The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-30
POOR OF THE TOWNSHIP
TRUSTEES CONSIDER THIS IMPOR-
TANT BRANCH OF THEIR WORK.
County Auditing Board Discussed
Various Papers Read-Ncw
officers Elected.

At the meeting OF the Township Trustees
Association. held in Masonic Hall yester-
day forenoon, the first subject discussed
was THE Care OF the Poor" George Bish-
OPP. of Richmond, read paper on this sub
ject, which was quite generally discussed.
Mr.. Bishop held that there was no infallible
plan that would cover a majority of cases,
but that the trustee must be guided by cir
cumstances in given case lie held that
those desiring aid should be made as near
self-supporting as possible. BY encourage
ing independence pauperism would be dis
couraged. He discouraged the practice of
passing paupers from one trustee to an
other.
B. C. Sherrick. of Westfeld. led the dis
cussion of the paper. advocating the CLASH
fication of needy poor into four classes
Children who cannot care for themselves;
those incapacitated for work by old age;
those incapacitated by sickness and dis
ease, and widows with families of small
children. Those who require permanent re-
lief, he said, should be taken to the county
homes for the poor. B. X. Kramer of La
fayette, said that in too many cases help is
given by trustees with their eyes shut. In
many cases where he would use good judg-
ment if left alone he is interfered with by
church and other societies.. He inquired
what good there was in trustees going to
the trouble and expense of collecting statis-
tics for the State Board of Charities?
There is no benefit said he. II have
done a great amount of this work, and
have never heard word about it. Peter
Lyons of Porter county, spoke against the
waste of the peoples money by employing
physicians other than the regular physician
for the poor. Bills of this character fire.
quenlty run from $500 to $500 year. Con-
corning the report of the State Board of
Charities that pauperism is on the increase
in Indiana, William Woodward, of Spencer
county, had few words to say. He based
his denial of the statement on personal OBJ
servations The cost of pauperism, he said,
could be greatly decreased under the pres
ent law.
S. B. Ensminger, of Hendricks county,
said that most Of the paupers who applied
to him for transportation said that they
came from Indianapolis. Instead of giving
them transportation on to some other coun-
ty it was his custom to offer them tickets
back to Indianapolis. I'm my county, said
he, 1--WE do not have poorhouse or poor
farm. We call it a county home, and we
try to make it a home for the poor Of Hen
bricks county,
Among others who also discussed the SUBJ
ject were Trustees Kimberlin and Wells. of
Lawrence county.
The County Auditing Board" was the
next subject. 1t was presented by Trustee
Lyons, of Koutz Trustee Males, of Evans
vile, thought the auditing board was ne
cessity in some cases to keep trustees out
of debt, though other boards might him
der the payment OF bills He objected to
lii.
payment of bill for days labor, which
oftentimeS compelled the laborer, through
necessity, to discount the bill from 10 to 40
per cent. Trustee Gilman, of Pulaski coun-
ty, objected to the auditing board because
he lives twenty miles from the county seat
and couldn't spend 10 cents without spend
board AS whole, however he thought
the Duncan law was a good thing. Mr..
Carnahan, of Daviess county, had no fear
of the law, because he never issued war
rants, but paid cash as he went. Other
trustees gave their experience of the audit
ing board, some by grumbling at the red
tape and others favoring its provisions TO a
certain extent.
At the afternoon meeting committee
formulate the ideas of the trustees as to
changes in existing laws concerning them
and present the matter to the next Legisla-
ture. The "Indianian'' was selected as the
official organ of the association.
DR.. S. l.. Baugh read a paper on "Medi-
cal Attendance of the Poor.
llC 1OiOWIiS OA1CSIS were tleClSu. Dell
jamin +. Johnson, of Benton county, presi-
dent; b. r. Sherrick, of Hamilton county
vice president; J. D: Ball, of Tippecanoe
vile, treasurer The following committees
were also chosen: Executive committee
p. Lyon, of Porter; Thomas Flynn, of Cass;
David d. Hostetter, Putnam; W. Trittipo
Hancock. Legislative committee-Marion
Clark. of Marion; Eli p. Haymaker, John
son; w. Trittipo, Hancock; b. S. Moore,
meri Tippecanoe; S. B. Ensminger, Hen
bricks; George w. Tooney. Rush; w. e.
Males, Vanderburg; N. v. Martin, Cass.