BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS 25 



tween the relative strength of the urban population and the 

 ratio of admissions to benevolent institutions. Massachusetts, 

 New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, and several 

 other states furnish illustrations in point. 



How pre-eminently the care of persons in benevolent in- 

 stitutions, as measured either by the number of inmates on 

 the given dates or by the number of persons admitted during 

 the given period, is a matter of private charity in the United 

 States is a most striking fact. About 70 per cent of the insti- 

 tutional population found on a particular date and about 80 

 per cent of all admitted in a year are beneficiaries of private 

 charity (including, of course, that dispensed by the churches) 

 as distinguished from maintenance solely at public cost. It is 

 clear that the establishment and support of orphanages, hospi- 

 tals, and temporary homes is left largely to private initiative. 

 Permanent homes, measured by the number of inmates, are 

 more generally made a matter of public concern, while most 

 of the deaf and blind provided for in institutions are cared for 

 by the public authorities. 



Of the three general classes of institutions considered, the 

 percentages of inmates both at the beginning and end of 1904 

 are largest for those under ecclesiastical supervision. This is 

 chiefly attributable to the large number of orphanages main- 

 tained by churches. In point of admissions private institu- 

 tions lead, because of the many hospitals imder this form of 

 control. 



Judged by number of inmates and admissions, the or- 

 phanages and children's homes under public management are 

 of relatively little importance. This form of institutional 

 charity is largely left to private initiative, since public insti- 

 tutions claim but 10 per cent of the number of inmates and 10 

 per cent of the admissions. Although particularly a concern 

 of the churches, the orphanages under denominational man- 

 agement, while containing more inmates on January 1 and 

 December 31, of 1904, than both the public and the private 

 institutions combined, show a smaller percentage of admis- 

 sions than the private class alone. This circumstance sug- 

 gests that private orphanages are used more liberally as re- 

 ceiving homes from which children are distributed among 



