XXPUBLIC CHARITIES

The public institutions of the State are grouped under three heads: the State Commission in Lunacy, the Prison Commission, and the State Board of Charities.

The State Board of Charities, which has general supervision of the charitable institutions of the State, consists of twelve members, of whom nine must be appointed as commissioners from the nine judicial districts of the State, and three from New York City. The law prescribes otherwise no qualifications for membership on this board. (A recent innovation has been made in the appointment of a woman on the board.) The commissioners serve without salary, but each one is paid his expenses and $10 for each day’s attendance at meetings, not to exceed $500 a year.

Partly State, Partly Private: Some charitable institutions in the State are whollycontrolled by the State or one of its subdivisions; others are controlled by private corporations, but are maintained either wholly, or in part, by State funds. There are over six hundred and forty charitable institutions which receive money from the State. There are still other institutions which are entirely supported by private funds. The State Board of Charities has not the authority at present to inspect organized charities which do not receive public money, so there are many institutions which are without the protection of State inspection, and the total amount of dependency in the State is not known officially.

Duties of the Board: Besides its duties of inspection and general supervision of charitable institutions, the board has the control of the incorporation of charitable institutions, and must approve of an application for a certificate of incorporation before it can be granted. It also issues licenses for medical dispensaries, and makes rules and regulations under which they must work.

The Powers of the Board Are Limited, as the carrying out of its recommendations often depends on action by the State Legislature, and especially on the amount of the appropriations granted for the work. Thepowers originally given the board have also been greatly impaired by the action of the Legislature from time to time in creating other agencies, which have resulted in a duplication of work and an overlapping of authority. There is much complaint of institutions being overrun by official visitors, and inspectors with conflicting authority, who are said to interfere with the work of the institutions without accomplishing adequate results.

The powers of the board have been especially curtailed since the office ofFiscal Supervisor of State Charitieswas created in 1902. When decisions are to be made concerning appropriations for State charities, in making up the legislative budget, the Fiscal Supervisor is consulted to the exclusion of the State Board. In reality the Fiscal Supervisor has far greater powers than the State Board of Charities, as no appropriations can be made unless approved by him. His effort is to keep down appropriations wherever possible, and he does not come in direct personal touch with the needs of the work.

The power to fix salaries and establish positions has been given to theSalary Classification Commission, and to locate new buildingsto theCommission on Sites, Grounds, and Buildings.

The general dissatisfaction with the confused and conflicting authority, which had come with different legislative enactments, led to the appointment in 1916, of a commissioner to investigate State charities and to report to the Governor, with recommendations of changes he deemed advisable.

Among the changes recommended were:

(1) That instead of an unpaid board of twelve members, appointed from the judicial districts, there should be a board of nine, of whom one should be a woman; three members should be paid and should give all their time to the work, one of the three to be president of the board, one the chairman of a bureau for mental deficiency, and the third, chairman of a bureau for dependent children; the six unpaid members were to be specialists in the special classes of work which is supervised by the board.

The present State Board of Charities objects to this change on the ground that a board so organized would become political. They also feel that the appointments should continue to be made from the judicial districts, in order that every part of the State should have a resident member of the State Board.

The report further recommended: (2) Prompt provision for defective delinquents; (3) a careful revision of the State charities and poor law; (4) that power should be given the State Board to inspect private charitable institutions; (5) the creation of a new bureau for dependent children; (6) the abolition of the office of Fiscal Supervisor of Charities, in order that recommendations for appropriations should come directly from the State Board of Charities; (7) the abolition of other conflicting authorities, and restoring the authority of the State Board.

None of these recommendations have been acted upon as yet.

The State institutions that are under the State are the following: State Agricultural and Industrial School, Industry; Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-minded Children, Syracuse; New York State School for the Blind, Batavia; Thomas Indian School, Iroquois; State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women, Newark; New York State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, Bath; New York State Training School for Girls, Hudson; Western House of Refuge for Women, Albion; New York State Reformatory for Women, Bedford Hills; Rome Custodial State Asylum, Rome; Craig Colony forEpileptics, Sonyea; New York State Woman’s Relief Corps Home, Oxford; New York State Hospital for the Care of Crippled and Deformed Children, West Haverstraw; New York State Hospital for the Treatment of Incipient Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Raybrook; New York State Training School for Boys, established by law in 1904, not yet ready to receive inmates; Letchworth Village for Feeble-minded, Rockland County; and authorized in 1911-12, but not yet open: The State Industrial Farm Colony, Green Haven; and the State Reformatory for Misdemeanants.

Private institutions supported mainly by State appropriations are: New York Institution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb; New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents in the City of New York; New York Institute for the Education of the Blind; Institutions for Deaf Mutes in New York City, Buffalo, Westchester, Rome, Rochester; Malone and Albany Home Schools for the Oral Instruction of the Deaf.

County and City Institutions: County and city almshouses are under the supervision of the State Board of Charities, and also the recently established county sanatoriafor tuberculosis, of which there are about thirty. The small number of patients in these county hospitals for tuberculosis makes it impossible for some of them to give as expert and efficient care as a larger and better equipped hospital might offer.[7]

The Department of State and Alien Poor, of the State Board of Charities, has the supervision of the State poor, and of alien and Indian dependents. It also has the power to transfer aliens, or non-residents, who have become public charges, to their home county or State, or, in co-operation with the United States Immigration authorities, to return them to their home countries. This department has saved the State large sums of money.

