State Control of Charities and Corrections 15 



by the governor for terms of four, six, and eight years, and are 

 selected from among the best men and women of the state. In 

 all institutions where \vomen or girls are found, special emphasis 

 is placed upon having a good representation of women on the 

 boards. Many of the best citizens of New York have been se- 

 cured for these local boards, some of wdiom have made special 

 trips to Europe at their own expense in order to- study the 

 problems involved in the managament of the various institutions 

 with which they were connected. It has been argued in In- 

 diana and in other states that, should the business management 

 of institutions be taken away from the local boards of trustees, 

 there would not remain sufficient inducement to bring the trustees 

 together to hold meetings and to devote time to the institutions. 

 In New York as well as in Massachusetts the opposite has been 

 found true. The local boards of trustees are very glad to get 

 rid of financial responsibility, and they take greater interest on 

 that account in the study of problems and in giving advice relat- 

 ing to the welfare of the inmates. Whether the process of cen- 

 tralization which has been going on during all these years in 

 New York- will ultimately lead to abolishing these local boards of 

 trustees can not be determined at present. 



With complete centralization in the lunacy and prison com- 

 missions, with complete centralization of the finances of other 

 institutions in the fiscal supervisor, and with the large powers 

 of inspection and supervision and administration in the State 

 Board of Charities, it appears that New York has realized nearly 

 all that is meant by a board of control in other states, and in 

 addition to that is securing a great deal of voluntary service from 

 prominent citizens connected with advisory boards. 



Ill 



OHIO, INDIANA, MICHIGAN,, AND ILLINOIS 



These four states are grouped together because they are the 

 representative states of the Union in maintaining advisory state 

 boards of charity, as opposed to state boards of control. These 

 advisory boards have been the models for the country and have 



371 



