The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-11-01

trustee II merely incidental to his
other interests, and hts institution re- |
ceives only such time and attention -
he can In haste spare from his life |
work; where's. under the central idea I
system this work would receive his en- |
tire time and continuous thought. To
my mind. considering the vast invest
ment In these institutions and the en-
ormous current expense required IN
their management, It would be just 40
consistent to require . brief visit to
the institution once every month BY |
the superintendent thereof. - It II to |
require no more time OF the trustees |
In the management Of the physical ana |
fiscal affairs Of the institution than 10 |
required Of them. II 1t be said that |
his board Of trustees that the law
charges with certain responsibilities. |
and In my Judgment should charge
with 9raxer ones, Il could ba argued |
with equal force that the surerintend- |
emit could be represented In his Ab-
sence by his assfstarts, and We 1t
once see to what this line of reason |
Ing would lead.
Partisan Control Discussed.
I'm my examination of this question,
l find that one objection made to the
central board 70, that It may lead to
dragging the Institutions into politics
or putting politics into the institutions.
II the central board ID more likely to
lead to this result than. the separate
boards it would indeed be q serious
objection to the former. have never
been able to persuade myself that the
objection IL sound one. In the first
place, I do not believe any man Is ever
likely 70 bs selected Governor Of 1ndi.
ana who will take = partisan view Of
our state charities. Certainly such Q
man should not be elected TO the gov
ernorship of our state. But IL such a
man should be elected Governor, In my
Judgment, he could serve political ends
to 4 much better advantage through
eighteen separate boards scattered
throughout the state, touching and
overlapping every congressional dis
trict in the state, than it would be
possible for him to do through the in
strumentality of one central non.parti.
san board. And q Governor who will
yield to political pressure in the one
instance will with equal promptness
yield In the other.
I'm advocating the central board
idea, I do not desire to see any sys-
l0In 1u0u8NH&k0O koA t140 H0AkIVA VI OuI
institutions that 10 not properly super
ously object to the elimination Of our
Board of State Charities under any
conditions: The field Of operation Tor
this board should not be narrowed. In
my Judgment It il indispensable to the
welfare of those institutions that we
have both Z board OF control and Z
board Of supervision. It IL Z question,
however, If It. would not b. wise to
have among the members Of this lot.
ter board peuologist and an alienist
who would be required to perform the
duties now performed by the members
of this board without compensation
but who could be paid by this board
for any special services that might be
required Of them. The Board OF State
Charities 10 4 board of supervision. It
Investigates and counsels in the man
agement Of the institutions and 1t 10
4 source Of much needed Information
to the executive of the state. We
should clearly and ct Ill times hold In
mind the distinction between . board
Of control, as proposed. and board OF
supervision as suggested. The board
Of control should be piece Of execu-
tive machinery. It should DO the busi-
ness H030 OF INC lHBI4tutAOuo UuuST IL.
IT would bring things to pass or pre-
vent them from coming to pass ~ Ito
Judgment suggests. Its voice would be
the voice OF the public In the man
agament OF the peoples institutions.
1t would not educate nor pry into SO
cial conditions. nor discuss the mental
or moral aspects of the inmates Of its
institutions, further than to see that
proper parsons qualified I'd deal with
these questions were put at the head
and in charge of its institutions. The
work and duties Of this board would Of
course be defined by the statute Gre
ating 1t.
Il am not going off on tangent in
my advocacy OF central board OF
control Men of wide experience In
institutional work have favored this
idea. Indiana has furnished several