The Morris County chronicle., 1903-02-27

community. Men of leisure, with an
earnest desire to use their means for good,
increase in numbers with the increase of
wealth. and with the progress of civiliza-
tion In community like this it grows
easier every year to secure their aid, but
! this Is not obtained by appointing them to
offices whose pay is insignificant. Service
upon such boards is itself an education in
knowledge and in power. A body of
citizens is builG up by this service whose
value to the state cannot easily be over
estimated.
Perhaps, however, will not say per-
haps-but assuredly, the highest value of
such system is in the educational work
done by such managers with the general
public. The example of such disinterested
labor and sacrifice is in itself precious. and
attracts the attention, the thoughts the
respect of citizens at large, as official
| service for pay can never do. The thoughts
and experiences of the men engaged in the
work reach their friends and society
around them, and interest the people By
their aid the community is educated in the
principles and methods of charitable work,
and learns even better how to deal with its
wards.
Whatever form of supervision or control
Is adopted must have the preservation of
! these advantages in view. In some states
of the Union this end has been in large
measure attained by entrusting admins
\ tration in all its details to local boards,
and by constituting a general board of
charities and corrections with supervisory
powers. Such state board properly
! represents the public In addition to the
other benefits which it confers upon the
community, 1t does the great work of
collecting information, compiling statistics
| providing in all institutions uniform
methods of record and accounts. To do
this work we'll, 1t must have no admins.
trative functions. no appointments to
/ m M an tn tn
to disburse. Its function is higher than
that of mere administration; 1t Is the
intellect and heart of the best charitable
elements in the community standing be
tween the mass of the people, whose best
| Intelligence it represents. and the work
which the community requires to be done.
| Hitherto such boards as this seem to me to
have accomplished more in the direction
1 of improving these great branches of public
administration than any other organiza
tions which have been devised.
There are now before our legislature two
bills which have attracted much attention,
each of them proposing an official paid
board of control for the institutions of the
state. Doubtless both of these bills have
been introduced by gentlemen of public
spirit and of large intelligence But no
detailed criticism of them Is required to-
night, because 1t Is impossible to read
them without perceiving that the purpose
of their authors in bringing them forward
cannot be to secure their enactment, but
TO provoke inquiry and discussion. 1t
literally adopted and enforced, the Senate
bill would sweep away all existing boards
suddenly and leave three men, political
appOlntees, whose entire time and energies
for the year would be repaid by the sum of
", 800 each, bewidered and overwhelmed
with mass of details In widely sepa ated
parts of the state such that no ten men
could give them proper attention, and
would, moreover, be charged with the
broad and general supervision of the
entire State system of dealing with its
dependents ana it's offenders The Assem-
bly, bill would confer all the powers of the
existing boards and many more on a
single board of five members and yet
makes no provision whatever TO. the
existing authorities of these institutions
Similar action by the Legislature of
Minnesota less than two years ago led TO
distressing legal complications and libiga
tlon which threatened the educational In
terests of the State. But entirely apart
from these defects, of form or detail, each
of THESE bills violates fundamental prin
ciple of our Republican institutions. 1t
confounds powers and functions which are
essentially and radically different The
duties OF q board constitute under either
of them would be at once legislative execu-
tive and judicial. 1t would hold powers
and perform duties which are utterly in.
compatible.
Let us then accept these propositions for
what they are in substance, of
interest on the part of thinking men in
these important branches of the States
service and of healthy determination to
make progress in them. It must certainly
be satisfaction to every enlightened
istudent OF our institutions to see that che
Governor of the State has asked for the
reference OF the entire problem TO an In
65lligenJ and impartial commission The
time is ripe for us study, and probably for
les solution, with larger knowledge and
better insight than has ever yet been at
talned. At the last session of the Inter
national Conference of Charities and Cor
rections an expert commit tee was appoint
ed to investigate this problem and report
at It's next meeting. AT the last session of
the International Prison Congress a com.
mlttee OF the ables5 experts in the United
States was appointed for the same purpose
and its report will be made at indianapolis
at the next Congress. The State of New
YORK and several other important states in
the Union are struggling with the same
problem. The legislatures, with the
benefit OF advice and counsel from the
most experienced and eminent students of
social reform, are striving TO develop a
system of control and supervision which
shall unite the best features of the various
systems now In use. Each of the plans
already known is under experiment in one
or more of our sister states and the results
are rapidly coming to light. Let us hope
that our own state will find way to
utilize the best results of all this enquiry
and experience. and apply them in a form
best adapted TO our own needs
Whatever the immediate result of the
present agitation, the friends of public
beneticence, the representatives of social
charity, who are gathered in this Con-
ference have every reason to look to the
future with hope and confidence. l see
around me large number of citizens who,
under circumstances of grave difficulty
and at much personal sacrifice have
labored for years TO protect the defeuseless
of this State. to relieve the wretched, to re-
form the erring and who already find
their sufficient reward in vast awakenil g
of the public conscience to the duty of the
community and in precious be- ginnings of
true reform in the management of our
institutions. The gifts of the pub c
through the state and throughout iis
are vastly larger and the burdens more
cheerfully bon ne than at any earlier period
in our history The support which Ia
given to such efforts by the mass of the
people Is more hearty and general, and the
evidence Is clear to us that only better and
more widely diffused knowledge Is neces
sary to make this support practically
unanimous Go on, then, more cheerful y
than ever with the good work. inspired
not only by the assurances we have of a
cheering degree of success today, but by
our ever growing hopes for the better
future of our commonwealth, not forget.
ting that remoter future when the balance
sheet of all such work shall be cast; for
then
while valor's naughty champions wait
TIL all their scars are shown,