156 EMIL MUNSTERBERG 



poor in the same house and the same rooms. In this field, 

 almost without exception, the states show an actual advance; 

 none of the reports which lie before me omit the mention of the 

 ever extending care for children and their removal from the 

 poorhouses, and the erection of special hospitals, particularly 

 for the insane and defectives. 



The question of relief of the unemployed, which is so 

 closely related to the question of poorhouses, has also awak- 

 ened lively interest among American administrators of poor 

 relief. Tramps in most of the states are treated as offenders 

 and are sent to the prison, house of correction, or workhouse, 

 or sometimes to the poorhouse. As a rule, they are required 

 to work in return for acconamodations ; and sometimes punish- 

 ments are added to labor. The length of the confinement is 

 ordinarily fixed by the sentence. It is higher in the New Eng- 

 land states and gradually diminishes toward the west and 

 south, where the sentence seldom extends beyond ninety days. 

 The punishment in the east is more severe than in the west, and 

 yet the plague of beggars and tramps is by no means under 

 control. For the unemployed in general, who do not belong 

 to the class of professional tramps and beggars, the workhouse 

 test — that is, the offer to support in return for labor — is de- 

 clared by experts to be necessary in order to distinguish be- 

 tween those who are willing to work and the shirks. 



In the field of medical relief we notice an advanced move- 

 ment which aims, like the one in England, to remove the sick 

 and defective from poorhouses and to provide special arrange- 

 ments for them. First of all I may refer to the newly estab- 

 lished Craig colony for epileptics in the state of New York. 

 It was opened early in 1896, and has since received 530 epilep- 

 tics; at present it has about 400 inmates, and a capacity of 

 700. The importance of the institution lies in this, that it 

 goes far beyond a mere place of detention, and makes possible 

 a family life in groups similar to the well known colony of 

 Bodelschwingh, in Bielefeld, Germany. On land in the country, 

 cottages are erected in which the inmates live like families. 

 The grouping of the sick and careful observation of them re- 

 ceive special attention, which shows its effect in a remarkable 

 diminution of the number and gravity of the attacks. The 



