POOR RELIEF IN THE UNITED STATES 145 



Recently (1899) a board has l^cen constituted in the District of 

 Columbia which is subject to immediate administration of 

 congress, after the attempt of 1898 to introduce one had failed. 

 The opposition proceeded from a private charitable society 

 which feared that the erection of such a board would interfere 

 with their immediate and successful applications to congress. 

 In 1900 a board of state aid and charities was founded in Mary- 

 land, under whose oversight were to be placed all public and pri- 

 vate charitable institutions which received state aid ; and here 

 also the first bill at its introduction in 1898 was rejected. The 

 Iowa state board of control, founded in 1898, is giving general 

 satisfaction. In Indiana a legislative visiting committee was 

 appointed in 1901 to investigate all public and private in- 

 stitutions so far as they receive public aid. The committee 

 consists of three persons, of whom two belong to the house and 

 one to the senate of the general assembly. Significant are the 

 words of the law which declares that only such men can be 

 members of the committee as are of approved character and 

 business skill, and who are neither directly nor indirectly 

 financially interested. They have regularly, at a fixed time, 

 before a session of the legislature, to prepare plans relating to 

 appropriations. So far as I can see, the state board of chari- 

 ties, which has existed since 1889, is not affected by this law; 

 so that the committee is simply a direct parliamentary com- 

 mission. The committee must be bipartisan, inasmuch as 

 only one member of a political party can belong to it. By a 

 law of 1899, the administration of the prisons is placed on the 

 same basis, so that only the administration of the state peni- 

 tentiary remains under political control, a fact which was 

 mentioned with regret in the last report of the board. In Cal- 

 ifornia a bill relating to the establishment of a state board was 

 approved by both houses, and yet rejected by the governor's 

 veto. 



The complaint sometimes made by German writers, that 

 American material is difficult to obtain, seems to me imfound- 

 ed. In this connection I gratefully acknowledge that the ma- 

 terials, includmg voluminous reports, were sent to me on re- 

 quest, free of cost, and very promptly. 



A current survey of the reports of the state boards and of 



Vol. 10-10 



