CHARITIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



133 



and equipment for each building not to exceed 

 $31,250. This legislation was a compromise be- 

 tween the advocates of the State hospitals and 

 the advocates of county asylums similar to those 

 existing in Wisconsin. 



There is at present an overcrowding in each 

 of the three Minnesota hospitals, although a de- 

 tached ward has recently been completed, increas- 

 ing the capacity at Fergus .Falls by 200. A bill 

 providing for a detention ward for the insane 

 in the hospitals of the three largest cities was 

 favorably considered, and came near passing. By 

 a new law the superintendent and the secretary 

 of the board of trustees for the State hospitals 

 for insane now have a right to discharge pa- 

 tients from the three respective hospitals. 



The deportation of nonresident insane has been 

 successful, and the Legislature increased the ap- 

 propriation for the execution of that law. 



The State Board of Corrections and Charities 

 is made responsible for the execution of the new 

 law to restrict the importation of dependent chil- 

 dren. It is not the purpose of this law to pro- 

 hibit such importation, but to compel importing 

 societies to conform to the same rules that are 

 observed by Minnesota institutions and societies 

 in investigating the homes and supervising the 

 children whom they place. The age of children 

 over whom the child-placing societies may ac- 

 quire absolute guardianship has been increased 

 from two to ten years. 



The probate courts of Minnesota may now give 

 the entire guardianship of children to volunteer 

 institutions which have the approval of the State 

 Board of Corrections and Charities, but this does 

 not involve any payment on the part of the State 

 to the institutions thus acquiring guardianship. 



Truant officers may be appointed by the school 

 boards. 



On nomination of the State Board of Correc- 

 tions and Charities the district judges are to 

 appoint probation officers for a period of two 

 years. The probation law is modeled after the 

 Massachusetts law, except that it applies simply 

 to juveniles; and, after sentence is pronounced, 

 it may be suspended pending satisfactory con- 

 duct instead of being postponed, as in Massachu- 

 setts. 



District poorhouses may now be established in 

 counties having a joint population of at least 

 35,000, the property and equipment to be paid 

 by the interested counties in proportion to their 

 assessed valuation. The poorhouses are to be 

 managed by the chairmen of the boards of com- 

 missioners in the counties interested, and pay- 

 ment, is to be made in proportion to the number 

 of days' board furnished inmates sent by the 

 respective counties. 



The State Board of Corrections and Charities 

 was given power to condemn lockups analogous 

 to power which it has had for many years to 

 condemn county jails. The condition of lockups 

 has greatly improved since the passage of a law 

 in 1895 obliging towns and cities to obtain the 

 approval of the State Board of Corrections and 

 Charities before lockups can be erected or exten- 

 sively repaired. 



The Odd Fellows are erecting a widows' and 

 orphans' home at Northfield, Minn. This is the 

 first orphanage established in a number of years. 



The poor in poorhouses number 495; destitute 

 children in State Public School, 233; sick and 

 injured in hospitals, 898; blind in School for 

 Blind, 70: deaf-mutes in School for Deaf, 233; 

 feeble-minded children, 643. 



There are three State insane hospitals, with 

 over 3,000 inmates; none fti jails or poorhouses. 



Fergus Falls State Hospital for the Insane has 

 a nominal capacity of 1,200; daily average num- 

 ber, 1,011; Rochester State Hospital: nominal ca- 

 pacity, 1,000; daily average number, 1,103; St. 

 Peter State Hospital: nominal capacity, 050; 

 daily average number, 977. 



Mississippi. No official statement procur- 

 able. It is learned from unofficial sources that 

 the East Mississippi Insane Asylum, Meridian, 

 has a nominal capacity of 300; daily average 

 number, 260; also that the State Lunatic Asy- 

 lum, Hinds County, has a nominal capacity of 

 825; daily average number, 825. 



Missouri. The Missouri General Assembly of 

 1899 passed a bill to establish an insane asylum 

 in southeast Missouri with an appropriation of 

 $150,000. This will make the fifth institution 

 for the care of the insane in this State. A bill 

 was also passed establishing a colony for feeble- 

 minded and epileptics. At least it had met the ap- 

 proval of the Senate at the latest report. 



The cornerstone of the Provident Association 

 Building, to cost $70,000, was laid a few months 

 ago. During the five years of Dr. Finney's ad- 

 ministration the methods and management of this 

 charity have been revolutionized, modern ideas 

 and appliances have been introduced, new in- 

 dustries added, until now the Provident Associa- 

 tion takes front rank in quality and quantity 

 of organized charity work in this country. In- 

 vestigation precedes relief. During the last year 

 12,608 cases were investigated. Having no mu- 

 nicipal outdoor relief, about 75 per cent, of all 

 that is given comes from the St. Louis Provident 

 Association. 



Poor in poorhouses number 4,000, including St. 

 Louis Poorhouse. Destitute children, 2,500 in pri- 

 vate institutions; 400 a year cared for by St. 

 Ann's, Bethesda, and Colored Orphans' Home. 

 Sick and injured, 215 soldiers in the State Federal 

 and Confederate Homes at St. James and Hig- 

 ginsville; 823 in the Female and City Hospitals 

 at St. Louis; 43,963 cases treated at the City 

 Dispensary in St. Louis in 1898. Blind in the 

 State, 2,456 about one half of these under the 

 school age, twenty-four years; in the State Blind 

 School in St. Louis, 106 pupils. Deaf-mutes in 

 the State, 2,003; 350 pupils in the State School 

 at Fulton. Feeble-minded children in the State, 

 5,000; 1,600 within the limit of the school age. 



There are 3,600 inmates in the asylums at St. 

 Joseph, Nevada, St. Louis, Fulton, and on the 

 poor farms. 



The insane asylums and hospitals include St. 

 Louis Insane Asylum: nominal capacity, 300; 

 daily average number, 516; State Lunatic Asylum, 



No. 2, St. Joseph: nominal capacity, ; State 



Lunatic Asylum, No. 3, Nevada: nominal ca- 

 pacity, 760 ; daily average number, 628. 



Kansas City Hospital is a general hospital. 

 Total receipts, $35,000; total expenditures, $18,- 

 261; number of beds, 240; daily average number 

 of beds occupied, 145; number of in-patients, 

 1,842; number of out-patients, ; cost per in- 

 patient per day, 35 cents. 



Montana. The most important legislation of 

 the last Legislature in the field of charities and 

 correction was the establishment of a home for 

 feeble-minded and a law permitting children to 

 be taken from inhuman parents. A home for 

 children until they can be adopted by worthy 

 people has been established. 



The poor in poorhouses are pretty well cared 

 for in most counties; destitute children are cared 

 for in Orphans' Home; sick and injured are cared 

 for in hospitals. For blind and deaf-mutes there 

 is one school. 



