Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-07
A PLAN TO END
GOVERNMENT BY FAVOR
The General Assembly Is Expected to
Put State Aid to Private CHARITIES
on Business Basis


L ment by favoritsm than to abolish 1t.
No one defends it. Those who govern
US simply practice it.
No graver scandal has grown out OF
it than that which disgraces the system
of distributing public money to private
charitable institutions
For more than thirty years the Board
of Public Charities has been protesting
against the injustice of the system.
Eighteen years ago it said in its annual
report that some law should be passed
which would insure that "the aid granted
should be distributed without discriml-
nation to the institutions" entitled to it.
The governors in recent years have
urged upon the General Assembly the
massage of laws which would remove the
abuses.
1t is admitted on every hand that the
state funds have been used to reward IN
stitutions the managers of which worked
with the politicians and that the threat
of Withholding state funds has been used
as = club to keep other managers IN
line. "Work with us and we will give
YOU largess from the public treasury"
the politicians have said in effect. "Op-
pose us and we will cut off the funds
which are necessary for the conduct of
the institutions in which you are inter-
ested"
Unfortunately, the privately managed
charities are not the only institutions
which have been blackmailed in this
damnable manner.
The General Assembly has before it
bill which is intended to put an end to
the abuse so far as the private charities
are concerned. 1t is in the hands of the
judiciary general committee, which will
hear arguments in its support in Har-
risburg tomorrow afternoon. The bill
may need some revision before it is re-
ported out of the committee for final
passage. but its purposes are so sound
and defensible that it is 1ifficult to
imagine any valid argument against
them.
The measure, known as House bill No.
1913, is based on the theory that state aid
to private institutions taking care of the
dependent poor should be extended as a
right and not as a favor. The private
institutions supplement the public insti-
tutions and take care of those for whom
there is no room in the institutions MAIN
tanned wholly by public funds.
The bill provides that minimum
standard of equipment and treatment
shall be fixed for all private agencies
caring for the poor and minimum stand
ard of payment for services rendered;
that the private agencies shall be ar
ranged in classes by the Board of Public
Charities according to the kind of serv-
ice rendered and the necessary cost of
such service, and that all institutions
shall be subject to inspection by the
agents of the board. State aid is to be
granted only to such agencies as attain
to the minimum standard, and every
agency which meets the tests is to re-
ceive the aid as a matter of right. The
amount that it is to receive is to be
based upon the amount of service that
il renders, ascertained through quarterly
reports showing the number of depen-
dent poor cared for in that period and
the cost of such care to the institution.
The sum paid is to be sixty per cent of
the cost of the service, and this money
is to be taken from the biennial appro-
pration, one-eighth part of which is to
be distributed each quarter.
1t is assumed that if the demands for
money exceed the amount available the
sum that can be used is to be appor-
toned pro rata among the institutions.
This, however, is not made clear in the
bill. 1t is likely that the committee will
nut definite provision to this effect in
the measure before reporting it.
The scheme devised here is the same
as that which governs appropriations for
education and for the care of the INDECENT
insane in the state hospitals-that is, it
is based on the number of persons bene-
fitted by the appropriations.
The disregard Of this equitable rule
has created grave abuses. Some pri-
vate institutions, favored by the politi-
clans. have received 140 per cent of the
cost of the service rendered to the poor,
while Others have had to be content with
only 20 per cent of the money they have
spent in caring for persons who are
properly a public charge. Still further,
| there has been just as unfair distribu-
ton of public money among the differ
ent sections Of the state as among the
| different institutions. Five counties with
40 per cent of the population have re-
ceived nearly 10 per cent of the appro-
| priation and seventeen counties have re-
| ceived nothing. AS already noted, the
proposed plan will insure that every in
stitution which passes the tests Of the
Board of Public Charities will receive