The resolutions having passed, Dr. Hoyt concluded his report for New York and Col. Burchard reported for Wisconsin (pp. 264-6). After a paper read by Mr. Spalding, Secretary of the Massachusetts Prison Commission (pp. 257-262) and remarks by Mr. Milligan (p. 262), the subject was discussed by Mr. Daniel Russell, Agent for Discharged Convicts of Massachusetts (p. 263), until the adjournment at 1, P. M. The afternoon was devoted to visiting the Reformatory Prison for Women at Sherborn (pp. 266270). In the evening the Conference attended a Reception at the Hotel Vendome, given by Robert Treat Paine, Jr., President of the Associated Charities of Boston, at which four or five hundred members of the Conference and residents of Boston and vicinity were present. The occasion was one of much enjoyment and social intercourse, but no speeches were made. FIFTH DAY'S SESSION. The Conference was called to order, at 10, A. M., by the President, and the sudden death of Mr. Dominick Hunt, a delegate from Wisconsin, was announced by Mr. Wines, of Illinois, who said: I knew Mr. Hunt only through his association with the movement in which we are interested. I looked upon him as rather a remarkable man. He was of Irish birth and connected with the Roman Catholic church. He had been a police magistrate in the State of Wisconsin, and for many years, I understand, a county superintendent of the poor. Mr. Elmore was his very warm and particular friend, who thought a great deal of him. He was interested in this work as I have never seen a man of his class interested before. He attended the National Conference at Chicago, and I think at Cleveland. He said to me since coming to Boston that he intended to be present at every one of our meetings, so long as he should live; and through the mysterious action of Providence in his case his purpose has been fulfilled. I hope that a committee will be appointed to express the sense of the Conference in view of his death, and to extend to his family and friends at home our very cordial and hearty sympathy. I would propose that on the committee should be placed some member from Wisconsin who is more familiar with his life and history than I am. I should think Mr. Elmore a very appropriate person. I think that we must all feel this death very much. Here, yesterday, in full life and vigor, with as good a prospect for life as any of us today, gone to his Judge, to meet his reward! It is a very solemn warning to us of our own mortality, and we cannot fail to be impressed by it. Prof. WRIGHT, of Wisconsin: The President has just informed me that no other member from Wisconsin is present. In seconding Mr. Wines's motion it is proper for me to say that I have known Mr. Hunt for some time. I met him some weeks ago at his home in Fort Howard, while inspecting poorhouses and jails, and spent an evening with him at his home. He was very much interested indeed in these subjects, as was also his wife. They were from the great middle class of Ireland and took a leading place among their own people. For many years Mr. Hunt had charge of the management of in-door and out-door relief in Brown county, Wisconsin. At Mr. Elmore's request he went to the Conference at Chicago; while there he heard a discussion on out-door relief which suggested ideas to his mind that he had never thought of. He went back to Brown county, and being in a position where he could put these ideas in practice, he immediately brought them before the supervisors and carried out measures of reform in connection with out-door relief, so far as practicable, and saved much money to the county. He said to me that the simple fact of his attending the Conference at Chicago would save $10,000 a year to Brown county. When he heard Mr. Low speak again on the same subject, he told me that it was worth fifty dollars to hear Mr. Low say what he did on those subjects, and I noticed that he had a long conference with him afterwards. I was very much shocked at hearing, about half-past nine this morning, that Mr. Hunt had been found dead in his bed at the Parker House. When I came back from the reception last evening, I found him at the Parker House, and had a few minutes conversation with him about the Suffolk Jail in this city, which he had just visited. I left him in apparently perfect health, after eleven o'clock at night. His very sudden death is a matter of surprise and sorrow to all the members of this Conference. I certainly hope that such a committee will be appointed, and Mr. Elmore is by all means the most fitting person from Wisconsin to be on that committee. Mr. Wines's motion passed unanimously, and the President appointed on the committee, Hon. Andrew E. Elmore, of Wisconsin, Rev. F. H. Wines, of Illinois, and Dr. Diller Luther, of Pennsylvania. Remarks upon the Woman's Reformatory Prison, at Sherborn, visited the previous day, were made by the President of the Conference (p. 267); Dr. David Rogers, of New York; Dr. Pliny Earle, of Massachusetts; Mrs. Dall, of Washington (p. 268); and by Rev. J. L. Milligan (pp. 269, 70). Mr. Milligan also pre sented, in behalf of Warden Rice, a brief report of prison work in Vermont, as follows: The State of Vermont passed a law in 1874, giving to each discharged convict one dollar for each month of good conduct while in prison, the money to be paid on his discharge. Since Dec. 1, 1878, about 125 persons have been discharged and paid an average of $25 each; but two of the above number had been in punishment enough to lose all benefit of this law. Some men have been paid $70. The law does not allow the amount to exceed $100. No one of the 125 convicts discharged has been recommitted to the prison at Windsor, of which Mr. Rice is warden. The number of convicts in the Vermont State Prison, at the present time, is 120, with indications that it will be reduced to 110 or less within the next six months. The largest number ever in the prison was 188, in the summer of 1878. At 10.30, A. M., the Committee on Preventive Work among Children took charge of the session of the Conference, Hon. W. P. Letchworth, of New York, Chairman of that Committee, presiding. Mr. Letchworth having announced the death of ExGovernor Bagley, of Michigan, former