reception of children as public dependents is through authority to be given by a court designated for the purpose of the examination of such cases. In addition to the reasons already urged for the adoption of such a course, and as bearing upon the general consideration of beneficial changes possible of introduction, we invite your attention to the fact that the unauthoritative character of commitments to the institutions, through committees of boards of managers at the request of parents or friends or others, leaves open the liability of the removal of the children through whim or caprice of parents, and their return to vicious surroundings and their exposure to physical suffering. Cases in which children have been taken from the institutions only to be used for the purpose of exciting the sympathy of the average citizen and enabling the parent to secure relief through the exhibition of the suf fering of the children have been by no means rare. As an illustration in point, we refer to a case reported to the Board on the 7th of March, 1895, in which a man with a little girl of 5 years and a boy of 8 had been taken from a miserable shanty, where they were suffering for the necessities of life, and given shelter in the homes of interested persons on Ninth street.

The facts in the case having been ascertained, it was proposed to take the children before the court for commitment within a day or two thereafter. Such action was, however, postponed until the 19th of March, in order that the father might make provision for the children, if able to do so. It was found, however, that he was quite satisfied with the arrangement, which admitted him to the kitchen of the house in which one of the children had been temporarily provided for whenever he wished to be fed and to a warm basement room as a lodging place, and that he was not likely to secure employment while it continued. The children were, therefore, presented in court, committed, and duly provided for by the Board. It was found that the little girl had been taken from St. Ann's Asylum and the boy from St. Joseph's Asylum by the father, in both instances against the protest of the sisters in charge, who knew of his unfitness but had no authority to resist his demands. Such illustrations might by continued until they would include discharges from every institution in the District, except the German Orphan Asylum.

The reports of the Industrial Home School have frequently called attention to this difficulty as experienced there, and has heretofore attempted to secure legislation for its correction. Such mention will be found in the reports as follows: For 1889, on page 5; for 1890, page 6; 1891, page 11; 1892, page 8.

Upon the only occasion of the publication of compiled reports upon this subject the discharges to parents from the institutions of the District were found to be about 60 per cent of all departures. (Report Superintendent of Charities, 1892, p. 33.)

The following correspondence has been in the hands of the board for some time waiting a proper opportunity for its presentation. In the copies here presented the names have been omitted, but can, of course, be furnished if desired.

HERBERT W. LEWIS,

472 Louisiana avenue.

MARIETTA, OHIO, August 23, 1895.

DEAR SIR: I wish to presume upon our slight acquaintance, while attending the National Conference of Charities and Correction, to write to you in regard to a little boy, formerly an inmate of an institution in your city called the Washington City Orphan Asylum.

Carroll Brown is his name. On March 7, 1893, he was indentured to Rowena Goddard, of Bartlette, this county, a maiden lady, who has for many years been a

One

school teacher in the county and is well to do. She is away from home, consequently, most of her time. The boy was 8 years of age at the date she took him, A few months ago a trustee of the township in which she lives came to my office with a little boy. In Ohio the township trustees have the power of certifying destitute children to our Children's Home, and I being a trustee of our home he came to me. I examined the papers and found them all regular. The boy was examined by our home physician, and so the trustees of the home signed the admission papers. of them, however (there are four of us), knew more about the facts in the case than the rest of us, as he was a relative of Miss Goddard, and he protested against the boy being admitted. He was, however, sent to the institution pending further investigation as to the eligibility of the boy. So matters drifted along until recently a man by the name of John Simmons, of Wheeling, W. Va., came to our home for a boy. We had none that would suit, except Carroll Brown. Simmons came well recommended. He is a dealer in fruit, etc., and has a stand in the Wheeling market. He is blind, and lives with his sister. According to his statement he is in prosperous circumstances. We disclaimed any title to Carroll Brown, and referred him to Miss Goddard and arranged a meeting. To-day they were both here, and Carroll was turned over to Simmons by Miss Goddard. Now, I want to call your attention to the way this young life has been tossed about, apparently without any care, except to get rid of it. I of course do not know what Carroll Brown's antecedents are, but it stands to reason that a boy of 8 years is not vicious.

(1) This institution sends him to a person without visiting the foster home to ascertain the conditions; and probably there could not have been a place where the conditions were less favorable for a boy to do well than Miss Goddard's home.

(2) The institution never made a single inquiry as to how this boy was getting along, and refused, when applied to by Dr. to take him back.

I claim that is simply cruelty. What has this little fellow ever done that he should be thus abandoned?

So far as I can learn he was inclined to be too familiar with the little girls. Just when he needed the kind advice and strong arm to guide him he is left alone, his foster mother (?) off teaching school, and condemned and abandoned by both the foster mother and the institution from which he came, and foisted off onto an institution in which he could not by any possibility have a place, because, under the terms of Miss Goddard's contract, he could never become dependent, and therefore could never become eligible to our home. But we were kinder hearted than to refuse him a temporary shelter.

