St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-24
IN ANY OF MINNESOTA,s CORREC-
TIONAL AND OTHER ALLIED
INSTITUTIONS.
BUT FEW CHANGES ARE MADE
TOTALLY EXCUSABLE REASONS,
1T SEEMS.
sEC'Y HART REPLIES TO INQUIRY
From Wisconsin as to MinnesOta,s
Experience Along the Line of
Promotions for Merit.

Secretary H. H. Hart, of the state
board of corrections and charities, has
received letter of inquiry from Prof.
j. j. Blaisdell, chairman of the COM
mittee on penitentiaries and reforma-
tories of the Wisconsin conference. who
Is collecting opinions from various
states based on the experiences of those
states, with respect tC the civil serv-
ice system In penal administration; as
against the system of appointments for
Pontlcal or other causal reasons which
are In vogue in many states. In reply
to Prof BlaisdelPs inquiries, Secretary
Hart wrote yesterday:
The officers of our institutions are not
| appointed upon uniform basis of
merltorlous qualifications" In the hos
pltals for insane for the past two or
three years, training schools for nurses
nave been established, and nurses have
been selected strictly on the basis of
fitness, and are required to come up
TO certain standard. In most of our
institutions l believe that it is true
that appointments are made with
view to securing the best possible serv-
Ice without regard to person or politi-
cal considerations, but we have no
civil service examinations and no law
regulating the matter.
The number of superintendents for
each OF our state institutions for the
last twenty years has been as fol-
lows:
a. state prison, founded 1857. 3: b.
school for deaf, founded 1863, J.: school
for the blind. founded, 1868. /; st. Peter
state hospital, founded 1866. 2: state
training school, founded 1867, 2; school
Tor feeble minded, founded 1878. 3; Roch-
ester state hospital founded 1878. @:
Fergus Falls state hospital, founded
1887, 2; state soldiers home. founded
1887, l; state reformatory, founded in
1887, 2. I have been secretary of the
state board for thirteen years. and in
that time l have known but two
changes of superintendents made for
political reasons. both in the same in
stitution.
Albert Garvin, assistant superintend-
ent Of the Minnesota state reforma-
tory, was appointed warden Of the
Minnesota state prison solely on the
ground of his superior qualifications. At
the end of three years satisfactory
service he resigned voluntarily to ac-
cept more remunerative position.
Henry Wolfer, assistant superintendent
of the Detroit house of correction, was
appointed as his successor solely on
the ground of his abilities, and he has
Kept the place ever since. ~
During the first six months Of War
den Garvin's service he dismissed only
two of the officers who had been en-
ployed under his predecessors; one for
fntemperance and the other for allow
ing a prisoner to escape through neg
ligence. tt-'
AS a rule in our state institutions, it
is left to the superintendent to ascer-
tain the qualifications of candidates
for subordinate positions in such way
as they may deem proper
The merit system has not been adopt
ed.
do not regard the merit system as
| unworkable; on the contrary, I believe
that it is entirely practicable and ought
to be adopted.
1 do not think that the merit system
has operated to decrease crime in this
country, for the reason that it has not
been followed.