144 EMIL MUNSTERBERG 



to control of public state institutions; while some go farther 

 and supervise also private charities, in which capacity they have 

 authority to inspect institutions, to require reports of a uni- 

 form style, and to set aside abuses. The boards are divided 

 with reference to methods of administration, according as they 

 are honor offices or are conducted by paid officials. With the 

 first kind, goes independence of partisan influences, while others 

 can give themselves more professionally and thoroughly to 

 their work, but are also more politically dependent. 



Here belongs an interesting experiment of New York. 

 There exists a state board of charities which essentially is 

 conducted by unpaid officers, among whom all parties and 

 denominations are represented. A reorganization of the board 

 was planned by the governor, whose central principle was the 

 replacement of the former board by a commissioner, and two 

 state officials to be nominated by the governor; and from the 

 reorganization he expected important economies. Against 

 this plan almost unanimously the greater benevolent socie- 

 ties of New York in many assemblies declared their opposi- 

 tion. That an effective oversight must be provided was denied 

 by no one. The supervising board, however, must remain free 

 from influences which might tend to demoralize the public 

 benevolent institutions; such a demoralization would be the 

 result of partisan domination. On the whole, experience had 

 shown that such arrangements, when conducted only by pro- 

 fessional officials, not only accomplished very little, but also 

 administered affairs in a more expensive way. If the governor, 

 therefore, had the purpose to secure greater economy, he would 

 in fact secure the opposite result. The saving by diminishing 

 the number of members would be essentially a backward step 

 in the activity of the board. The former state board has 

 known how to maintain a strictly nonpartisan attitude, and 

 through more than thirty years of existence has held the pub- 

 lic confidence. A commission like the one planned w^ould be a 

 creature of the state administration, which would make a non- 

 partisan supervision impossible. In this connection it wag 

 mentioned that the members of the board who had an appro- 

 priation of over six thousand dollars for their personal ex- 

 penses, had actually used only twenty five hundred dollars. 



