738 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (NEW YORK.) 



commissioners, particularly in reference to the 

 consolidation of school districts and the transpor- 

 tation of school children who live remote from 

 schoolhouses. The tendency of the rural popula- 

 tion toward cities is forcefully illustrated by the 

 figures quoted, and it is demonstrated that the 

 rural-school problem is changing, and the ques- 

 tion of furnishing adequate school facilities in 

 such districts is rapidly becoming complicated. 

 He calls special attention to the careful inspection 

 of the State educational institutions which has 

 been conducted during the past year, covering 

 normal schools, Indian schools, and schools for 

 defectives. As a result of this inspection, much 

 valuable information has been secured, and im- 

 portant recommendations made. The Manual of 

 Patriotism, which was authorized by the Legisla- 

 ture of 1900, has been supplied to every public 

 school in the State, and has met with marked 

 favor. While it is a debatable question in some 

 minds whether patriotism can be taught, there 

 is no question that it can be fostered and strength- 

 ened by the influence of the best literature on the 

 subject. In the report of the college department, 

 which includes universities and professional and 

 technical schools, which are under the jurisdic- 

 tion of the University of New York, it appears 

 that there are 112 institutions, with net property 

 valued at $77,902,339.27, and with 29,795 students 

 in attendance, as compared with 705 secondary 

 schools, whose net property is valued at $28,412,- 

 184.38, and whose students are reported at 79,365. 



Vital Statistics. These are under the super- 

 vision of the State Board of Health, which con- 

 sists of the ten following members : S. Case Jones, 

 president; Baxter T. Smelzer, secretary; Daniel 

 Lewis, Owen Cassidy, Frederick W. Smith, Wil- 

 liam T. Jenkins, and Walter F. Willcox, and the 

 Attorney-General, State Engineer, and health offi- 

 cer of the port of New York ex ojficio. According 

 to their report for 1900, the number of deaths in 

 the State was 128,468, which exceeded the number 

 for the year previous by 6,647, and the average for 

 the past five years by 8,000. The epidemic of 

 influenza was unusually severe during the last six 

 months, and probably added 11,500 to the total 

 mortality. The number of deaths reported for 

 December, 1900, was 9,889. Concerning smallpox, 

 the annual report says : " Smallpox was brought 

 from outside to seventeen places during the first 

 half of the year, without spread. From August 

 to November the State was free from it; then a 

 traveling minstrel show left it at three localities 

 in the eastern part of the State, whence it spread, 

 and at the end of the year it exists at five places 

 and their vicinities, with promise of further 

 spread. Of 14 deaths, 4 have occurred outside 

 New York city." This is probably the last re- 

 port of the State Board of Health, as it was abol- 

 ished by the Legislature on Feb. 14, 1901, and a 

 single-headed commission was established in its 

 place, to which Dr. Daniel Lewis was appointed 

 on Feb. 28. 



Charities'. These are under the care of a 

 board, whose annual report is prepared from the 

 sworn statement filed by the treasurers or other 

 responsible officers of the charitable institutions, 

 societies, and associations, subject to the board's 

 supervision. The board consists of 12 members. 

 Fourteen of the State charitable institutions come 

 under their direction, and the receipts for these 

 institutions for the year ending Sept. 30, 1900, 

 were, from cash on hand, $63,925.84; from public 

 sources, $612,471.90; from private sources, $307,- 

 699.56; total receipts, $984,097.30. Their total ex- 

 penditures aggregated $940,189.78. In their report 

 the board made the following recommendation for 



legislation : " That all of the special appropria- 

 tions for the State institutions within the juris- 

 diction of the board be included in one bill, with 

 such provisions as will insure in every instance 

 the most careful and economical expenditure of 

 the moneys appropriated, in exact accordance 

 with the intentions of the Legislature. For the 

 maintenance of these State institutions the Legis- 

 lature appropriated $1,053,000, and for extraordi- 

 nary expenditures $448,596.26, and the board in 

 their report asked for an appropriation of $1,108,- 

 800.89 for the maintenance of the charities and 

 $635,028.29 for extraordinary expenses. Much 

 space is devoted to comment upon the decision oi 

 the Court of Appeals in the case of the State 

 against the New York Society for the Prevention 

 of Cruelty to Children, claiming, for the first time 

 in a quarter of a century, by preventing the col- 

 lection of reports from organized charities, it pre- 

 vents the Legislature and the public from having 

 any definite knowledge annually of the amount 

 of dependence which exists in the State. For 

 instance, the total number of dependent children 

 in institutions can not now be definitely known 

 through any official source; the protection which 

 the State has hitherto extended to the inmates of 

 such exempted institutions is removed; the pro- 

 tection to trust funds left by will or otherwise be- 

 stowed, for the use of the poor, amounting in 

 some cases to hundreds of thousands of dollars, 

 is also removed. 



Lunacy. The care of the insane is under the 

 charge of a State commission, whose report for 

 the year ending Sept. 30, 1900, showed that there 

 were admitted to the hospitals during the year 

 4,795 new cases of insanity an increase, com- 

 pared with the preceding year, when the new 

 cases were 4,201. The net increase at the close 

 of the year was 714, and this included 61 cases 

 received from the asylum for insane criminals at 

 Matteawan to relieve overcrowding. There were 

 1,029 patients discharged recovered during the 

 year, and 900 discharged sufficiently improved to 

 return to their homes. During the year the com- 

 mission removed to their homes in other States 

 and foreign countries 115 non-resident and alien 

 patients. This work becomes increasingly difficult 

 each year, by reason of the repugnance of steamer 

 authorities to accepting alien lunatics as pas- 

 sengers. A reduction of $297,171.52 was made in 

 the cost of maintenance of the 22,000 insane sup- 



Eorted during the year, the individual rate having 

 illen from $3.43 to $3.18 a week a reduction 

 made in the face of an upward tendency in the 

 price of staple articles of supply. The amount 

 spent for new buildings, extraordinary improve- 

 ments, etc., was $662,948.99, against $1,126,043.77 

 for the year 1899. There was collected from pay- 

 ing patients $210,851.14. There was expended for 

 salaries and wages in the State hospitals $1,442,- 

 001.71. The total value of real estate of State 

 hospital buildings was $21,600,000, while the per- 

 sonal property of these institutions was $1,670,000. 

 Prisons. The sixth annual report of the State 

 Commission of Prisons, issued during 'the year, 

 made the following recommendations: (1) A new 

 law for the parole of .prisoners in State prisons, 

 and providing for a probationary officer for each 

 prison, who shall have charge of paroled convicts 

 under the supervision of the Board of Parole. (2) 

 The establishment of a State reformatory for male 

 misdemeanants. (3) The enactment of a proba- 

 tionary law for drunkenness and other petty 

 offenses, modeled on the lines of the Massachu- 

 setts law. (4) The enactment of a law abolishing 

 the State prison districts, and requiring convicts- 

 to be sentenced to the nearest State prison, sub- 