In 1916, 810 persons were returned to their homes in other States or countries, by this department, of whom 250 were alien poor.

Local Boards of Managers: Each State charitable and reformatory institution is administered and controlled by a board of local managers, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. These boards usually consist of seven persons who servewithout pay, for their expenses only. There are some women on these local boards, but not nearly as many as there might be, considering the number of institutions which have women in their charge.

The superintendents of State institutions are all carefully selected from the civil service lists.

The employees of these institutions form a difficult problem. The old conception of an attendant for a public institution was exceedingly low; the standard is still far from good. The salaries paid are insufficient to attract intelligent service.

The Department of Inspection: There are over six hundred institutions in the State which come under the Department of Inspection. To handle them there are eight inspectors, and one superintendent of inspection.

Almshousesare inspected and graded in three classes. Of the counties that were reported in 1917 as first class in both administration and plant are: Allegany, Chautauqua, Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Monroe, Niagara, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Wayne counties. Those second class in both administration and plant were: Dutchess, Herkimer, Madison, Rockland, Schoharie, and Ulster counties.The only one third class in both plant and administration was in Sullivan County.

Provision for the Feeble-mindedis the greatest present need of the charities of the State. Mental defectives are at large all over the State, and they are found in all institutions. They are a source of trouble in the public schools, and are a constant danger to the State.

It is estimated that there are not less than 30,000 of these unfortunates. The State institutions have room for about 5,700, but they are actually caring for 6,700. For years efforts have been made to get the Legislature to make adequate provision for their segregation. The report of one institution for feeble-minded women says, “nine of the women admitted were married and had given birth to thirty-seven children; twenty-six of those admitted had borne forty-three illegitimate children; making a total of eighty children born to those unfortunate women.”

Letchworth Village, in Rockland County, a plot of 2,000 acres, was planned to provide for 2,500 to 3,000 feeble-minded. It was established in 1907, and in 1916 still had a capacity of only 330.

The failure of the State to complete a project it had undertaken is shown also in the New York State Training School for Boys at Yorktown Heights. This was planned to be a reformatory of the modern cottage type to take the place of the very old one on Randall’s Island, and was greatly needed for delinquent boys. After twelve years of delay, and after $800,000 had been appropriated by the State and most of it expended, this project has been abandoned. The reason given for the final decision to abandon the site, was the possible contamination of the Croton water supply by the institution. With modern methods of sewage disposal it seems as if it would have been possible to guard against this danger. It would have been easier to insure proper treatment of the sewage from such an institution than from the towns and villages which exist in the Croton watershed. The State Board of Charities recommends now an appropriation of $150,000 for a new site and plans.

Recommendations of the State Board: Intelligent handling of the problem of dependency must deal with causes. Probably the major part could be done away with if the State would adopt adequate preventivemeasures. The board recommends as an aid to this end: (1) Industrial insurance; (2) better housing, including the destruction of the worst congested areas in cities, and the prevention of further congestion; (3) vocational training for children; (4) improved labor laws, restricting the hours of labor, and compensation for accidents to employees; (5) adequate pensions to widowed mothers.

They also recommend: That further provision be made for tuberculosis, which the records of the State Health Department show is increasing; that the office of County Superintendent of the Poor should be appointive and be included in the Civil Service. The frequent changing of poor-law officials, and their lack of knowledge of the subject, are drawbacks in the discharge of their duties.

The State Commission in Lunacyhas charge of the hospitals for the insane. All the insane come under the direct charge of the State. This is a salaried commission consisting of three members. There are local boards of managers for these insane asylums as for the other charitable institutions, and a majority of the members of these local boards are required to visit thehospitals at least once a month for inspection.[8]

The State Prison Commission, like the State Board of Charities, is an unpaid board, but the Superintendent of Prisons is a State official with a salary.

There has been for years a provision of the State law which gives one scale of salaries for men employed in these institutions and a lower one for women.

Since women have been given the vote, it is probable that this law will be changed and equal pay given for equal work.

FOOTNOTES:[7]It is hoped that when the Boards of Managers for these county tuberculosis hospitals are appointed, local women will be placed on them.[8]The number of insane in the State is increasing far more rapidly than the provision which is being made for them. The last report of the State Hospital Commission shows that in hospitals for the insane, planned to accommodate 27,890 patients, there were in June, 1916, 33,873 patients, an overcrowding of 21.5 per cent. The State Hospital Commission urgently requests a bond issue to provide immediately for the construction of new buildings.

[7]It is hoped that when the Boards of Managers for these county tuberculosis hospitals are appointed, local women will be placed on them.

[8]The number of insane in the State is increasing far more rapidly than the provision which is being made for them. The last report of the State Hospital Commission shows that in hospitals for the insane, planned to accommodate 27,890 patients, there were in June, 1916, 33,873 patients, an overcrowding of 21.5 per cent. The State Hospital Commission urgently requests a bond issue to provide immediately for the construction of new buildings.

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