48 CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 



onies. When they are removed, the real workers will rise in 

 earning power. 



Perhaps the most important means of improving the 

 formerly corrupt and barbarous local charities and prisons 

 in England was the establishment of central supervision. The 

 centraHzation of supervising power and function in the home 

 office has lifted rehef and corrective methods to a high level 

 of efficiency and honesty. Most of our states, however, re- 

 main on the plane where England was before this vital reform 

 was introduced. The court house ring is only too generally 

 the despot over taxpayers and paupers. The improvement 

 immediately manifest from recent laws in Indiana and Ohio, 

 requiring the local almoners to report in detail to the state 

 board of charities, is a starthng evidence of the necessity for 

 further changes in the same direction. 



It is not desirable to discourage local interest in rehef or 

 discipHnary measures. Central control should seek to in- 

 crease rather than to diminish the sense of responsibihty^ of 

 township and county administrators. The state boards which 

 are now established in most of the more advanced states are 

 usually advisory bodies, whose influence is felt in constant 

 and skillful investigations, pubhcation of abuses, distribution 

 of information, education of the people, and guidance of leg- 

 islators and administrators. The backward states, which 

 have hitherto, through a mistaken notion of economy, refused 

 to estabhsh such boards, are sacrificing the money of taxpayers, 

 the comifort and fives of the dependents, and the efficiency 

 of penal machinery. 



It is universally agreed that professional training is re- 

 quired for superintendents and assistants in institutions of 

 charity and correction. But few persons will spend years in 

 school and in subordinate apprentice service, unless they see 

 before them a reasonable assurance that skill and fidelity will 

 be rewarded with advancement and permanence in office. 



The bearing of civil service reform on the improvement 

 of our charitable and correctional institutions will be apparent. 

 While all citizens should learn the essential principles of ameli- 

 orative method, it is absurd to expect administrative ability 

 in all. The supreme social question in relation to public benefi- 



