CHARITIES.

The Committee on Charities and Charitable Institutions reports herewith as follows:

It has carefully considered the subjects affected by or referred to them in the various amendments and in the numerous petitions referred to it, and in place of such amendments numbered respectively by their introductory numbers 197, 259, 268, 294 and 168, it presents herewith a proposed amendment to article 5 of the Constitution, by adding thereto five new sections, which amendment has for its purpose the creation of a constitutionally recognized State Board of Charities, a State Board of Lunacy and a State Board of Prisons.

The Board of Charities shall take the place of the existing State Board of Charities; shall be endowed with its functions; but shall have additional powers, the exercise of which, it is believed, will serve to check whatever abuse may have existed in the administration of the public or private charitable institutions in the State, and all abuses which might arise in the future.

Among the new powers delegated to it will be the important and radical right to check the increase of additional institutions, to revoke the authority of existing agencies or those hereafter to be created, to receive money, to remove inmates from one institution to another, and, except in reformatories, to discharge inmates, and to put a check upon the power of the Legislature to appropriate moneys of the State or any civil division of the State, to any charitable or correctional organization or corpora tion whatever, without the sanction of the State Board of Charities to be created.

The powers of the State Board of Lunacy are somewhat amplified beyond those possessed by the present board, and a separation of the functions devolving upon it from those devolving upon the State Board of Charities is provided for, and the jurisdiction of each Board is clearly defined.

The State Board of Prisons has no existing counterpart, and is intended to provide supervision and inspection, not only of the State prisons, but of the county jails and penitentiaries.

Of the various amendments which have been referred by the Convention to your committee, the ones calling for the most serious consideration were those which sought to prevent the payment to any institution, society or undertaking wholly or partly under sectarian or ecclesiastical control, of any public moneys for any educational, charitable or any other purpose.

Upon these amendments which were referred to the committee on Education, the Committee on Taxation, the Committee on Legislative Powers, and to this committee, many public hearings were had and elaborate discussions of all the questions involved took place before committees in joint session.

The questions involved, so far as they affected the appropriation or payment of moneys for educational purposes to any institution under sectarian or ecclesiastical control, have been fully considered by the Committee on Education.

The effect of the submitted amendment upon the relation of the public to the various private charitable organizations, has been more especially considered by this committee.

It is understood that the Committee on Education have formulated an amendment which is intended to prevent the appropriation or payment of any moneys by the State, or any civil division thereof, to any parochial, denominational or sectarian school whatever, without affecting charitable institutions where education is an incidental element in the general care of its inmates.

With this determination of the Committee on Education we are heartily in accord. We believe, moreover, that it would be unwise to prevent the State, or its civil divisions, from aiding and supporting its dependent poor and unfortunate through the instrumentality of any appropriate agency, or from entering into contractual relations in that behalf with private institutions under whatever control the same may be.

Your committee recognizes, however, the necessity of providing the most stringent measures, by way of proper supervision and full control of all such institutions, against any misuse of these relations between the public on the one hand and private charitable organizations on the other.

Hence the proposed amendment, which, if adopted, together with that suggested by the Committee on Education, will secure

in its full sense a separation of church and State in all matters, political and educational, without, however, preventing the State from securing the services of the magnificent charitable organizations, of all denominations, which have done so much to lessen the burden of the State and to secure the economy and perfection which has characterized the eleemosynary work, so enormous in its extent, which has developed upon this community to perform. No demand of the character referred to, for a change in the methods which have prevailed in regard to the poor and needy, seems to have come from any of the great host of men and women in this State whose devotion to charitable work, and whose familiarities with all the details have been the greatest. But the criticism against prevailing methods was so widespread, the character of those who made them so high, and the interest of the people at large so great, that your committee felt called upon to give the subject more than usual investigation and examination. Not content with the public hearings which were accorded to those interested in both sides of the question, with conferences with members of the State Board of Charities, with the representatives of the State Charities Aid Association, and with all who might be presumed to be thoroughly familiar with all the questions involved, your committee entered upon a thorough investigation of the various charitable, correctional and educational institutions which receive State or local aid, of the methods which prevail in respect to the distribution of such aid, of alleged abuses in such distribution, visited many of such institutions of every grade and nature, those under control of the State, counties, cities and other public management as well as those under private management, including sectarian institutions of almost every denomination.