Chairman of the Committee (p. 271), the Secretary of the Michigan Board, Mr. W. J. Baxter, of Detroit, spoke as follows: Gov. Bagley was eminently a man of the people, and a fair representative of what America does for her young men. He was brought up in poverty, but by the force of the institutions of this country was enabled to occupy the place to which his talents entitled him. I was acquainted with him from his boyhood; we went to school together in the west of Michigan, and I have therefore known him all his life. He was eminently a practical man, and his sympathies for the poor and distressed always took a practical turn. Our institution for poor children at Coldwater was inaugurated by Gov. Bagley; he was one of the commissioners for that institution, and took an earnest interest in it, making it what it has since become. I move that a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to prepare suitable resolutions in regard to Gov. Bagley's death. Mr. WINES Seconded the motion, which passed unanimously, and the following committee was appointed by the Chairman: W. J. Baxter, of Michigan. Prof. George I. Chace, of Rhode Island. Mr. Letchworth then presented his report (p. 271), after which Mrs. Helen M. Beveridge, of Illinois, read a report by Mrs. Julia C. Dorr, of Vermont, on Reformatory and Preventive Work in that State (pp. 272-6), and followed it with an account of the Industrial School for Girls, at Evanston, Ill., of which she is the President (pp. 276-8). Mrs. Babbitt, of Illinois, spoke on the same subject (p. 278), and a discussion followed, in which Mr. Gardner, of Ohio, Mr. Caldwell, of Kentucky, and others spoke. Mr. Gardner expressed his surprise at seeing a boy of eight years in the Boston jail, on his visit the day before (p. 278). Mrs. H. L. T. Wolcott, of Boston, explained the circumstances of the case (p. 279). Mr. Obadiah Huse, of the Illinois Reform School at Pontiac, spoke of this institution (p. 280), and Rev. H. R. Cooley, of Cleveland, spoke of the Bethel Union in that city (p. 281). Mrs. Lesley, of Philadelphia, read a paper on Foundlings and Destitute Children (pp. 282-6), and at noon Miss E. C. Putnam, of Boston, read a special report on The Care of Friendless Girls (pp. 288-301). The Committee on establishing an organ of the Conference then reported through the Chairman, Rev. F. H. Wines : The Committee to which was referred the matter of the establishment of a newspaper to serve as an organ of the Conference, respectfully report as follows: This Conference is manifestly destined to become national in fact as well as in name, and to exert a wide and powerful influence throughout the country, in the direction of systematizing, developing and improving our system of charities and correction, both locally and generally. To aid in extending its influence for good, as an educational factor and a national exchange of ideas and of information, it appears to be very desirable that it should have at its command an official bulletin, to be published at stated intervals, between the times at which its annual sessions are held. In view of the breadth of the interests involved, the increasing number of persons whose attention is engaged in charitable work, and the multitude of State, municipal and private charitable and correctional institutions in the country, it is probable that such an organ could be made self-sustaining, through its list of subscribers and a special line of advertisements, which could easily be procured for insertion in its columns. At the same time, your Committee are of the opinion that no steps should be taken in this direction unless a fund sufficient for the payment of the expenses of publication for one year can be first secured, the amount of which we estimate at one thousand dollars. To give the movement practical form, we recommend ; XXViii EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF CHARITIES. 1. That Messrs. Sanborn and Wines be appointed a special committee, authorized to solicit contributions to the extent of one thousand dollars, for this purpose only, and to make arrangements for the establishment of the proposed periodical, whenever that sum shall have been secured. 2. That the time and place of publication be simultaneously, at Boston and Chicago, on the first of each month. 3. That the special committee of two hereby provided for, be instructed to suspend publication at any time when the funds in their hands may be exhausted, and in no case to involve this Conference in any pecuniary obligations on this account. 4. That the two gentlemen named act as Eastern and Western editors of the new paper, for which they are requested to choose an expressive and appropriate name, and that they be permitted to request such persons as they may deem expedient to act with them as associate editors, provided that not more than one associate be appointed from any one State. FRED. H. WINES, ROBT. TREAT PAINE, JR., The Report of the Committee was accepted and adopted. A debate on Miss Putnam's Report then followed, and remarks were offered by Rev. Charles H. Bond, Superintendent of the Industrial School for Girls at Middletown, Conn. (p. 305); Miss G. A. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, Rev. H. Loomis, Jr. of Poughkeepsie, New York, (pp. 306-8); and on the following day by Mrs. Lowell (p. 301), Mrs. Leonard (p. 302), Miss Collins of Boston (pp. 302–3), Prof. Wright and Dr. Cadwalader (p. 304), and Dr. Channing (p. 306). The Committee appointed to prepare resolutions in reference to the death of Mr. Dominick Hunt, of Wisconsin, reported the following resolution: Resolved: That this Conference has heard with deep pain the announcement of the death of Mr. Dominick Hunt, of Wisconsin, a member of this Conference, in attendance upon its sessions, who died suddenly during the night, at his hotel; and recognizing in him a good, true and kind man, worthy of respect for his marked interest in all charitable work, we extend to his family and friends our sincere and earnest sympathy in their great loss which in such an unexpected moment came upon them. The resolution was unanimously adopted, and it was ordered that a copy be transmitted to the family of Mr. Hunt. |