The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-09-05
WORK OF STATE CHARITY BOARD.
sec. Jeffrey Outlines What Has Been
Accomplished in Month.

The regular monthly meeting of the
Vermont board of charities and proba-
tion was held at the State House yes
terday and the activities of the board
for the preceding month was gone over
in detail.
1t is doubtful if the people Of the
state realize what a wide range of hui
man welfare is embraced within the du
ties of this new and highly important
department of our government. A brief
summary of the work for the month
was submitted by Secretary Jeffrey UNI
der the different general heads of proba
ton, child care, aid for deserted and
widowed mothers, defective dependent
children, poorhouse inspection and feeble
minded children Mr.. Jeffrey reported
"a new parole and probation cases dur
ing the month, making a total Of sos
persons now. under his supervision as
state probation officer.
In commenting on this department in
his report to the board, he says; "The
work Of this department has progressed
in a reasonably satisfactory manner
during the month Quite number Of
discharges are coming from the enlist.
ment of practitioners and parolers in the
service Of the country, and of course
the increased demand for labor, the high
rate Of wages paid naturally tends to
reduce the new cases coming to us. 1t
is regrettable that more OF our courts do
not, in larger degree, use the probation
provisions of our law. | believe that
fully so per cent of our people now be.
ing sent TO our institutions could be
placed under the supervision of this de-
partment and thus be able TO return to
useful employment and not only main
tain themselves and those dependent
upon them but materially reduce the
cost to the state in the care and the adj
ministration.
After using the wages earned by the
inmates in our state prison at Windsor
and our house of correction at Rutland,
it still costs the state about 81 week
for inmates, and If the 900 persons now
under our custody and care had not been
released upon probation or parole, the
care of these people would cost the state
81 200 a week in addition TO their earn.
ing capacity in the institution, and at
the same time many of the families
would be left to public support These
features, coupled with the man and char
acter building work OF the department
should make each of us anxious to i'm
press upon the courts of the state the
advisability Of wider and more general
use of the humane provision of the law 7"
A brief summary giving some idea of
the more important features of the de-
partment are as follows: Homes visited
Al, children in above homes l4l, children
in need of medical care reported to me
Is, cases thoroughly investigated s, cases
partly investigated 8, children in need of
being placed mot placed 20, children
placed ID, children taken TO hospitals I,
children taken to preyeatorium 2, chill
dren in Fanny Allen investigated IT,
poorhouses visited 3, institutions visited
tother than poor farmsl o, cities and
towns visited 30, cases of children in.
vestFated in other towns by letter or
reliable persons IA, escorted women from
Windsor prison and house of correction
by woman probation officer 4, found EN-
ployment for women 8, arranged for girl
to enter special school /, boarding places
found for women from institutions 3,
children reported to me regarding medi-
cal care investigated 81, children re-
pOIteu 10 me IeEhFuiHS meuicai care tnOt
investigated) 5, children, neglected cases,
investigated s, children, neglected cases,
not investigated 9, probation and parole
cases visited 10, special women visited in
prisons 10.
Mr. Jeffrey in his report referred to
the defective children of the state and
said: During recent months there has
been greater effort made to relieve the
dependent defective children of the state.
A very considerable number of this class
Of cases have been brought to my atten-
ton, and we have sent several OF the
cases to the hospitals; others have been
approved and will 90 TO the hospital
within few days and still Others are
under investigation. From every part
of the state come warm words of com.
mendation for our undertaking to make
the defective dependent child physically
ft to grow into self.sustaining citizen
ship Perhaps no one dk,aartment of
our work is being more warmly com
mended than this feature, and i trust
that we shall be able to continue until
there are no deserving cases in this class
untreated in our state"
During the month the secretary has