St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-01-09
CORRECTIONS AND CHARITIES.
Material Features of the Report of the
State Board Submitted to the
legislature

Legislature.
The first biennial report of the state board
of corrections and charities was presented to
the governor yesterday. The report bears
evidence of much thought and care in its
compilation and contains 4 very large mass
of useful and interesting information. Be
ginning with q list of members, officers and
committees, it proceeds to give the legisla-
tive act creating the board, which was ap-
proved March >, 1883, by the governor. the
y-laws governing the board and its officers,
and then proceeds TO describe the various
institutions under the control Of the board,
commencing with the state prison at Still
water, which was organized in old territorial
DAYS, dating back to 1853. In speaking of
the prison, the report regards the
good time laws by which the
prisoner is paid o~ne-ffth OF
his earnings either for his family or his owu
use after being discharged, as one Of the
wisest and most important rules in the prison
discipline. 1t describes the important i'm
prOvements made since the two disastrous
fires last winter. A school and reformatory
agency Is recommended and the suggestion
is made to increase the chaplain's salary so
that his whole time may be devoted to the
prison and establishing a school. The re-
form school is next alluded to as one of the
first in the country to discard bolts, bars and
walls and adopting the family plan instead
of the prison plan. There is
not even a punishment cell
in the school, In this connection
some very valuable information is given in
reference 10 other reform schools in the
country, in which the boys earn from $50 10
Sl2O per annum, but showing the advantage
Of the Minnesota system, which does not run
the workshops Tor a profit, but at an expense
Of about $l2 per head, the boys prOfting by
learning useful trades. The insane hospitals
at st. Peter and Rochester first established
in 1860 are next described and the system
Of management, and the board com pairing
them with other institutes IN other states,
found those VI Minnesota greatly preferable.
Three more detached wards at St.
Peter and two at Rochester are
to be built during the ensuing
year but a third hospital is asked for at some
northern part Of the state. The schools for
the deaf, for the blind and for imbeciles at
Faribault are also described, and coming in
for their share Of notice are twentY-siI city
and village lOckups Of the state (of which
seven are only tit Tor the purpose, MinneapO-
lis, Saltwater, Mankato, Nurtuteld, Fergus
Falls, Redwood Falls and WinOua), flfty-fOur
iails, city warehouses and county poorLouses.
The report gives the views Of the board upon
out door relief, ''the town system" and
pauper mi ration. \ summary Of expenses
is given showing that the board cost the stale
80 100 Gn- for fbA vAar fpr urhieI the
board haabone the following work:
The seven state institutions subject TO the
inspection of the board have been visited
repeatedly as well as similar institutes in
other states; thirty-nine out of flty-four
county jails have been inspected and Ge-
scribed twenty-five ont OF twenty-five county
poor houses have been visited and described !;
methods Of outdoor relief have been studied;
the expenses OF six state institutions have
been reviewed, classified, tabulatcd and re-
duced 10 a per capita basis, and compared
with the records Of the stewards, treasurrrs
and tDestIte auditor, covering a period Of four
years of Institutes OF the deaf aud blind aud
the eutirr history Of tue four Institutions.
Expenuitur of Of counties for pauperi5m
FOR six years nave been exhibited; reports Of
pOuuty auditors Of pauper expenditure
obtained for two years; detailed
reports Of poor house expenses for the past
gear Obtsined and tabulated; q classified
statement of poor house property has been
prepared from ovrrseers' reports; t4bulated
statemeut made OF CONTRACTS Of counties with
overseers Of poor houses; Il soldier who had
already cost the state 5000 al the insane
asylum was transferred 10 the general gov
eminent; Of the 81, 900 saved in The past
year by the commissioners Of GOOdhuc
county the bourd claim $4,000 as the result
Of their work. And among other claims the
board make the following: Marshall and
Todd counties have been deferred from build
Ing poor houses, Stevens county from pur
chasing a poor farm, and the city of ST. Paul
and county Of Ramsey from placing a lock-
up 10 the basement vi the new city hall; all
OF which cases are believed 10 have caused
material pecuuiary saving.