River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-04-28
BOARD OF CONTROL.

islature of 1881 abolished the honorary
boards of management of our several
State charitable, penal and reformato-
ny institutions, substituting therefor
single Board of Control to consist of
! five members who are to devote their
entire time to the management of
these institutions, for which they are
to receive q salary. Under the law
creating this Board, Governor Smith
has appointed the following gentlemen
members thereof: Col. George w.
Burchard, of Jefferson county, Gen.
James Bintliff, of La Fayette, Lewis
A. Proctor, of Milwaukee, Charles
Luling, of Manitowoc, and Hon. Chas,
d. Parker, of st. Croix. In these APP
pointments the Governor has done
himself credit and given the people an
assurance that their interests will be
well cared for. The gentlemen named
possess well established regulations
for honesty and integrity, and combine
qualifications as whole which
peculiarly fit them for the responsible
duties upon the discharge of which
they will soon enter.
Col. Burchard is a lawyer by pro-
fession and has served the Governor
in the capacity of private and military
Secretary since January, 1878; he is a
practical, methodical business man,
and has given ample evidence of his
fitness for place on this Board by
his efficiency rs member of the
Board of Directors of the State prison;
as the leading spirit in the manage
ment of the prison, he has conducted
it as to render unnecessary any appro-
priatiOn from the State Treasury for
its maintenance during the past four
years; previous to 1878 annual appro-
priations of from twenty to fifty
thousand dollars were required. Gen.
Gazette, but is now one of the
proprietors of the Darlington Republi-
can; he has been for some years a
member of the State Board of Health,
and one of the Trustees of the Sol
diers' Orphans Home. Mr.. Proctor
has been for some years the managing
editor of the Milwaukee Wisconsin,
and for seven years a member of the
Board of Education of Milwaukee.
Mr.. Luling is successful banker, and
said to possess superior business quail
ifications. Hon. C. d. Parker, per-
sonally known to many of our readers,
is practical farmer, whose counsel
will be of value to his associates, and
who may be confidently depended up
on to urge economy in the expendi-
ture of public moneys; his appoint
ment is fitting recognition of the
agricultural class, as he is now at the
head of State organization having
for its object the promotion of the
interests of the farmer.
We think we can foresee one EN-
barrassment that probably has not
occurred to the casual observer, aside
from the friction natural to the intro
duction of new system, with which
the Board of Control will have to
contend, and by which it will be
placed at a great disadvantage, and for
this reason we trust that neither the
Legislature of 1882 nor the people will
unjustly criticise the new system if it
fails to wholly meet popular expecta-
ton the first year of it's introduction.
The embarrassment to which we refer
as being probable will be because of a
lack of funds which the Board of
Control will find at its disposal when
entering upon its work. Recognizing
the prevalent belief that the cost of
supporting the State institutions ex-
ceeded the amount necessary therefor,
the legislature last winter appropriate
ed thousands of dollars less for each
institution than the amount asked for
by the local boards for the current
year. The money appropriated is
drawn from the treasury upon month
~ estimates by executive committees
of local boards who have drawn for
April and will draw for May. Some
OF the members of these boards doubt
less feel personally affronted at being
legislated out of office and will take
an almost fendish delight in making
estimates for the months named upon
the basis of the full estimate pre-
sented to the legislature for the year
with an absolute knowledge of the
fact that their successors will thus be
deprived of the just proportion that
should be left them for the balance of
the year. Give the new system fair
trial, with such slight notifications
as experience may suggest, and we
believe that it viii meet the full
| expectations of its friends--a greater
efficiency at less cost--in the manage
ment and support of our State instl-
| buttons.