Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-08
BOARD OF cHARhEs
Organization to Consist of Five Dis
trict Residents.
ABOLITION OF TIE SUPERINTENDENT
Appointments to Board to Be Made
by President
DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS

1868, the office of superintendent OF charl-
ties for the District of Columbia will cease
to exist the Both instant. and thereafter the
charitable affairs of the municipality, so
far as they shall be subject to its control,
will be managed by a board of charities.
This board will consist of five members,
residents of the District. who shall be APP
pointed by the President of the United
States, by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate, for a term of three years.
but in such manner that the terms of not
more than two OF them shall expire in the
same year.
The members of the board are to receive
no compensation, and during his or her
term of office no member thereof shall serve
as trustee or other administrative officer of
any institution subject to the visitation of
the board.
The board is authorized and required to
elect president and vice president from
among its own members. and to appoint
secretary, at an annual salary of $1,000,
and messenger, at an annual salary OF
$40, as well as such officers. inspectors
and clerks as it may deem proper. and fix
their number. duties and compensation,
subject to appropriations of Congress.
Provided reads the act, that the office
of superintendent of charities of the Dis
trict of Columbia is hereby abolished from
and after the Both day of June. 1900, and
the amounts appropriated in the act max
ing appropriations for the expenses of the
District of Columbia for the fiscal year
ending June 30. 1901, for salaries of super
intendent of charities and of messenger in
the office of said superintendent and for
travelling expenses are hereby made avail
able for the payment of the secretary of
the board of charities. messenger for said
board and necessary travelling expenses au-
thorized by said board.
Duty of the Board.
The act makes it the duty of the board of
charities to visit, inspect and maintain
general supervision over all institutions, So
cieties or associations of a charitable,
eleemosynary. correctional or reformatory
character, which are supported in whole
or in part by appropriations of Congress.
made for the care or treatment of residents
of the District. No payment is permitted
to any such institution for any resident of
the District who is not received and main
tanned therein pursuant to the rules eStab-
lished by the board of charities. except in
the case of persons committed by the
courts. or abandoned infants needing imme-
date care. The board is to be provided
with suitable rooms in the building occu-
pied by the other departments of the Dis
trict government, and regular meetings of
the board shall be hciG at least once each
month, and more often if required, the
board to make such rules and orders for
the regulation of its proceedings as may
be deemed necessary.
The officers in charge of all institutions
subject to the supervision of the board of
charities are required by the act to furnish
the board, on request. such informatio
and statistics as may be desired, and to Sc
cure accuracy. uniformity and complete
ness of such statistics the board is author
lied to prescribe such forms of report and
registration may be deemed to be essen
tial: and all plans for new institutions
shall, before the adoption of the same be
submitted to the board of charities for sug-
gestion and criticism. The Commissioners
of the District may at any time order an
investigation by the board. or committee
of its members. of the management of any
penal. charitable or reformatory institution
in the District. and said board or any au-
thoriZed committee thereof when making
such investigation. shall have power to
send for persons and papers and to admin
lister odthS and afftrmatOns. and the report
of such Investigations. with the testimony,
shall be made to the Commissioners.
Governing Expenditures.
All accounts and expenditures of the
board are to be certified as may be required
by the Commissioners and paid as other
accounts against the District The board is
required to make an annual report to Con-
gress through the Commissioners, giving a
full and complete account of all matters
placed under its supervision, all expenses in
detail, and all officers and agents employed
with a report of the secretary. showing the
actual condition of all institutions and
agencies under the supervision of the board
the character and economy of adminstra-
lions thereof, and the amount and sources
of their public and private income. This
report shall also include recommendations
for the economical and efficient adminstra-
ton of the charities and refOrmatories of
the District The board of charities shall
prepare and include with its annual report
such estimates of future appropriations as
will, in the judgment of a majority of its
yDe r.
monious and economical management of the
affairs under it's supervision and such esti-
mates submitted shall be included In the
regular annual book of estimates. No men,
Der or employe of said board shall be either
directly or indirectly interested in any con-
tract for building, repairing or furnishing
any institution which by this act the board
is authorized to investigate and supervise.
All acts and parts of acts in conflict with
the provisions OF the act are repealed.
Mr.. Lewis Recommendation.
1t is among the rarest of things that any
officer or employee of the general or District
government recommends and seeks to Sc
cure the abolition of the position held by
him; but this is what has happened in the
case of Mr.. Herbert w. Lewis. the superin-
tendent of charities Of the District, who
has long advocated and worked, with the
approval of the District Commissioners, for
the abolishment of the office and the or
ganiZation of a board of charities for the
District. And 1t is due to another superin-
tendent of charities, the first who held the
office here. Mr.. A. G. Warner. to say that
he also advocated the abolition of the posi-
ton and the establishment of a board of
charities Mr.. Warner had the same idea
of the matter that Mr.. Lewis has, and that
is that the only intelligent and successful
management of the charitable and like in
stitutions supported in whole or in part by
the government can be had and maintained
through board such as has been author
lied by the act in question.
Both Mr.. Warner and Mr.. Lewis met with
opposition in the matter. the greatest hav-
ing come, 1t Is said, from some of the very
institutions dependent in whole or in part
upon public aid. This opposition, however.
despite the fact that it is said to have
enlisted In its support political. social and
religious influences. was finally overcome
although some persons, in and out of Con-
gress opposed to the view of Mr.. Warner
and Mr.. Lewis, went so far as to subject
them to personal criticism. In this connec-
ton. it Is only due to Mr. Lewis to state
that he never solicited the office he now
holds. and that he could not possibly have
had pecuniary purpose in view in seeking
to abolish the office he holds.
He and Mr.. Warner did In the matter
what they did because they had become
convinced that only through the estab-
lishment of a board of charities could the
municipal charitable affairs be so man