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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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2015361
M385r' LIBRARY OF THE N
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

361
M385rMASSACHUSETTS STATE CHARITIES.

REPORT

OP THE

SPECIAL JOINT COMMITTEE

APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THE WHOLE SYSTEM OP THE

lib lit €\mhhlt Institutions

OP THE

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,

DURING THE RECESS OP THE LEGISLATURE IN

18 58.

BOSTON:

WILLIAM WHITE, PRINTER TO THE STATE.

1 8 5 9.[Chapter 20 of Resolves of 1858.]

RESOLVES

FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL JOINT COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

Resolved, That a joint committee, consisting of two members on the part of the Senate, and
three members of the House of Representatives, be appointed to investigate the whole system of
the public charitable institutions of the Commonwealth, and to recommend such changes, and
such additional provisions, as they may deem necessary for their economical and efficient adminis-
tration.

Resolved, That for the purposes above named, the committee shall be authorized to sit in the
recess, with full power to examine said institutions and send for persons and papers, if i^ shall be
found necessary so to do; and the said committee shall make a full report thereon to the next
legislature.—Approved by the Governor, March 26, 1858.

House op Representatives, March 27,1858.
The Speaker appointed Messrs. Hale, Of Boston, Parker, of Worcester, Brooks, of Concord,
members on the part of the House, of the Special Joint Committee on Public Charitable Institu-
tions, authorized by chapter 26 of the Resolves of the present year.

Sent up for concurrence.

In Senate, March 27,1858.

Ordered, in concurrence, That Messrs. Morissey and Greene, of the Senate, and Messrs. Hale,
of Boston, Parker, of Worcester, Brooks, of Concord, of the House of Representatives, be the
Special Joint Committee on Charitable Institutions under chapter 26 of the Resolves of 1858.

Ordered, That in case any vacancy shall occur after the adjournment of the legislature in the
Senate part of the Joint Special Committee on Public Charitable Institutions, the President of the
Senate fill said Vacancy by the appointment of some member of the Senate to act on said com-
mittee.%b\

fte&jv

Commonujcaltl) of itlassacljueetts.

The Special Joint Committee appointed under chapter twenty-
six of the Resolves of 1858, " to investigate the whole system
of the public charitable institutions of the Commonwealth,
and to recommend such changes, and such additional pro-
visions as they may deem necessary for their economical and
efficient administration," with authority " to sit in the recess,
with full power to examine said institutions and send for
persons and papers," and instructions " to make a full report
thereon to the next legislature," having attended to the
duties assigned them, herewith respectfully present their

EEPOET:

Before the committee had entered upon its labors, a vacancy
occurred from the resignation of Hon. Hugh W. Greene,
senator from the Franklin District. The President of the Senate,
acting under the authority of an Order of the Senate, passed
previously to the adjournment, appointed Hon. William Fabens
of the Essex District to fill the vacancy.

The public cjlritable institutions directly under the control
of the State are nine in number, viz.: three lunatic hospitals at
Worcester, Taunton, and Northampton, established respectively
in 1829, 1851, and 1855; the reform school for boys at West-
borough, established in 1849; the three State almshouses at
Bridgewater, Tewksbury, and Monson, and the hospital at
Rainsford Island, established in 1852; and the State industrial
school for girls, at Lancaster, established in 1854. The dates
which we have mentioned indicate the time of the passage of
the first legislative Act authorizing the establishments; gener-

O

CO
OS4 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

ally the institutions were not opened until a year or two later.
There are also four other charitable institutions which receive
annual grants of money from the State treasury, viz.: the Per-
kins' Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind at
South Boston ; the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb
at Hartford, in Connecticut; the Massachusetts Eye and Ear
Infirmary at Boston, and the School for Idiotic and Feeble-
minded youth at South Boston. These institutions are man-
aged by boards of trustees, in which the State is represented,
but the legislature is not concerned for their government,
otherwise than by making the annual grant to aid in their
support. The amount of these grants as now established by
law appears to be reasonable, and having no doubt that it is
wisely and economically applied, the committee give their
attention chiefly to the nine institutions which are directly and
wholly under the control of the State.

The rapid growth of our system of charities is seen in the
fact that of these nine institutions only one existed twenty
years ago; and only two of them ten years ago. Indeed seven
out of the nine (and these including the most expensive,) have
been opened within the last five years. Thus the cost of State
charities, which was $82,399 twenty years since, and $118,034
ten years since, has now swollen into an annual expenditure
of more than $300,000.

Each of these new institutions has been created without
especial reference to others, and in no degree as a part of a
uniform system. It happens accordingly that there are anoma-
lies in their organization and management, increasing the
expense of conducting them, and impairing their efficiency,
notwithstanding the most assiduous and most intelligent efforts
of the gentlemen to whom their conduct has ten separately
intrusted. These anomalies are evident upon the most super-
ficial view: for instance, the lunatic hospitals have five trustees
each, the reform and industrial schools, seven each, and the
almshouses and pauper hospital three each (called inspectors.)
The superintendents in five of the institutions are appointed by
their trustees, and in four others by the executive. The alms-
houses and pauper hospital owe a qualified allegiance to the
board of alien commissioners, of which the others are wholly
independent. There may perhaps be good reasons for these1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

5

differences of organization ; our present purpose in mentioning
them is simply to indicate the obvious fact that a want of sym-
metry so palpable on the surface betrays an absence of system—
of adaptation of different parts to each other—which cannot fail
to produce confusion and loss. No doubt harmless lunatic
paupers have been supported in the lunatic hospitals at an
expense to the State of $2.75 per week, who might with equal
or greater comfort to themselves have been supported at one
of the almshouses at an expense not exceeding $1.12 per week;
paupers have been supported at Rainsford Island at the cost of
$2 per week, whose health would not have suffered by placing
them at one of the almshouses, where the cost would have been
but about half as much. On the other hand, paupers may have
been kept at the aliuifhouses, whose condition would have been
improved by treatment at the hospitals.

Our first recommendation, accordingly, looks to the creation by
law of a permanent State Board of Charities, to be intrusted
with the duty of constantly supervising the whole system of pub-
lic charities, in order to secure the greatest usefulness, without
unnecessary expense. We propose to model this board after
the plan of the existing Board of Education, which the experi-
ence of twenty years has proved to work admirably. We pro-
pose to have a board of five members appointed by the governor
for terms of five years each, in such manner that after the first
appointments, one new appointment shall be made each year;
the members not to be removable except for cause, and to
receive no compensation for their services, but to be reimbursed
their necessary expenses. They would choose a secretary, who
would be their executive officer, having an office in the State
House, devoting his whole time to the duties of the position,
and receiving the same salary that the secretary of the board
of education and the secretary of the board of agriculture now
receive, to wit.: two thousand dollars. This arrangement would
involve no increased expense to the State, but the contrary,
since we propose to devolve upon this new board all the duties
of the present board of alien commissioners, which costs annu-
ally seven thousand dollars, in addition to an equal sum for the
expenses of the superintendent of alien passengers. The pres-
ent board of alien commissioners, from the awkward nature of
•its organization, is necessarily an inefficient body, especially6 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

since the laws as they now stand fail clearly to define its powers
and duties. It consists of three members, two of them State
functionaries who may be presumed to have sufficient employ-
ment to occupy their time in the discharge of the legitimate
duties of their primary offices, and one other member, who was
at first selected from the executive council, but since 1855 has
been appointed at large. This arrangement was doubtless
designed by the legislature which originally adopted it to save
expense in creating a board composed wholly of members who
were already paid servants of the State; but it completely failed
of this purpose, since these officers were paid an extra sum for
their services as commissioners every year until the present,
when this duplication of salaries was prohibited by law; but
the prohibition has effected but little savingfes regards the alien
board, since the salary of the superintendent of alien passengers
was very properly raised in anticipation of its operation, and
the third member of the board had previously become an inde-
pendent commissioner, not holding any other office. The office
of superintendent of alien passengers must be retained, if for
no other reason because that officer is a collector of State
revenues, some ten or fifteeen thousand dollars of head-money
or commutation being annually paid into the treasury by
him. A considerable part of the other expenditures of the
superintendent and of the commission of alien passengers doubt-
less will be necessary under any organization that may be
adopted; but it is sufficiently clear upon a superficial view, and
a careful analysis of details confirms the fact, that the establish-
ment of the State board which we propose, and the abolition of
the alien board as at present constituted, will not only make no
increased expense to the State, but will probably result in a
saving.

We propose to give to the State Board of Charities thus
constituted, permanently, the same general powers of examina-
tion as were conferred upon ourselves by the Resolve under
which we are acting with regard to all the institutions, including
those which receive grants of money only, as well as those
which are under the direct and exclusive control of the State.
We propose further that this board shall have full power to
transfer inmates from one institution to another, and for this
purpose to grant admittances and discharges, in the form of1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

f

precepts addressed to the immediate officers of the several
institutions, and binding on them. In other respects we do
not propose to confer upon the central board power to interfere
in any manner with the actual management of the several insti-
tutions otherwise than by offering counsel and advice ; appeal-
ing if need be to the constituted authorities, executive, judicial
or legislative, for aiding the enforcement of the laws if they are
disregarded ; but in general co-operating with the managers of
the several institutions, and (what is equally important) lead-
ing them to co-operate with each other. Our own experience
justifies us in believing that a power of this sort will be ample
to promote the desired object, without absolutely subordinating
the managers of the several institutions to the central board.
Although our powers are only those of examination, ending
with a report to the next legislature, we have found the super-
intendents, trustees, inspectors and other officers of the several
institutions not only willing to receive suggestions from us, but
generally anxious to solicit them; and whenever practicable,
to carry them at once into execution of their own accord. We
make no doubt that the same generous spirit of solicitude to
advance the welfare of the various institutions by the ready
adoption of every new means of usefulness that may be sug-
gested, from whatever source, and even without the absolute
power to enforce its immediate adoption, will be found always
to prevail. At the same time, after the State Board of Charities
has once been established as a permanent part of the adminis-
tration of the affairs of the State, it will be very easy for the
legislature from time to time to add to its powers such general
provisions as experience may show to be necessary to promote
the highest degree of efficiency.	t

On no account, however, would we destroy the boards of
trustees or inspectors attached to the various separate institu-
tions ; we would neither impair their powers nor seem to abate
the public confidence in their faithful discharge of their duties
from which springs in honorable minds a sense of responsibility
forming the surest guaranty of wise and careful management
that the State can obtain. It is impossible to estimate too
highly the debt of gratitude due from the people of Massachusetts
to the gentlemen who have acted as trustees of our lunatic
hospitals, reform and industrial schools, in every instance with-« PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jafl.

out pay for tlieir services, and often refusing even the reimburse-
ment of their expenses which the law allows. Men of the high-
est talents and attainments, occupying honorable positions in
public iife, or the most respected in private life, have in this
way ungrudgingly given to the State long-continued and pains-
taking services, to the interruption of their private avocations,
in a manner which cannot be requited. We would do nothing
to fetter the sphere of duties discharged by such men. The
only change which'we propose with regard to the boards of
trustees of the lunatic hospitals, the reform schools and indus-
trial schools, is to make the number uniformly five for each insti-
tution, which experience shows is as large a number as can be
conveniently assembled together ; and we wish farther to insure
as far as possible, their selection in each case from the neighbor-
hood of the institution with which they are to be connected.
During the long period that the lunatic hospital at Worcester
was the only State institution, there was very naturally an im-
pression on the part of the appointing and confirming powers,
that all portions of the Commonwealth ought to be represented
in its board of trustees ; and. the same feeling has been perpet-
uated to a greater or less extent with regard to all the institu-
tions to this day. But now that there are nine institutions,
scattered all over the State, it is clear that this usage is no
longer required by reason ; on the contrary the desired distri-
bution of authority may be better secured by confining the
election of trustees and inspectors for each institution, to its
own neighborhood. The advantage of this is obvious, in pro-
moting greater convenience for more frequent meetings, and at
the same time causing less expense for travel. We attach so
much importance to this point, chiefly from the former consid-
eration, (as the travelling fees are seldom if ever excessive,)
that we have desired to introduce its observance into the law,
and have considered the expediency of limiting the executive
choice of trustees to the county where the institution is located,
or to a range of 20 or 30 miles about it; but an arbitrary limi-
tation of this kind may sometimes prove inconvenient, in
excluding th<3 very best man for a place merely on account of
residence ; besides 20 miles on a railroad is practically a less
extent than half the distance on a common highwafl We have
conclude*! therefore to propose simply that the selection shall1859.]	SENATE—No. 2.	9

be made as far as practicable from the neighborhood of the
institution, leaving it to the discretion of the appointing power
to apply this principle with due regard to the peculiar circum-
stances of any exceptional case. We have dwelt at some length
upon the point, with a view to impressing our judgment of its
importance, upon those into whose hands may fall the opportu-
nity of carrying it into execution. It is to be observed that the
central board will supply any deficiencies that might exist on
the score of locality, in representing all parts of the State in the
management of all the institutions.

We propose to provide explicitly by law, that the trustees
shall hold their offices severally for the full term of five years,
unless sooner removed for cause. It has been a question
whether trustees of the lunatic hospitals are removable at the
pleasure of the governor; the usual practice has been to suffer
them to hold their offices for the full term; but governors
Gardner and Banks each in a single case created a vacancy by
removal. It is worthy of notice that in both instances, this was
done to provide for the appointment of gentlemen who had
previously rendered service to the same institutions under
former appointments, the renewal of their connexion therewith
doubtless being deemed an object of consequence to the best
interests of the charity. But the danger to our institutions
which would follow if the usage should become general of
changing.the trustees every year, especially if it should be done
hereafter from partisan considerations, seems to us so appalling,
that we propose to provide that the trustees shall not be remov
• able before the expiration of their terms except for cause.

The original Act relating to the lunatic hospital at Worcester
provided that a trustee whose term had expired should not be re-
appointed except after an interval. We can conceive no good
reason for maintaining it. If a shadow of ground exist for the
suspicion that any trustee had become unfitted for further ser-
vice by five years' experience, of course the governor will not
reappoint him ; but in most cases, experience will but add to
the late incumbent's qualifications, and if he is willing to con-
tinue in harness, we see no reason why the governor should be
prohibited from appointing him immediately to another term.

In general, what we have said with regard to the trustees of
the lunatic hospitals, reform and industrial schools, will apply
210 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

with fequal significance to the inspectors of the almshouses and
pauper hospitals. There are these differences, however; the
boards of inspectors consist only of three members each, (which
number we do not deem it expedient to change,) and the princi-
ple of selecting them from the neighborhood of the institution
is already pretty well established, although we trust it may be
closely preserved. The inspectors of the almshouses, more-
over, are allowed salaries of one hundred dollars each per
annum, and those of the pauper hospital at Rainsford Island,
one hundred and fifty dollars. These sums are altogether
too inconsiderable to be grudged in the aggregate account of
expenditure for the support of the State charities, and in
many instances, no doubt, they are not regarded by the incum-
bents of the offices as worth a moment's thought. There have
been cases, we know, in which gentlemen who have served as
inspectors, have acted with as much disinterestedness as the trus
tees of lunatic hospitals whose generous and unselfish devotion
to the service of the State, without pay, we have already warmly
commended. But upon the whole, with rare and bright excep-
tions, this paltry salary of $100 or $150 has operated to make
the office the desideratum of some politician of attainments and
capacity not much superior to the reward he covets. We may
be wrong in expressing this opinion; if so, we are simply con-
firmed in the wisdom of the recommendation which we make:
we propose to abolish this petty salary altogether, and to put the
inspectors of the almshouses on the same footing as the trus-
tees of the lunatic hospitals.

With regard to the board of inspectors of the hospital at %
Rainsford Island, we propose that it be abolished, as the State
Board of Charities can appoint the officers, and exercise all
needful powers of inspection for this institution, with perfect
convenience, especially when the operations of the establish-
ment are reduced to the scale proposed in a subsequent part of
this Report. In proposing this measure, in fact, we are simply
reiterating the will of the legislature, already expressed. A
bill for the abolition of this board passed both houses at the
last session, but by some accident, after being engrossed, was
mislaid, and failed to receive the signatures of the presiding
officers, and accordingly was not sent to the governor $nd did
not become a law.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

11

The lunatic hospitals are mainly self-supporting institutions ;
that is to say, the building and grounds being furnished by the
State, the expense of supplies is borne by the inmates, or by
the cities or towns which are chargeable with their support.
The support of State paupers in lunatic hospitals is paid from
the State treasury ; the amount being about sixty thousand
dollars per annum. The State is also charged at present with
the salaries of the superintendent and other principal officers,
amounting to about three thousand dollars for each of the three
hospitals. We know of no good reason why their salaries
should be paid in a different manner from other items of cur-
rent expense, and we recommend that the provision of law
whereby they are paid from the State treasury be repealed.
There was no doubt a good reason why this provision should
have been enacted originally, at a time when the receipts from
inmates at the highest rates of board which the trustees thought
fit to charge were inadequate to the maintenance of the insti-
tution ; and when State paupers paid but one hundred dollars
per annum, which was less than other inmates. Now, how-
ever, the ordinary rates of board have proved sufficient to meef
all the current expenses, and leave a handsome surplus,
amounting at Worcester at the beginning of the present year
to twenty-five thousand dollars, besides covering the cost of
valuable improvements; and since the passage of the Act of
1857, chapter 209, State paupers in the lunatic hospitals, instead
of one hundred dollars per annum are charged the same rate
of board as other patients, to wit. : two dollars and seventy-five
cents or three dollars per week, which amount is paid from the
State treasury. The reasons which induced the State to assume
the payment of the salaries having ceased to operate, we pre-
sume no objection will be made to classing these expenses with
the others which make up the amount from which is deduced
the average determining the rate to be charged for board. The
State will still be acting a generous part towards the hospitals
since it makes no charge for rent, although the buildings are
costly, and although the interest on money borrowed to build
those at Taunton and Northampton forms a part of the current
expenditure of the State at the present time to the amount of
twenty-two thousarid eight hundred and fifty dollars per annum.

We havo already intimated that harmless lunatic paupers12 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

can frequently be supported at the almshouses as well as at
the hospitals, with a saying of sixty per cent, in the expense;
and we have proposed to give the State Board of Charities
authority to require the transfer of such paupers to the institu-
tion where they can be supported ;with the least expense, when
* it can be done without prejudice. It is the testimony of the
superintendents of the lunatic hospitals that this class of
patients are frequently made more comfortable, and the chances
of their recovery are enhanced, by placing them at the alms-
houses, where they can be made useful in employments suited
to their capacities, instead of brooding in idleness in the halls
of the asylums. In order to save unnecessary transfers, we
propose further that all lunatic paupers whose condition does
not require the treatment of the hospitals, shall be sent by the
magistrates having power to commit lunatics, always to the
almshouses in the first place; whence they can be transferred,
if need be, to the hospitals. We propose to enlarge the accom-
modations for this class of inmates at Bridgewater and Monson,
in the same manner as has already been done at Tewksbury, at
#an expense not exceeding two thousand dollars, at each place.
Indeed, the number of lunatic paupers is sufficient of itself to
fill one hospital, and if either of those now existing could be
devoted exclusively to this class of patients, it could be supported
at a much lower rate of expense than is required for the pres-
ent hospitals. All the superintendents concur in this opinion.
But it is too late to propose to devote to> this purpose either of
the hospitals now erected. That at Worcester, although the
oldest, is perhaps still the best; the grounds in its vicinity are
the farthest developed, and it has hosts of attached friends in
every part of the State who would never permit the legislature
to tolerate the idea of transforming it into a pauper institution.
The same considerations are nearly equally prohibitory as
regards the Taunton hospital, where the land on which the
building is erected was actually given to the State by the people
of the town, who would of course remonstrate against "its
diversion to a different use from that which was set forth in
the beginning. And if we could suppose the legislature willing
to convert to the exclusive use of paupers the magnificent
structure which has been prepared at Northampton at an
expense of three hundred and fifteen thousand dollar, unfor-1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

13

tunately the manner in which it has been built precludes its
economical use for this purpose. A suitable building might
have been erected at one-third the cost, with arrangements for
the accommodation of lunatic paupers only, which would better
have fulfilled the wants of the State. But this cannot be
helped now. Nothing remains but to take care that no more
paupers than actually need it, are permitted to enjoy the
treatment of the hospitals, the others being supported at the
almshouses.

