State Control of Charities and Corrections 27 



tation, or otherwise, upon the managing officer of any institution 

 in the selection of an employee."^ 



"2. No person will be removed by this board except for cause." 

 Superintendents have been continued in office on the grounds 

 of fitness regardless of political affiliations. When the Board of 

 Control was first appointed, politicians and office seekers besieged 

 the board for appointment, but to no avail. In its first annual 

 report the board stated that, "a decree of absolute divorce be- 

 tween politics and the state institutions has been entered by the 

 people in the establishment of a Board of Control of state insti- 

 tutions, and the enactment of a law forbidding the exercise of 

 political influence directly or indirectly in their management. "- 



No solicitation of funds for political purposes is allowed in any 

 institution ; and punishment is provided for any such solicitation. 



FOOD, CLOTHING, AND CARE 



There was much anxiety at first on the part of some concern- 

 ing the inmates of the state institutions under the new system. 

 The state had expended millions of dollars in the creation and 

 maintenance of its institutions, and was solicitous for their use- 

 fulness to all the dependent wards of the state. Within less than 

 one year's time all anxiety was allayed, and the general testimony 

 of the people of Minnesota is that never in the history of the state 

 have the welfare and happiness of the inmates of the state insti- 

 tutions been given so much attention as is given under the man- 

 agement of the Board of Control. Formerly many of the insti- 

 tutions were served with bread made from Red Dog flour. Now 

 only the best grades of straight flour (samples being required 

 and submitted to scientific tests, as well as to the practical test of 

 bread-making, to determine their quality) are purchased. Every 

 superintendent is now required to submit to the office of the 

 Board of Control, on the first of each week, a bill of fare for 

 every meal to be served the inmates of his institution during that 

 week. No distinction is now made between quality or grade of 



1 First Biennial Report State Board of Control of Minnesota, p. 5. 

 -/bid., p. 7. 



383 



