NEW YOKE. 



553 



corporated asylums receiving State aid. The 

 following is a list of these institutions, and the 

 number of insane in each : 



The New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica 643 



The Willard Asylum for the Insane, at Ovid 282 



The New York Lunatic Asvlum, New York City. . . 1,365 



Kings County Lunatic Asylum, Flatbush 602 



Monroe County Lunatic Asylum, Rochester 88 



Marshall Infirmary, Troy 109 



Providence Lunatic Asylum, Buffalo 39 



County poor-houses 1,326 



City asylums, other than New York and Kings 

 Counties 30 



Total 4,484 



The State asylums, completed or in course 

 of construction, are the New York State Luna- 

 tic Asylum, at Utica, completed ; the Willard 

 Asylum for the Insane, at Ovid, in process 

 of erection and partly occupied; the Hud- 

 eon Eiver State Hospital for the Insane, at 

 Poughkeepsie, being built ; the Buffalo State 

 Asylum for the Insane, at Buffalo, and the 

 State Homoeopathic Asylum for the Insane, at 

 Middletown, organized by the Legislature of 

 1870. Of the 4,484 insane persons in public 

 institutions in March, 925 were in State asy- 

 lums, 148 in incorporated institutions receiv- 

 ing State aid, 1,967 in the asylums of New 

 York and Kings Counties, and 1,444 in other 

 city and county institutions. The whole 

 amount paid from the Treasury during the fis- 

 cal year, on account of hospitals, orphan asy- 

 lums, and other charitable institutions, was 

 $1,773,370.89. The following statement shows 

 the expenditures and earnings of each of the 

 prisons for the year ending September 30, 

 1871: 



Three commissioners were appointed by 

 the Governor in 1870, in accordance with a re- 

 quest of the Legislature, to investigate the 

 question of prison-labor in all its bearings, and 

 report thereon. The commissioners were Mi- 

 chael S. Myers, E. 0. Wines, and Thomas Fen- 

 cer. They prosecuted their inquiries during 

 the year, and took a vast amount of testimony, 

 and, as a result of their investigation, submitted 

 the following ten propositions : 



1. The contract system of prison-labor is bad, and 

 should be abolished. 



2. The industries of a prison, as well as its disci- 

 pline.ought, ordinarily, to be managed by its head. 



3. The successful management of the industries of 

 a prison req uires experience and business tact : quali- 

 ties that can be acquired only by long practical fa- 

 miliarity with such management. 



4. It would not be wise to commit the industries 

 of a prison to the management of its head, so long as 



he is not only liable but sure to be displaced on ev- 

 ery transfer of power from one political party to an- 

 other. 



5. Considering the extent of the industries carried 

 on in our State-prisons, and the frequent changes of 

 officers therein, the result of which is, that inexperi- 

 enced persons are, for the most part, at their head, 

 it would be unwise and unsafe to change the system 

 of labor while the system of government remains 

 what it is at present. 



6. In order to a safe and successful change of the 

 labor system from contracts to State management, it 

 will be an essential condition precedent that politi- 

 cal control be eliminated from the government of our 

 State-prisons, and that their administration be placed 

 and kept in the hands of honest and capable men. 



7. The only process by which our State-prisons 

 can be removed from the arena of politics whereby 

 alone a safe basis can be secured for a change in the 

 labor system is an amendment of the constitution ; 

 and to the attainment of that end the strenuous ef- 

 forts of all good citizens should be directed. 



8. While the products of prison-labor are not suf- 

 ficient to sensibly affect the general markets of the 

 country, there is no doubt that, in particular locali- 

 ties, these products do come into injurious competi- 

 tion with those of outside labor ; and, whenever such 

 competition occurs, it is the result of the undue pur- 

 suit of one or but a few branches of labor in prisons, 

 to the exclusion of all .others a result which points 

 to the multiplication and equalization of trades in in- 

 stitutions of this class. 



9. The opposition of the working-men of the State 

 is to the contract system alone, and not at all to in- 

 dustrial labor in prisons ; and not only do thejr not 

 oppose such labor, but they desire that criminals 

 should be reformed, as the result of their imprison- 

 ment ; and they believe that this can be effected only 

 through industrial labor, in combination with other 

 suitable agencies, and as the result of the acquisition, 

 as far as that may be possible, of trades during their 

 incarceration. 



10. As regards the penitentiaries and reformatories 

 not under State control, the commissioners recom- 

 mend that no legislation be had for the present ; and 

 they^base this recommendation on the two following 

 considerations, viz. : First, that, being local institu 

 tions, created by and conducted under special acts, 

 any legislation in reference to them, which will at all 

 meet the views of those who desire it, must necessa- 

 rily be of a radical character, completely changing 

 their relations; and the commissioners think that 

 such legislation had better be postponed, to await 

 the result of the movement now in progress to secure 

 a reform of the whole penal system of the State. 

 Second, that such a change of relation in these estab- 

 lishments as would make of them StatCj in place of 

 being, as now, local institutions, would involve large 

 outlays of money by the State, running up into the 

 millions : 1. In the purchase of the property, real 

 and personal, belonging to them. 2. in capital, 

 partly to be invested in machinery for manufactur- 

 ing purposes, and partly to be employed in carrying 

 on their manufacturing and business operations. 8. 

 In salaries and other expenses connected with the 

 creation and maintenance of a new body of State of- 

 ficials as a necessary part of the machinery for their 

 management ; to which the commissioners would 

 add, that political control in the administration of 

 such institutions has not in the past been so reas- 

 suring as to invite its extension. 



The tolls collected on the canals during the 

 season amounted to $3,099,300.46, from which 

 a surplus of $981,588.68 was derived by the 

 State Treasury. The shipment of grain from 

 Buffalo and Oswego, as compared with the 

 shipments of the preceding year, is shown in 

 the following exhibit : 