It has only been within a day or two that Miss Goddard would send us the papers, etc., in the case, so we could reach the Washington asylum. I inclose copies of all these papers, so you can understand the situation better. I promised Mr. Simmons to-day I would endeavor to obtain a contract direct from the Washington institution for the boy, so he could be sure of his position in the matter. He has taken the boy on three months' trial. We found the boy tractable, and no worse than the others; or, in other words, he is just as well disposed as any other boy of his age. I don't know whether you have anything to do with the "Washington City Orphan Asylum" or not, but your position as agent of the Board of Children's Guardians led me to believe you had something to say in such a case arising in your city. Yours, respectfully,

S. J. HATHAWAY.

AUGUST 16, 1895.

L. W. ELLENWOOD,

Marietta, Ohio.

DEAR SIR: Your letter received and contents noted. I send you the contract and Doctor 's letter, and if you can make Carroll Brown over to Mr. Simmons I will do so gladly. If I do I want it in a way that he can never come back on me, for I would not be worried with him another two years for anything. If you think I can, send him word that I will meet him next Friday, August 23, one week from to-day, and drop me a card to the same effect. I have never called Carroll a villain, as the Doctor has.

Yours, respectfully,

ROWENA GODDARD, Bartlett, Ohio.

I will meet him at your office if you will be there, and if you can not be there set a day when you can. I want it legal, and to release me, although I shall feel in duty bound to keep track of him somewhat.

R. G.

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 4, 1895.

DEAR COUSIN: Your letter came to hand on the 2d, and a good time to see the Board, as they met that day and only meet once a month. I was present at the meeting and stated the case to them in the strongest language possible, but failed to get

the desired permission, as the child is not in the District of Columbia. It would be establishing a precedent which might not be desirable in the future. They all expressed the greatest sympathy for you, and said that you would be justified in getting rid of him at once. One lady who is from Ohio said that he could be placed in a reform school in the State, but did not know where it is located. You can find out in Marietta and send him to the county home first, and then it will be easy to send him from there to the reform school, which is the only place for him outside of the penitentiary. You must get rid of him, and that at once. The ladies of the Board say that the papers signed in the case give you full authority to act in the matter as you may think best. You say you could send him to the home. I think that is the proper thing to do first, and then he is off your hands and then the rest can be easily managed.

The ladies told me to say to you that they will be glad to have you write to their secretary and let them know how you succeed in the matter. I would not advise you to write to Mrs. Wright, as she has no authority to act in such matters, and her duties go no further than the care and management of the home. I hope you can send him to the home at once, so that you can rest in peace, for you are not having much now and will not while he is there. I will cheerfully do all in my power to aid you. I hope you will not hesitate to let me know when I can be of any service in the case.

Indenture.

The Washington City Orphan Asylum hereby indents unto Miss Rowena Goddard, of Bartlett, Ohio, as an apprentice in the art and business of an orphan named Carroll Brown, aged eight years, now in said asylum, and she covenants with said asylum to provide said orphan with suitable food, clothing, lodging, and medical attendance, in health and in sickness, and to instruct him adequately in said art and business, and in reading, writing, and arithmetic. And that this apprenticeship shall terminate when said orphan reaches the age of twenty-one years, and he shall then receive a good suit of clothes and fifty dollars.

Witness our hands and seals this 7th day of March, 1893.

MARY F. WAITE.

JANE L. S. HARRISON.

ROWENA GODDARD. [SEAL.]

We suggest, therefore, as the first and most generally desirable change in present methods of administration that the admission and discharge of children to be supported at the expense of the whole body of the people, through taxes collected from them, should be under public control; and we assign as the first and most important reason for this suggestion that permanent guardianship of the children and permanent responsibility on the part of someone are essential to the welfare of the children, and that there is now no such guardianship or responsibility.

It has been urged that there are many instances in which children are in need of temporary shelter only, and in which public guardianship is not needed. It has also been urged that the public contribution toward the support of dependent children in the District is not unduly large, private charity contributing as much or more than the Government. We believe that all temporary relief of the poor, except in extraordinary emergencies and in cases of great public calamity, falls most properly into the field of private charity, and that permanent guardianship in connection with permanent public support and protection is best given through the exercise of public authority; and we, therefore, suggest that it will be well to so provide that all temporary relief be given through those institutions which have sufficient sources of private income, and that they be relieved of the maintenance of all children who should become public wards.

The Board has pointed out in its two last annual reports, and also briefly herein, its embarrassments in securing proper training for colored children, 10 years of age and upward, and below that age if they are specially troublesome. The matter was also extensively referred to before you on the 9th instant, and the necessity for a better arrangement than now exists is probably sufficiently apparent.