That no loss may accrue from transfer of paupers from the
lunatic hospitals to the almshouses, whereby the average ex-
pense would be enhanced to private patients, or those supported
by cities and towns, we propose to give authority to the trustees
to receive paying patients at extra rates in compensation for
increased accommodations, when this can be done without in-
terfering with the use of the various apartments of the hospital
by the regular inmates who have* the first claims. This is the
practice of the Vermont Asylum, at Brattleborough, arid com-
mends itself as a wise and salutary provision.

The State Reform School for Boys at Westborougli has caused
us much anxious thought. It cannot be denied that this insti-
tution has failed to accomplish all the good vrtiich was expected
of it. We have been pleased to find that the trustees of them-
selves have established during the present year several salutary
and useful reforms, anticipating the legislature in the good work
of increasing the usefulness of the institution.

The first point to which we desire to allude is the importance
of restoring the farm to the care of the trustees of the reform
school. The five years' lease to the State Board of Agriculture
terminates in April next, and we consider it highly important
that it should not be renewed. We should dwell more at length
upon this point, but for the fact that we understand that the
trustees of the reform school and of the board of agriculture
have separately come to conclusions adverse to the continuance
of the present arrangement and it is not probable therefore that
the legislature will be asked to authorize the renewal of the
lease. It is sufficient to say that the legitimate purposes of the
reform school require the use of the land belonging to it; and
since this estate was actually purchased with the money gener-
ously given to the State by the noble founder of this charity,14 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan,

the late Theodore Lyman, its lease for other purposes, even
those of a public nature, is an unwarrantable diversion of a
sacred trust.

The Westborough institution is twice too large ; its internal
organization is cumbrous and unwieldy, and accordingly far too
expensive. The staff of instructors and overseers must be con-
siderably reduced ; we would recommend that as far as possible,
the school be divided into classes of forty or fifty, and that each
of these be placed under the care of a single person, who should
endeavor to acquire a familiar acquaintance with all the boys *
in his own class, and studying their peculiarities of disposition
as moulded by nature and circumstances. This special instruc-
tor should always be with his class, at prayers, meals, study,
play and work. It is impossible that there should be an intimate
and cordial sympathy between every one of six hundred boys
and the superintendent. They know that he could give them
but a .minute's thought apiece, if he should busy himself for
their welfare during a whole day of ten hours. But lie has
many cares upon his shoulders, besides looking after individual
boys; and there should be somebody to whom each boy should
feel that he can at all times turn, during his stay in the school,
for sympathy, advice and encouragement. This should be the
master of his particular class. v

The recovery of the farm will enable the trustees to employ
the boys in simple agricultural labors. This should be done
to the utmost extent possible. Regard should be had not so
much to the profitableness of the labor, as to the advantage
both to the mental and physical constitutions of the boys in
keeping them at work,' especially out of doors. We saw nothing
more discouraging anywhere in our visits than two large rooms
at Westborough, during work hours, full of idle boys, for whom
nothing to do had been provided. Means must be found to
prevent this.

There ought, moreover, to be a regular and systematic effort
to find places for the boys, where they can enjoy the influences
and associations of a home. Something has already been done
in this direction by the exertions of the Chaplain under the
direction of the trustees; and we hope that this measure will
be persistently continued. There are many farmers and others
in our State who would be glad to take a boy and bring him1859.]	SENATE—No. 2.	1£

up; but they will not be likely to take the trouble to make a
journey to Westborougli to find him, unless the idea is suggested
to them; and they will be still more ready to take the boy into
employment, if he is brought to their doors, by a messenger
from the institution.

We should be glad to see something done in execution of the
plan proposed by Mr. Lyman, in one of his letters, to give
deserving boys on their graduation from the school, a small sum
of money to start them in life. If the division into classes
which we have suggested should be carried out, it would be
well to establish a graduating class, to consist of the most meri-
torious boys, who might be allowed to live beyond the walls
of the main building, in some of the farm houses upon the
State's land, and be clothed with other privileges during good
behavior.

The letters of Mr. Lyman in reference to the foundation of the
reform school never having been printed, we subjoin copies of
them to this Report. They are a noble evidence of the gener-
osity and benevolence of their writer, and suggest points still
deserving of consideration.

We come now to a delicate and difficult matter. The expe-
rience of nine years shows that it is necessary to adopt some
means to prevent abuse of tlie benevolence of the State, in
maintaining the institution at Westborougli. The place is
styled a " school," purposely to relieve its inmates from the
stigma of criminals; it follows that parents sometimes are not
unwilling to send their sons thither, especially those that" are
troublesome, in order to save the expense of keeping them at
home. If the affection of natural parents always prevented
this, (which it does not,) guardians and step-fathers would still
frequently treat their wards thus harshly,—in some instances,
even, as appeared before us in evidence, actually taking pains
to tempt the poor boy into the commission of some technical
offence,—assault or theft, perhaps,—in order to be able to carry
him before a magistrate and procure his committal to the State
Reform School at Westborougli,

The expense of supporting the boys at Westborougli is borne
by the State ; while offenders who are confined in the jails are
supported at the' expense of the several counties, and those in
the houses of correction by the several cities and towns.16 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

After mature deliberation, in concurrence with the trustees,
we have determined to recommend as the best safeguard against
abuses of the kind described, that the town or city from which
any boy is committed to the State Reform School at Westbor-
ough shall be held to contribute fifty cents a week towards his
support; with the right of recovery of the same by the town or
city from the parent or guardian of the boy. This contribution
is much less than the actual cost of supporting boys at West-
borough ; but it is believed to be sufficient to prevent parents
from sending their sons there deliberately, while it puts towns
in the same position with regard to committals to the reform
school that they now occupy with regard to committals to the
houses of correction.

By a recent statute, when a magistrate commits a lunatic to
one of the hospitals, he is required to send with him a detailed
statement of all facts or circumstances within his knowledge
relating to the subject of the warrant. We propose to extend
this provision to all cases of admission to the State institutions.
Magistrates who commit boys to the reform school are fre-
quently possessed of facts with reference to them which will
aid the trustees and superintendent of the institution in obtain-
ing an insight into the true character of the culprit.

The Industrial School for Girls, at Lancaster, as it is the
• latest, perhaps also deserves the title of the best, of our public
charitable institutions. At all events, we have no new legisla-
tion to recommend with regard to it. We even hope that
nothing maybe attempted by way of enlarging it. We have
already expressed the opinion, that the utility of the West-
borough institution was seriously impaired by doubling its
capacity a few years after it was opened, and we should be
sorry to see the same mistake at Lancaster. It is true that the
peculiar and admirable system of the latter institution, whereby
each house is a separate home, or family, seems to offer the
opportunity for an indefinite expansion by building more houses
upon the same grounds. ' But we fear that confusion and dis-
turbance would ultimately result from such an arrangement, if
too largely extended; the bounds for the separate houses must
be limited, if the number be increased, or else the inmates of
separate houses must be suffered to mingle familiarly in the
hours allowed for exercise and recreation. The great difficulty,1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

17

however, lies in the fact that one Superintendent cannot intel-
ligently master the dispositions of too many subjects at once.
There would be no saving in placing more houses at Lancaster
rather than in another place, except a proportion of the Super-
intendent's salary and the interest of the cost of the land.
These are both items too inconsiderable to require to be regarded,
if it shall prove absolutely necessary to provide more accommo-
dations for girls. We hope, however, that the assiduity of the
trustees and officers in finding places for the inmates, will
enable them, for the present, to receive into the institution as
now constructed, all those applicants who particularly need
their care.

We now come to the difficult subject of pauperism.

By the established law of the State the support of all paupers
who have a " settlement" in any city or town, is borne by thai
city or town; otherwise it is a charge upon the general treasury
of the Commonwealth. The " settlement" depends upon
twelve conditions, which are enumerated in the statutes, and
have become so well understood by practice and by a series of
judicial decisions, that we do not deem it best to recommend,
at present, any change of the law in this respect, although
something might well be done for its simplification, and perhaps
not unjustly, by providing that cities and towns in which a
person may have resided one or two years, for instance, previous
to his becoming a pauper, should be liable for his support for
an equal period* in case he falls into distress, without giving
the party a full settlement in the city or town in such cases,
and entailing upon it no burden for the permanent support of
the pauper, or of his children or grandchildren.

The number of paupers not having a settlement in this Com-
monwealth, and whose support has thus become chargeable to
the general treasury of the State, vastly increased with the
%reat tide of emigration which has poured upon our shores so
many of the sons and daughters of want in Europe. The
most enterprising and thrifty portion of the mass of inhabitants
thus^ added to our Republic, speedily found their way to homes
in the great Western States of the confederacy; while the
destitute, the improvident, and the infirm, were left upon the
seaboard. Accordingly, the cost of supporting State paupers,18 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan,

which was only fifty thousand dollars in 1843, has become two
hundred and twenty thousand dollars in 1858. It might, per-
haps, be assumed, that the Federal government should under-
take some provision for meeting a public expense which is an
incident of the commercial jurisdiction of the Union, when the
principal benefit of the emigration hither accrues to the inland
States, while the seaboard States are burdened with the attend-
ant evils. So far from doing any thing of this kind, however,
the Supreme Court of the United States has pronounced
unconstitutional the State laws assessing a tax on immigrants*.
Accordingly our present State law requires parties who bring
emigrants into the State to give a bond in the case of each,
that he or she shall not become a public burden ; or in lieu of
such bond, to pay a commutation, generally two dollars, but
fixed at a larger sum in peculiar cases. The revenue thus
obtained from commutations has now dwindled to about ten
thousand dollars per annum, a very small fraction of the
expenditure occasioned to the State for the support of paupers
which the tide of emigration leaves upon our shores.

For a long time previous to 1852, State paupers were sup-
ported in the towns or cities where they happened to fall into
distress, and an allowance from the State treasury for the cost
of such support, was made to the towns and cities, at rates
fixed by law. The rate, at the last, was forty-nine cents per
week, and it was only paid in the case of paupers unable to
labor. In 1852, an Act was passed for an entire change in the
system, the State undertaking to support State' paupers exclu-
sively in its own institutions, managed by its own officers. For
this purpose three State almshouses were built, at Bridgewater,
Tewksbury, and Monson, and the hospital at Rainsford Island
was enlarged and put in order anew for the reception of
inmates. These institutions were opened in 1854.

Notwithstanding the fact that the number of paupers has
diminished, the annual expense of the State system proves tH
be twice that of the Town system.

We shall endeavor to state impartially the advantages and
disadvantages of the new system.

1. The adoption of the State system at once relieved* the
legislature and the State auditor of a vast deal of trouble in the
settlement of the pauper accounts. Although gentlemen who1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

19

did not personally witness the former steite of things would
perhaps hesitate to credit the statement, it is nevertheless
unquestionably true that the difficulty which was experienced
in this matter was one of the most powerful influences in induc-
ing the legislature to. make the change. Under the former
system it was of course necessary that the towns should return
their accounts at particular times and in accordance with
prescribed forms. There were continual misunderstandings
arising from want of conformity to the established regulations;
not to speak of more serious difficulties in cases where over-
charges were suspected to exist. The auditor, on the part of the
State, of course felt obliged to exercise a severe scrutiny in
the inspection of the accounts; the town officers always felt
aggrieved when any deductions were made. Cases frequently
occurred in which the accounts were rejected altogether. In
such cases, or in cases of abatements by the auditor of t)(|
town's or city's charges, an appeal always lay to the legis-
lature. The questions occupied the time of committees largely,
and were debated at length in both houses. An adverse
decision was never final. There was no possible bar to a re-
newal of the suit as long as the parties interested chose to
persevere. Whenever a favorable judgment was rendered
in any case, petitions would immediately be sent in from
other cities and towns covering other cases of disallowed claims,
no matter how different in kind, or how remote in time.
No law could prevent this ; the laws that were passed to
restrain the abuse simply complicated the matter. A constitu-
tional provision alone could have answered as a check; and to
such an absolute prohibition, if it could have been obtained,
there would have been serious objections. A warmth of interest
was frequently excited in these cases by the representatives of
the towns interested, altogether disproportionate to the amount
of money involved. In fact, it was obvious that a system of
^administration whereby the State assumed the payment of
accounts to a limited amount only for the support of paupers
by three hundred and twenty different boards of officers, not
appointed by the State, could not fail to cause confusion, mis-
understanding and loss; and something must be added to the
cost of maintaining the old system, to represent the time con-20 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

sumed by the legislature in considering questions arising from
misunderstandings in the adjustment of the accounts. All this
the State system saves.

2.	The old system was imperfect in failing to make to the
towns and cities an adequate reimbursement of the charges
they actually incurred. Forty-nine cents a week was not
generally as much as the actual cost of the support of paupers,
unable to work, and no allowance was made for others. The
balance of course fell upon the towns and cities where the
paupers happened to be, and was paid by the people in the
form of their town or city tax. At present, the increased cost
is paid by.the people in the form of State tax.

3.	The old system was unjust in its apportionment of the
burden. Supposing the allowance made by the State Jiad been
really sufficient to reimburse to the cities and towns the full
S||ms which they were obliged to spend in the support of State
paupers, still the trouble of taking care of them and of collect-
ing the payment fell wholly to the lot of the cities and towns
where they happened to be, while others were wholly exempt.
When the payment really was inadequate the injustice became
aggravated. The importance of this point will be understood
by an examination of the following figures: we find from a
careful record made at each of the State almshouses for a
single week during the present year, that the cost of food con-
sumed by the inmates averages from forty to sixty cents per
week only for each pauper; yet the whole cost of supporting
the institution averages considerably more than one hundred
cents per week. Making every allowance for abuse and extrav-
agance in the latter sums, it still remains clear that more than
half of the cost of the present system goes to pay superintend-
ence, medical attendance, schooling, clothing, and other things,
for which no allowance whatever was made under the old
system to the towns where State paupers happened to be.^
Here is a burden equal to the whole of what towns were*
formerly allowed, which was unjustly put upon a part of the
people, when it belongs to the whole exactly as much as any
portion of the cost of supporting paupers.

4.	The old system encouraged idleness by refusing to allow
any thing for the support of paupers who performed labor, no1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

matter how inconsiderable. One of the auditing committees of
the legislature before the establishment of the office of auditor,
once cut off the allowance to a small town in the western part
of the State, for the support of an aged pauper woman, because
it appeared in evidence that she was able to rock the cradle of
a pauper child; and this service was held to be " labor" within
the meaning of the law. Such a system discouraged any
attempt to make the labor of paupers available.

5.	The transfer of the State paupers to State institutions has
enabled, the towns to make a better provision for their own poor.
It may be true that " a pauper is a pauper," and that one indi-
vidual of this destitute class deserves no better treatment than
another. It is nevertheless natural that a greater respect should
be felt by the people of our towns for their own neighbors and
town's people, when they fall into distress, from calamity or old
age, than to strangers from foreign lands. The people are
willing to provide better accommodations and better fare for the
former than for the latter. It was practically the effect of the
old system to send the greatest number of State paupers to the
towns which had the best poor-houses; somehow they managed
to " fall into distress " in those places ; and as a consequence the
town's own poor would be compelled to submit to a coarse and
cruel companionship with people of uncongenial habits. In fact,
the singular spectacle not unfrequently was afforded of a town
obliged to reduce its poor-house accommodations to the lowest
verge that humanity would allow, in order to rid itself of an
invasion which deprived its own poor of the enjoyment of the
comforts which the town would willingly have extended to them.

6.	Without disparaging the provisions usually made by the
towns, yet in view of the circumstances described in the last
paragraph, something of gain on the score of humanity as an
offset to the increased expense, must be admitted to be a result
of the adoption of the State system. Opinions of course will
differ on the point, whether this is worth what it costs; but it
is something that the State shall be able to say that the poor
whom she describes as her own are properly fed, clothed,
schooled, and attended when sick, by State officers in State
houses, without risk of suffering at the hands of irresponsible
local boards.

IPUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

We turn now to enumerate the disadvantages of the State
system.

1.	It requires a numerous corps of State officials, creating a
mass of patronage, whereby it may happen that the administra-
tion of the system shall fall into the hands of partisan
appointees, incompetent and unfaithful; while the town system
looks for its execution to boards of officers chosen by the people,
discharging their duties in the face and eyes of the town ; each
town board moreover, being intrusted with the disbursement of
only a small sum of money in comparison with the large amounts
required for the maintenance of the State establishments.

2.	There is a tendency in the operation of the State system
to make pauperism in particular cases, a permanent and perhaps
hereditary curse. For instance, there may be a destitute family
of State paupers in a town, consisting of parents and children,
able to maintain themselves except in some crisis of unusual
distress, or some season of unusual bitterness. They may have
friends among the people of the town willing to help them with
occasional presents, or what is better, employment; and with a
few weeks' support from the town in the winter months, they
are able to make the two ends of the year meet. But if such a
family are State paupers, as we have supposed, unless the town
on its own account (as we are glad to say is often done)
generously grants the needed temporary aid, the family must be
broken up, to be sent off to Monson, or Tewksbury or Bridge-
water, and quartered in the State institutions. Once arrived
there, the chances of a return to their former mode of life are
doubtful. They will not be likely to get back to the town where
they are known; their little stores of furniture are sold, their
vocations are abandoned, their friends are lost, and what is
worse, they have tasted the luxury of an easy sxipport at the
public expense, with proper care and schooling for the children.
Unless great diligence is used on the part of the superintending
authorities, such a family may never emerge from the sea
pauperism.

3.	There is move difficulty in finding places for the inmates,
when, they are collected in a few great institutions, than when
they are scattered at large ovei\the State.. Families are often
glad to take into their service pauper boys and girls and bring1859.]

SENATE—^No> 2.

23

them up as useful and respectable members of society. If
there is a " likely" child in a town poor-house he probably
attracts the attention of somebody in the town who becomes
interested in his welfare; perhaps somebody who receives him
into his own family, or takes pains to find a place for him. But
this is much less probable to happen when such children are
gathered, five hundred together as they are at Monson, or two
hundred together as they are at Tewksbury and Bridgewater.

4.	Much of the same reasoning will apply to the finding of
labor fo.r adult paupers; it is easier to make one or two men's
work available in a town poor-house than that of a larger num-
ber congregated in a single spot. It ought to be remarked,
however, that the old system allowed no pay from the State for
paupers able to labor; and, as will appear elsewhere, very little
if any profit can can be gained from such labor in any event.

5.	The State system entails upon the several cities and towns
the expense of transporting paupers from their own limits to
the almshouses. This amounts in the aggregate to not less
than five thousand dollars per annum. If the paupers are sup-
ported in the places where they fall into distress the whole of
this sum would be absolutely saved.

6.	It is to be observed as a point falling within the financial
view of the subject, that in the State system, separate teachers
and chaplains must be employed for the paupers gathered in the
great State institutions ; while in the towns no other school or
church privileges need be provided than those already existing,

7.	There are many disadvantages inherent in the vast con-
gregations of human beings which the State almshouses create,
especially when the members of these masses of humanity are
mostly coarse, ignorant, and many of them vicious. The pure
run great danger of corruption, and the bad of becoming worse.
It is unnecessary to enumerate all of these; we will allude
only to a single physical risk of which the State almshouses are
perpetually in danger; we mean that of fire. Here are three
wooden buildings, three stories in height, each crowded in
winter with a population of a thousand human beings, part of
the inmates actually insane, and none of them remarkable for
brilliant intellects. The mind shudders to contemplate the
appalling consequences of a conflagration of one of these build-24 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

ings, either in the day time, or (more horrible) by night. It is
true that every precaution and safeguard is provided to prevent
so dire a calamity ;* there are six staircases extending from top
to bottom of each of the buildings ; there are ample water tanks
just under the roof, and ladders are provided for the outside ;
besides which, a constant watch is maintained at all times, and
in case of alarm, the superintendents may be presumed to be
ready to direct the inmates how to behave. Notwithstanding
these offsets, we think we are justified in making especial men-
tion of this danger as one of the disadvantages of a system to
which it belongs as a necessary incident.

We believe that we have fairly presented the advantages and
disadvantages of the present system. It is a question for the
people of the State to consider whether the former preponderate,
and if so, whether the preponderance is sufficient to justify the
enhanced expense.

We have carefully and anxiously pondered this question,
and have come to the conclusion that* the State system ought
not permanently to be maintained; yet that an immediate
and abrupt return to the town system would be unwise. We
recommend accordingly that the State system be continued
for a brief period, with such modifications as we propose, to
increase its efficiency, and reduce its expense, removing as we
hope, part of the objections to it; but always with a view to
its abolition at the earliest day that may be consistent with the
public welfare. We proceed to state the reasons which have
governed us in this conclusion.

