lo Anderson William Clark 



of control between the local boards of trustees and the governor. 

 The hospitals for the insane of the state contain, on the average, 

 9,500 patients. This large population made it necessary to sep- 

 arate this work from the State Board of Charities, and to create 

 a special board of control, which was done in 1898. The chair- 

 man of the commission, on salary, devotes his entire time to visit- 

 ing, inspecting, and managing affairs relative to the insane of 

 the state. All vouchers, after being endorsed by the trustees, 

 must be sent to the commissioner, who forwards the same to the 

 auditor. 



STATE BOARD OF PRISON COMMISSIONERS OF MASSACHUSETTS 



Massachusetts, with a population of 3,000,000, has a large for- 

 eign population, and statistics show that 60 per cent of all crimes 

 in that state have been committed by foreigners. The conditions 

 have been such that great difficulties in prison administration pre- 

 sented themselves, which led the state to create a special Prison 

 Commission in 1876. These commissioners were given important 

 powers to control and supervise the State Prison and the State 

 Reformatory. They soon found that the contract system of 

 prison labor was unsatisfactory, and by act of the legislature it 

 was wholly abolished. In their opinion it will never be brought 

 up again for consideration or debate. The "piece price" system 

 was also abolished, and the state has absolute ownership and con- 

 trol of all industries connected with prisons. One section of the 

 law provided that the prison commissioners shall, as far as pos- 

 sible, cause such articles and materials as are used in the public 

 institutions of the commonwealth and of the several counties 

 which are established to be produced by the labor of prisoners. 

 Another section of the law provides that all state institutions shall 

 communicate with the Prison Commissioner and shall purchase 

 through him such articles as may be needed in these various 

 institutions as far as they can be supplied by prison labor. 

 Machinery is used in both the State Reformatory and the 

 State Prison. The results are very satisfactory, especially in 

 the manufacture of blankets, boots, shoes, slippers, brooms, 

 brushes, cloth, clothing, furniture, harness, mats, rugs, hosiery, 



366. 



