There are other settlements also, but this is the foremost organization. There is one characteristic of the George Junior Republic which lies rather outside of institutional treatment, and that is the development of the idea of property. I submit historically it is the development of private property which is the genesis of the development of law. Chaos reigned when there was no private property. Then came the question of personal rights. It was after property began to accumulate, that laws came into existence as to the property belonging to a man and his rights to it. It was but a step from that to man's right to immunity from physical pain inflicted by others, and so a system arose by which disputes were settled in a sensible way, and a man could retain what he had earned. This carries us to the savings bank. My point is if children, and especially children in these institutions, are given an opportunity to work and are encouraged to save, that when their savings have been crystalized into a savings bank ac count they have taken a very long step in the way of understanding what law is, or at any rate an all around conception of law. And I think that is one of the very best preventives in the development of the criminal or delinquent child into the criminal adult.

Rev. ARTHUR LAWRENCE, Stockbridge, Mass.- May I present a concrete example of some of the utterances made tonight? How many people know that within an hour's ride of Albany, just this side of the Massachusetts line, there is an institution or school established on very much the prin ciple which was described here? I refer to the Berkshire Industrial Farm, which was established some fifteen years ago by Mr. Burnham, of New York. He took possession of an old Shaker settlement there, a very fitting spot it is, near Queechy Lake. Those belonging to my generation will remember how a generation ago their tears were shed over the sufferings of the missing Freda, or whatever her name was, of Queechy Lake. The school is directly fronting upon the lake, part is in Massachusetts and part in New York State. There are now about seɣenty-five boys there taken out of the slums of New York and certain localities all about, not criminals exactly

themselves but right in the criminal stage, those who are just wavering on the line, those who need just a touch one way or the other to make them develop into criminals or good citizens.

Now when we speak of cities, we think of the luxuries, we think of the advantages for education, and churches and all that, but when we remember what city life means to those who are in the slums, when we remember how impossible it is for boys under those conditions to rise above them, I think we realize the inestimable benefit and blessing it is to have these boys taken out from these surroundings and brought into this lovely country life.

Now that principle of self-government, or rather the principle of the recognition of the value of property, that point is strongly emphasized in that settlement. They have a system by which every boy is entitled for good conduct to earn a certain amount. For misbehavior he is fined, for good behavior he is allowed to accumulate. Instantly there is a development of this boy's sense of the value of property of which the last speaker has just spoken. They are surrounded with constant care and watchfulness, but they are also allowed to participate in the pleasures and uplifting of country life. They are taught the benefit of miscellaneous work. They work on the farm, take care of the cattle, make shoes. The aim is to give them work with sufficient recreation combined with it. You would be surprised in looking over these boys to notice their intelligence and attractiveness. I was visiting the school once, and I am familiar with our large schools like St. Paul and Groton, and these boys were a better looking set than the Groton boys. When you once ask a question you could go back months afterwards and find they have a lively recollection about what has already been said. Now, as I have said, 'this institution is within an hour's ride of Albany, and I hope those to whom the institution is not familiar may be interested in knowing such an institution exists, and I should be glad to bespeak for them an interest in it.

The fourth session of the Conference was adjourned by the President at 10.15 p. m.

FIFTH SESSION.

Thursday morning, November 20, 1902, Senate Chamber.

The Conference was called to order at 10.30 a. m. by President Stewart, who invited to the chair Mr. Lafayette L. Long, Superintendent of the Poor of Erie county, Buffalo, Chairman of the Committee on Institutional Care of Destitute Adults, who presided throughout the session.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INSTITUTIONAL CARE OF DESTITUTE ADULTS.

This subject, viewed from the historical standpoint, takes on a constantly changing view. A retrospective panorama passes before us, in which we see the changes since New York charities entered their present era. This will be sufficient for the purposes of this committee's report.

The origin and growth of the system of charities now in operation presents an interesting branch of this subject.