In the first place x the almshouses are already existing, in full
operation, with their farms under cultivation, the officers
accustomed to their duties and amenable to advice and instruc-
tion. The buildings and farms have cost the State $835,989.
Of course they would not sell for one-quarter part of that sum.
A change, moreover, always creates new expenses. Not more
than one thousand dollars a year will be required for repairs
upon the three almshouses, to keep them in good order for five
years to come. The State system accordingly can be continued
for no longer than that period, as it were, rent free.

* We ought to qualify this absolute statement with the remark that the
almshouses have no hose to carry water from one part of the grounds or build-
ings to another.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

25

This consideration perhaps would not be entitled to weight if
the State system had been fairly tried and certainly found
wanting. But has it been fairly tried? We think not; and
although we do not expect that it will ever prove to have been
an economical policy, we confidently believe that the expendi-
ture of the last two or three years has been unnecessarily heavy
and largely in excess of what will suffice to maintain the system
for several years longer. It is well known throughout the
Commonwealth that the almshouse buildings were originally
poorly and cheaply constructed; large sums have been required
to supply deficiencies and make repairs. These expenditures
at last have put the buildings into tolerably good order and
have furnished the conveniences necessary for their mainte-
nance. The farms, also, were quite run out when they were
purchased; but the labor of three or four years has cleared
them up, and brought them into such condition that henceforth
they may be expected to aid more substantially in the support
of the institutions. Besides, the State system was an experi-
ment at the beginning, and has hitherto been pursued with no
very close oversight on the part of the legislature or other cen-
tral governmental authority; for three years, the bills of the
almshouses for the support of paupers were paid at the treasury
monthly, under a system of finance which made economy
almost impossible. It is reasonable to suppose that the system
of specific appropriations, established by the legislature at the
last session, together with such rules for the conduct of the
almshouses as ipay now be prescribed, will make the future
cost of their maintenance very much less than it has hitherto
been.

From careful observation, it appears that the supplies actually
furnished to each pauper in the almshouses, cost at Tewksbury
but 89 cents per week, at Monson but 44 cents, and at Bridge-
water, but 60 cents. The difference between this cost and 11.12
or $1.14 represents other things which it is within the power of
the legislature to withhold entirely or to reduce to whatever
scale of expenditure tnay be thought proper.

The item of salaries at the several, institutions is the first to
arrest attention. This was last year $9,071 at Monson, $6,500
at Bridgewater, and $6,580 at Tewksbury. We are pleased to

426 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan-

find that very considerable reductions have been made in the
cost of the staff at Monson during the present year, the aggre-
gate having having been reduced from 19,071 to $7,116. But
when it is observed that all of the officials receiving these sala-
ries, (with a very few exceptions,) receive also their board and
lodging at the expense of the State, it must be conceded on all
hands, that the total expenditure under this head is largely dis-
proportionate. We do not, however, propose ourselves any
specific reductions in particular salaries. The law as it stands
does not undertake to prescribe any salaries but those of the
superintendents of the almshouses, which were fixed at twelve
hundred dollars per annum by the Act of 1852. These salaries
have been raised to fifteen hundred dollars by the authority of
the inspectors, to whom from the nature of the case must be
intrusted the regulation of the employment of all other officials,
including fixing their compensation. But there is one point
which we think ought to be made a part of the law: to deter-
mine how much shall be added to the money salaries in the
form of board. We do not think that the Commonwealth ought
to assume the purchase of supplies for the officers; they should
do their own providing. They may very well be allowed the
free use of so much as is required for their table of such staple
articles as are necessarily purchased for the inmates, such as
flour, meats, &c.; but there appears no reason why the State
should furnish any thing more. A restriction in this respect is
the practice of the New York State institutions, where the
officers are entitled, in addition to their salaries, to " the fare of
the house," but must provide at their own expense such further
supplies as they require. We propose this rule, not only as the
most convenient way of effecting some reduction in the exces-
sive cost of maintaining the numerous officials of the State
institutions, but because we believe it will relieve the officers
themselves from the inconvenience of a great deal of company
which they are now obliged to entertain. It being generally
understood that the almshouses furnish handsome tables sup-
plied at the State expense to visitors, these institutions have
become favorite sojourning places for a certain class of company,
consisting of politicians, past and present members of'the gov-
ernment in different capacities, together with their relatives,1859.]

SENATE—No. 2,

21

friends and acquaintances. That this sort of visiting has become
a nuisance that ought to be abated is a fact so certain that we
do not feei at liberty to suppress it or seek to cover it by any
euphemism. In one of the institutions, the direct cost to the
State of thus maintaining free quarters cannot have been less
than several thousand dollars per annum. The same abuse
exists elsewhere in a more or less mitigated form. We propose
not only to stop the purchase of supplies by the Commonwealth
for this army of guests, but also to require an exact register of
visitors to be kept at each institution, and that the names of all
who eat or sleep there shall be included in the annual report to
the legislature-

It*ought to be provided by law that no money shall be paid
at any of the pauper institutions as wages for labor of kinds
that can be performed by the inmates. This is already the
general practice, and the exceptions ought no longer to exist.
There should be no expenditure for salaries or wages, except
what is needed to provide the necessary intelligent supervision
and instruction.

It ought moreover to be the constant study of the superinten-
dents and inspectors, to provide some sort of labor for the
inmates. Here, however, we must correct a very general mis-
apprehension which prevails among members of the legislature
and among the people at large, with regard to-the character of
the population gathered at the almshouses. When it is reported
that there are three of these institutions containing each from six
to eight hundred inmates, the opinion is universally expressed,
that " so many ought to perform some productive labor/'
Nothing more than a sight of the inside of one of the almshouses
is necessary to show why it is impossible that this should be
done to any great extent. In the first place, one-half (in actual
numbers) of the inmates are little children, too young to work,
many of them too young even to attend school. Of the other
half, the proportion really fit to sustain any long continued
physical exertion *is literally almost infinitely small. Such a
motley collection of broken-backed, lame-legged, sore-eyed,
helpless and infirm human beings, one would not have supposed
it possible to get together in such numbers; nor would it be possi-
ble, if the whole world were not laid under contribution. There28 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

are representatives in our State almshouses of every clime and
almost every nationality on the face of the globe. Besides
English, Scotch, Irish, German, French, and other Europeans,
there are Kanakas from the Sandwich Islands, Malays from the
East, men from the Marquesas and Madagascar, and to complete
the variety a native of St. Helena. Among this whole mass of
humanity, there is scarcely a single adult that is able in body
and sound in mind throughout. Indeed, if it were not for the
harmless insane, who are able-bodied, the most necessary opera-
tions of the farms could not be persistently maintained ; and
the inspectors and superintendents agree in estimating the whole
force of the multitudes under their care', as equal in the aggre-
gate only to the labor of three or four able-bodied men upon
the farm.

Now when it is considered that this miserable and helpless
multitude takes care of itself; that it makes its own beds, keeps
the whole institution faultlessly clean, cooks its own victuals,—
the women taking care of the children, nursing the sick, making
all the clothing and doing all the washing of the whole estab-
lishment — and besides these regular daily duties, by no means
inconsiderable, that the farms have been brought up from a low
and neglected state to a condition that promises more ample
returns in future, it must be conceded, that not much more in
the shape of labor can be expected from such weak and forlorn
creatures.

For what is it that makes a pauper ? Is it any thing more
than the inability to earn one's livelihood by work ? If a man
has in him the ability to labor, he prefers to work for himself,
rather than to become the inmate of a pauper establishment
where he must work for the State.

There are other considerations connected with this subject,
which are ably and clearly set forth in a paper by one of our
number, which is appended to this Report.

There are however two things, which ought to be insisted
upon by the superintendents and inspectors of the pauper insti-
tutions : first, there should be enough of labor provided to pre-
vent any body from making the institution a place of abode from
idleness or laziness ; and in this view the productiveness of the
labor is of little account. If a dollar spent in materials, instruc-1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

29

tion and superintendence, -earns nothing more than the same
dollar, without profit, it is still an advantage to hare employed
the paupers in something useful, and to have removed the im-
pression that the institution is a house of idleness. We would
have the inmates, especially in winter, constantly employed
about something; whether breaking stone, digging wells,
building walls, picking oakum, braiding mats,* or in any other
occupation that the tact or ingenuity of the inspectors and
superintendent can devise.

Secondly—there should be a regular and organized system
for finding places for inmates who are able to do any sort of
labor, beyond the walls of the institution. We have intimated
that nobody is a pauper who is able to work; but men and
women may become inmates of pauper establishments from
inability to obtain employment, when they are able and willing
to work for their support. It is good economy for the State to
aid them in this. Especially as regards pauper children, it is
manifestly important for. their moral and physical welfare that
pains should be taken to place them as soon as possible in families
where their services may be worth their support, where the brand
of pauperism and the sense of dependence may disappear,
and the child grow up to an honorable and useful life. No
legislation is necessary on the subject. The law already allows
adults or children to be sent away from the institutions to
suitable places for employment, without the execution of formal
papers, binding them to service. All that is needed is an
intelligent a,nd assiduous care on the part of the superintend-
ent and inspectors of the institutions to see that they keep
nobody in their walls as a pauper inmate an instant after he
is able to provide for himself elsewhere. They should state in
their reports annually what they have been able to effect* in this
respect.

It not unfrequently happens that parties are sent to the
State almshouses who prove, after all, not to be State paupers.
At present there is no inducement for the cities and towns to
take any pains to ascertain the condition of applicants for relief
in this respect. On the contrary, it is their cheapest policy to
ask no questions but to pay the fare of the applicant to the
nearest State almshouse forthwith. It may be that the man has30 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

a settlement somewhere and would say so if lie were, asked; or
it may be that a single meal or a night's lodging is all that he
requires; if the State almshouse is near at hand, the town
authorities have every inducement to send him there without
delay.

To remedy this evil, we propose that in all cases cities and
towns shall be held to support paupers ten days before sending
them to the State almshouses.

The institution which has occasioned most expense in pro-
portion to the number of inmates which it has accommodated,
is the hospital at Rainsford Island. A number of convicts are
maintained here, under sentences from the police court in
the city of Boston, in accordance with a law which was passed
under the impression that their labor would be valuable to the
institution. The arrangement does not secure the beneficial
results which were anticipated, and we earnestly recommend
that the law by which it is authorized be repealed. It will not
answer wholly to abolish the hospital at Rainsford Island, for
if there should be a recurrence of the scourge of ship-fever, it
would be absolutely necessary for the accommodation of the
hapless victims of that disease; they could not be landed, of
course, much less sent to either of the State almshouses, while
suffering under a contagious disorder. But we do not think it
necessary to keep up the whole staff of a full hospital, simply
in anticipation of a calamity which we hope may long be
averted. We propose, therefore, that the hospital at Rains-
ford Island shall be reduced to the character of a quarantine
establishment, with a resident physician, having a sufficient
force to keep the buildings in order, and to take care of such
patients as the Board of Charities may think best to send thither.
This can without difficulty be'effected in such manner, as to
make the whole annual expenditure for the island not exceed
ten thousand dollars.

The annual " returns relating to the poor" are made by the
several cities and towns in answer to questions proposed before
the State system took effect. Some of the questions are now
superfluous and others are rendered ambiguous by the change
in the system. We propose a simple modification of the law, to
prevent any further embarrassment as regards this matter.1859.]	SENATE—No. 2.	31

There have been some anomalous features in the financial
administration of our State institutions, which the appropriation
system established at the last session, will go far to correct, if
faithfully carried out hereafter. The lunatic hospitals, here-
after, will require no appropriations, as they will wholly support
themselves, with the aid of the sum received from the State
for the support of lunatic paupers; the sum designed for this
purpose should be distinctly appropriated in terms indicating its
use. With regard to the other institutions, certain distinctions
should always be carefully observed in making the appropria-
tions. First, the sums required for repairs or permanent im-
provements should be distinguished from those allowed for the.
current maintenance. Under the former head, we think that
not more than one thousand dollars per annum should be ex-
pended upon either of the institutions in any year for five years
to come, unless some casualty or contingency, now unforeseen,
should arise.

The second class, or appropriations for the current mainte-
nance of the institutions, should be carefully subdivided under
two heads:—first, those for the payment of such expenses as
will necessarily be about the same whether the number of in-
mates be large or small, such as the salaries of the officers ; and
second, those for the purchase of supplies, which of course may
differ with the prices of the staple articles and with the number
of inmates. No excess above the maximum should be tolerated
in any event with regard to the former class.; but for the latter
the appropriation may very properly be drawn in such shape as
to allow some variation, in case prices or numbers vary ; but
not to exceed an outside limit, in any event.

We have considered whether some saving might not be effected
by the appointment of a purchasing agent to procure the sup-
plies for all the State institutions ; but we are satisfied that no
advantage would accrue from such an arrangement. Indeed,
it is the universal experience of governments, that corruption
and abuse find their way into such agencies. The present
system, on the whole, is the best probably that could be devised.
The nine superintendents of the nine institutions make their
purchases, each for himself; but the prices are compared by the
auditor, by legislative committees and by the people, so that82 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jm.

each purchaser is checked from extravagance by the other eight.
It is not within the bounds of a reasonable probability that there
should be a collusion to defraud the Commonwealth on the part
of the whole nine, aided and abetted each by his separate board
of trustees or inspectors, who must approve the bill before it
can be paid. We are quite satisfied that the present system
offers as few facilities for abuse as any that could be established,.
We propose however, with regard to those institutions whose
expenses are paid by the State, that the Commonwealth shall
advance no money, except a small sum to meet petty accounts,
and that the original bills, with the receipts, shall.be returned
into the auditor's office and preserved there. The superinten-
dent may take a duplicate receipt, for Iris own security, if he
sees fit. We'also propose to provide by law that the books kept
at the several institutions shall be regarded as the property of
the Commonwealth, and shall not be carried elsewhere, but
shall be delivered to his successor by each superintendent as he
retires.

The annual reports of the charities should be prepared upon
a uniform plan for all the institutions and for successive years.
They should distinguish clearly the various classes of expendi-
ture. The past reports of the lunatic hospital at Worcester
and of the almshouse at Tewksbury afford good models in this
respect.

An inventory of the stock and supplies on hand at the close
of each year, embraced in the annual report, should regularly
be made at each institution.

A schedule showing the whole staff of officers and assistants,
with the pay-roll, at every institution, should always make a
part of the annual report.

We have now finished the consideration of all the topics
which have seemed to us necessary to be presented to the atten-
tion of the legislature. We ask for our recommendations and
suggestions, a careful examination ; and if they appear to the
legislature in the same light as to us, we feel sure th&t thej
will be passed into a law. If the State charities shall be
administered in the manner which we think will prove feasible
under a more careful central supervision, with increased facili-1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

33

ties for economy and a better understanding of what is required
on the part of the officers of the various institutions, we believe
the expense may be reduced very considerably. The precise
amount of saving which can be effected it perhaps is not prudent
for us to estimate; but we do not think we are extravagant
in striking off sixty thousand dollars (§60,000) from the annual
expenditures.

Before entering upon the active prosecution of our duties,
we advertised publicly the fact of our appointment to this ser-
vice, and announced ourselves in readiness at a particular day
and hour at the State House, to hear any representations that
any persons might wish to make to us. No parties appeared in
answer to the advertisement, except some of the officers of the
institutions, who kindly attended in case their presence should
be desired by the Committee. We think we have a right to
infer from this silence on the part of the public at large, that
there is nothing in the management of our charitable institu-
tions which requires attention, excepting such reforms as the
government may desire to establish to prevent the waste and
misapplication of the public bounty. There can. be no great
abuse, or suspicion of abuse, no great deficiency of administra-
tion or mistake of principle in the conduct of our institutions,
if there is nobody in this whole population of a million and a
quarter to suggest it. We have ourselves been very much
gratified with the good order, efficiency and humanity with
which we find our charitable institutions conducted. We believe
that they are useful in practical operation as well as honorable
in design. To the various persons employed in them as officers
and assistants, we are under obligations for their uniform
courtesy arid attention: We are also indebted to the presidents
of the railroads over which we passed in our visits of examina-
tion, for free tickets, as the appropriation for the expenses of
the Committee was somewhat limited.

We have taken great pains to arrive at a correct understand-
ing of the existing state of things, and to ascertain where and
how to apply r&nedies for the defects that have disclosed
themselves. If our labors shall prove to have resulted in
advantage to our beloved Commonwealth, w.e shall not regret
the time they have occupied nor the anxiety they have caused
534 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

us. Indeed, no son of Massachusetts can contemplate without
a feeling of pride, the position which his native State occupies,
foremost in every charitable work, and spending mere than a
third part of her ordinary revenue every year in works of
benevolence. That this expenditure may be so applied as to
produce the best and' largest results of good, must be the
earnest desire of every citizen.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

JOHN MORISSEY.

WILLIAM FABENS.

CHARLES HALE.

DEXTER F. PARKER.

GEO. M. BROOKS.

Boston, December 6,1858.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

85

NOTE.

" The undersigned agrees to the report of the Committee,
but is desirous of presenting additional facts and arguments in
favor of the abolition of the State system of supporting paupers.
Having been able to devote considerable attention to the subject,
apart from his associates,* in accordance with their wishes, he
herewith submits the result of his investigations."

Such is the language with which our associates desire us to
preface this paper on Paupers, Pauperism and Pauper Laws,
which we originally intended to present in the form of a
minority report upon the subject of our State almshouses; but
as the commission, after much patient discussion were a unit
in their belief of the utility of every reform and change in our
State charitable institutions now suggested in the Report,
(excepting in the single instance of the State almshouses,) we
have signed that Report with them, with the understanding that
it involves upon our part, no approval of the system of State

* As reference is made to the time that we have devoted to the investiga-
tion of the subject before us, justice to ourselves prompts us to say, that from
the time we were first aware of our appointment upon the commission, we
resolved to make a thorough examination of the whole system of our State
charities, independent of any considerations of pecuniary reward for our
labor, for the meagreness of the appropriation ($900) precluded the possi-
bility of the several members upon the commission being paid in full for their
services. Acting under this determination, we have pursued our investigations
and gathered our facts, and being unwilling, until we had seen kindred insti-
tutions, to judge of our State charitable establishments, (and especially our
reformatory schools,) we visited in New York, the Albany County Almshouse
with lunatic asylum attached, and a new Industrial School for vagrant chil-
dren, (just completed but not then occupied,) the Albany (city) Penitentiary,
the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum
and State Idiotic School, at Syracuse, the Auburn State Prison, with its new
lunatic asylum for insane convicts, the Western House of Refuge, at Roches-
ter, the House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders, at Randall's Island, (N. Y.
city,) and the House of Refuge in Philadelphia. To the superintendents of
these various institutions we are under great obligations for the courtesies
they extended to us, and the information they so readily gave us, together
with files of reports, documents, &c. For our time and expenses in making
these visitations, we have made no charge against the State.36 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

almshouses or a desire for their continuance a single day. Pre-
suming, however, that the recommendations of our associates
would be adopted by the legislature, and believing, that if the
present system of supporting State paupers is to be continued,
that great and radical reforms should be introduced into our
State almshouses, we have assented to and approved of all the
proposed changes in them that are recommended by the com-
mission ; yet while thus heartily concurring in the endeavor to
make them more useful and economical, we for the reasons here-
after given believe, that the best interests of the State demand
either the return to the old system, or the adoption of a new one
which shall oblige each town and city to support all of the
paupers residing within their own respective municipalities.

