oners of the first grade, and of six alcoves in the women's department. A new insane ward has also been erected at a cost of $38,000, and has accommodations for about seventy insane criminals. This new department is arranged in accordance with modern ideas for the treatment of the insane. Besides sixty single rooms for the insane criminals, the building includes pleasant sitting-rooms, dining-room, workshop, and special wards for excited and suicidal cases. A considerable number of prisoners in county jails await vacancies at the prison. The system of grading prisoners is in force at the prison, also the Bertillon system of measuring criminals. Increased accommodations for criminals will have to be furnished at an early date, either by the erection of a State reformatory or by an addition to the State prison. The jails in the eight counties of the State contain an average of about 1,100 inmates,-- men bound over for trial and short-term men. Workshops are maintained in connection with the larger jails, but the general system of county jail management remains as unsatisfactory as ever. Total number of criminals, about 1,600. Ratio, 1 to 500 of the population, which is now estimated to be about 800,000. Class 2.The Vicious. There are no special institutions for this class. Class 3.- Insubordinates. The Connecticut School for Boys at Meriden is a State institution, and has an average of 450 inmates. Greater facilities for physical development and for training in the elements of trades are needed. The Industrial School for Girls at Middletown is a private corporation, which receives support from the State for the girls who are committed there. It has an average of 250 inmates. A new honor home has recently been completed, which will serve as an intermediate step between the other cottages of the school and positions in families in the world outside. Total number of insubordinates, 700. Ratio, 1 to 1,143 of the population. B. GROUP OF DESTITUTES. Class 1.- Poor in Poorhouses, etc. Almshouses are maintained in 89 towns in the State in which the dependent poor of all ages are cared for, except children between the ages of four and eighteen. Average number of inmates, about 1,800, besides 400 persons supported in private homes for the aged, making a total of about 2,200. Ratio, 1 to 364 of the population. A large number of persons are assisted with outdoor relief in all of the towns of the State, of whom it is difficult to obtain accurate statistics. Charity organization societies are conducted in six cities in the State, and work in harmony with the municipal authorities. Class 2.- Destitute Children. A temporary home is provided in each of the eight counties for the shelter of dependent and neglected children, between the ages of four and eighteen, until suitable family homes can be found for them. The average number of inmates in the county homes is 615. The system of boarding-out children in family homes, instead of enlarging the county home institution, has been tried in New Haven County, and meets with the approval of the county home officials. Private asylums and homes furnish accommodations for about 900 children, making a total of 1,515 in the institutions. Ratio, 1 to 528 of the population. Class 3 The Sick and Injured Poor. The sick and injured poor are cared for in a number of city hospitals at the expense of the towns that send them and of the State, which furnishes appropriations for most of these hospitals. C. GROUP OF DEFECTIVES. Class 1. The Blind. The State makes a general appropriation of $50,000 a year for the education of blind persons, to be expended under the direction of the State Board of Education of the Blind. About twenty pupils are supported at the Perkins Institution, South Boston, and about fifty others at the Institute and Industrial Home for the Blind in Hartford. This is a private institution, and consists of two departments, a kindergarten for children and the Industrial Home for Adults. Total, 70 pupils. Ratio, 1 to 11,430 of the population. Class 2.- The Deaf. Provision is made for the education of the deaf by a general appropriation, under which contracts are made by the governor with institutions for this purpose. About 75 State pupils are maintained at the American School for the Deaf at Hartford, and about 25 more at the Mystic Oral School, a small private Ratio, 1 to 8,000 of the population. concern. Class 3. - Feeble-minded. Feeble-minded children are cared for and instructed at State expense at the Connecticut School for Im beciles at Lakeville, a private institution. Average number of inmates, 175. Ratio, 1 to 4,570 of the population. Class 4.