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If the amounts for these proposed institutions, $1,200,000, be added to the estimate in the following table, the total will be $9,912,500.

Estimate of Appropriations Necessary to Complete the Established State Charitable and Reformatory Institutions.

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SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS DURING THE YEAR 1909. During the calendar year 1909, a number of important investigations were made by special committees of the Board. Some of them were made upon the request of the Governor in consequence of complaints by individuals to him. These investigations were as follows:

1. The investigation by a Special Committee composed of Commissioners Smith, Baldwin and McCarthy into the methods of discipline employed in the House of Refuge on Randall's Island, New York City, which was begun near the close of 1908 and mentioned briefly in the last annual report of this Board, was completed early in February, 1909, and the report transmitted to the Governor and to the Managers of the institution, and on February 13, 1909, the board of managers of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents in New York City,

returned a reply. This answer together with the report of the committee was printed as an appendix in the last annual report.

2. Upon the request of the Governor the Board, through the Committee on the State Hospital for the Care of Crippled and Deformed Children, investigated charges presented to the Governor by Dr. James Porter Fiske against the management of the hospital. The committee, Commissioners Floyd, Smith and Baldwin, after careful inquiry into all the facts, reported to the Board on February 10, 1909, that the charges were mainly due to differences of opinion with reference to the methods of administration, and that the methods are in process of readjustment to meet changed conditions.

3. A special investigation was made into the affairs and management of the Brooklyn Disciplinary Training School for Boys in consequence of complaints to this Board alleging gross abuse of inmates. While this investigation was in progress additional complaints were made to the Governor and by him referred to the State Board of Charities at its meeting on June 10, 1909. A special committee composed of Commissioners Smith, McCarthy and McGuire was appointed by President Stewart at that meeting and made a thorough investigation of conditions and methods at the institution, finding that the charges of cruelty, immorality and general mismanagement were substantiated by abundant evidence. The committee recommended a complete. reorganization of the institution by the discharge of the superintendent, matron and other employees responsible for abuses, and the appointment of a new board of managers. Copies of this report were sent to the Governor and to the mayor of the city of New York. The latter promptly appointed new managers, and the other changes recommended were made without delay. The committee also recommended the abolition of the school and the distribution of the boys to other institutions.

4. The Board's committee on Craig Colony, consisting of Commissioners Smith, McGuire and McCarthy, made an investigation of the administrative methods at Craig Colony for Epilepties, Sonyea. A complaint alleged that patients were abused by attendants and that conditions existed which required correction. The committee examined into the complaint, especially into the

treatment of patients in the infirmaries, and on October 13, 1909, transmitted a report to the Governor to whom complaints had also been made. Since the investigation began August 24, 1909, the managers have appointed a superintendent to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Dr. William P. Spratling who retired in October, 1908, before the alleged abuses occurred. Other new officers have also been appointed and the committee deemed it advisable to defer further investigation until the new officers have had full opportunity to make such changes in the internal administration as may be found necessary.

5. Upon the request of the Governor an inquiry was made relative to a complaint by inmates of the Sailors' Snug Harbor, New York City, concerning the food, medical care and general management. Conditions were examined into and a report made. thereon to the Governor and the board of managers. This institution is a private charitable corporation not in receipt of public money, but the managers welcomed the inquiry and have requested the Board to visit and inspect the institution at its pleasure. It has a very large endowment in lands located in New York City, besides investments which assure an annual income sufficient for every need. The managers have stated that the visitation and inspection of this Board will benefit and safeguard the inmates who because of age or infirmity are dependent.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR

LEGISLATION.

First. That appropriations to State institutions be subdivided in the appropriation bill so that specific sums shall be appropriated for salaries, wages and labor, apart from the sums appropriated for food supply and clothing and other charges. This should insure for the most important needs of the inmates sufficient appropriations which will not be subject to encroachment for salary payments.

Second. That the State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women at Newark, and the Rome State Custodial Asylum at Rome, be enlarged at this time so as to enable them to receive the adult idiotic and feeble-minded now improperly retained in almshouses, contrary to the provisions of the Poor Law and the Penal

Code, or provided for in private institutions at heavy expense to the counties, cities and towns of the State. In the opinion of the Board the ideal system for the classification of the feebleminded now in three institutions at Syracuse, Newark and Rome is to care for all teachable feeble-minded girls in the Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded Children; to maintain the idiotic and feeble-minded women and girls who have passed the teachable age, except such as are epileptic, in the Newark State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women, and to provide for all the non-epileptic feeble-minded men and boys at the Rome State Custodial Asylum. Those afflicted with epilepsy should be maintained at Craig Colony. The education of feeble-minded boys, discontinued under this plan at the Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-Minded Children, should be provided for in a school department at the Rome State Custodial Asylum.

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Third. That appropriations be made whereby Letchworth Village may be opened for the reception of feeble-minded patients from the First, Second and Ninth Judicial Districts at an early date. This will relieve the custodial asylums at Rome and Newark of the care of additional inmates belonging to the districts named, and thus enable them to receive more patients. from the western, northern and central sections than is possible at present.

Fourth. That appropriations be made for buildings and other necessary equipments for the New York State Training School for Boys, in order that the institution may be opened for the reception of inmates and the House of Refuge on Randall's Island be closed as soon as possible.

Fifth. That the provisions of section 45 of the State Charities Law which require the State charitable institutions to make monthly estimates for supplies be amended, and the institutions be authorized to estimate for supplies for periods of three months.

Sixth. That the power of the Board of Managers of Craig Colony for Epileptics and of the State Custodial Asylum at Newark for the feeble-minded to make rules governing the retention and discharge of inmates be made clear and explicit, and that the State Charities Law be amended so as to give such boards of

managers the right to restrain the inmates from absconding, and also, subject to confirmation by the nearest court of competent jurisdiction, the right to refuse requests for the discharge of inmates to the custody of relatives, friends or other persons, should such refusal be in the interest of the public or for the protection of the inmates.

Seventh. That a State labor colony be established to which tramps and vagrants may be committed for the purpose of restraint, enforced labor and reformation.

Eighth. That a State correctional school be established in a suitable location for the reception, instruction and training of male misdemeanants over 16 years of age and under 21.

Ninth.

That county boards of supervisors be required to provide ample protection against the danger of fire in the almshouses under their control whenever the need of such protection is officially reported to them by this Board.

Tenth. That the boards of managers of charitable and reformatory institutions under private control, but in receipt of State appropriations, be required to visit, inspect and hold their meetings at the institutions under their charge at least once each month.

Eleventh. That provision be made for the employment by this Board of a competent Dietitian to visit and inspect the institutions, public and private, subject to its supervision.

NUMBER AND CLASSIFICATION OF BENEFICIARIES IN INSTITUTIONS SUBJECT TO THE VISITATION AND INSPECTION OF THE

BOARD SEPTEMBER 30, 1909.

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