Before giving reasons for these opinions,.let us first remark,
that the subject of paupers and pauperism forced itself, very
early in our colonial history, upon the attention of our ances-
tors, and it demanded of them, in those first hours of the
State, prompt and systematic efforts for its extinction, within the
limits of the then young and infant colony. As early as 1-630*
the colonial government gave power to " any shire court or aiiy
two magistrates thereof, to determine all differences about law-
ful settling and providing for poor persons, and to dispose of all
unsettled persons into such towns as they shall judge to toe
most fit for the maintenance and employment of such persons
and families, for the ease of the country." In 1637, and again
in 1651, it was enacted that no stranger be allowed to stay over
three weeks in a town under the penalty of a fine; and in 1641
it was enacted " that those that have relief from the towns and
have children and do not employ them, that then it shall be
lawful for the township to take order that those children shall
be put to work in fitting employment according to their strength
and abilities, or be placed out by the towns." In 1642 it was
declared that any inhabitant of a town who should receive or
bring in any person or persons "as is likely apparently to
be chargeable to the town, against whom just exception is
made at the time of his coming, or within a month," the party
receiving them was to discharge the town from supporting

* Our citation of laws are from both the New Colony of Plymouth and
Massachusetts Colonial acts.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

87

them. Diseased or impotent persons brought from England
were also to be supported by the persons who brought them.
At this time it was enacted that every town should make pro-
vision for the poor within their own limit, they being residents
or inhabitants ; for at that time three months' residence, unless
excepted against within that period, made a person " an inhabi-
tant of that place." In 1660 it was decreed that" three months
settlement in the town, without an order to leave, from the
selectmen or constable, made every poor person subject to the
charge of the town where he lived," the county court to deter-
mine all cases of settlement; and if the poor person or persons
had no settlement in any town, they were to be placed in such
towns as the court ordered, " and said town charges were to be
satisfied unto them by the county treasurer." Passing on to
1675 it was farther provided that towns thus selected by the
court were " carefully to provide that such men or women may
be so employed that as much as may be, public charge may be
avoided." In 1692 relatives were obliged by law to support
each other; and soon after another Act was passed giving two
justices of the peace the right to bind out poor children, this
being followed by an additional Act in 1710, which was re-
enacted in 1720. We now come to the first Act relating to the
landing of alien passengers, it being provided in 1700 "that
captains of vessels should give bonds for the support of passen-
gers imported, the infirm and decrepit to be returned, unless
they were injured on the vessel, in which case they might be
landed and should be supported at the public charge." In the
same Act it was provided that no person should be considered
an inhabitant of a town and having a legal settlement there
unless he had resided there twelve months. Coming down to
1725, we find that no inhabitant of a town could entertain a
stranger more than twenty days without notifying the select-
men of the town, and if they neglected to do so, they were
fined 40s. Then in 1767 we find constables empowered to take
paupers having no legal settlement in any town in the colony,
through the different counties and so pass them out of the
colony. And by this same Act no person could gain a settle-
ment until they made known their desire to the selectmen,
and were* accepted by a vote of the town where they resided.
Soon after the passage of this Act the provinces became agitated38 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

by the contest with the mother country, and passing over twenty
years time we find that in 1789 the Massachusetts legislature
declared " that all persons citizens of this State who before the
10th of April, 1767, resided or dwelt within any town or dis-
trict of the then province of Massachusetts Bay, for the space
of one year, not having been warned to depart therefrom
according to law, or who since said date have obtained appro-
bation of the town or district at a general meeting of the
inhabitants, for his dwelling there, or who have obtained a
legal settlement in such town or district by birth, marriage, or
otherwise, and have not afterwards gained a settlement else-
where in this or some other of the other United States, shall
be deemed and taken to be an inhabitant of the same town or
district, to every intent and purpose."

Persons who had a freehold to the value of <£3 per annum
and a residence of two several years, or who after they were
twenty-one should reside and pay a town tax five years succes-
sively, or should reside in a town two years successively with-
out being warned to depart, should be deemed to be an inhabi-
tant. A person also became a citizen by vote of the town, and
towns by the same Act had the power to warn strangers to de-
part. By the Act of 1793, five years' residence from-. 1787, with-
out being warned to depart was required, instead of two years,
and thus grew up the checks upon the right of citizenship, which
carried with it the claim to support if misfortunes made it neces-
sary to appeal to society for relief. It is fair to presume that in
those days town paupers were few, while state paupers for rea-
sons known to every one must have been very rare. But after
1793 a change began to gradually manifest itself in the charac-
ter of our population, and emigration set in slowly towards our
shores. Out then feeble manufacturing interest, producing
even in 1810 only $19,000,000 worth of products per annum, was
carried on to a great extent by foreign artisans, whp were con-
tinually drawing others to our shores, as is most conclusively
shown by the copious extracts from Niles' Register, given in the
appendix to " Chickering upon Population and Immigration."

From 1800 to 1820 State pauperism increased rapidly, and in
1821 the State paid $50,000 for the support of "State paupers,"
a sum deemed so large at that time, that a special commissioner
was appointed by the legislature to examine into, afcd report1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

39

upon the subject. Among the members of the commission was
governor Lincoln of Worcester, but we have not been able to find
any records of their labors.' In 1830 another commission was
appointed, and they report that the sum required for State pau-
pers for 1830 is $66,583, and that the increase for the last five
years has been $3,400 per year. They recommend State farms
of 500 acres each, and that State paupers should be " there held
to labor for such time as the legislature shall direct," and they
stimate the cost of such farms and buildings at $75,000, and
they accordingly reported a resolve authorizing the governor
to appoint a commission to buy a farm of 300 acres.

In another report made upon this subject in 1831, we learn
that in 1830 there were 1,800 State paupers, and that the expense
of the same class of persons from 1826 to 1831 was $284,584.29,
and that there had been a gradual decrease of pauperism in the
State " from the diminished use of ardent spirits." We have
one more report to notice, that made in 1832, which says:
" Successive legislatures have reduced the pay for supporting
State paupers from $2 per week down to 70 cents," and they
recommend its further reduction to 50 cents per week and the
erection of State almshouses.

During this time and the five succeeding years, foreign immi-
grants kept steadily landing on our shores, and in 1837 an Act
was passed by the legislature authorizing cities and towns to
appoint suitable persons to board vessels arriving in their respec-
tive ports and collect a head tax upon each alien passenger, said
tax to be paid into the treasury of the town or city " for the
support and maintenance of foreign paupeA" Despite this
precaution State pauperism kept on steadily, and most alarmingly
increasing, and in 1850 governor Briggs called the special atten-
tion of the legislature to the subject and laid before them a com-
munication from the superintendent of Alien Passengers for the
city of Boston, by which it appears, that the cost of supporting
our State paupers for the eleven years ending 1848, was
$895,766.41, of which sum the State had paid $644,454 and
the towns $251,252, while there had been received for " head
money" on the emigrants, $205,222.06, of which sum $47,080.99
had been expended in returning foreigners to their own homes,
leaving the net charge upon the State for this class of its poor,
$737,564.78. In this period of time foreign paupers had in-40 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

creased from 2,765 in 1839, to 7,413 in 1848, while the poor
having a legal settlement in the State had increased in the same
time but eighty five,.there being in 1838, 11,195, and in 1848
only 11,280, that being an increase of less than three-quarters
per cent, while the increase of foreign paupers was a trifle over
two hundred and sixty-eight per cent. For these tables in
detail, see Appendix, Table [J.]

These facts, so alarming in their character, led the legislature
of 1851 to establish a Board of Alien Commissioners, whose
duty it was to appoint suitable persons to visit every almshouse
in the State where State paupers were supported and to examine
critically, their condition and the accounts of the towns for their
support; and the result of the labors of these persons thus ap-
pointed was, that they found in the State 10,267 real bona fide
State paupers, and the illegal claims of the towns against the
State for support of such class of paupers was §22,330.80.

The commissioners of that year then recommend the estab-
lishment of four State almshouses and that as one of them,
Rainsford Island, could be fitted up for $3,000 " as a suitable
depot for those who are sick and disabled when they arrive in
this country," and that it could then accommodate from 150 to
200 persons, while the other three almshouses could be erected
at a cost (including the farm) of $25,000 each, and that the
entire expenditures for these purposes need not exceed $80,000.
They state the commutation tax to be $40,000 per year, which
in two years would pay for the entire establishment, while
the labor of the paupers in them would support and pay the
expenses of theidP

These suggestions were referred to a special committee and
they reported in favor of the recommendations of the Alien
Commissioners, and their report was adopted by the legislature^
they stating the probable expense of the plan at $100,000.
Agreeably to an Act of the legislature, three commissioners
were appointed to buy the farms and oversee the construction
of the buildings; and their charge for services and expenses
(including $946.65 for architect's fees) was $9,048.65, or more
than one-twelfth part of the first appropriation.

They bought at Monson a farm of 172 acres at a cost of
$6,383, and the former superintendent of that institution, Dr.
Brooks, gave in evidence before our sub-committee that it cost1859.]

SENATE—No: 2.

41

him $300 for every acre of the farm he had reclaimed. At
Bridge water they bought another farm of 145 acres at a cost of
$3,700, but five acres were afterward added; while at Billerica
they paid 13,423.59 for 142 acres of land, forty acres of which
were sand plains, perfectly worthless and unfit for even the
burial ground of the paupers, whose remains lie buried on a
portion of it. They next contract for the three buildings at a
cost of 1101,953, yet before they were completed and ready for
occupancy, they had cost the State more than $200,000.
To-day, including Rainsford Island Hospital, they have cost the
Commonwealth $338,354.19, the interest of which at six per
cent, would support more than five hundred State paupers at the
rate of 80 cents per week for adults and 50 cents for children.

In this connection we give the cost of each State Almshouse
and Rainsford Island Hospital, as per Auditor's statement,
furnished the Committee.

	Monson.	Tewksbury.	Bridgewater.	Rainsford Island.
To Dec. 3$ 1854, . .	#73,764 26	$74,738 68	$71,173 28	$22,081 96
To Dec. 31, 1855, . .	12,704 59	10,877 67	12,941 40	14,247 02
To Dec. 31, 1856, . .	6,892 00	5,374 46	5,127 48	15,226 78
To Dec. 31,1857, . .	1,200 00	3,647 00	2,480 00	3,512 61
To Dec. 31,1858, . .	-	-	-	2,365 00
Totals,.....	$94,560 85	$94,637 81	$01,722 16	$57,433 37

Of this large sum $262,000 now constitutes a part of the
funded debt of the State, and the " commutation fees" which
were to have paid for these structures in two years, have fallen
so low in 1858, that after deducting the expense of collecting
them, it would take eighty-four years proceeds to pay for our
pauper palaces.

Having given the cost of erecting these pauper abodes, let us
before proceeding to examine the fallacy of the reasoning that
led to their erection and advises their continuance, look at the
machinery by which they are filled and emptied, governed and
642 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

controlled, and the means by which they have cost the State
since 1854 more than a million of dollars.

SUPERINTENDENT OF ALIEN PASSENGERS.

As more than nineteen-twentieths of our State paupers are
foreigners, we may properly begin our notice of the pauper
machinery of the State, by first noticing the duties of the
officer named above. Upon the arrival of a vessel in our ports
having 011 board alien passengers, who have never been in the
State before, it is the duty of the captain or pilot to notify at
once the superintendent of alien passengers of the fact. This
officer, upon arriving on the vessel, has the power to require
that the " captain, owner, agent, or consignee," shall give a
bond in three hundred dollars, that no one of the alien passen-
gers landed shall become a charge to the State within Jive years
from the date of said bond, while no " insane, idiotic, deaf and
dumb, blind, deformed, or maimed person can be landed with-
out a bond of one thousand dollars, that such person shall not
be a charge to the State for ten years." The wisdom of these
provisions cannot be doubted, and had they been or were they
now rigidly enforced, there would be but few State gjiupers in
Massachusetts. But what are the facts in the case ? By a
section in the law above cited, it is permitted to the superin-
tendent, instead of taking the three hundred dollar bond, above
named, to commute it for a head tax of two dollars, or in some
cases a little larger sum, which is termed " extra commuta-
tion," the result of which has been to destroy entirely the
vitality and life of the law, which has been perverted from its
original purpose of being a protection to the State against
pauperism, and transformed into a machine for putting in one
day a few dollars into the treasury of the Commonwealth, which
were sure to be, and have been, paid out again the next day,
and tenfold more with them, to pay for the support of these
"head tax passengers" as " State paupers." Let us look at
the figures.

Since 1854 to October, 1858, there has landed in the port of ,
Boston 101,825 passengers; and of these 36,559 had been in the
State before, 90,933 were aliens, while of the whole number
landed, but three hundred and thirty-seven were bonded,
while in 1849,1850 and 1851, five thousand five hundred and1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

43

sixteen were bonded, as per provisions of law, or sixteen-fold
more in those three years than in the last five years, though
the number of passengers arriving in that time was but 104,357
against the number given above.

Take another fact. Of the 90,933 aliens landed at Boston in
the last five years, but four hundred and four of them were
" extra commuted," while sixty-four thousand and forty-six, by
paying the meagre, pitiable sum of two dollars, had their health
and support insured for years to come, by the superintendent
of alien passengers, for and in behalf of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts. In the meantime the apparent receipts of
the State from this source have been continually declining,
falling from $50,344.47 in 1854, down to $10,455 in 1858,
while this class of State paupers has risen from 9,671 in the
same time, to 12,440 in 1858 ; and besides, there has been
refunded, according to law, during this same period, to these
" aliens," who, after paying their tax, leave the State within a
certain time, the sum of $16,278. To sum up, therefore, this
part of our paper,* we will say that the receipts from " alien
passengers since 1854 have been $137,033.91; the expenses of
collectingit, $34,000 ; " refunded," as above, $16,278 ; leaving
to the State, $96,755, not one-half of what it costs the State to
support its " alien paupers" in a single year.

In making these comments upon this branch of our public
service, let no one suppose that we mean to cast any reflection
upon the officer having charge of it, for we disclaim it in toto.
We believe that it is an office that must be continued ; that it is
filled by those who have a high and just regard for the interest
of the State, and we know that in " commuting" instead of
" bonding" the alien passengers, they follow the public opinion
of the commercial interest of Boston, which, through its
" Board of Trade," in 1856, requested the legislature of the
State not to raise the " head tax " to three dollars, lest these
" aliens" should be landed in New York, and thus Boston's
commerce be decreased and her rival's enlarged. This con-
sideration may possess weight with Boston, but the State, as a
whole, has a vital interest in the matter, and she may well say
to Boston, that if you, for commercial reasons, want these alien

* For full details, since 1837, see Tables in Appendix, " Alien Passengers."44 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

paupers landed on your wharves, you may take them and sup-
port them. Sound public policy seems to us, therefore, to
demand—first, the bonding of more passengers—second, raising
the commutation tax, and at once reducing the expense of
collecting it somewhat in proportion to the amount received, it
costing this year $7,000 to collect $10,455.

BOARD OP ALIEN COMMISSIONERS.

Next in order in the complex pauper machinery of the
State, is the Board of Alien Commissioners, who were intended
originally to exercise a general supervisory power over towns
in regard to their claims for State paupers, to investigate cases
of settlement, and to appoint agents, who were to perform, at
certain railroad termini, duties somewhat similar to those
discharged by the superintendent of alien passengers, save that
they can collect no head tax nor demand no bond, but may
return at once over the road or steamboat, by which they came,
any alien whom they fear may become at once a pauper. The
commission also possess the power of sending paupers direct to
the State almshouse, taking them from there, and also from
the lunatic hospitals, and sending them out of th^ptate or
beyond the sea, by due process of law.

Since they were established in 1851, they have paid the rail-
road agents, above named, $28,246.55 for their services, and
those persons have examined the condition of 44,568 alien
passengers overland, of which number they sent out of the
State immediately 1,964, while 165 were sent to the hospital
and afterwards removed, while the remaining 42,437 became
entitled to the benefits of our State almshouses, if they did not
become paupers within a year, but if they did, the route bring-
ing them into the State was, and is now, obliged to carry them
out again.

Another branch of the business of the commission, is sending
paupers back to their native country, and since 1854, 1,124
have been sent to Liverpool, at a cost of $17,715.51, while 5,775
have been sent to 66 other places," at a cost of $7,925.57,
making in all a sum of $25,641.07 for this branch of pauper
expenditure. To rid the State if possible of other paupers, the
commission employ an agent at an annual expense of about
$1,500, to examine into cases of settlement, and the great1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

45

saving that is effected in this way to the Commonwealth is
yearly given in their reports. The statements there made we
do not question, but we do say that if all the superintendents of
the hospitals and almshouses bear ready testimony to the value
of that agent's past services-to the State, they are also a unit in
saying that they see no necessity of his further employment, as
they themselves can gather of the inmates the same informa-
tion that he obtains, and that they would most willingly do
so; and we do not hesitate to say here that in our opinion the
duty discharged by that agent belongs to, and should be
performed by, the acting alien commissioner. In our belief,
the active legitimate duties of his office do not preclude him
from attending to it, for the State furnishes him with a clerk,
and he has the services of the two railroad agents at Boston at
his command, to do the drudgery of the office. We make
these remarks, supposing that the office is to be continued, but
in our humble opinion it should be abolished. Let the super-
intendent of alien passengers see to and have the supervision
of arrivals by sea and land, and let the agent who is to examine
into cases of settlement, be selected and appointed by the
auditor, to whom all claims for support of State paupers in
hospitals are sent, and who also audits all accounts of the State
almshouses. In this way $4,000 could be saved annually to
the State, and a commission that since 1851 has cost 165,000,
could be abolished entirely, and no harm be done to the best
interest of the Commonwealth. In connection with this subject
we would remark, that if we deduct the expenses of this 46 alien
commission" since 1853, from the "net receipts" of alien
passengers, it would reduce that sum to $50,974, and if we
take from that the sum paid to send paupers back to Liverpool,
we have but $38,258.49 remaining towards the million of
dollars it has cost the State to support its alien paupers since
1853.

INSPECTORS OP STATE ALMSHOUSES.

There is another corps of officials, twelve in number, who
have a hand in managing our State almshouses, they having
been created when the almshouses were first established. Tlieir
duties are, as defined by law, to make rules for the almshouse
and see that they are enforced, and one of them is to visit the46 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

institution once a week. As there are three to each pauper
establishment, each visits his week by turn, and once a month
the whole board together, and every three months the entire
board meets at one of the four almshouses, to discuss such
matters as they deem best, and to eaCt the best dinner that the
superintendent of the almshouse can provide for them. Their
pay is one hundred dollars per year and expenses, and since
1853 they have cost the State $9,000, besides the expenses of
their junkettings, which is as much more; in fact at Rainsford
Island, the former superintendent gave it in, under oath, that
the company brought there by the inspectors cost the State in
a single year more than $2,000.

The duties performed by these officers are slight and trivial,
yet expensive to the State, and still if our State almshouses
are to be retained, we see not how they could be dispensed
with as a supervisory power, for they confirm and approve the
subordinate appointments of the superintendent of the alms-
house, and they operate, no doubt, as check upon any abuse of
power by him, either in the management of the institution or
the use of the public funds, as they examine all his bills and
approve them before they are paid by the State; and in many
cases they advise and direct in regard to the reception and
discharge of inmates from the institution.

TOWN AND CITY OVERSEERS OF THE POOR.

This humble class of officials possess the power of committing
to our State almshouse all State paupers within their limits,
that apply to them for relief, and the cost of transporting such
persons to the State almshouse has to be borne by the place
from whence they are sent. If the State institutions are all
full the town must keep them, they receiving for their expenses
what it would cost the State to have kept them. In many
towns every travelling pauper is at once ticketed to the luxuri-
ous abode of a State poorhouse, rather than to have the town
or city pay the expense of a single day's board for him, while
in some cases paupers are sent to the State almshouse who die
on the way, or else live but a few hours or days after arriving.
This corps of local officials send most of the inmates found in
our four great pauper asylums, and they are sent from there in1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

47

turn by the officials, whose duties we propose now to notice
briefly, and that is, the

SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE ALMSHOUSES.

These four individuals are appointed by the governor and
receive a salary of $1,200 per annum and their living, with that
of their family. They are the governors of the almshouses and
each application for a discharge from one of those institutions
is made to, and granted by them, and as they exercise the power
to discharge the inmates, so their institution is full or depleted.
They yearly report to their inspectors the business of the alms-
house of which they have charge, and associated with, but under
and responsible to them, are some seventy-five other salaried
persons all kept by the State. The yearly expense of their
official corps is about 121,000 besides their board, which at the
lowest rates must cost the State $5,840 more, and these and the
officers before-named constitute the machinery by which our
State almshouses are filled and emptied. To sum them up we
have—

First. Superintendent of Alien Passengers, with two clerks,
costing the State $7,000.

Second. Board of Alien Commissioners, one clerk and five
agents, costing the State $7,000.

(Town and city overseers of the poor cost the State nothing.)

Third. Twelve Inspectors costing the State $2,000.

Fourth. Four Superintendents with seventy-five under-
officials, costing the State about $28,240.

Making a total annual expense (in these items and we have
more to give) of forty-four thousand dollars, and the pauper itself
not the recipient of a single mill of it in the shape of food,
clothing, <fcc., but every dollar spent to support the men who
send the paupers to the State almshouses and who see to them
after they arrive.

Such is the machinery in part, which eats up the people's
money in the pauper bills of the State under the present system.
And now let us look at the great reason that led the State to
adopt the system and also examine those arguments that are
used to justify its continuance.48 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

EXAMINATION OP THE THEORY OP "SELF-SUPPORTING PAUPER

LABOR."