In considering what remedy should be applied but one feasible plan presents itself. If this committee wishes to provide the best system and appliances yet developed, and put into service for the rescue, training, and disposal of dependent children, it may well consider the propriety of the creation, as part of such a plan, of a thoroughly modern, child-caring institution, to be located on some main line of railroad and within 50 miles of Washington on a farm of not less than 200 acres of land lying near some wholesome country town, such as Manassas, Va., or Gaithersburg, Md. Such an institution, consisting of an adminis trative building, surrounded by cottages occupied by children, would provide for both white and colored, and might be enlarged only as rapidly as found necessary in order to meet the growing demands upon its facilities. The plan of dividing up the children into families of 20 to 30, each occupying its own cottage, would provide the opportunity for the proper classification of children and overcome the objection to the reception of unruly children now urged by the National Colored Home.

It would also set up the conditions in which the officers and managers would come into closest and most frequent contact with the children and measurably avoid the monotony and dreariness which makes life so burdensome in the institutions on the congregate plan. Without going further into details of organization at present, or attempting to enumerate all the advantages afforded by such an institution, it may be stated as a fact, based upon experience elsewhere, that it would provide for the necessary institutional care of the dependent children of the District of Columbia for all time to come. The Industrial Home School would develop into a trade school for the definite and profitable instruction of such children as should be found capable of making profitable use of its advantages. The National Colored Home could greatly increase its care of aged and needy women, for which work there is here most crying necessity, and could continue to give care and training to children whose necessities do not demand public guardianship. Whether it should continue to be supported at public cost might well be determined from consideration of the excellence of its work as hereafter to be presented to the Congress, and the special claims of a race not yet recovered from the effects of slavery, practically without resources for the private support of necessary institutions for the protection of its own dependents, and for whose benefit wealthy citizens of the District of Columbia have neither left large bequests nor contributed any considerable sums.

The colored children are now here in force. There is no prospect that they will cease to arrive. Alarming numbers of them are practically homeless. Speaking broadly of those homeless children, it will not be far from the truth to say that their fathers are unknown. Their mothers are performing the exacting duties pertaining to domestic service, and carrying to their alley homes, each night, such articles of food as are given them or will not be missed from the kitchens of their employers. The children are usually locked in the home while the mother goes out to work. In time they learn the use of the windows as means of egress and ingress, and they substitute the street for the house. Later they repair in squads to the ash dumps for cinders, and these becoming exhausted, they attack coal yards and carts. Presently, they learn of the possible association of an old tin can and a beer keg set on the curb, not quite empty. They learn the name and address of the man around the corner who keeps late hours and who buys suspicious-looking property and never asks your name. Crowded out of the public schools and destitute of clothing sufficient to make it possible

for them to appear in company, they sun themselves against a brick wall, gamble, smoke, plan minor crimes, and idle away their days, swiftly qualifying for that inevitable game with the police in which the artful dodger for a time succeeds, but is very apt to eventually land in the penitentiary.

If the children of to-day are to be made fit for the performance of civic duties hereafter, we can not begin with them any too soon. Just in proportion to our neglect of them now will be the smart of them hereafter.

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FOR DEPENDENT CHILDREN.

There is a vast difference between industrial training, which is indefinite and pertains to general bodily development, and real trade instruction. When the Congress sees fit to establish a trade school which shall give boys and girls a really useful knowledge of some one of a variety of handicraft which may be followed as a life occupation, it will have done one of the most helpful things conceivable. Until that is done, the dependent children who are provided for in institutions should learn just as rapidly as possible to "do things"-things which they will be called upon to do all their lives-and should learn that duties should be performed regularly, promptly, efficiently, not only for a week or a month, but, if necessary, for a year or two years. This sort of industrial training can scarcely be pushed too rapidly; neither is there likely to be too much of it.

THE POSSIBILITY OF SECURING HOMES.

There is no limit to this possibility. Every child-caring association which makes it widely known that it has children to place out receives more applications for children than it has children to send out. Many of these, however, have to be rejected, and the best results are obtained by creating a demand in the best localities and working for the success of the undertaking, just as a business man would do in promoting any other enterprise. The highest success can only be attained when it has not been necessary to place out the children before they were prepared by proper discipline and training, and when opportunity has been afforded for intimate acquaintance with both child and home, and the application of experienced judgment to the bringing together of such as are adapted to each other.

FUND FOR RELIEF OF THE POOR.

Col. JOHN TRACY, superintendent of charities, submits the following: At the opening of the committee's hearings one of the suggestions was that the appropriation of $13,000 for the relief of the poor should be turned over to the Associated Charities.

The letter of the Commissioners of the District relative to this fund so clearly shows the impracticability of this suggestion that it is unnecessary to allude to the fact that the "charity organization" plan, on which the Associated Charities is now conducted, does not contemplate as a principal purpose the giving of relief by the association itself, but the gathering of information for distributing agencies and the prevention of imposture. It is true that the Associated Charities was made the distributing agency of the central relief committee last winter, but that was an exception to the general rule of the association