date, has been very much improved and greatly enlarged. Large and commodious additions to the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at that place have been made, and, with facilities for five hundred pupils, it is one of the finest in the State. In the mean time there has also been erected an elegant and well-arranged Institution for FeebleMinded Children at Lincoln, with a capacity of three to four hundred; the Eye and Ear Infirmary at Chicago, capacity two hundred; and the Asylum for the Blind, which was burned at Jacksonville, has been rebuilt on an improved plan. There has been a constant increase of interest concerning the accommodations and treatment of our unfortunate classes; and, while much yet remains to be done, many thanks are due the people for such interest, and the readiness and willingness with which they contribute means to their relief.

We have decided to resume the visitation of the county jails and almshouses required by law, and have prepared blanks for this purpose, copies of which I shall be glad to present to any member

of the Conference who may desire them. Mr. Wines, Secretary of our Board, has been appointed by the governor, under a joint resolution of the General Assembly, a special commissioner to represent the State at the International Prison Congress at Stockholm next August. He expects to sail July 1, and to be absent three months. He designs making the subject of the construction and management of hospitals for the insane a special study while. abroad. He is busy preparing to leave, and desired me to say to those present that he very much regrets his inability to meet with you this year.

OHIO.

The report of the work of the Board of State Charities of Ohio was presented by Rev. A. G. Byers, Secretary of the Board.

As this is the first time this Board has been represented at the Conference, a statement of the circumstances under which the Board was originally organized, of the difficulties encountered, and the work accomplished by that organization, is submitted. The former Board was abolished in 1872. The present Board was organized in 1876, without changing materially the law under which the former Board acted, save that an additional provision was made, constituting the Governor of the State a member and ex-officio President of the Board.

Our Board has no administrative functions. Its duties consist in the investigation of the system and administration of public charities and corrections, and it reports thereon with suggestions relating thereto.

The present Board, as re-organized in 1876, has submitted two annual reports. These relate to the condition and management of the public institutions charitable, correctional, and penal — of the State and the several counties and municipalities, with statistics of the several classes under care or restraint.

Ohio has five hospitals for the insane, with an aggregate capacity. for thirty-three hundred patients. The census taken by the Secretary for the year 1877 shows an aggregate of 3,773 insane persons upon the public care in the State, or about 473 in excess of the capacity of the State hospitals. One hundred of this excess are under State care in the North-western Asylum at Toledo (a county institution). One hundred and fifteen of the number reported in State hospitals are epileptics; for this class the Board of State Charities is urging other provision by the State, so that, with the

removal of the epileptics, the present provision for the insane proper approximates within less than three hundred of the number to be provided for.

The separate provision for epileptics (of which class there are at present over five hundred upon the public care), if made to include a hopeless class of chronic insane, would economize the cost of keeping, and leave the State with ample accommodations for the care and treatment of all the insane; probably sufficient to meet such demand for years to come.

Of County Infirmaries there are eighty-nine, or one in each of the eighty-eight counties of the State, and an additional one for the city of Cincinnati.

Under the general supervision of the Board of State Charities, these county institutions show marked improvement in their general condition and management. Under our law county infirmaries are administered by the directors elected by the people, one annually, to serve for three years. Since little care is usually taken in the selection of infirmary directors, and many abuses and conditions of neglect have been attributed to the present method of administration, it is urged upon the General Assembly to abolish the office as an elective one, to make it the duty of county commissioners (who make all appropriations for infirmary purposes) to appoint the superintendent (now appointed by directors), and to authorize the Board of State Charities to appoint local or county boards of visitors (men and women) to serve as the members of the State Board serve, without compensation. It is believed an improved management would thereby be secured, and a saving annually of not less than thirty thousand dollars would be effected in the State. The following is an exhibit of the numbers, classes, and cost of county infirmaries for the year 1877, including eighty-three counties.

Whole number of inmates remaining Sept. 1, 1876

6,541

Whole number received during the year ending Sept. 1,

Whole number born in infirmary during the year

257

Number removed to other counties, States, or institutions

410

Whole number remaining Sept. 1, 1877 .

7,183

Whole number children under 16 years of age during the year
Whole number placed in homes

2,273

455

Whole number children remaining Sept. 1, 1877 (boys, 741; girls,

(boys,

486) .

1,227

Total current expenses of infirmaries, exclusive of farm products, for the year ending Sept. 1, 1877

$592,472 31

Total value of farm products for the year ending Sept. 1, 1877
Total amount paid for out-door relief during the year ending

1877

175,826 92

Sept. 1, 1877

282,425 05

Amount of salaries for the year: superintendents, $53,798.50; matrons, $5,147.50; teachers, $2,069. Total .

61,015 00

Amount of wages paid employés

49,424 89

Amount of per diem and expenses of infirmary directors for the

The average cost per capita for the year, including farm products,

being.

109 77

Poor Children. The law of our State provides that a county, or a district of counties (not exceeding four counties), may erect and maintain "children's homes." We have at present five (four county and one "district") "homes," at Alliance, Dayton, Lebanon, Marietta, and Portsmouth, containing at the last report about four hundred children in all, and costing less than forty thousand dollars last year.

In addition to these, five other counties have, by a popular vote (as the law requires), elected to provide each a county home. It may be observed that the cost of providing "home care, including in most instances a school, costs (if any difference) less than the keeping of the same children in the conditions of neglect, squalor, and demoralization of the infirmary. It will be seen, also, that the advantages for placing children in families and the subsequent oversight is multiplied many hundred-fold by maintaining "homes."

State Institutions. The following table comprises the list of State institutions, and, for the most part, will indicate the numbers, classes, and cost in each.