Guild: State Supervision of Charities 31 



One of the first questions raised against the administra- 

 tive system is, Granting that a board of control secures effi- 

 ciency thru centralization of management, is it wise to place 

 so great power in the hands of three or five men? Con- 

 trolling all State charitable institutions and appointing offi- 

 cials, such a board would have considerable patronage at its 

 disposal ; controlling the purchase of supplies and the erection 

 and repairing of buildings, it would have many lucrative con- 

 tracts to award, and the possibility of. graft would be great. 

 The salary alone which would have to be paid to secure men 

 of efficiency and experience to fill the positions would make 

 such a board distinctly attractive to office-seekers and to poli- 

 ticians desiring positions for henchmen. The effect of politi- 

 cal influence in charity administration has been the one thing 

 most deplored by charity workers, and the advocates of the 

 supervisory system have maintained that a salaried board of 

 control is less likely to be free from such influence than a 

 board without salary or power of appointment.*^ 



Again some have urged that it has not been fully demon- 

 strated that such a central board is really more efficient than 

 a separate board for each institution.*'' Practically the only 

 investigation on this point is that made by Mr. Henry C. 

 Wright for the Russell Sage Foundation and the State Chari- 

 ties Aid Association of New York on methods of fiscal control 

 of State Institutions, in New York, Indiana, and Iowa in 

 1911.*^ This report shows that the per capita cost for food 

 for the inmates of the State institutions is in Iowa, under the 

 administrative system, $55.48 per year; in New York under 

 the dual system, $45.05 per year; and in Indiana under the 

 supervisory system, only $43.05 per year.'''' The report further 

 shows that the Indiana system of supervision is the least ex- 

 pensive. The cost of State supervision is in New York $1.00 



See "The Care of the Insane under State Boards of Control" by Dr. Thomas W. 

 Salmon ; State Hospital Bulletin, New York, February, 1915. Also National Conference of 

 Charities and Corrections Proceedings, 1898, pp. 247-255. 



*^ National Conference of Charities and Corrections Proceedings, 1902, pp. 144-147. 



*^ See Survey 26:314 for comments on Mr. Wright's report by Homer Folks, secretary 

 New York State Charities Aid Association ; Amos W. Butler, Indiana ; Albert W. Ferris, 

 New York ; and G. S. Robinson, Iowa. The New York and Iowa representatives vigor- 

 ously attack the basis on which Mr. Wright made his calculation. For further criticism 

 of this report see special report of Massachusetts Commission on Economy and Efficiency 

 to the General Court, April 15, 1914, in connection with House Bill 2137, pp. 30, 31. 



5" Se». p. 340 of the report. 