The great idea held up before the people when the establish-
ments of the State almshouses was first agitated, was that con-
gregated pauperism could be made to be self-sustaining, and
thus that all expense to the State of supporting its State paupers
under such a system, would be simply the cost of the buildings
to cover their heads. This doctrine was first broached in the
report of 1831, and was constantly reiterated in the reports
recommending the present system, that were made to the legis-
lature in 1852, and 1853; and to-day after four years' trial of the
plan there are men who persist in the dogma and proclaim that
our State almshouses can be made to support themselves. And
we are willing to admit that as we walked through our four State
institutions and watched day by day the interior workings of
them, the question has pressed itself upon our minds, cannot
these men, women and children, be profitably employed in some
of the various branches of the State's productive industry ?

The importance of this inquiry cannot be overlooked, and no
part of the subject connected with our State charities should be
more carefully weighed and impartially discussed, for there
exists in the public mind, so far as the question of labor is
concerned, two very deep and no doubt honestly entertained
convictions, the representative of the one constantly asserting
that our State almshouses, prisons and reformatory institutions,
can and should be made to be self-supporting, while the other
side affirm that the honest laboring artisans and mechanics
of this Commonwealth, should not only, not be placed in com-
petition with criminals and paupers, but that the dignity of the
mechanic arts should not be tarnished by being learned to every
pauper and criminal within the State's limits and under its
immediate control. With this feeling of the party last named
we most heartily sympathize; but at the same time we as frankly
confess that in our opinion the position of neither party in regard
to the labor of the persons before-named never was, nor never
can be correct, and most emphatically do we believe this to be
true of that doctrine which many proclaim of the possibility of
commanding productions and profitable labor in our almshouses1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

49

and places of reformation. Without any further preliminaries
let us inquire v)liy it is, that pauper and criminal labor cannot
be made profitable to the State.

We presume that no one will dispute the self-evident truth,
that the secret spring of every persons industry is the knowledge
that they are to reap the rewards of their own labor, and are to
enjoy the fruits of their own industry. Now it is indisputable
that usually no man able to labor is ever regarded in the eye
of the law as a pauper, subject to the State's care; but the
moment the able-bodied person himself avers that he is really
a pauper, the humanity of our poor laws takes his word, and he
becomes an object of the State's charity; not from bodily
infirmity, but solely from inability to labor enough to furnish
himself or his family with his or their daily subsistence. Now
how long will such a person be a pauper,—we mean if he be
an honest person.. Of course, only till he can procure some
remunerative employment, and if while waiting for such labor
the State finds him in work and feeds him or his family, what
will be the grand result of his industry ? We answer unhesita-
tingly,.by just the least possible amount that he can produce.
He is fed and clothed by the State, his family perhaps is cared
for also, and though he might perform the labor of a dozen
men, he only does the work of a boy, for his industry, he knows
very well, will bring him no reward. The State alone is the
gainer by his exertion, and the very fact that he is a pauper,
makes him feel that the State should accrue no profit from his
hands; and if to-day, every State almshouse were filled with
able-bodied paupers, they would still be an expense to the State,
for the able-bodied, person who is not ashamed to be a pauper,
has not within his soul honor enough to make him feel that he
should try and repay the State that in his necessity gives him a
home in health and a hospital in sickness.

Thus far we have presumed that the pauper will labor with-
out being watched, but all experience proves this to be a fallacy,
and therefore the employment of pauper labor necessitates
„ directly and at once the employment of a certain number of
salaried officials to watch and direct them in their labors. Here
at once is a great additional expense to the cost of every article
produced by paupers and criminals; for it is a notorious truth that
no salaried official overseer ever earned by his own direct labor
750 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

enough to pay his own salary; and in fact, it has seemed to us
while visiting the various charitable institutions, that the great
problem to be solved in regard to these institutions was, not
how the unhappy inmates can be made to pay their way, but
how the swarms of officials we found in them could be made to
earn their own* salaries, which is about the largest item of
expense connected with certain institutions in the State that
were visited by the Committee. Upon this point we desire to
be full and explicit, for the experience of England in her work-
house systems, and of Prance, Belgium, Germany and Switzer-
land in their agricultural schools, has all been in the same
direction, viz.: that the salaries of the overseers and officials
absorbs so much, that no kind of labor, agricultural or mechani-
cal, can be made profitable to the State when carried on in
governmental institutions. The soul-stirring inducement for
the operative to labor is not there ; the once stalwart arm grows
weak, and the once active hands become sluggish, for forced
and watched industry, toil and labor, bring no direct personal
reward. We admit that we know of some exceptions to this
remark, for the Albany (city) Penitentiary that we visited 4ast
fall, in the six years from 1851 to 1857 earned $13,711 above
its expenses, and the Auburn, N. Y., State prison, shows a
surplus of earnings above expenditures in the last four years,
of $12,371; but these are as rare exceptions in this country as
are the St. Josephs Industrial School in Dublin and the Inter-
mediate Colony at Lusk, to the general result of reformatory
and convict labor on the continent; and these exceptions, so
few and solitary only make stronger the general rule; in fact,
in the two last cited cases the inmates had „a certain personal
interest in the proceeds of their labor.

In one or two workhouses in England we have noticed that
the inmates by carpet beating more than paid their expenses;
but these were most remarkable instances. We have before us
the earnings of the paupers in the New York poor houses since
1830 to 1858, and the nearest they ever approached to earning
their own living was to within $30 per year. We have also
before us the earnings of the paupers in Philadelphia, Provi-
dence and Baltimore, and the highest sum earned by them is
$16.37 per year. In Maryland, an account is opened with each v.
pauper, he being debited with what he receives, and the law1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

51

gives the superintendent power to retain him till his labor
repays the debt; while at Blackwell's Island, N. Y., the same
plan is being tried, the excess of the proceeds of the convict's
labor during his confinement, being paid to him when he is
discharged.

In this connection it may be suggested, that it might be not
only desirable, but that it would be good policy, in this State
to allow paupers some reward for their labor ; but upon reflec-
tion we think every one will see that such a step would be
radically wrong, for then the State would be in a fair way to
become the employer of every shiftless laborer in the State; it
would be the competitor of the self-supporting, producing
citizen in every market, and those who live from hand to mouth
would have a double inducement to become paupers; one that
they would be found in employment by the State, and the other
the certainty of a net profit resulting from such labor. Never
do we wish to see such a course pursued in this Commonwealth,
and while no one should be despised because he is poor, yet
every consideration of the public good demands that to pauper-
ism should be appended a penalty so severe, that without its
being unjust or oppressive, it should at the same time operate as
a preventive to any person voluntarily and willingly becoming a
public charge. It may be further urged by those who contend so
stoutly that pauperism can be made to pay for itself, that not
only men but women should be employed on, and even obliged
to labor upon our State farms, and then they would surely pay
their own way. Without stopping here to express our opinion
of the humanity or refinement of the soul, that in this Com-
monwealth would make a woman, of any hue, color, nation or
condition, a laborer in the field beside the brute oxen, and
sometimes beside more brutish men, we do say, this experiment
has been fully tried in every " workhouse union" of England and
Ireland, and the same result has always followed, and they
would not pay; for the product of the paupers' labor was as
nothing compared to what the paid laborer received, and their
pauper establishments never pay their way.

It may be said, however, that if agricultural labor will not
pay that mechanical employments will, and that they should be
introduced at once into our various State almshouses. We might
if we chose stop here and discuss the soundness of that policy52 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan,

which would place the self-supporting industrious mechanic in
competition and on the same level with the State pauper, but we
forbear now to do so, and will answer this last suggestion upon
its naked merits.

The first great objection to introducing the mechanical arts
into our State almshouses is, in the first place, the fact that
none of its inmates are already mechanics, but universally, as
the evidence of every person connected with these institutions
shows, they are laborers and those of not the best class. As a
matter of course they must learn their trade there, and what
would be the result. The number of instructors that would be
required to teach them would eat up at once all the result of
their labor, while the waste of stock by the new beginners, would
be equal to the productions of the most experienced hands.
But more than this, there is no law which obliges any man to be a
pauper. We will suppose therefore, the pauper does really learn
a trade and become an expert in it. He at once knows that he
is now able to support himself and to enjoy the fruits of his own
toil. He demands his discharge. Who would refuse it ?
Perhaps the superintendent of the almshouse. What then?
The pauper elopes and becomes a free man after having received
not only his livelihood but a good trade at the hands of the
State, and the only penalty attached to his course is " that if
within a year he becomes a State charge, he shall be sent to the
house of correction." But it may be said, let the inmates be
kept so close that they cannot get away. In that case you
change an almshouse into a prison ; make poverty and misfor-
tune of themselves crimes, an act which never will be sanctioned
by a Christian people, and should never be indorsed by a repub-
lican State.

In this connection it might be interesting to quote the opinion
of the superintendent of the Belvidere Crescent Reformatory
School, London. In speaking of the suggestion that mechanical
trades should be introduced into that school he says: " Indeed
it is an insuperable difficulty if we are to teach special trades
under the superintendence of skilled masters. The very wages
of these pasters swallow up the greater part of the profits.
Then they have not the same self-interested motives for making
their pupils efficient which influences an ordinary with his ap-
prentice."1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

53

But to this point we have something better than the opinions
of any man or the deliberate judgment of any individual. In
the State prison at Charlestown, they do have solely mechanical
trades with one exception. Many of its inmates are sent there
for long periods of time and before entering its walls they have
fully learned the various branches of mechanical industry.
They are all able-bodied males, and they are employed in the
most profitable branches of mechanical industry; and yet it
costs the State thousands of dollars per year to support them.
The same is true of the house of correction at South Boston,
and the one at Worcester; they cannot be made to be self-
supporting institutions, "and therefore the last peg upon which
to hang an assertion even, that State almshouses can be made
to be self-supporting, is knocked to the ground and proved
to be utterly fallacious, unsound and untenable ; and yet the
strongest argument against it has not yet been adduced. The
reader will bear in mind that thus far we have proceeded upon
the assumption that our State paupers male and female, are
able-bodied and of course capable of performing some kind of
labor ; but what are the facts of the c#e. Let us see.

In the month of May, 1858, there were in the State almshouses
at Bridgewater, 710 persons ; Monson, 700 ; Tewksbury, 805 ;
and Rainsford Island, 200 ; making a total of 2,425; and of these,
1,176 were little boys and girls, 488 were on the sick list, 200
were insane or demented, and only seventy were able to do any
kind of out-door labor. Upon this point the evidence of the
superintendents is unanimous to the effect, that physically these
paupers are really unable to labor, and their evidence is fully
substantiated by a sight of the miserable beings who fill the
almshouses at Bridgewater and Tewksbury. The returns of our
own town's poor prove the same fact, and the' entire proceeds of
their labor for 1858 is only $1.50 per head.

These facts show the utter impossibility of making pauper labor
productive, or in the least degree remunerative. Having exam-
ined fully the prime, and we may say in truth, the only argu-
ment that was used in favor of the erection of State almshouses,
let us examine a singular argument urged in their behalf, viz.:
that our " State pauper establishments tend to decrease the num-
ber of State paupers." The originality of this discovery in
political ethics, belongs to the Board of Alien Commissioners for54 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

1857, and by turning to their report (Pub. Doe. No. 17) the
reader will find this assertion: " In 1854, May 1st, the State
almshouse system went into operation, and in the first six months
there was a decrease of upwards of four thousand paupers. In
its first full year of trial there was a decrease of about half, and
from 1851 to 1856, the number fell from 16,154, to 7,742,
showing a decrease in favor of the present system, of 8,412."

That this statement, unaccompanied by any explanations,
might seem to be true, we presume no one would question; but
when we remember the assertion of this same board " that Mas-
sachusetts has more State paupers now than formerly, because
we have more foreigners," and come to compare the influx of
those foreigners for the year named, we shall at once see the real
cause of the increase and decrease of State pauperism.

In 1837 there was in the State 4,846 State paupers, of whom
2,870 were foreigners; while the immigration into the country
the preceding year was only 80,972, of whom only 3,258 were
landed at Boston ; but in 1851, the very first year named by that
report, the number of arrivals in the country was 405,828, or
fivefold as many as arrived in 1837, and the number of State
paupers was 16,154.

In 1841 there were 4,393 State paupers. The arrival of immi-
grants the previous year was but 92,207, of which number only
5,361 landed in Boston, while in 1853 we had 14,831 State
paupers, of whom 11,874 were foreigners ; and the year previous
there arrived in this country 391,343 immigrants, of whom
21,831 landed in Boston. In 1854 we had 9,671 foreign State
paupers ; in 1855 they fell to 5,387, in 1856 to 5,807 ; while im-
migration into the country was in 1854, 460,474, in 1855,
230,476, in 1856, 224,490, while the number landed at Boston
was in 1854, 27,48,3, in 1855,17,735, and in 1856,19,429; thus
showing most conclusively that under ordinary circumstances,
State pauperism will be increased or decreased very nearly in
the ratio of the increase of the influx of foreigners into the
country and the State. Take for instance these figures.
Number of alien passengers landed in Boston in 1837, from
January to January, was 2,594 ; number of foreign State
paupers in same year, 2,870; number arrived in 1846,15,504 ;
foreign State paupers, 4,441; arrivals of foreigners at Boston,1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

55

in 1847, 24,000 ; foreign State paupers, 7,085. Take one class
of facts more upon this point.

The whole number of State paupers supported for the nine
years ending 1845, is 48,037, of which number 28,608 were for-
eigners ; and of them 24,146 were English and Irish, and the
arrival of immigrants from these two countries in that time,
was 36,088 ; while for the nine years ending 1854 we had
113,786 State paupers, of. whom 86,252 were foreigners, of
whom 76,205 were English and Irish, while the arrivals from
those two countries were in the same time 740,961. The arrivals
of Irish into this country for 1852-54 was 492,182 ; while
for 1855-57 it was but 221,807, a decrease just about pro-
portioned to our decrease in State paupers. For in the years
first named we had 42,033 to only 28,637 in the three last
years. Thus far we have said nothing about the arrival of
foreigners into our State by land, while the fact is, that in
1852-54, 40,070 of that class of persons arrived by land,
while in 1855-57 only 26,361 came into the State by the
overland route.

With these facts showing the dir|pt and palpable effect of
immigration into the country and State upon pauperism, we
leave this part of our subject by remarking lastly, if further
proof of the correctness of our views be wanted, the pauper
returns of New York State furnish them. For with a system
unchanged in any form, in 1853, '54 she had 234,435 county
paupers ; but in 1855, '56 she had only 155,887, a decrease
about equal to that of our own. In 1837 she had but 47,774
county paupers ; in 1847,97,218; in 1852,138,720; and falling
with decreased immigration to 71,153 in 1856.

Having, as we think, demonstrated most conclusively that
the State almshouses have had nothing to do with decreasing
pauperism, let us now examine the comparative economy of the
State and Town system, for this same board of alien commis-
sioners for 1857, claim that the State plan is cheaper than the
town one can be, a statement, the correctness of which is only
equalled by the previous one that we have just examined. In
the early part of our Report, we spoke of the expenses of State
paupers in 1820. and from 1826 to 1830, and we have also
before us the expenses of this same class of persons from 1830
to 1854. But they all include " lunatic State paupers," which56 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

in our examination of the relative cost to the people of the two
systems, must not be mingled with the State pauper expenses,
as we use the word. We shall therefore begin our comparative
statements with 1845, from which time to 1859 we have the
accounts separate. Let us first give a table showing the num-
ber of persons relieved or supported, cost per head, number
of State paupers from 1845 to 1854, amount paid by the State
for their support, and the total amount paid by towns and the
State.

Years.	No. relieved orsupported.	Expenses of the same.	Cost per head.	No. of State paupers.	Cost to Towns.	Paid by State to Towns.	Loss to Towns.
1845, . . .	14,161	$301,360 47	$ 21 28	5,837	$114,160 36	$43,929 96	'$70,230 46
1846, . . .	. 15,261	301,607 08	19 78	7,022	131,894 16	33,883 47	98,010 69
1847, . . .	18,717	347,411 19	18 56	9,005	167.132 80	37,611 82	129,520 98
1848, . . .	18,693 •	372,749 75	19 40	9,431	182,861 40	52,102 51	130,758 89
1849, . . .	24,892	441,675 40	17 7M	14,083	248,879 36	56,804 71	192,074 65
1850, . . .	25,981	467,959 42	18 01	16,058	289,231 34	68,188 45	221,042 89
1851, . . .	27,624	484,688 24|	r 17 54	16,154	283,341 36	65,140 70	218,200 66
1852, . . .	27,737	476,674 33	17 15	14,388	246,754 28	55,825 30	180,929 98
1853, . . .	26,414	465,599 24	17 68	14,831	262,212 08	49,139 48	213,072 60

The reader will bear in mind that in the above table no
account is made for the cost of our lunatic State paupers, but
only the expenses of the towns are given, and it shows that the
average cost to the towns, under the old system, of every
person relieved or supported, was about $18.34, and that, as
a matter of course, what the State did not pay for its paupers,
came from the towns, making their expenses to society come in
the shape of a town, instead of a State tax. In those years,
towns received forty-nine cents per week for adult State pau-
pers, and twenty-eight cents for children, while for able bodied
adult paupers no pay was allowed.

In 1854 this whole system changes, and the State says, we
will take care of the State paupers in our own almshouses, and
then the burden of supporting them will be lightened to the
towns to the amount of the loss incurred by them yearly by
their being obliged to support State paupers at about one-half
of the expense that it really cost to maintain them. Now what1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

57

has been the actual result? We answer first, direct increased
cost to the towns for supporting their own poor. Look at these
facts.

From 1850 to 1854 the towns relieved of their own poor
32,232, and of the State's poor 61,431, at an expense of
$1,894,921.23, of which sum $238,293.93 was paid back by the
State, leaving as the net expense of the towns for the entire
support of all those paupers, $1,656,627.30. For the next four
years the towns support, of their own poor, 35,651. They
relieve (temporarily) 41,451 State paupers, and it cost them
in these four years, (besides the $596,792.16 paid in State
taxes for direct support of the State paupers in State alms-
houses,) $1,901,291.44, of which sum the State paid back
to them $78,572.29, leaving as a balance against the towns,
$1,822,719.15, being an increase over the four previous years of
$166,091.85, though there were 20.000 less persons relieved or
supported; while the State paid in the same time for its paupers
the sum above given, every cent of which was paid by the towns
in the way of the State tax, thus making the expenses of the
towns in the last four years, 185^1855, 1856 and 1857,
$2,601,897.28, against the $1,894,921.23 for the years 1850,
1851, 1852 and 1853; and yet, as we have remarked above,
there were in the four years just named, 107,756 persons
relieved or supported, and in the years 1854 to 1858 only
87,102, being a decrease of 20,000. To show the correctness
of our data more clearly still, we will now give first, a table
showing the expense of the towns for its own and the State
paupers, next the expense of the State for its paupers in the
State almshouses, then the interest on the cost of the State
almshouses for each year; for the reader will remember that in
the tables and amounts before given, when speaking of town
expenses, the interest on the town's almshouse property is
always included.

858 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

	1854.	1855.	1856.	185?.
Paid by towns, (for all paupers,). .	$457,506 51	$437,661 00	$484,869 98	$521,254 00
Paid by. the State to 4 State alms- houses, . . .	80,900 61	172,558 80	173,565 13	199,070 26
Interest on State almshouses, .	14,550 44	17,551 68	19,508 92	22,800 00
Totals, . . .	1552,957 56	$627,771 48	$677,943 98	$743,124 26

58 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Total for pauperism by State and towns in four years,
$2,601,897.28. That all this burden ultimately falls upon the
towns in the shape of town and State taxes, is an axiom that
no one will deny ; and we will now give a table like that on
page 56, with the exception of the cost to the towns, direct, of
State paupers supported, for we have no means of ascertaining
since 1854, what that ®m is, so we give in place of it the
aggregate expense to tlieState as above.

