The present number of inspectors employed is not large enough to allow the assignment of one to examine institutional school work. The managers would welcome the criticisms and suggestions of a competent inspector of educational and industrial training, should the Legislature make appropriation for the salary of such an employee.

Insufficient provision is made in the counties outside of New York City for the care of delinquent children, especially boys under twelve years of age, and letters are frequently received at the office of the Board from magistrates asking where children of this class may be committed. Few homes for children will receive boys or girls committed for delinquency, the managers basing their refusal upon the ground that their facilities do not provide for the complete and continuous separation of the delinquent from the destitute class. To provide for this urgent need, there should be at least two homes in each judicial district of the State which will receive delinquent children of this class. Institutions established upon the segregated or cottage plan could easily make provision for them by reserving, for their use, one or more cottages.

REFORMATORIES.

In the seventeen private reformatories of the State there were at the end of the year 2,115 women, girls and boys. Of this number 614 were under 16 and 682 were between 16 and 21 years of age. The same need of educational, physical and industrial training is found in the institutions for juvenile delinquents as exists in the homes for destitute children, and it is noteworthy that an unusually large proportion of the inmates of reformatories are backward in the school classes. Satisfactory training in reformatories is frequently found to be difficult of accomplishment because of the diversified character of the inmates. A few of these institutions do not yet provide such classification as will permit the instruction and training of the inmates in accordance with their individual needs. The manual and industrial training given in some instances is not sufficiently broad to have any material and permanent influence on the inmates.

The infliction of punishment by deprivation of liberty is a function which is so liable to abuse if delegated to private corpo

rations, that governmental authority in this country has insisted upon safeguarding the inherent rights of each individual. The Constitution declares no person "shall be deprived of life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness," except by due process of law, and no cruel or unusual punishment can be lawfully inflicted upon persons convicted of offences. The right of individuals to liberty is recognized and carefully guarded even in the Penal Code with its provisions for the punishment of crime and close definition of offences and penalties, but when the punitive function of the State is delegated to an individual, a society or corporation, there is danger of abuse, for then the reformatory process and the methods and degrees of punishment depend upon the judgment of private individuals, rather than upon the strict definitions and limitations of the Code. For these reasons while in the past the State in its reformatory work has made use of private organizations and their equipment, its ultimate aim should be entire maintenance and control of all institutions established for delinquents.

PLACING-OUT AGENCIES.

Six of the 16 placing-out and boarding-out agencies are connected with homes for children or infant asylums and two which maintain temporary homes for the children when received are included in the number of homes for children already given. The following statistics indicate the work performed by the sixteen placing-out agencies during the year ending September 30, 1909:

Number of children placed in free homes in New

York State..

Number placed in free homes outside of New York
State..

823

1,085

Number under supervision at the close of the year:

The general character of the work of the placing-out agencies is good, there being attached to each of them trained visitors to investigate the prospective homes and to visit the children after being placed.

A number of other homes for children have done some placingout work the statistics of which are not included above, but many such institutions transfer the responsibility of placing children in free homes to a regular placing-out agency. It appears from the reports of the Board's inspectors that the placing of children under five years of age in free homes is attended with more satisfactory results than follows the placing-out of older children, particularly those who have been inmates of institutions for a long time.

HOSPITALS.

The 160 hospitals under private management now subject to inspection by the Board are classified as follows:

3

1

1

Hospitals for ruptured, crippled or deformed cases....
Hospital for Pasteur treatment.
Hospital for contagious diseases.

The total capacity of these hospitals is 14,550 and the number of patients cared for during the year ending September 30, 1909, was 182,443, of which 83,065 were paying patients, 61,348 public charges and 38,030 free patients. There were 10,191 patients remaining at the close of the year.

Within recent years the erection of new sanitary and fireproof buildings and a general improvement in the equipment has reduced materially the number of defects to be found in this class of institutions, and the facilities now provided in many of them are excellent. The administrative conditions are also, with few exceptions, good.

HOMES FOR THE AGED.

A large proportion of the homes for the aged located in New York State are supported entirely by private charity, and are therefore not subject to inspection by this Board. Of the 1,631 inmates cared for in the twenty institutions of this character under the supervision of the Board during the year ending September 30, 1909, only 604 were maintained at public expense. The general condition of these homes is creditable, and a number of improvements in fire protection have been made recently. These institutions provide more homelike surroundings for the aged than are found ordinarily in almshouses. Although a number of homes for aged men and women have been incorporated within the past few years, the present capacity is not sufficient to provide for all who seek admission. This condition exists more particularly in the eastern part of the State. The Board, therefore, acts favorably upon applications for the incorporation of homes of this character when the circumstances give reasonable assurances of success.

FRESH AIR HOMES.

The twelve fresh air homes which are in receipt of public money provide accommodations for 3,891 inmates at one time. On account of frequent changes in population several times this number are benefited in one season. Eight of these are connected with homes for children and are primarily for the benefit of inmates of those institutions. Four are in receipt of public money for the maintenance, for brief periods, of sick poor children who, with or without their mothers, are sent to them as needing country or seaside air, rest, and, not infrequently, medical treatment. Tho management of these homes generally is good, and physicians or nurses are usually present. One of these charities, St. John's Guild, maintains a steamer making daily trips in New York Harbor and a well-equipped hospital at New Dorp, Staten Island. The most serious defect in this class of institutions is in fire protection, owing to the fact that most of the buildings occupied are of nonfireproof construction and many of them are of wood. It is suggested that concrete buildings for this class of work would be safer and, at the same time, provide better protection than do the frame buildings now so much used.

TEMPORARY HOMES.

Seven temporary homes which are located in New York City are connected with placing-out agencies, their object being to provide for the temporary care of boys before being placed out in free homes or otherwise disposed of. Some of these homes maintain, at low cost, boarding homes for young men or young women who are unable because of low wages to pay a higher price for maintenance. Others furnish shelter for women who are temporarily out of employment or in need. The number of inmates cared for during the year was 12,721, and the number remaining at the end of the year was 1,525.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

The industrial schools under the supervision of the State Board of Charities in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx, New York City, are in the poorer sections of the city, where the public schools are overcrowded. Some of the children attending these private day schools are of foreign birth and have but littlə command of the English language, and a large number who are native born are of foreign parentage. The course of training given in these schools consists largely of kindergarten and primary school work. The industrial trades introduced include such simple occupations as chair-caning, basket-making, sewing and cooking. Many of the buildings occupied are fairly satisfactory for the work undertaken, but in some of them the light and ventilation are poor and the fire protection is unsatisfactory. The total number enrolled in these schools during the past year was 19.920. and the average daily attendance was 11,200.

NEW INCORPORATIONS.

During the year 1909, pursuant to the provisions of section 9 of chapter 57, Laws of 1909, constituting chapter 55 of the Consolidated Laws, the Board approved the incorporation of the following institutions, societies and associations:

1. "Buffalo Association for the Relief and Control of Tuberculosis," principal office, Buffalo, N. Y. Incorporated for "The study of the conditions and causes which give rise to tuberculosis;