In the administration of charities the town overseer of the poor was the first officer created by law, and it is interesting to note the gradual evolution of a central county authority and a complete system of superintendence of charities, starting with the officer elected at town meeting in the beginning of the century just closed.

As early as 1817 the Legislature amended the statutes relating to the poor, which up to that time knew only overseers of the poor, and made provision for the removal of non-resident poor persons to homes and residences elsewhere, and attached a penalty to unlawful removal.

In 1820 the Legislature enacted the statute enabling the county of Rensselaer to erect and maintain a house of industry, or almshouse, as now called, and by provision of the last section gave authority to the board of supervisors of any county, upon a two-thirds vote, to extend the system to such county. This act contained a provision for the appointment of five superintendents of the house of industry; they were, in fact, trustees, but by corruption of terms and subsequent legisla tion the number became reduced to three superintendents, and

finally the boards of supervisors were authorized to reduce to one in number. The office was made elective in some counties, and thus originated the office of superintendent of the poor.

After the act of 1820 various acts were passed, adapting the almshouse system to the various counties of the State, and in 1824 the General Act was passed establishing county almshouses, and in 1826 the act of 1824 was amended, giving the superintendent of the poor power to bind out children in conformity with the provisions of the act of 1801 concerning apprentices, and the indenture was required to be filed with the county clerk.

In 1832 the power of appointment of superintendents of the poor was vested in the boards of supervisors and Judge of Common Pleas, and provision was made at the same session for printing the Poor Laws in pamphlet form.

During the next ten years many local acts were passed for different counties, and this may be taken as the formative period of the almshouse system of relief.

By the act of 1847 the office of county superintendent of the poor was made elective and the board of supervisors given power to reduce the number from three to one. The duties of the superintendent of the poor were defined by the act of 1842 as amended by the act of 1849. From 1847 to 1867 various general acts were passed, but the period from 1867 to the present time covers practically all the advance that has been made in the administration of charity and the management and relief of the indigent poor, the idiots, weak-minded, insane, and in the methods of outdoor or temporary relief.

It is instructive to contrast the provisions of the act of 1820, chapter 51, with the present conditions.

It provides that "The board of superintendents shall have exclusive charge, management, direction and superintendence of said house of industry (poorhouse) and shall and may make, ordain and establish rules, regulations and by-laws for the wellordering of the same, and the employment and relief, management and government of the persons placed therein, and the correction of the refractory, disobedient and disorderly by solitary confinement therein, and feeding them on bread and water

only as they shall deem expedient." And "It shall be lawful to contract with some suitable person for the support of those persons who are placed in said house of industry, who shall be authorized to employ the persons so committed to his charge." The same act permitted justices of the peace to commit disorderly persons to such house of industry; also any child under the age of fifteen years found begging in the streets.

We can imagine such house of industry peopled by drunken, disorderly, vicious and lewd persons, male and female, children of tender years, idiots, the deaf and dumb, the blind and the insane, and we do not wonder that charitably disposed persons like the Hon. William P. Letchworth and others have felt constrained to give up a lifetime to the reformation of such evils. Let the past have for us only lessons of warning. Permanent pauperism is as old as the human race itself; Scripture speaks of the poor and indigent; history sheds light upon their con dition and treatment ages before Scripture was written. A new era begins with special law and noble advance, with the statutory provision for permanent departments for the administration of relief through these enactments. Indiscriminate almsgiving was relegated to the past, and the new idea underlying modern methods of care of the degenerate and defective, a recognition of the difference in causation, was enthroned, and man became the safe keeper of his brother man.bea

The improvement in the provisión for our public wards is coördinate with the improved standards of living in the community. In the past, as now, and as must always be, the standard of the house of permanent relief should be gauged by the standard of daily life among the people from whom are drawn the funds to maintain public charity.

As administration begins with the reception of inmates this report calls first for a word upon the subject of commitments: WHO SHALL BE COMMITTED; TO WHAT INSTITUTION; AND BY WHOM?

In some counties it has been found of great benefit to concentrate the committing power in one head, or department, and it works so well that we believe the same rule of a single com