Years.	Whole No. relieved or supported.	Expense of the same.	Cost per head.	No. of State paupers
1854,......	23,125	$552,957 56	$23 91	12,814
1855,......	18,217	627,771 48	34 46	7,742
1856,......	21,102	677,943 98	32 13	8,365
1857,......	24,905	743,224 26	29 84	12,530

These figures show beyond contradiction that for every
pauper relieved or supported since the State almshouse system
was adopted, the State, or rather the people, have in the four
years named above, paid $28.08, while for the nine previous
years, under the town system, they paid but $18.30 per head.
In 1858 it had fallen to $19.02 per head. In these calculations
the little infant is rated the same as an adult; but before
speaking of that point, let us see why it is that the present1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

59

system of sustaining State paupers must cost more than it did
under the old system. We answer first, because by congregating
the paupers together, it makes these direct expenses, not incur-
red under the town system. In 1857 there were as follows :—

1.	The salaries of the officers of all the State almshouses, .	$22,299 06

2.	The board of these persons, (costing at least $1.50 per week,)	5,850 00

3.	Fuel to warm the buildings, ......	12,215 55

4.	Freight on all articles consumed, . . . . .	3,753 27

5.	Transporting paupers, .......	2,500 00

6.	Inspectors' salaries and expenses, . . . . .	1,932 08

7.	Cost of keeping buildings in repair, (as per testimony,) .	4,000 CO

8.	Cost of livery for use of Superintendent, (9 horses,) . .	1,000 00

9.	Interest on stock and trade, . . . . . .	4,889 93

10.	Junkettings at almshouses,..............3,000 00

11.	Interest on almshouses,..............22,800 00

Total,..........$79,239 89

This is a monstrous sum, but there is a larger item in the
bill than is here given, and that is the increased amount it now
costs the State for its permanent paupers. Now under the
town system most of the assistance granted to paupers was of
a temporary character, only for a brief period, perhaps for a
week or a month. We ask upon this point special attention
to these facts. The whole number of persons relieved or sup-
ported in the State in the four years ending 1853, was 107,556,
and the average number supported in the town almshouses in
that time was 18,264, while for the four years ending 1857 the
whole number relieved or supported was only 87,349, yet the
average number in the almshouses (towns and State) was
21,283, the average yearly number being in the first case 4,56.6,
and in the last case 5,320, an increase of permanent paupers of
756 per week; while there was an actual decrease of a fourth
of the number of all classes of paupers. At one dollar per
week for these persons, the increased expense to the State
would be 139,312 per year.

These facts cannot be refuted, and the follies they expose are
all the fruits of the State almshouse system, and wise will it be
for the people to heed the lesson that they teach. Before leav-
ing the financial part of this topic, let us give the cost of sup-
porting our State paupers since 1854, including the lunatic
portion of them also, which as yet we have not named.60 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan, ;

State almshouse expenses from May, 1854, to January 1,

\F%Q wf>rA ns fnllnws •-

1859, were as follows
Bridgewater,

Tewksbury, .

Monson,

Rainsford Island, .
Inspectors of almshouses,

Paid by State to towns
In 1854,

1855,

1856,

1857,

1858,

$158,979 77
241,510 66
225,256 06
148,159 98
7,204 46

$38,768 39
14,087 66
17,780 24
13,254 75
3,971 47

Paid by State to lunatic hospital, for insane State paupers:—
In 1854,......$53,085 70

1855,

1856,

1857,

1858,	(es

imated,)

52,790 40
46,994 97
54,950 00
56,000 00

Interest upon State almshouses since 1854, . 86,213 34
Cost of State almshouses, .... 338,354 19

Total expenses,

L,552,311 86

Such is the aggregate for five years, and in it we have not
included the cost of the superintendent of alien passengers,
nor the expense of the board of alien commissioners, because
they existed alike under the town and State system, but under
the former the last can be abolished. To complete, therefore,
our view of the expenses of State pauperism under the present
system, we will give the appropriation for 1858 for those
matters that pertain to it:—

Superintendent of Alien Passengers, .	$7,000 00

Board of Alien Commissioners, . .	7,000 00

State almshouses,.....	154,863 00

Lunatic paupers and others in towns, .	60,000 00

$228,863 001859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

61

We have now examined, as we hope thoroughly, the
economical part of our subject; but we are frank to say that
if our objections to the State almshouses were based upon
financial reasons only, we might be induced to yield them. But
we feel in duty bound to say that we consider the objections to
them so great in a moral, social, and sanitary point of view,
that we cannot waive the importance of it, nor hesitate to call
public attention to it in the strongest and most emphatic terms.
Let us look first at their

SOCIAL AND MORAL INFLUENCES.

In each of the almshouses, to a certain extent, the sexes are
separated, and even the boys are kept apart from the men, and
are under strict surveillance. But at night their opportunities
for free and unrestrained communication are almost without
check, and we noticed at Monson that in the morning play
hour, before breakfast, they were left entirely to themselves;
thus giving to a bad and vicious boy the amplest opportunity
to corrupt and debase his associates, many of whom, like him-
self, came from the lowest dens of poverty and vice, and who
by constant association and intercourse with those of a similar
character, keep up and even cultivate their base and evil
passions. The standard of social life around them is no higher
than it was in the dark, filthy cellar of the city, from which
they came; the language is no purer than the miserable Irish
jargon to which they used daily to listen before they were
paupers, while all around them are idling men paupers,
demented and idiotic unfortunates, and rough, coarse, ignorant
and unprincipled associates. To expect them to rise under
such circumstances would be folly, for before their aspirations
can be awakened they must be placed in a position where every
circumstance of social life is higher and purer than that to
which they have been accustomed, and where the mass of their
comrades at play and at school, will be so many lights to
beckon them upwards in social pleasures, enjoyments and
refinements. If the condition of the boys is thus sad, that of
the girls is still more so, for in every State almshouse they are
permitted, when not in school, to be with their mothers. What,
in too many cases, those mothers are, need not be described by
us; what language they hear constantly need not be mentioned,62 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

and by what associations they are daily and hourly surrounded
need not be named, save to remark that in one institution we
saw two young prostitutes that were the daily associates of the
girls, at the table, in the school-room, in the play ground and
the sleeping room ; while at all the State almshouses the girls
mingle promiscuously with the old, the insane, the demented,
the idiotic, the vicious and the lewd. If such be their girlhood
days, we ask what shall be expected of them when they ripen
to womanhood.

The condition of the women is similar to that of the girls,
for in the same room is to be found the virtuous, pious mother,
made poor by misfortune ; the old, vicious hag, made a pauper
by her vices ; the young, blooming maiden, made a vagabond
by her lechery; the pale, young, suffering, unthinking girl,
made a mother by some man's baseness, and with them close
by, old, demented, crazy women, each and all under the same
roof, while in the cribs by their bedside, lie dying foundling
children, the offspring of the base women who leave their
young to die in our State almshouses. (See Physician's report,
Tewksbury Almshouse, page 37.)

We now come to the males, and it is in their condition and
treatment that the princely munificence of the State is most
clearly seen. Attached to each of the State almshouses is a
building called " Loafers' Hall," where the male paupers spend
their leisure time in smoking and idleness. These halls are
buildings costing the State about $2,000, and their dimensions
are about 70 feet long and 30 feet wide, and two stories high,
the upper one being used usually for storage or mechanical
purposes, though at Monson the lower place is given up to the
boys, and the men, being but few in number, have a part of the
upper chamber. In this loafers' hall at any time of day you
will find the male paupers congregated. In one of them we
saw at the same time, a man who formerly stood high at the
bar in a neighboring State, yet now hopelessly insane and
uttering in our presence the most disgusting language, and close
beside him were two idiots, three colored paupers, one of them
demented, a half dozen demented Irish, and a keen, bright and
intelligent Englishman, who had fought at Salamanca, Cuidad
Rodrigo, and Waterloo; had once owned the Colchester Gazette,
in England, been a printer for twenty years at Harvard Univer-1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

63

sitj, knew Greek and Latin so that he could and had set up
thousands of pages of them ; and at the time when we saw him
he was in the full enjoyment of every faculty. Yet such were
his associates because he could not resist the temptation to
use intoxicating liquors. In the same room, filled with the
fumes of tobacco, were young men made paupers by vices not
to be named, others there from pure misfortune, and each and
all thus herded together, the virtuous with the vicious, the sane
with the maniac, the intelligent with the demented, and the
scholar with the idiot and fool for his daily companion.

Against this we protest, for it is unnatural and positively
degrading and corrupting; yet it is the legitimate and full
ripened fruit of the State almshouse system.

SANITARY VIEW OF A STATE ALMSHOUSE.

In our preceding remarks we have spoken of the moral and
social objections to our State almshouses. We now come to a
very vital inquiry in regard to them, and that is their sanitary
condition and the liability of their inmates to disease and
death, owing,—

First, To the necessity of at times (as for instance last winter)
crowding them to their utmost capacity, thus superinducing
diseases of all kinds, and

Second, The sweeping effect of any epidemical disease like
the measles and scarlet fever; as for instance, the scarlet fever
at Bridgewater the last winter, where in two months forty
children were sent to their graves; while at Tewksbury, two
hundred and nineteen persons had the measles, six died at once,
twenty died at longer periods of time, while forty foundling
infants went to their last sleep in that almshouse because there
were not those there of the inmates who had warm hearts and
willing hands to care for them as they should be cared for, in
order to make them live.

Let it be remembered that in the year ending Oct. 1, 1858,
there died at Tewksbury one hundred and fifteen children under
five years of age, at Bridgewater one hundred and sixty-five,
and at Monson sixty-one, making in a single year three hundred
and forty-one children. Who, we ask, slaughtered these infants ?
The physician or the State almshouse system ? We aver the
latter, and in support of our answer we ask the careful attention64 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

of the legislature to- the following extracts from the reports of
the institutions above named.

Dr. Brown, of the Tewksbury State almshouse, says, in
alluding to the increase of the number of State paupers last
winter:—

" The house, capable of holding not more than ten hundred
without great inconvenience, to say nothing of the health of the
inmates, last winter gave shelter to twelve hundred, on an
average, for three months. During this time, as may be easily
seen, the rooms were crowded to their utmost capacity. The
adults and larger children, who were out in the fresh air daily,
lived through the winter with comparatively little detriment to
their health. But the nurseries, containing nearly as many
women as should ordinarily be put in rooms of their size, had
in addition as many infants and small children as adults.
These children, on account of their tender age, or other rea-
sons, having seldom had an opportunity to leave their rooms
during the winter, began towards spring to show decided evi-
dences of that unhealthy condition caused by breathing vitiated
air. Just at this time a severe endemic of measles broke out
in the house among this enfeebled class of children. The
hospital wards were soon filled with patients, and three other
large rooms were set apart for the sick, and every convenience
possible under the circumstances was rendered to assuage their
sufferings. The older children attacked by the disease, who
had had daily out-door exercise, got up well, with one or two
exceptions; but the younger, who had been confined in-doors,
as above explained, suffered severely. Of the whole number —
two hundred and nineteen — who had measles, six died in the
acute stage, and twenty others lingered, some for weeks, and
some for months, dropping away with complicated maladies;
while others, dating their sickness from the measles as the
starting point of their trouble, slowly recovered. My attention
was directed to this subject at the time, and on investigation it
was found that the largest number of these secondary deaths
occurred in patients from those rooms that had been most
crowded with mothers and their little children during the
winter."

Dr. Hastings, of the Monson almshouse, in speaking of the
number of deaths at that place, remarks:—

" More than one-fourth the number of deaths were occasioned
by tuberculous disease. This mortality might be considered
large in proportion to the number of cases treated ; but it must
be remembered, that in an institution of this kind it is impos-
sible to give the sick that change of air, exercise, and diet,1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

65

which is necessary to a successful treatment of this form of
disease."

Dr. Coggswell, of the Bridgewater almshouse, very pertinently
says in liis report:—

" During a larger part of the past twelve months our house
has been crowded with inmates far beyond its capacity. During
the winter and most of the spring months, we had over eleven
hundred inmates. The largest number we can accommodate
and preserve the general health of the inmates, is about eight
hundred.

" Since our number has been lessened—as it always is some-
what during the summer months—we have enjoyed a remark-
able share of health, and our mortality has been very small.
In the month of May we lost eight adults and sixteen children ;
June, ten adults and two children ; July, five adults and two
children; August, nine adults and two children; September,
seven adults and one child; making in all, for the'last four
months ending September 30,1858, thirty-one adults and seven
children, against forty-eight adults and forty-six children, which
we lost in the four corresponding months of last year, and
sixty-three adults and sixty-two children which we lost during
the four months ending May 31, 1858. Although our number
of inmates has decreased nearly one-half, yet we had no reason
to expect our deaths would decrease in the same ratio ; yet they
have, and more, for the number of deaths the past four months
is only one-third that of the previous four; for the inmates
who have been discharged were mostly well and strong, while
the sick, the halt, the decrepit, and the weak children, are left
behind."

Such are the moral, social, and sanitary objections to the
congregated pauper system, all of which would be obviated
under the town system ; for then the children of the paupers
and the paupers themselves would be so scattered that the
moral and social influences around them would be increased
in every respect, while physically, in health and sickness they
would be cared for in three hundred different places, thus
lessening in just that ratio their liability to the epidemical
diseases in the four State almshouses, and they would have the
care, direct and personal, of the keepers of the almshouses,
and the skill of the physicians in so many different towns. All
these attending blessings would diminish the liabilities to sicfc-
966 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

ness and thus diminish pauperism; and it would decrease the
number of deaths and thus add to the enjoyments of life, while
boyhood and girlhood ripening to maturity amidst the pure
influence of country life, would become in their riper years,
honest, temperate, industrious and self-supporting members of
society.

One other objection to the State almshouses may be here
urged, and that is the inducement they offer for mothers to
have their little ones in them, or else close to them, when they
at once find their way there. Dr. Brown, of Tewksbury, thus
alludes to this evil:—

" The other subject to which I would refer is the mortality
of our motherless infants. Most of these, no doubt, have
mothers living, who have sent them to the almshouse by some
one of the following expedients :—The mother may have aban-
doned her infant in the street, or left it with some family,
without providing for its board; or, through the assistance of
some friend, or would be benevolent individual, she may have
obtained a situation at'service, while the child, in such case, is
sent to the almshouse, to almost certain death. Or she may
have absconded from the institution, leaving her infant to its
fate. No less than forty of these almshouse orphans, as they
may properly be termed, have died the past year ; thirty-two of
which were less than one year of age, the others between one
and two. No recorded statistics are at hand, but probably not
more than three per cent, of these orphans, of an age less tlia^
one year when they enter the almshouse, live."

gDr. Coggswell, of Bridgewater, in remarking upon the death
of children, says:—

" A large number of " foundlings " and orphans are sent here
during the year, from two or three days old, up to six months
or a year of age. Some have lain in the streets through one
• night, and have gone without nourishment, no one can tell how
long. They are mostly illegitimate and diseased. By the time
they get here they are almost dead, and soon die ; it is almost
an impossibility to bring one up in one of these institutions, as
the statistics too truly show. Some thirty of our deaths have
been amongst this class."	~

More evidence, if necessary, in regard to this matter might be
'cited, but we forbear, and ask every reader to ponder these1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

67

figures of the various State almshouses. At Bridgewater, out
of the 2,209 persons who were supported in the house during
parts or the whole of the year, 1,568 were admitted to the
hospital, and 287 died; or one death in less than every eight
persons. At Tewksbury, there was 3,586 different inmates ;
1,843 were on the hospital books, 227 died, or one in sixteen,
while at Monson, 2,938 were supported, 1,032 went to the
hospitals, and 102 died, being about one in twenty-eight; thus
showing that while the average number of paupers per week in
the places above named was 2,787, the total number of deaths
was 666, or about one in four to the average number of inhabi-
tants constantly residing there. These facts are not only alarm-
ing, but they call out loudly for a remedy, and yet the worst of
the case has not been told, for to the shame of the towns be
it said, that under the State almshouse system, they receive a
premium, as it were, for sending the dying State pauper to the
State almshouse, instead of caring for him themselves. Dr.
Coggswell, at Bridge water, in his report thus states the facts in
three cases, and we know of others of the same character:—

" Several cases have been sent here the last year, in a state
which our laws ought to prevent, if humanity does not forbid.
I will mention only one or two cases, as samples. During the
fall of 1857 a young man was brought here on a bed, some
twelve miles ; his disease was phrenitis. He was in a state of
profound coma when he arrived here, and remained so till he
died, as he did in a few days after his admittance. About one
month since, a woman was sent here in a carriage some ten
miles, who had been sick with typhoid fever for two or th^p
weeks; in less than thirty-six hours after she was admitted sle
* died. That her death was caused by her being removed while
in so low a state, or, at any rate hastened, I have not a shadow
of doubt. I will mention only one more case : on the twenty-
first of the present month (September) a strong robust man
was sent here who had been sick with pneumonia for some four
or five days; he reached here about five o'clock, P. M., in so
weak a condition that he could not stand up, and was almost
entirely insensible. It was evident to anyone not acquainted
with sickness that he could not long survive ;#he died about
midnight, seven hours after his admittance. Could such cases
as the above expect any medical assistance of ours to avail any
thing ?"68 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

DISADVANTAGES OF STATE ALMSHOUSES.

To sum them all up in brief they are,

1.	The complicated machinery by which they are and must
be conducted, they requiring commissioners, inspectors, super-
intendents, <fec.

2.	The large number of salaried officials which they require.

3.	The liability of the misappropriation of the State funds ;
$160,000 being disbursed by the four almshouses.

4.	The large sums required yearly to keep them in repair,
when there are in the State two hundred and twenty-five other
almshouses, with plenty of room, which if fully occupied, would
cost no more to keep them in repair than is now expended upon
them.

5.	To the cost of repairs, add the expense of schooling the
children, who would be schooled in the towns with just as
much, and in fact with more thoroughness, and without increas-
ing the expense of the town schools a single cent.

6.	The risk of subjecting to the whims, caprices and rules of
a single man—advised to a certain extent by three inspectors—
the comfort, happiness and well-being of eight hundred souls,
men, women and. children, idiots, insane, demented and
decrepit.

7.	The cost to the towns of conveying State paupers to the
State almshouses.

8.	The impossibility of finding places for the children, and
productive labor for the inmates, their numbers being so large

the cost of salaried officers to oversee them, absorbs the
entire result of their labor, while the shortness of the time that »
the able-bodied ones are in the almshouses, prevents their learn-
ing or ever pursuing any mechanical trade that is profitable to
the State, and the inducement to the lowest class of foreigners
to become paupers, by placing before their eyes four almshouses
more handsomely built than any dwelling in which they ever
lived or hope to possess, more comfortably furnished for the
well and sick tfian are a majority of the dwellings of the native
born industrious and virtuous poor of the State, and a larder
fully stored with better and more cleanly food than they ever
ate at their own sideboards, or is even found in many humble
homes of the indigent, who would scorn to be paupers.1859.]	SENATE—No. 2.	69

Lastly, and the greatest evil of all, it creates and perpetuates
paupers, by accustoming all the children in them to an easy,
happy life in an almshouse, where they are well fed, clothed
and instructed, so that the inducement for them to labor for
their own support—and that of their parents—is completely
lost sight of; for as is said by one who for twenty years was
governor of an English workhouse, " when children awe brought
up in a workhouse they never have a disposition to shun it."

Such then are the disadvantages of the present system in
connection with the social, moral, physical and financial objec-
tions that exist against it; and at this stage of our comments,
the question forces itself upon us, What is the true remedy
for the evil? We answer without hesitancy that two better
systems suggest themselves to our mind; the one, the old and
tried system of the State prior to 1854, and the other a new
system yet untried upon the scale which we shall propose and
urge it, and yet its general principles are in full and practical
operation in an adjoining State. Let us first examine what could
be accomplished by a return to what is so well known as the
town system of supporting State paupers. We answer that its
positive advantages would be,

1. The complete abolition of the entire corps of salaried
officials now connected with the State almshouses, they costing
the State $28,000 annually.

2d. It would secure the disbursement of the expenses for the
support of State paupers, amounting yearly to from $100,000
to $172,000, directly by the tax payers themselves in their own
localities.	♦

3.	It would save all expense to the towns and the State in
transporting State paupers from one section of the State to^
another, thus saving directly more than $6,000.

4.	It would prevent the reckless squandering of the State's
money by careless and ignorant State officers, who hold their
places, not from merit, ability or worth, but by political and
partisan favor. '

5.	It will render every pauper's labor more productive and
useful by distributing them to every almshouse in the State,
where they can at once find labor on the farms or in families,
and from the small number of them that would be in every70 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

town, they would all, when able to work be under the eye of
the town agent.

6.	It will prevent able-bodied men from wintering in our
almshouses, because in every town they can an$ would be put at
work, in opening the roads, cutting wood in the forests, and
ditching swamps and other kinds of labor always available in
towns, but impossible to obtain in sufficient quantities in those
places where our State almshouses are located, owing to the
number of men congregated in only three different towns.

7.	It would facilitate the binding out and apprenticing of
orphans and other children, by scattering them over the whole
State, and thus placing them where they will be accessible to
every family in the Commonwealth who desire to take or rear
them/or even to hire adults or children for a limited time.

These we believe to be the advantages of the old system, and
if that is to be adopted we would say give to the towns eighty
cents per week for adults and fifty cents per week for children.
Let us see what our State paupers would cost us under this
plan. We are obliged to take for our data the year 1857, as
the report of the board of alien commissioners for 1858 does not
distinguish between minors and adults in giving the aggregate
for the year ; but then this makes no difference, as the proportion
of each class for every year is about the same.

Now the average number supported in all the almshouses in
1857 was 2,283; but on the 30tli of September of that year,
there were in them 2,423, of whom 1,336 were adults and 1,087-
minors, while in May, 1858, there was 2,425 State paupers at
th^|same place, of whom 1,249 were adults and 1,176 were
children; so that if we take as the average for each of the two
years, (for the average /or the whole year of 1858 is 2,783,)
1,333 adults and 1,200 children, we shall not be far from right,
and at the rates we have named it would have cost the State to
maintain them only $86,652.80 per year, instead of the 1160,000
it paid for keeping them in the State almshouses. But it will
be urged here that what we save to the State we take from the
towns. But here again we are upon sure footing. .The super-
intendents of all the almshouses have sent to the committee the
cost per head of feeding each pauper, and it averages less than
fifty-five cents per capita, while at the Worcester hospital,
where the living is of the first class, yet none too good, it cost1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

71

but seventy cents per week to feed the inmates; so that at the
least calculation si sty cents per week would cover the cost of
the raw material consumed by the pauper in the town alms-
houses, and the ^remaining twenty cents per week for adults
would comfortably clothe them; for we have the evidence of
the superintendents of the lunatic asylums at Taunton and
Worcester, that it costs only about ten dollars per year to
clothe the State paupers there.

The next item is the children, for whose support we propose
the sum of fifty cents per week. This we admit will not pay
the cost of supporting them, but we propose to fix this sum
low for these reasons: First of all to lead the towns to bind out
pauper children and apprentice them to trades, as they now
have the power to do ; second, to force the towns to train every
child in its almshouse to some kind of productive labor ; and
lastly, to deter parents having children from voluntarily becom-
ing paupers, by the penalty that if they do so, the towns by
force of circumstances will at once bind out their children.
Here we would give the towns the right to reckon as a pauper
the able-bodied minor until he or she was fourteen years of
age, beyond which period we would have no allowance made
by the State to the towns for their support.

We presume that it will here be said that we ourselves have
shown by our tables that even by these prices the towns will be
losers if the State is a gainer. Let us see.

The reader will remember "that in that account interest on
the town almshouses is in all cases added to the cost of support-
ing the pauper, and that this item, in a town that has butlfewe
pauper, is all upon his bill of expense, and in another town it
is apportioned perhaps upon forty or fifty. Now what does
this item of " interest" amount to ?

Take the years 1851, 1852, 1853 and 1854, and at six per
cent, per annum the interest upon the town almshouses in
the State was $306,525.06, which deducted from the sum
$833,246.13, which it claimed that the towns lost by supporting
State paupers, and we have left $526,721.07 as the loss for
support alone. But let us remember that at that time, towns
had but forty-nine ©ents per week for each adult pauper; we
propose eighty cents. For children they had twenty-nine cents ;
we propose fifty, giving them beside the labor of the pauper.72 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

And from the united testimony of the superintendents of the
State almshouses, we believe that the sums named by us will
cover all legitimate expenses incurred by the towns.

But it is said again, that if we return to^ the town system,
that towns will make fraudulent claims for support of State
paupers, and it will be said that in 1851, 121,330.80 of such
claims were rejected by the State. We answer this by saying
that if in every year such claims, equal also in amount, were
paid in full, then under the town system our paupers would
cost us j$50,000 per year less than what they now do. But
what is really the fact in regard to these false claims? We
have the authority of the board of alien commissioners of 1854
for saying that they were made under a misapprehension and
ignorance of the law, and the following facts prove the correct-
ness of the assertion.

In 1851, as cited above, claims to the amount of $21,330.80
were rejected ; .but in 1852 they fell to 13,468.05, and in 1854
to $3,808.53, and in 1857 to $1,964.15, thus proving conclu-
sively that the charge of wilful fraud against the towns is not
warranted in the least degree. But if need be to guard against
false claims, let some officer like that one now employed in
such business, visit the towns and audit their bills and inspect
their paupers, for we would have no towns draw a farthing for
the support of an able-bodied adult pauper, many of whom are
now kept in our State almshouses, especially during the winter
months.	•

But there is still one more argument urged against the town
sjdtem of supporting State paupers, that we must notice, and
that is, that by so doing we render our town almshouses less
comfortable for our own native poor. This argument at first
seems very plausible, but upon a moment's reflection every
candid mind will see that it is devoid of all weight whatever.
In the first place, in every city or large town, the number of
both classes will be so large, that if desirable, a complete
separation can be made of them, while in small towns every
well-ordered and decently-arranged almshouse can separate
and classify its inmates to such an extent as the comfort and
happiness of both classes require, which we know is done
already in many towns. But let it be understood that while*
we might desire such a separation of the two classes, we do1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

73

not believe that the public demand it. For, we would ask, how
does it happen, that if our people are so sensitive in regard to
putting foreign and native born paupers together, that we hear
no complaints of the public against the herding together of our
State lunatic paupers and self-supporting citizens in the three
lunatic hospitals of the State ? Is insanity more of a crime
than pauperism ? Of course not. Both are misfortunes, the
first being the greatest; yet to that class who deserve more com-
miseration than all others, is denied the very privilege that
some claim for our paupers, viz.: that of classification by
birth and past position in social life. We admit, however,
that we do believe in such a classification of our insane, but
still we are in duiy bound to say, that when visiting the New
York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, we expressed this same
opinion to Dr. Gray, its gentlemanly superintendent, and at
his request we attempted, in one of the large halls, and among
the most numerous class, (for in the building are thirty-six
classes of patients,) to single out the State or county paupers,
from the others; but in almost every case we failed, and he
assured us that he should look upon such a separation, by
caste, as a positive injury to both classes of patients.

But still we are willing to say here, that if the towns should
really desire such a separation, we would allow them by law
to associate themselves together for the support of their State
paupers, in a place distinct from their town almshouses, as is
done in a State to which we shall soon allude. We would
also give to towns the same power in regard to binding out
&dult paupers, as is now given to superintendents of State
almshouses by chapter 168, Acts of 1857.

So far we have argued for a return to the old town system in
preference to the State almshouse system, but our own humble
opinion is, that an entire new system can be adopted that will
be for the best interest of the State and the towns, and that plan
is to repeal at once our laws regarding " settlements," and
oblige every town and city to support and maintain all the poor
within their own limits, with the single exception of paupers
not having been in the State one year, whom we propose to
deal with in another manner. Before discussing the merits of
this plan, we ask the most candid attention of the legislature'
1074 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

to an examination of the laws of the New England States in
regard to u settlements " and " State paupers."

In Connecticut it is provided that " No foreigner or person,
who is not an inhabitant of this state, or of some state, district,
or territory of the United States, who shall come to reside in
any town in this state, shall gain a settlement in such town,
unless admitted by vote of the inhabitants, or by consent of the
civil authority and selectmen of such town, and a majority of
such civil authority and selectmen, convened and acting as one
board, shall be a quorum for that purpose."

Next, six years' residence by a citizen of the State or United
States, in any town, without being warned to depart to the
place to which he belongs; or a stated residence in such town
where the person claims residence, of one year, preceding the
time he claims to be an inhabitant, he having been admitted by
vote of the civil authority, or held lands or real estate in the i
State in his own right in fee to the value of $334, the deed of
which shall have been recorded one year, and he having resided
in such town one year next preceding; or if he shall have been
possessed in his own right in fee, of real estate to the value of
$100 free from any incumbrance, in the town to which he may
may have removed for the term of one year, then he becomes a
citizen and can claim support of the town if he becomes a
pauper.

In Rhode Island a settlement is gained by the following
process:—

1.	A married woman follows and has the settlement of her
husband wherever it may be, but if he have no settlement she
retains her settlement before marriage, and in that case the
husband follows and has the settlement of the wife.

2.	Legitimate children follow and have the settlement of
their father till they are twenty-one, if the father before that
time have a settlement in any place in that or the other United
States, and shall retain such settlement till they gain one of
their own; but if the father has no settlement any where, they
are to follow and have the settlement of the mother.

3.	Illegitimate children follow and have the settlement of
the mother, but in no case do illegitimate children gain by birth
a settlement, if neither of the parents had a settlement there.
(Massachusetts laws the same as the preceding three sections.)1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

75

4. Minors serving three years' (in this State four) apprentice-
ship at a trade in any town, and within three years after (in
Massachusetts one year) said apprenticeship expiring, being
twenty-one years of age, setting up and carrying on the trade
five years, shall have a settlement in such town, but being hired
as a journeyman shall not be called setting up a trade. (Mas-
sachusetts same.)

• 5. Any person twenty-one years of age, having an estate of
inheritance or freehold in the town where he shall dwell and
have his home, of the yearly value of $20 over and above the
interest of any mortgage which shall be thereon, and taking
the rents or profits thereof for three successive years, whether
he lives thereupon or not, shall thereby gain a settlement in
such town.

6. Any person twenty-one years of age, having an estate
which shall be of the value of *$200 over and above any mort-
gage or incumbrance which may be thereon, and being assessed
for the same in the state and town taxes, and actually paying
the same five years successively in the town where he dwells
and has his home, shall thereby gain a settlement. (Same as in
Massachusetts, save that in our State the person must be " a
citizen of this or any other of the United States," and the estate
be worth $200, or the income at twelve dollars.)

Sect. 2. Every legal settlement when gained, continues until
lost or defeated by a new settlemerft; and upon gaining a new
settlement all former ones are lost and defeated. (Same in
Massachusetts.)

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Settlements obtained the same as -by the first, second, and
third provisions of the Rhode Island law just quoted.

4.	Any person twenty-one years of age, having real estate to
the value of $150, or personal to the amount of $200 in the
town where he dwells and has his home, and paying all taxes
duly assessed upon him or his estate, four years in succession,
gains a settlement therein.

5.	By being admitted by vote of the town or by being town
clerk, treasurer, selectman or overseer of the poor. (Same in
Massachusetts.)76 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

6.	Citizens of unincoroporated towns, upon such places being
incorporated, become citizens of the new town. (Same in
Massachusetts.)

7.	Upon the incorporation of two or more towns into one,
citizens of either town become citizens of the new one. (Same
in Massachusetts.)

8.	Upon the division of a town the lawfully settled person
absent at the time goes with the town in which he last resided.
(Same in Massachusetts.)

10. Any person of the age of twenty-one years, who .shall
have resided in any town in this State, being taxed for his poll
. seven years in succession, and shall have paid all taxes legally
assessed upon his poll and estate during said term shall thereby
gain a settlement in such town. (In Massachusetts, ten years'
residence and payment of taxes as above five years, and to be
" a citizen of this or any other o'f the United States.")

Sect. 2. No person to gain a settlement by birth, and no
town liable for the support of a person unless they have gained
a settlement under some law passed since December 31, 1795.
Every settlement to continue until a new one was gained, and
then the old one was lost.

VERMONT.

First, second and third sections in regard to settlement, like
Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

4.	Every person of full age who shall reside in any town in
this state, and whose ratable estate held in his own right,
beside his poll, shall be set in the list of such town at the sunl
of 13 (formerly $60) and upwards, five years successively, shall
thereby gain a settlement in such town, and so passed in 1856.

5.	If a person was chosen and served as town clerk, select-
man, overseer of the poor, treasurer, lister, (?) constable or
grand juror, or being chosen in either of said offices one year,
and in another one, one yeaj, he gained a settlement.

6.	Admitted by vote of town at a legal meeting held for that
purpose.

7.	By residing and having his home in an unorganized town
one year a person becomes a citizen of that town when it is
organized.1859.]	SENATE—No. 2.	77

%

8.	Seven years successive residence in a town as a self-sup-
porting citizen, gave a settlement.

9.	Settlements in divided towns same as New Hampshire and
Massachusetts, so also in regard to settlement gained and lost.
The act not to defeat any new settlement begun. (Same in
Massachusetts.)

MAINE.

Sect. 1. Paragraphs first, second and third, same as Rhode
Island law, sections first, second and third.

Paragraph four relates to effect upon settlements by division
of towns, and is the same as Vermont.

Paragraph five. Any minor serving apprenticeship to a trade
in any town four years, and actually setting up the same therein
within one year after the expiration of said term, being then
twenty-one years of age, shall gain a settlement therein.

Paragraph six. Settlement gained by five years' continued
residence in any town without receiving any supplies or support
as a pauper.

Paragraph seven. All persons resident in any town on the
21st of March, 1821, and who had not one year previous to
that time received any supplies or support as a pauper are
deemed to have a settlement in the town where he dwelt and
had his home, unless they may have subsequently acquired
some other settlement under laws existing for the time being.

Paragraph eight. Five years' residence in an unincorporated
place gave a settlement when it was incorporated as a town,
and if the party had then resided there less than five years,
upon the completion of that term of years he became a citizen,
if in the time he had not been supported as a pauper.

Sect. 2. All existing legal settlements were to hold until
new oiies were obtained, then the old ones were lost.

Sect. 3. Settlements began under old laws not to be defeated
by this.

Such are in brief the laws of settlement in the New England
States, not one of them agreeing in full with another, and each
and all of them differing in many respects from those of
Massachusetts. The result is, that as each of these States
have most stringent laws against leaving paupers within their
limits who have no legal settlement in their towns, it is a very78 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

delicate matter for a Massachusetts man to send to Vermont
or New Hampshire what he believes to be one of their own
paupers. If their laws are complicated and go back to the
last century, Massachusetts does the same, but it is a singular
fact that every State named by us keep in their hands a weapon
to beat off pauperism that is now unknown in this State, though
in our colonial days it was used and made an effective statute.
We refer to the power given to the towns by the States named,
to order any person not legally settled whom they fear may
become a pauper, to depart from the town under the pains and
penalty of the law if he dare return. The result of such a law
upon a State situated as Massachusetts is, must be apparent to
every one. Every pauper driven from the States that encircle
her, finds his way to our hospitable soil. He builds his mis-
erable cabin by some low, unhealthy marsh, ekes out with his
family for a little while a miserable and meagre support, and
then becomes a State pauper. The towns have no interest in
effecting his removal, the State has no knowledge of his
lodgment, nor laws to prevent it, and for the last five .years
the vile paupers of Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hamp-
shire and Rhode Island have been poured in upon us, and
while our State pauper expenses count up to $230,000 per
year, theirs is literally nothing. Look at Connecticut the only
State out of the whole that supports as a State, a State pauper.
What does this class of persons cost that State ?

In 1847,11,500 ; 1848, $1,100 ; 1849, $1,100 ; 1850, $2,229;
1851, $2,200; the same in 1852; in 1853 only $1,785; in
1854, '55 and '56, but $2,200 per year, and only $1,800 in 1857.
Of the other States, Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont recog-
nize ho such persons, excepting criminals ; but the power of the
towns to warn them off protect them most amply in regard to
being burdened by them. What then is it best for Massa-
chusetts to do ? We answer,

First. Let her alter her laws of settlement in such a way
that a shorter residence in the towns will be required to effect a
legal settlement.

Second. Let her simplify the law in such a manner that the
fact of settlement can be determined at once by the humblest
citizen, instead of basing it upon some Act, dating back of even
1767.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

79

The law of New York seems to us to be a model in this matter,
for it declares in simple language that " every person of full
age, who after this chapter shall take effect, shall be a resident
and inhabitant of any town for one year, and the members
of his family who shall not have gained a separate settlement,
shall be deemed settled in such towns." It then provides that
a minor may be emancipated from his or her father and
gain a settlement.

1.	A female by being married and living one year with her
husband, in which case the husband's settlement shall determine
that of his wife.

2.	A male being married and residing one year separately
from the family of his father, or

3.	By being bound as an apprentice and serving one year by
virtue of such indentures.

4.	By being hired and actually serving one year for wages to
be paid to such minor.

Married women. A woman of full age by marrying shall
acquire the settlement of her husband if he have any ; and until
a poor person gains a settlement in his own right, his settlement
shall be deemed to be that of his father or mother.

Now these provisions of the law are plain and simple, and
the adoption of such a law by Massachusetts would be pro-
ductive, we believe, of the most beneficial result, for,

First. It would put a stop at once to all future litigations
between the towns themselves and the towns and State in regard
to the settlements of town and State paupers.

Second. It would increase at once the receipts of the towns
in the shape of taxes. 'It is a fact too notorious to be denied,
that under the present laws of settlement, the towns purposely
avoid levying a tax upon very many poll tax payers, in order to
prevent them gaining a settlement in the town by " ten years'
residence and paying taxes five years successively." The result
of this policy is, that a large sum is thus not only lost to the
towns, but to the State, which under the present law has to
support the pauper. But let the towns understand that by a
year's residence such a person gains a settlement, and they
will either tax them, or else, exercising the power that we
propose to give them, they would order the expectant burden
to the public to remove at once.80 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Third. It would bring all the expenses of pauperism in the
State immediately and directly under the control and manage-
ment of the places where such paupers were made and where
they were to be maintained, thus insuring rigid economy in
their management, and

Lastly. It would insure the employment in large manufac-
turing towns of the persons brought there by its corporations
or individuals, for they would then know that if they threw
them out of employment in their factories and workshops,
they would have to sustain them in their almshouse.

We know it will be objected to any change in our laws of
settlement, that they are already so well understood that uny
change would only complicate them. But we answer this by
remarking that the very simplicity of the language of the New
York statutes and the single requirement for citizenship that
it imposes, do away at once with this objection. Changes in
the laws in regard to settlement are no new innovations. In
the early day of the colony, three months' residence without
order to leave, gained a settlement; then it was raised to one
year; then by Act of 1787 to two ; then by Act of 179B to five
years.

In Rhode Island equally numerous changes have been made.
It is also a well known fact that the,very fundamental principles
upon which settlement was formerly based have been changed
entirely. Originally, the common law made no provisions for
paupers, but in the time of Richard the Second, an Act was
passed " directing beggars and vagrants to be driven to the
towns where they were born, and there to continually reside
during their lives." After the promulgation of this law, birth
gave settlement, and when our forefathers came to this country
they brought this law with them. In 1741 it was acknowl-
edged by Rhode Island, (and by other States before.) But
about 1767 it began to be superseded by a statute law, and
now every New England State declares the contrary doctrine,
that birth shall not give settlement. Circumstances demand
these changes, and neighboring States are not slow to adopt
them. New Hampshire modified or changed her laws of settle-
ment in 1777, 1791, 1796, 1816 and 1828; Rhode Island in
1727, 1741, 1767, 1798, 1822, and 1857 ; Vermont in 1797,
1801, 1807, 1817, 1850, and 1856; and Maine in 1821, and1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

81

1840. These precedents are sufficient to prove that a change
of the l*ws of settlement are not dangerous experiments.

Following these changes in our laws regarding settlement,
we would next give to every town and city the power to order
any and all persons to depart whom they feared might become
paupers, and then after giving them this weapon, we would say
to them, you as towns and cities must sustain the poor of all
classes within your limits. The State of Maine adopted this
policy as long ago as 1821, Vermont in 1797, and New Hamp-
shire, (putting the expense upon counties,) in 1796.

$rom the operation of such a law we would, as New York
does, except those paupers who have not been in the State a
year. And to pay their expense we would have set apart, of the
commutation tax upon alien passengers, one dollar per head;
the rest if any were needed, to be paid by the State. Beside
the power we would give the towns, to order persons that might
be liable to become paupers to depart, we would also give
them authority to levy a pauper tax upon all aliens within their
• limits, and upon all corporations and individuals just in pro-
portion to the number of aliens that each employed; said tax
to pay the expenses, so far as possible, of supporting the alien
paupers in the towns or cities where it was levied. The advan-
tages of this system over all others we consider to be, not only
the same as those urged in favor of the old town system, but
also embracing those named in the preceding page.

We have spoken above of what we deem to be the advantages
of the system named by us. Let us here say a word of its
justice, with especial reference to the whole State. Without
stopping here to discuss the causes of pauperism, we may say
without fear of contradiction, that it is in the cities and large
towns that the greater proportion of our State paupers are
found. Of the 7,100 inmates in our State almshouses in 1858,
2,719 were from Boston, or more than one-third of the whole
number. Lowell sent 480, seven cities and towns sent 4,000,
and twenty other cities and towns 909, while three hun-
dred and three towns sent only 789. Boston, with a popu-
tion only seven times larger than Worcester, sent seventeen
times more paupers to the State almshouses than did that city,
while Chicopee, with a population but one-third as large as
Worcester, sent as many paupers to the almshouses, lacking
li82 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

55, as did the city we have cited. Lawrence sent 174, yet
it has six thousand souls less than Worcester, which sent but
157 ; while Palmer sent 1,184 and Tewksbury 196, nearly all
of whom were travelling paupers.