As a result of these investigations, the committee is of the opinion that the public has received adequate return for all moneys paid to private charitable institutions; that the expendi tures made have been, in most instances, far less than if the institutions had been conducted by the public; that the religious training which is insured for the young by the methods now pursued is of incalculable benefit; that the care of those in private institutions is better, in most instances, than that received in those under control of public local officers, and is, at least, as good and fully on a par with the institutions, fewer in number, directly under the control of the State itself; that the public moneys expended under the prevailing methods are supplemented

by the expenditure of enormous sums from private sources; that to a large extent the buildings and accessories of these organizations have been supplied at private cost, and that the method, upon the whole, is certainly the most economical that can be devised, and will be still more economical when some comparatively trifling abuses, such as the too long retention of inmates or laxity in their admission shall have been rendered.

If the amendments proposed by the earnest people who submitted them were carried out to their legitimate conclusion, and if the partial support from public sources to orphan asylums, foundling asylums and kindred institutions which are necessarily under denominational control, were withdrawn, it is to be feared the State itself, or its civil divisions, would be called upon, at infinitely greater cost, to endeavor to perform a service which it could never adequately render, and which would tend to deprive the orphan, the foundling, the sick and other unfortunate dependents upon charity of the advantages afforded through the aid of thousands of volunteers, many of whom now devote their lives, without compensation, to co-operation with the State in this, its noblest work, inspired thereto by praiseworthy religious impulses, and which bring to these institutions, not the perfunctory service which would be rendered by paid public officials, many of them qualified only by political service, but a sincere devotion of officers, directors, managers and subordinates engaged in their work as a labor of love and not for emolument. Probably the noblest sectarian charities in the world are hospitals in the city of New York. They are supported entirely by private sectarian contributions and endowments, but they extend their benefits without regard to race, creed, color or religion. In former years they occasionally required and received local assistance, which, however, at present they do not require or receive, but the occasion might arise, at any moment, calling for the use of these hospitals by the city for public purposes, and the establishment of contractual relations between the city and some one or more of these institutions. If the prohibitory amendments were adopted such arrangements would become impossible, and the city would be deprived of what might be au indispensable facility in its charitable work.

The proponents of the amendments against which your committee reports in substance, point to the Constitution of other States as establishing precedent in their favor. But the situation of the Empire State, and especially of the Empire city, is

unique. They are called upon to reader charitable work not only for those born within the boundaries of the State, but for hundreds of thousands coming to us from every nation, from every clime, and from every other State. Should the ability to continue the methods heretofore employed be terminated, it would be impossible for us to cope with these burdens.

These conclusions have been arrived at by your committee not hurriedly, but only after the most patient examination of the whole subject, both generally and in its details; an examination which, while it served in the case of some few of the members of the committee to strengthen existing impressions, in the case of the majority of the committee cause the adoption of these opinions despite contrary views which had been entertained before investigation.

To properly respond to the demands which charity makes, the hand of the State is not the only requisite; the heart of the individual must also be made to respond. But clear as is the opinion of the committee in these respects, it is equally clear that these private institutions which expended during the fiscal year ending the 30th of September, 1893, nearly $13,000,000, of which probably $9,000,000 was derived from public sources, should be subject to the most thorough investigation, supervision and control by properly organized public bodies, the powers of which extend even to the withdrawal of all authority, to be the recipients of these funds should any abuses manifest themselves.

In addition to this large disbursement, nearly $4,000,000 was expended during the same period upon State institutions, and over $500,000 by county and city institutions, aggregating in all expenditures for charity in the State of New York of at least $20,000,000. These enormous amounts are irrespective of large private benefactions of which no public record is made. These expenditures ought to be under State surveillance and control. The field covered by the vast expenditures referred to, is divisible into three parts, correction, lunacy and charity, and affected dur ing the year 1893 a daily average of 80,543 individuals, as follows: