State Control of Charities and Corrections 35 



in the East and as far West as Illinois. The time came for the 

 state to take up this charity, and it may now properly be said 

 that this form of private charity belongs to the past. No further 

 appeals are made for private donations for the care of the insane. 

 Private aid must now be given in the way of information, sug- 

 gestion, and advice to the state in the care of these unfortunates. 

 State hospitals possess such an equipment for their treatment and 

 care as would never have been supplied by means of private char- 

 ity. The burden of expense is borne proportionately by all tax- 

 payers. The time has come in the process of evolution when the 

 state has assumed an absolute responsibility, not shared with in- 

 dividuals, in the care and management of these unfortunates. 



Private charity took the lead, in the care of the feeble-minded 

 and epileptics, but the time came when the state assumed the 

 care of these unfortunates the same as with the insane. 



Centralization has gone forward until the blind and deaf mutes 

 are cared for under state supervision. The public, however, still 

 remains in sympathetic touch with these classes, and private in- 

 dividuals with charitable impulses will always have a wide field 

 open before them for exploration, for experiment, and for the 

 accumulation of information. They can do this by aiding the 

 state to adopt the best methods in their care and treatment. The 

 state, however, will remain the supreme head with absolute power 

 of control and supervision. 



We observe that in the process of evolution of state control 

 and supervision other lines of charitable effort have come partly 

 under state control. This is true in the care of homeless and de- 

 pendent children, and also in the care of cripples. It is also true 

 in hospital treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases, both 

 mental and physical. From the drift of events in this direction 

 we are led to believe the time will come when these will be as 

 perfectly under state control and supervision as is the care of the 

 classes above mentioned. 



391 



