provide for the visitation and inspection of all societies, associations, incorporations and institutions doing charitable, eleemosynary, reformatory, or correctional work, not already under State supervision, even if they are not in receipt of public money; and require all such institutions to submit annual reports of their activities. FIRE PROOF BUILDINGS FOR ALL CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. Recent losses of buildings by fire at State charitable and private institutions call attention to the fact that few, if any, of such buildings erected by the State during the past fifteen years are of fireproof construction. Safety has been sacrificed, and the inmates put in jeopardy in order that a low per capita cost of construction might be shown. This Board has continually protested against such dangerous methods, and advised fireproof construction in buildings which are intended for occupancy by State wards. This is of vital importance for institutions when the buildings are far removed from muncipal protection, which is the case with most of the State charitable and reformatory institutions and many under private control. Although the buildings may have brick or stone exteriors, the interiors are constructed of inflammable material and the safety of the inmates and the permanence of the structures seem to have been lost sight of. This Board recommends that the buildings of the State charitable and reformatory institutions used for dormitory purposes be made fireproof, for the better protection of the inmates. A STATE LABOR COLONY FOR TRAMPS AND The attention of the Legislature is again invited to the need of a State farm colony for tramps and vagrants, and also to the necessity for an institution for male misdemeanants between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. In the estimate of the cost of vagrants to the State made by this Board in its report of last year, it was stated that more than five hundred thousand tramps and vagrants are supported in idleness in the United States. This estimate has been amply confirmed during the past year by reliable information received by the National Committee on Vagrancy and others from various places in the United States. New York maintains a large share of this number for the tendency of the tramps is to winter if possible in the larger cities, and the State is therefore burdened with an army of vicious and idle vagrants. In the larger cities of the State, and in New York city and Buffalo especially, the opportunities afforded beggars, vagrants and tramps to subsist in idleness are so many that stringent laws are necessary for the relief of the people. The tramps and vagrants of other states find it easy to come to New York on the many railroads which enter the State, and while they remain in the cities during the colder months, they infest the rural districts in the warmer season. The State farm colony plan has been tried with success in other countries and it can undoubtedly be operated with equal success in this State. The enforced labor, strict seclusion and regular outdoor life which are features of this system of treating vagrancy are certainly helpful in breaking up the vicious habits of proper subjects for commitment to such an institution. At the last session of the Legislature a bill was introduced to establish a State farm colony for tramps and vagrants, and it was presented as an amendment to the State Charities Law in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution which provides that all reformatory institutions, except those in which adult males convicted of felony shall be confined, shall be subject to the visitation and inspection of the State Board of Charities. It was intended that the proposed State Farm Colony should treat vagrancy as a curable habit as well as a crime, and its establishment therefore would manifest the charitable interest of the people of the State in men not wholly beyond the influence of reformatory measures. It would be a colony based upon a desire to help men who must be considered unfortunate as well as degraded. Tramps usually become such through the use of intoxicants or the influence of vicious associations. Over eighty-four per cent. of the men in almshouses are there in consequence of evil habits and many have at some time or other been tramps. There is an intimate relation between drunkenness, the almshouse and the prisons, and an examination of the history of the inmates of these institutions shows that they pass from one to the other at frequent intervals, and thus impose the whole burden of their support upon the people. This is especially true in the city of New York to which tramps and vagrants resort in large number; the records of the almshouse and of the workhouse - both located on Blackwell's Island-contain many of the same names, and inquiry has disclosed the fact that when tired of the almshouse they obtain discharge, and in a day or two are recommitted either to a public hospital, the almshouse, or to the workhouse, to begin another period of enforced retirement. The large expense entailed upon the public directly by the institutional support of tramps and vagrants is a warrant for the statement that the establishment of a State Farm Colony wil. prove an economic measure, even though the State should be com pelled to maintain in such a colony several hundred tramps a year. It costs the public now approximately $2,000,000 to pay for their maintenance in almshouses, jails and hospitals, beside the value of money and food given by individuals. These men by their labor could more than pay the State for their maintenance, and also in time could pay for the initial cost of establishing the colony, and perhaps accumulate a surplus for use after discharge. From a consideration of these conditions, it is probable, therefore, that the establishment of such a colony for the sequestration of tramps and vagrants will have an immediate beneficial result, and that the enactment of this law will relieve the State of the present heavy expense upon the taxpayers from this cause. THE CORRECTIONAL TRAINING MALE MIS DEMEANANTS OVER 16 AND UNDER 21 YEARS OF AGE. It has been recognized for a long time by those interested in the reformation of delinquent youth that there is no suitable provision made by the State for the institutional training of boys. over the age of sixteen. Under sixteen years of age they may be sent to the State Agricultural and Industrial School at Industry or to the House of Refuge on Randall's Island, New York, or to some institution under private control established for reformatory purposes. Misdemeanants over the age of twenty-one years may be committed to workhouses, jails and penitentiaries, and as adults full provision can be made for their reception and care. Between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, however, is a critical period in life, yet under existing conditions boys and young men of these ages if misdemeanants, must be committed to jails, workhouses or penitentiaries where they associate with older and hardened prisoners and become confirmed in vicious and criminal habits. These unfortunates deserve more consideration than they have heretofore received, and the State should provide an opportunity for their training on a farm under proper restrictions. In most instances they are the victims either of circumstances or environment frequently of both and are tempted or forced into a criminal life. If committed to a jail or penitentiary there is little hope of reformation, as they are almost certain to be discharged confirmed in vicious habits, to be numbered henceforth with the criminal class. It is clearly the duty of the State to make some provision for the reclamation of this class of temporary offenders; they should have an opportunity for training and reformation similar to that given by the State to the juvenile delinquents sent to Industry. These older youths will likewise respond to sympathetic and kindly interest. The institutional methods for their reclamation should be more like those adapted to juvenile delinquents than the measures intended for confirmed criminals. Their only hope. for the future rests in the State itself, and in their behalf the State Board of Charities earnestly recommends that a suitable State Correctional Farm in a central location be established to which male misdemeanants between the ages of 16 and 21 may be committed, and upon which opportunities will be afforded for the reformation of character by education and the acquirement of useful trades, and where they will not be associated with felons either directly or indirectly nor be under the same management or discipline. AN ESTIMATE OF THE APPROPRIATIONS NEEDED The following table, prepared in conference with the Fiscal Supervisor and State Architect, shows approximately the appropriations which are necessary for the completion within the next five years, of the established State charitable and reformatory institutions. In addition to the institutions already established, there is need of at least three of a reformatory character for which provision should be made as soon as possible. These three are: (1) A State Farm Colony for tramps and vagrants, which completed will cost approximately.... (2) A State Correctional Farm for Male Misdemeanants over sixteen and under twenty-one years of age... (3) A State Farm for Women.. $500,000 500,000 200,000 |