- The Insane. The Connecticut Hospital for the Insane at Middletown has accommodations for about 1,800 inmates, and is constantly overcrowded. A commission was appointed by the last General Assembly to investigate the desirability of establishing another State hospital in some other part of the State, but its report has not yet been made public. The Retreat for the Insane at Hartford has an average of 150 inmates. Eight private sanatoriums care for about 200 patients; and there are about 300 others, chiefly chronic cases in the town almshouses. Total, 2,450. Ratio, 1 to 327 of the population. The number of insane persons in the State is increasing gradually, but it has not yet been shown that the increase is out of proportion to the increase in population. The cost to the State for the delinquent, dependent, and defective classes for the year ending Sept. 30, 1897, was $732,858. The cost to the towns for the year was $724,594. Total, $1,457,452, or an average of $1.82 per capita of the State's population. DELAWARE. BY MRS. EMALEA P. WARNER, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. The legislature has increased the quota of each county from 3 to 5 children to enter the Feeble-minded School at Elwyn, Pa.; and a bill is now pending to amend the law for further education of idiotic children. The Delaware Hospital for the Insane have erected a fine addition to their main building, at a cost of $35,000. An admirable new charter for city of Wilmington has been presented, but failed to pass. During the year there have been organized the United Charities of Newcastle, the Relief Society of Dover, and the Home Mission of Wilmington, which accommodates men lodgers and gives employment to them. The Florence Crittenton Home grew out of the Door of Hope. It gives shelter to unfortunate mothers and babies, and carries on practical industries. A. Class 1.- Criminals. GROUP OF DELINQUENTS. Are confined in three county jails in idle ness and without classification. There are about 300. Class 2.The Vicious. Tramps and drunkards make a large portion of the inmates of our jails, committed on short terms. The State workhouse is still a hope. Class 3-Insubordinates. In the Industrial School for Boys there are 70. In the Industrial School for Girls there are 26. Both institutions receive aid from Levy Court and legislature, as also from private subscription. B. GROUP OF DESTITUTES. Are partly supported in our three Class 1.- - The Aged Poor. county almshouses and in the Couples, and Sarah Ann White Home for Colored People. These institutions do not, however, meet all the needs of old people; and many are dependent upon public or private charity. Class 2. Destitute Children. Are chiefly sheltered in the Home for Friendless Children, which now has 70 children, St. Michael's Hospital and Home for Babies, St. Peter's Female Orphanage, Protectorate for Boys, and St. Joseph's Home for Colored Boys. Class 3- The Sick and Injured. Are cared for in the Delaware Hospital and the Homœopathic Hospital, and the hospital at the almshouse cares for the chronic sick poor. C. GROUP OF DEFECTIVES. Class 1.- Blind. No records for this class. Class 2 Deaf-mutes. No institution; but legislature appropriates funds to send 3 from each county to schools outside the State. Class 3.- The legislature now allows 5 from each county to be sent to Elwyn, Pa. Class 4- The Insane. The State Hospital for the Insane contains 293 patients. A new building has just been completed, at a cost of $36,568. The Sixth Annual Conference of Charities and Institutions was held April 26 and 27, 1898, in Wilmington. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. BY HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. The most important legislation attempted since my last report has been the introduction in the Senate of a bill to establish a board of charities and another to provide for the compulsory support of children by parents. The proposition to establish a board of charities comes now as a revival of the movement to that end begun in the Washington Board of Trade three years ago. It is now being looked after by the joint committee of Congress which was appointed for the consideration of all matters of this nature in the District. This committee, after investigations continued for two years, and with the accumulated experience of two similar committees which preceded it, says in its recent report: The committee therefore recommends as the first step toward the efficient reorganization of the District charities the appointment of a board of charities, to be composed of five residents of the District of Columbia. This board should have the power to visit and inspect all institutions that receive appropriations from Congress and that are of a charitable, eleemosynary, correctional, or reformatory character. This board should be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and no payment for the care, support, and maintenance, should be made to such charitable, eleemosynary, correctional, or reformatory institutions for any inmates of such institutions who are not received and retained therein pursuant to the rules established by the Board of Charities. The legislation herein proposed is that which has been incorporated in the new constitution of the State of New York, an instrument which undoubtedly represents the best thought of the day on such matters. This board should have the power to elect its own officers and to appoint a secretary to take the place of the present Superintendent of Charities, and also to appoint such other officers, inspectors, and clerks as may be deemed necessary and proper, and to fix their compensation, such officers to hold office during the pleasure of the board. The members of the board should serve without salary, but should be entitled to the expenses incurred while in the actual performance of their duties. The records of the board and its proceedings and copies of all papers and documents in its possession and custody, when duly authenticated, should be received in evidence in the same manner and like effect as deeds regularly |