Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-11
WITHOUT POWER.
Superintendent of Charities Unable
to Effect Reforms.
SUGGESTS A BOARD OF CHARITIES
Comment Upon Pending LegisIa.
ton to That End
APPROVAL OF THE BILL

Mr.. Herbert w. Lewis, the superintendent
OF charities, is convinced that his Office as
at present organized Is Of little Importance.
Mr.. Lewis so expresses himself in a report
he submitted to the District Commission
ers Saturday afternoon recommending IA
voraDle action on the measure providing
for the establishment of a board of chari-
ties for the District of Columbia.
Referring to the Office he holds, Mr..
Lewis states 1t bears evidence of real de-
sire on the part of Congress to remove the
complications in which the appropriations
| committee found themselves from year to
year by placing in a position of trust an
officer who should collect and transmit to
Congress through the Commissioners such
| information as might be required. and who.
bringing to bear experience and study of
all conditions. should be an impartial Off
cial adviser whose policy could be safely
followed
Mr.. Lewis explains that he is given no
executive authority, and that it seems to
| have been taken for granted that the power
to estimate, investigate and report would
be sufficient to effect such combination
or coordination of charitable agencies as
was evidently required and that IL any in
stitution or agencies resisted the efforts of
the superintendent to this end they should
thereupon find themselves in disadvantage
| Gus relations with the Commissioners and
the Congress.
This expectation has, however, says
Mr. Lewis, never been realized. and at the
end of seven years after the creation of the
office the charities of the District Of CO.
lumbia will be far from a satisfactory
condition as they ever were, unless the
recommendation of the committee which
presents the bill under consideration shall
meet with approval
1.-THE superintendent of charities finds it
impossible to do the things which are made
his duty by the law creating the Office.
His supervision of the accounts of institu-
tions is merely formal since he has no au-
thority over expenditures either as to
prices paid for supplies OF the selection of
proper objects of public benefaction. His
plans for the collection of complete infor
nation come to naught, because of a few
who decline to report or whose unbuSinesS-
like methods make it impossible for them
to furnish the information required One
institution denies the right of the supern-
tendent to inquire to the amount and
sources of its income, and another refuses
to place in his possession information from
which he can ascertain the quality and
success of it's work. These conditions
might possibly yield to persuasion and pa
thence, but there is nothing to prevent their
being set up again at any time.
the first superintendent of charities, af-
Ter Two years experience IN the once, rec
commended that 1t be abolished and board
established in its place. There is nothing
in subsequent experience to discredit the
wisdom of that recommendation.
THE Senate committee on the District of
Columbia declared, in the spring of 1896;
that the work of caring for dependent
children in the District of Columbia is in
| in a state bordering on chaos and we'll
ordered and effective system is necessary,
| rot only for the benefit of the children
Eut also for the benefit of the taxpayers
of the District of Columbia, as well as the
government The corresponding secretary
/ for the District of Columbia. of the national!
conference of charities, quoted this state
| ment in his report for 1897, and remarked
that it might as well have been said of
every other department of charitable eff
fort in the District. We have been inves-
| tigated by experts, both resident and non
resident, and the report, without exception
is to the effect that while the federal cap
ital should furnish model system to be
copied by the states, it has, i'll fact, never
| reached the condition Of economy and eff
cheney attained by many of the states.
Various plans and recommendations for
the reorganization of the charities of the
District have been proposed during the last
four years by the superintendent of chart
ties and others, only to be deferred while
waiting for the action of one after another
| of the various commissions appointed for
| the purpose Of investigating the whole SUBJ
ject. Now, the joint select committee of
both houses of Congress. after investiga-
tons continued through nearly two years,
has made a report declaring that the first
step toward the efficient reorganization of
the District charities is the appointment of
a board of charities 1t will be impossible
for any one who will study the questions
involved in the District of Columbia as
this commission has studied Them to differ
wholly from its conclusions.
Meets the Requirement..
1.-THE bill under consideration seems to
have been Drena red from a modification of
the Ohio law with important clements from
recent statutes. and the provisions Of the
| rev constitution of the state of New York
The Ohio board has been especially valu-
able in that state, and the provisions en-
larging the powers of the New York board
are working admirably. The bill bears I'M
| mistakable evidence Of extensive knowl-
edge of the work and organization of the
various state boards of charities. 1t pro-
vtdeS for all that is essential to the sue
cess of such a board. and is not incum-
bered with useless or experimental pro-
visions.
Boards of correction and charities have
been created in nineteen different states
They have been abolished in two states one
of which re-established its board after
three years OF inactivity, having found it
to be an essential part of the charitable
machinery Of the state. They have almost
invariably exercised the powers and per-
formed the duties which are proposed for
such a board in the District of Columbia
Ihey nave always stood for all that was
progressive, humane, economical and scien-
tihc In the administration of charities and
charitable institutions, and the states in
which they have worked longest now stand
| as conspicuous examples of good manage
ment IN all that pertains to such work as
mas come under their supervision"
Calling attention to the good accom-
plished by the organization of boards of
Charities in many Of the states, Mr. Lewis
continues his report as follows:
These good works are but few instances
which might be multiplied Indefinitely. of
the results accomplished by these boards
Nor has their influence been confined to
the states where they exist. The national
conference of charities and correction,
with its wide-reaching influence, has been
established and maintained by the Joint
action of state boards of charities There
is scarcely state in the Union which
has not been influenced to a greater or
less degree by boards of charities in the
treatment and care of the insane, the care
of dependent children. the treatment of
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