The State Federation of Women's Clubs passed resolutions at the annual meeting last October looking toward improvement in the care of the indigent insane. Much is expected from the committee then appointed. An attempt is now being made by the Manchester Federation of Women's Clubs to establish the curfew law in that city.

Before another annual report is due, we hope to hold our first Conference of Charities, probably during the next session of the legislat

ure.

We have returns from all jails and houses of correction; and I think returns show no special increase of crime or insanity, taking into consideration the natural increase of population. I am fortified in this opinion by our physician in charge of the State Insane Asylum, Dr. C. P. Bancroft.

You will notice that the number of destitute children are less, because they have been provided with permanent homes.

Class 1.

B. GROUP OF DESTITUTES.

The Poor in Poorhouses, etc. 970.

Class 2.- - Destitute Children. 394.

Class 3 The Sick and Injured. Correct returns are not obtainable.

C. GROUP OF DEFECTIVES.

Class 1.- The Blind, 15.

Class 2.- Deaf-mutes. 31 in training schools.

Class 3.- Feeble-minded Children. 30 in remedial institutions.

Class 4-

houses.

The Insane. 756 in insane asylums and county alms

NEW JERSEY.

BY HUGH F. FOX, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

I submit herewith a table showing the amount of money spent by the tax-payers of New Jersey for public charities and corrections, with the number of persons who may be said to be officially recognized as belonging to the dependent, defective, and delinquent classes.

In addition there are over 3,000 children in the care of private orphan asylums and children's homes, who represent an annual expenditure of at least $160,000.

The State Insane Asylums are both greatly overcrowded, and the facilities of almost every institution in the State are taxed to the

utmost.

The Reform School for Boys at Jamesburg employs an agent, who visits the boys out on parole or under indenture, 81 per cent. of whom are reported to be doing well. Parents and guardians are also visited at their homes before the boys return there, to ascertain whether they are fit to care for the boys. The school conducts sloyd, industrial, farm, and manual training.

The average age of the girls received at the Reform School for Girls is fifteen. Out of 968 girls received since the school was started, 375 were of degenerate origin; i.e., intemperate, criminal, or irregular parentage.

Of the 1,131 prisoners in the State prison in Trenton, 185 are illiterate.

The State Hospital for the Insane at Trenton is in its fiftieth year. It spent $71,000 during the past year in improvements and additions, which were paid for from "accumulated earnings." The managers prepared an act to remedy the defective character of the commitment of patients to institutions for the insane (State, county, or private); but it failed of passage in the legislature.

New Jersey has no separate institution for epileptics, but the legislature appropriated $10,000 to establish an epileptic colony. There is no provision for the convict insane. There are a number of county insane asylums, so called; but several of them are merely a part of the almshouse, with no provision for supervision by attendants or trained nurses, and no regular medical supervision. The Hudson County Insane Asylum is, however, a conspicuous exception, thanks to the efficient direction of Dr. King.

The commission which was appointed to inquire into the condition of dependent children in the State, and to suggest a plan for their removal from the almshouses, made an elaborate report to the legislature, embodying a digest of the various methods of caring for dependent children in the principal States. They have formulated a plan for the removal of children from almshouses, and have devised a system of caring for destitute children and protecting their interests throughout the State which has no parallel in any State of the Union at present. It was favorably reported in the Senate, but met with strong opposition from the Children's Home Society. Owing to the early adjournment of the legislature, it failed of passage. However, the commission was continued for another year; and it is expected that the plan in all its main features will be adopted at the next session. The bill provides for the appointment by the governor of a State Board of Children's Guardians, to consist of five members, two of whom shall be women. The members are to serve without compensation for the term of five years each, the first appointments being for one, two, three, four, and five years respectively.

The board is to maintain a general supervision over all dependent children who may become adjudged public charges by reason of destitution, all such children becoming ipso facto wards of the State Board of Guardians.

The bill further provides that in every county the judge of the Supreme Court shall appoint a county branch of the State Board of Guardians, who are to have the immediate control, care, and protection of the children in the county in which they become dependent. Both the State Board and the county branches have power to appoint visiting agents.

As to the manner of caring for children, the county branches shall, when practicable, place them in the care of some private family with or without the payment of board, subject to the rules of the State Board, being guided in the selection of such homes by the religious faith of the parents of the children. Children may be committed to an institution or asylum maintained by the county for a period not to exceed nine months. Children over one year of age shall not be maintained in an almshouse for more than thirty days. Children who may be deemed unfit to be placed in private families may be placed in hospitals or other institutions of special character.

Charity Organization Societies have recently been started in Elizabeth and Jersey City. Paterson and Hoboken are the only

two important cities in the State where such work is conspicuously lacking.

Three years ago the legislature appropriated $180,000 for the purpose of erecting the buildings necessary to establish the State Reformatory at Rahway, which is modelled after the plan of the Elmira Reformatory. No appropriation was made by the last legislature for the continuation of this work. The commission reports that in order to open the Reformatory an expenditure of $325,000 will be necessary.

The legislature declined to make the necessary appropriation, and the work is absolutely at a standstill. It is an heroic illustration of the difficulty of creating a public sentiment for the mere reformation of delinquents.

THE STATISTICS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTIONS IN NEW JERSEY.

Population of New Jersey in 1897, 1,764,194, estimated. The total cost is therefore equivalent to a poll tax of about a dollar on every man, woman, and child in the State.

NEW YORK.

BY HOMER FOLKS, CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

The most important legislation of 1898 relating to charities was the passage of a bill regulating the placing-out of children. The reports of the State Board of Charities for 1896 and 1897 told of the discovery of serious abuses arising from the careless placing of children in families and from other causes. The State Board of Charities prepared, and caused to be introduced, a bill authorizing it to make rules and regulations concerning the placing-out of children. These rules were to be binding upon the placing-out work of all officials, individuals, societies, and institutions; and any violation of the rules was to be a misdemeanor. A substitute bill was introduced, providing, in effect, that the State Board of Charities, when it discovered that a person or corporation had placed-out children for purposes of gain or with gross carelessness, might prohibit such. person or corporation from thereafter placing out children. As each. of these bills excited considerable opposition and neither seemed likely to pass, a third bill was finally prepared, at the instance of the Board, upon which practically all those interested in legislation upon the subject united and which became law. Its principal pro

visions are as follows:

Unincorporated societies, societies incorporated in other States, and individuals wishing to engage in placing-out work must first secure a license from the State Board of Charities, such licenses to be revocable by said board in its discretion. Incorporated societies and public officials are to continue their work as heretofore. All placingout agencies are to keep proper records, showing the names and ages of the children and the names and residences of the persons with whom they are placed. Children who have been placed in