Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-04-04
THE ORPHANS.

from the Sacramento Record I'm.
Ion, on the relation Of the new
Constitution to the Orphan Asy.
lums Of the State. The Sacramen-
to Journal has 80 accurately caught
the spirit of the new Constitution
that we think we cannot do better
than give 1t without emendation,
merely rsmarklng that the
whole scheme OF private charity
and denominetional instruction OF
the helpless young Is liable to bf
overturned in a moment ii that In
strument should be adopted. This
IL the view OF beth the Monitor
and the Record. Union. We quote:
Tue twenty second section of the
fourth article Of the new Constitu
tion deals with the important sub
ject Of State aid to orphan asyiums
and other Institutions for the sup
port Of the sick, and INDECENT and
aged. Whoever attempts to ascer.
tain what the Convention intend
Cd by this section will, however,
encounter q series Of difficulties oil
. character 10 battle the strongest
understanding. The section pro-
vides, to begin with, that "no mo.
ney shall ever be appropriated o.
drawn from the State Treasury fol
the use or benefit Of any corpora
tion, association, asylum, hospital,
or any other institution not under
the exclusive management anu
control of the State as State in
situation, nsr shall any grant or
donation of property ever be made
thereto by the State" So far ths
intention is perfectly clear. 1t is,
to prohibit the giving of any State
aid TO any charitable institutions
not under the exclusive manage.
ment and control Of the State as n
State Institution. II the Conven.
tiou had stopped there, the new
Constitution would have undoubt
sdly prohibited the extension oi
al aid to the orphan asylums ant
other charitable Institutions. But
the section does not stop there. II
proceeds az follows: "PrOvidpd,
that, notwithstanding anything
contained In THIS or any other sec.
tion OF this Constitution, the Leg
islature shall have the power t
grant aid TO Institutions conducted
for the support and maintenance o
minor orphans, or half orphans
abandoned children, or aged per
sens In INDECENT circumstances
such aid to be granted by o una.
form rule. and proportioned to lht
number Of inmates OF such respect
I've Institutions" In this provisc
We have q complete reversal Of the
foregoing prohibition. In effect
the Constitution sets out by say
ing: "rhe State shall not aid or
pban asyiums ut ALI" and proceeds
to say: "But the State shall aid
orphan asylums as much as ii
pisasss.n rhus far we have two
mutually destructive provisions,
which can by no Interpretation be
harmonized, and which, when
treated according TO the accepted
rules Of constitutional construct.
ion, present q perfectly hopeless
conflict OF intent and direction
But the Convention was not satis-
fied with the inimitable rnuddIe it
had created, and so it proceeded 10
rnshe the matter still more con
fused.
n further provision was inserted,
ns follows: "Provided further, that
whenever any county, or city and
county, or city, or town shall pro-
vido for the support Of minor
orphans, or half orphans, or aban-
doned children, or aged persons in
INDECENT circumstances, such
county, city and county, city, or
town shall be entitled TO receive
the same pro rata appropriations as
may be granted to such institutions
under church or other con troll" It
Is evidently useless to attempt to
harm0nize the second and third
provisions with the first, but it il
impossible to derive from the en-
tire section some idea AS to the ef-
fect Of its operation upon the pub
lIc Interests. The Legislature is
empowered by the second clause to
grant mid 10 orphan asylums, and
by the third clause it is provided
that asy lums, hospitals, etc., under
county or city and county or city
control. shall be entitled to de.
mand the same pro rata appropria.
tisns ~ are granted to other insti-
tutions. The effect of this must be
to give every county hospital in
H - tn nj tp>rs H.
ury, to double the demand for State
aid for orphans and INDECENT per-
sons; and to force upon the Legis
laturs either the necessity of
doubling taxation for those pur-
pohes, or the necessity of having
these purposes, or the necessity OF
hslving the pro rata appropriations
granted. Under the proposed
change In the system there would
be no jnducement to economy,
since local authorities would have
no local adverse sentiment to fear,
in drawing upon the State Treas
ury. The local Taxpayers would
care little or nothing how much
WAS spent on the support of or
phAns or the INDECENT, because the
money would come out of the
State Treasury. Mendicancy ana
l indigency would be encouraged b,
such an arrangement. Unnatural
or dlssi psted parents would find no
diflculty In ioistiDg their children
upon the State. The Legislature,
owsvsr. would certainly be relue-
tant TO take the unpopular step of
taxation in order to
meet the enlarged demand for it.
e would probably refuse to make
any larger appropriation for char
liable purposes than heretofore and
Ibs result would be that the pro
lnfa appropriations now enjoyed by
he orphan asylums would be di-
one-half. In that case
Dtther the asylums would have to
. almost entirely supported by
Dflvats charity. or they would
lave to close their doors and turn
be orphans out on the streets.
A. n