Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-23
DEMAND FOR REFORM
Favorable Report on the Board Of
Charities Bill.
VIEW OF HOUSE DISTRICT COMMITTEE
UseIessness of a Superintendent
Without Adequate Authority.
VIEW OF HOUSE DISTRICT COMMITTEE
CONDITION IN OTHER CITIES

The report of the House District COM
| mittee on the board of charities bill has
been prepared by Mr., Pearre of Maryland
and submitted. The report says:
The committee on the District of Co
lumbia to whom was referred the bill Oh
r. 1863 to establish a board of charities
for the District of Columbia, after careful
ly investigating the subject, report the bin
back to the House with the recommends
ton that it do pass, amended follows:
Strike out the words The superintendent
of charities shall act as the secretary of
the said board, and hereafter he shall only
discharge such duties as may be imposed
on him by the board of charities. and shall
receive only such salary as may be fixed
by said board, subject to appropriations of
Congress- beginning on line two of page
two of the bill. and ending in line seven of
page two of the bill.
Page two, line eighteen. after the word
courts, substitute comma for period after
the word courts, and add the following:
or abandoned infants needing immediate
care
This bill was submitted to the commit
tee by the Board of Commissioners of the
District of Columbia. and favorable action
thereon recommended by said board. 1t
seems 10 De conceded that the once OF the
superintendent of the board of charities,
as at present organized, is of little use.
superintendent without Power.
THE law creating the Office bears evil
dence of a real desire on the part of Con-
gress to remove the complications In which
the appropriations committees found them
selves from year TO year. by placing in a
position of trust an officer who should COL
lect and transmit to Congress. through the
Commissioners. such information might
be required, and who, bringing TO bear ex-
perience and study of all conditions should
be an impartial official adviser. whose pol
icy could be safely followed. He was given
no executive authority, and il seems to
have been taken for granted that the pow
er 10 estimate. investigate and report would
be sufficient TO effect such combina ton
or coordination of charitable agencies as
was evidently required. and that if any in
stitution or agencies resisted the efforts of
the superintendent to this end. they should
thereupon find themselves in Glsadvanta-
geous relations with the Commissioners and
the Congress This expectation has. how
ever. never been realized, and al the end of
seven years after the creation of the office
the charities of the District of Columbia
Will be as far from satisfactory condi-
ton as they were unless this bill becomes
q iaw
The superintendent of charities finds it
impossible 10 do the things which are made
his duty 10y the law creating the office His
supervision Of the accounts of institutions
Is merely formal, since he has no authority
over expenditures, either as 10 prices paid
for supplies or the selection of proper OBJ
jects of public bencfaction. His plans for
the collection of complete information come
TO nausht, because of n few who decline to
report or whose unbusinesslke methods
make it impossible for them to furnish the
information required. One institution denies
the right of the superintendent to inquire,
as to the amount and sources of it's in
~ and -t,..,-
possession information from which he can
ascertain the quality and success of its
work These conditions might, possibly
yield 10 persuasion and patience. but there
is nothing to prevent their being set IN
again at any time.
The first superintendent of charities. af-
ter TWO years experience in the office rec
commended That it be abolished and a board
established in its place. There is nothing
In subsequent experience to discredit the
wisdom OF that recommendation.
bordering on Chaos
The Senate committee ON the District of
Columbia declared, in the spring of 1896;
that the work CT caring for dependent chill
dren in the District of Columbia is in a state
bordering on chaos, and a we'll ordered and
effective system is necessary not only for
the benefit of the children, but also for the
btneht OF the taxpayers of the District of
Columbia, as well as the government
The corresponding secretary of the Dis
trIct of Columbia of the national confer
ence of charities quoted this statement in
nus report for 1897. and remarked that IL
might well have been said OF every other
department of charitable effort in the Dis
lrlct Investigations of the institutions of
the District of Columbia have been made
by experts, both resident and nonresident.
&no the report, without exception, is to the
erect that while the federal capital should
furnish a model system to be copied nv the
states, 1t has, in fact, never reached the
condition of economy and efficiency attain
ed by many of the states
various plans and recommendations for
me 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
or the various commissions appointed for
the purpose of investigating the whole sinh
1ect- Now. the joint select committee of
both houses of Congress after inyestigs
tons continued through nearly TWO wears
mas made report declaring that the first
sep toward the efficient reorganization of
the District charities is the appointment of
board of charities 1t will be irnpossibIe
for anyone who will study the questions
involved in the District of Columbia as this
commission has studied them TO differ wide
~ from its conclusions.
The Ohio Law modified.
Inc Dill under consideration seems to
nave been prepared from modification of
the ONO law, with important elements from
recent statutes and the provisions of the
new constitution OF the state of New York.
Ihe Ohio board has been especially valua-
PIE IN that state, and the provisions en-
iarslng the powers of the New York board
are working admirably The bill bears nm.
mlstakable evidence of extensive knowledge
OF the work and organization of thf.
Various state boards of charities 1t pro
Tides for all that is essential to the success
of such board, and is not incumbered with.
useless or experimental provisions
Experience With Boards.
Boards Of corrections 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 performed the
duties which are proposed for.such a board
IN the District of Columbia. They have al
ways stood for all that was progressive
humane, economical and scientific in the