Now the cities that we have cited above are manufacturing
cities. Their monster corporations import by the shipload the
employees who fill their mills, do the base drudgery of their
workshops and their degrading, ill paid, menial services in every
branch of business. They allow them to erect in their cities
and towns the most miserable shanties for dwellings, or^else
the capitalists, who profit by their labor, do it in their stead.
In them are made the paupers of the State, white the rich
corporations which employ them fatten by the profits upon their
labor, and when they become paupers, turn them over for sup-
port to the towns of the Commonwealth, who have never
received the first cent advantage from their labor. We say,
therefore, it is but an act of justice to the whole State, that
the towns and cities who have profited by the labor of these
foreigners, whose population has been increased by them, and*
whose real estate has been enhanced in value by the manufac-
tures in their midst, that they have been imported to carry on,
should pay the expenses of supporting them when they become
a public charge. Of the seven cities named above, the foreign
population constitutes—in Boston, 61.75 per cent.; Lawrence,
71.66 ; Lowell, 54.17 ; Roxbury, 63.70, and Chicopee about 33
per cent. Bach and all of these places, through their corpora-
tions and capitalists, encourage the growth of their foreign
population, and make them the competitors of our native born
citizens in every branch of productive industry, manufacturing
or otherwise. That they should pay for their support in just
that proportion in which they employ them, seems to us to be
the dictate of a sound and just policy.

Should this or the plan first named meet with the approval
of the legislature, the question may be asked, how can we
empty our State almshouses ? We answer—

1.	Let there be no admissions into them after May 1, 1859.

2.	Return the able bodied paupers of all classes to the towns
and cities from whence they were sent, in case any remain in
the almshouses after July 1, 1859.

3.	Send all the insane, demented* idiotic and incurables to1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

83

Tewksbury prior to July 1, at which time Rainsford Island,
Monson, and Bridgewater should be vacated.

4.	Sell at public auction all the furniture and personal
property in the superintendent's department, and also the
stock and utensils on the farm, and all machinery, provisions
and articles of consumption remaining in the almshouse and
on the farm, and with them the fixtures in the school-rooms
and settees in the chapels.

5.	Send the ready made clothing for adults to Tewksbury,
as well as all drugs, medicines, instruments and medical books.

6.	Send all piece goods at Monson and also the library, to
Northampton Hospital, and the clothing for boys and girls
divide among the towns that receive that class of paupers. At
Bridgewater make the same distribution and sale, sending the
piece goods and clothing for adults to Taunton, its drugs, &c.,
to Tewksbury, and its library to the Reform School for Girls at
Lancaster.

7.	Send all the bedding and bed clothes, old and new, at
Monson, to Westborough ; and the same things at Bridgewater
send to Tewksbury, to which place should also be sent all the
crockery and cooking utensils of both state almshouses, that
are used in the pauper department.

8.	All the fixtures and clothing for infants in the almshouses
we would give to the towns that receive them. The iron bed-
steads, some fifteen hundred in number, should be kept for the
future use of the other State institutions, and the wooden ones
should be allotted to the cities and towns that might wish for
them, in proportion to the number of paupers received by them.

9.	All other property not named, to be disposed of as the
inspectors of the almshouses might deem best for the State's
interest.

10.	The farms to be retained by the State, but to be leased
to any city or association of towns that might desire them, as
a home for their paupers, said towns or city agreeing to keep
them in repair and paying for the rent of the same, the amount
of which rental should be determined by the highest amount
bid for their use, by the parties desiring them.

11.	Rainsford Island, with all its fixtures, to be kept solely
as a Quarantine Hospital, with a keeper, whose salary should
not exceed $800 per annum, or else to be leased gratis to the84 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jail.

city of Boston, they keeping it in good repair, upon condition
that all persons sent there from vessels arriving in port, should
be boarded and taken care of by the city at rates not exceeding
the expense of that class of patients at Deer Island Hospital,
and in case of any disagreement between the city of Boston
and the State auditor as to what was a fair compensation, each
party to select a referee, and they two the third, their award to
be final.

The number of quarantine patients sent to Rainsford Island
is very small. In 1858 only 9 were sent; 1857, 4; 1856, 16 ;
1855, 4; 1854, 62 ; expense in all these years for such patients
being paid by the owners of the vessels.

TEWKSBURY STATE ALMSHOUSE.

The readers of this Report will have noticed that we have
exempted from the State almshouses that we would have
emptied at once, the one named above, for while believing,
as we most firmly do, that every principle of economy and
morality demands the abolition of our State pauper institutions,
still there are social reasons associated with pecuniary induce-
ments that lead us to recommend the continuance of that
institution, which should, we think, be kept exclusively for the
special use of the State, for the following purposes:—

1.	As a retreat for such lunatic State paupers as can be
renioved there from our lunatic hospitals without detriment to
their health or bodily comfort.

The advantages of this movement to the State can be shown
in a few lines. On the first of October, 1858, we had in our
three lunatic asylums 414 insane State paupers, costing the
State from $2.75 to $3 per week, making at least a cost to
the State of $5,000 per month. Of this number 200 could be
sent to Tewksbury with positive advantage to themselves and a
clear saving to the State of $300 per week, or $15,000 per year.
In support of this statement, we have the testimony of all the
superintendents of the hospitals, who agree in the opinion that
such a course would be for the advantage of the State and also
to the patient.

2.	The next class of persons that should be sent there are
the insane, demented, idiotic and bed-ridden paupers already in
our State almshouses. To return these poor, unfortunate and1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

85

miserable beings to the towns would be a great social and
physical evil, and we therefore recommend that all paupers
of this character now in the State almshouses be still main-
tained by the State direct. From data furnished us by the
superintendent we think that there are about 200 of this class,
which if allotted to the towns would cost the State, at 80 cents
per week, about $8,320 per year, while no doubt at the place
named for their reception they would cost the State $11,000 ;
yet we believe that every one will agree to the wisdom of the
course suggested by us if the State almshouses are to be
abolished.

3.	No doubt many more persons will become, in the future,
State and town paupers, and fall into the classes named above ;
and to some, perhaps most towns, it would be very burdensome
to sustain them. We therefore propose that all towns that may
in the future be burdened with such State paupers, may have
the privilege of sending them to the State depot, by their paying
the State twenty cents per week for each person so sent, so
long as they remain there ; and if they are town paupers they
shall pay $1.50 per week for their support.

4.	The classes above-named would probably give about 600
inmates, and as the place will accommodate a thousand, we
propose that towns or cities may send their State paupers there,
excepting minors, under the condition above-named until the
institution is fall, and then the town or city first applying
should be entitled to priority in the admission of its paupers.

Should the institution which we have named, now the most
perfectly equipped one in the State, be set aside for the uses
above specified, the school, of course, must at once be discon-
tinued, the able-bodied paupers and children be returned to the
towns and cities sending them there, (Tewksbury excepted,)
the personnel of the establishment be remodelled, and the livery
upon the place be cut down to a horse and carriage for the super-
intendent, and no fancy stock ought to be kept by him.

The almshouse as thus remodelled would then cost the State
less than it now does, while its income from the towns and the
saving in State lunatic paupers would make it an economical
establishment for the State. Should this plan be adopted, 500
feet of hose should be immediately furnished for the use of the
building and a force pump be connected with the engine. The86 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan*

government and control of the institution should be the same
as now, excepting that the superintendent of the asylum at
Taunton should make a monthly visit to the place and have the
power to remand to any of the lunatic hospitals from which
they were sent, such insane inmates as he deemed fit subjects
for an lunatic asylum.

Such are our views in regard to paupers and pauperism in
the State. We have expressed them fully and frankly, but
with no expectation of their meeting with the approval of those
to whom they are submitted. Yet if the facts that we have given
shall awaken and call public attention to the burdensome taxes
that pauperism places upon the shoulders of the people, we shall
feel that our labors have not been unproductive of some good ;
and if it be objected by any one that the changes we propose
are great innovations, we beg them to remember, as Lord Bacon
says, that " time is the greatest innovatorand if time, of
course, alters things to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall
not alter them to the better, what shall be the end ?

DEXTER P. PARKER.[Although the subjoined paper relates to a state of things which no longer
exists, the Committee deem it too valuable to be omitted, in making their
Report. The prompt action of the Superintendent and Inspectors of the
Almshouse at Bridgewater, have already supplied the deficiencies of the insti-
tution so far as was practicable, and no special legislation upon the subject
seems to be necessary. Nevertheless, the Committee are of opinion that the
high professional standing of the gentlemen whom they consulted, and
especially the large experience in the management of pauperism, possessed
by Dr. Huntington, (who has been a member of the Board of Inspectors for
Tewksbury Almshouse, uninterruptedly, since its establishment,) make it
expedient that their views, upon topics of such vital interest, should be per-
manently recorded.]88 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Hon. John Morissey and

D. F. Parker, Esq.,

Gentlemen : — Agreeably to your request, the undersigned visited
the State Almshouse, Bridgewater, on the 15th inst., with the view of
reporting to you, upon its sanitary condition. One of our number
(Dr. Homans) made a visit to the institution a few weeks before for
a like purpose, at the request of its inspectors,* and accompanied by
several eminent physicians of Boston. Since that visit, and prompted,
doubtless by the suggestions of these gentlemen, and also by intima-
tions of your own, some essential reforms have been, and others are
about to be introduced, in the general mode of managing the sick and
invalid. We believe there is an entire unanimity of opinion among
us all, who have had our attention called to the subject, as to what
constitute the prominent causes of the large mortality at the Bridge -
water house. We speak of the causes, as they have existed heretofore,
especially during the last winter. Foremost among them may be
mentioned the overcrowded state of the house, and, as intimately
connected with it, its miserably poor and imperfect ventilation.
These conjoint causes cannot be separated; they co-exist. In pro-
portion as the ventilation is more perfect, the evil of numbers would
be less apparent. If the necessity of the case requires that an
unduly large number of persons be admitted into the house, the only
partial remedy that remains is to give it thorough ventilation. Pure
air is absolutely needful for perfect health, and just in proportion that
it is vitiated, it is injurious to health; and as the deterioration goes
on, it becomes unfitted for the purpose for which the God of nature
intended it, and induces disease and death. No drugs, no medicines
can supply the place of the pure element, and none can remedy the
evils a want of it entails upon the sufferers. These may all seem
truisms, nevertheless, they do not appear to have received a fair share
of consideration, in the internal arrangements at Bridgewater. It may
be difficult to say what precise number of persons the house will safely
accommodate, yet an approximation, sufficient for all practical pur-
poses, may be attained. In our judgment a maximum number should
be fixed, and when that is reached, the house should be full. The
hospital rooms, male and female, the boys' school-room, and the
sleeping rooms generally, should all be better ventilated. The want

* P. H. Mitchell, Esq., then recently appointed, with the concurrence of his associates, requested
Dr. Homans, with other medical gentlemen, to visit the institution to ascertain the causes of the
great mortality then prevailing, in the early part of May last.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

89

of ventilation, by proper means, creates a necessity for keeping win-
dows open at unsuitable times and seasons, and hence comes an
exposure to cold and drafts of air, often highly injurious to the invalid
and even to the well.

OPTHALMIA.

There is one terrible disease to which children, especially those
drawn from the purlieus of large cities are particularly liable, when
collected together in large and crowded numbers. We refer to the
peculiar form of opthalmia or " sore eyesfound in our almshouses.
The children should be narrowly watched, and every precaution taken
to prevent the approach of this insidious and formidable disease, by
suitable ablutions and especially by providing good pure air. When
it makes its appearance, as it is pretty certain to do occasionally, in
spite of all preventive measures, the infected should at once be
segregated from the healthy, placed in a ward by themselves, and
subjected to appropriate treatment. This has recently been more thor-
oughly done, and we may hope, in consequence, that this scourge will
hereafter be less severe than formerly. We took occasion to recom-
mend, that the walls and ceiling of the sore-eye ward be colored green,
hence affording a softer light to the inflamed and suffering organs.
One great improvement we were happy to see had been introduced
into the boys' department, that instead of washing in one trough, or
common water receptacle, each boy was supplied with a jet of pure
water for himself.

DIET AND THE PREPARATION OF IT.

The matter of diet for the young children, and for the invalids,
generally, and the convalescents is one that particularly engaged our
attention. Its very important bearing upon the health and lives of
these inmates invests it with an importance that cannot well be
overestimated. It is an essential part of the treatment, that if neg-
lected or misdirected, renders all else of very little avail or benefit.
For all the invalid classes, including the convalescents, we think the
diet has been too nutritious, or, in common language, too hearty. It
has been the custom to prepare it in the great cook-room of the house,
where it is very little likely, even if possible, to be done as it ought.
We recommend that a convenient room be fitted up with the necessary
cooking apparatus, and that all the food for the sick and convalescent
be prepared there, under the supervision of the head nurse, and of a
kind and quality directed by the house physician.

1290 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

THE INSANE AND IDIOTIC.

Quite a large number of insane and idotic persons are found at
Bridgewater, and there will, doubtless, always be more or less of this
class there. It is believed that the incurable insane paupers, who
only need kind treatment and safe keeping, may as well be provided
for in the almshouses as in the State lunatic hospitals, and at very
much less expense to the Commonwealth. This course will tend to
relieve the lunatic hospitals, already crowded, which is certainly desira-
ble. But, in our judgment, a separate and distinct, but inexpensive
building, should be erected within the line of the yard for the purpose.
This will not only insure a more complete separation of the insane,
which is in itself desirable, but the rooms now occupied by them
may advantageously be appropriated to another class of persons, and
allow a more perfect classification to be established, a matter very
much needed. The three classes, the sick, the convalescent and the
healthy, should each be separated from the others, and not mixed up
in confusion inextricable ; and this may in greater measure be done
by removing the insane out of the main building.

The male hospital we think would be improved by removing it up
one story, provided a good ventilation be secured. We dwell upon
this subject of ventilation, for the reason that we believe the want
of it to be one of the most palpable and potent causes of sickness in
the Bridgewater house. How or in what way it may be best sup-
plied, we presume not to say ; but we do most earnestly and respectfully
invite your attention to the matter, with full confidence that through
you some efficient measures will be adopted by which the inmates of
the house will receive a fair share of the pure wholesome air of
heaven, a boon to which the poor are as well entitled as the rich, and
which should be common to all alike.

Among the minor matters connected with the institution, we
observed an entire absence of cradles. We think they would promote
the comfort of the great number of infants found in the house, and
we recommend their introduction and use.

KAINSFORD ISLAND HOSPITAL.

You will pardon us in alluding to one subject, that may at first
thought be regarded as out of the line of inquiry, to which our atten-
tion was to be mainly directed; yet we think it has an incidental
bearing upon it, and as it comes clearly within the range of your
investigations, a suggestion from us, we trust, will not be regarded
as impertinent or obtrusive.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

91

Rainsford Island hospital is maintained at great expense to the
Commonwealth. Is it fulfilling all the Commonwealth has a right to
expect from it ? It was established no doubt mainly with a view
of taking ship-fever patients, and other contagious cases, as they
arrived in emigrant vessels; but when we are having none such, or
next to none, as has been the case for the last few years, why not fill
it up with other sick paupers ? Why send convicts there from the
police courts of Boston ? It was built for the sick—it is supplied
with all the appointments and appliances for their care—it is furnished
with a medical staff, and why should it not perform all the work of a
hospital ? It is of easier access, especially for the sick, from Boston
than is Bridgewater or even Tewksbury. Why should these institu-
tions be filled to overflowing, while the hospital especially designed
for the sick, remains half tenanted by a few select patients ? Here
appears the bearing of the questions upon the general inquiry before
us. One prominent cause of the mortality at Bridgewater is the
crowded state of the house. To obviate or lessen this cause, the
admission into it must be limited, and Rainsford Island might be
used to aid in effecting this limitation. We propose two ways of
accomplishing the object in view. First by removing all the insane
and idiotic into a separate building at the Bridgewater almshouse ;
and second, by obliging Rainsford to take her quota of the sick. By
these united processes we believe the desired end may measurably, at
least, be accomplished.

SUPERINTENDENT, PHYSICIAN, ETC.

To insure the highest success of such institutions as those at
Tewksbury and Bridgewater, where the responsible head is not him-
self a medical man, the most entire harmony and spirit of co-operation
should exist between the superintendent and the physician. In all
that relates to the sanitary condition of the house, the wishes of the
latter should be fully carried out. It would be manifestly unjust to
hold him responsible for that which he cannot completely control. To
what extent any such want of hearty co-operation may have existed
at Bridgewater, and how far it may have induced hesitancy and inde-
cision on the part of the physician, we cannot say. We think there
has been something of it. The superintendent, as is well known to
all, is a most excellent and energetic officer, who sees to it that disci-
pline, order, and neatness reign throughout his domains; but he may
not, nay, he would barely be likely, not being a medical man, to
appreciate all the wants and needs of the sick and invalid, nor fully
comprehend the necessity of a more rigid rule of diet for this class.92 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

All these things come within the doctor's sphere, and while his power
to direct concerning them should be unqnestioned, the directions
themselves should be implicitly followed. Let him have the entire
control of this department, and then be held responsible for the
results of his practice. We think it very desirable that a consulting
physician of large experience and great weight of character be con-
nected with the house, and we respectfully recommend that such an
one be appointed by the inspectors. His visits need not be frequent,
nor would the necessary expense be large. But there should be some
one of established reputation, whose opinions would have influence
with the resident physician, and upon whom he might call and rely
in any emergency. Such an oversight of the institution on the part
of one qualified for the position by his wisdom and experience, could
not fail to have a salutary effect. In this connection, we might say,
in regard to the resident physician, that we consider him doubtless
well read and instructed in his profession. He lacks an enlarged
experience, a want that time will remedy. In the meanwhile he
stands in the more need of a sagacious and able adviser.

Upon full reflection, we are constrained to believe that the great
difficulty at Bridgewater has arisen from the want of a due attention
to what the old physicians called the non naturals, such as air, food,
exercise, and the like, rather than the want of skill in the administra-
tion of drugs and medicines. That the former have been too little
regarded, we have, no doubt, but how the responsibility should be
divided between the inspectors, superintendent, and the physician,
and the blame be meted out to each, we do not undertake to decide.
There has been no intentional neglect on the part of any, but a want
of proper, thoughtful care.

LEAD AND ITS EFFECTS.

The water that is supplied for the use of the house is brought
through fifteen hundred feet of lead pipe, and deposited in two tanks,
one of which is lined with lead, and from thence distributed throughout
the building. A question very naturally arises, is it safe to use water
thus exposed to contact with lead, and liable to act upon it ? To
solve this doubt we brought away with us a bottle of the water,
which was subsequently submitted to Mr. Charles T. Carney, a very
competent chemist, and by him analyzed. Mr. Carney reports to us
that it contains "quite an appreciable quantity of lead." This metal
is well known to be an active poison. When taken into the stomach
for a; length of time, it produces highly injurious effects. These are
often shown in a peculiar set of symptoms, but not uniformly. The1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

98

deleterious action of this article upon the human system is manifested
in various ways, and often no doubt exists unsuspected. Upon
inquiry we could not learn that the common types or forms of lead
disease had been discovered among the inmates of Bridgewater. But
lead, nevertheless, is a poison, and its persistent use cannot be
regarded as safe. Like bad air, the human system may resist its
noxious influence for a while, but sooner or later it will work out its
legitimate results. No reason * exists for using lead in preference to
some other substances for water conductors, save only its superior
cheapness, and this will not justify the risk and danger incurred by
even a slight exposure to so deadly and subtle a poison. We recom-
mend that a safe substitute be found for the lead pipes, and the lead-
lined water tanks.

CONCLUSION.

We believe, gentlemen, we have touched upon the chief causes of
any extraordinary mortality at the Bridgewater State Almshouse.
We think they are amply sufficient to account for it. We therefore
respectfully recommend that the admissions to the house be limited
to a reasonable number; that the insane and idiotic be removed from
the main structure into a cheap building to be prepared for them;
that the most complete ventilation the case admits of be established;
that an entire reform be introduced into the dietary of the sick, the
invalid and the convalescents, and a suitable place be provided for the
preparation of their food, independent of the general cooking of the
house; that a better classification and separation of the sick and con-
valescent from "each other, and from the healthy, be established; that
a complete isolation of the sore-eyed children from all others be main-
tained, and that all lead pipes and water tanks lined with this metal
be removed, and other material substituted therefor. Such changes
being made as herein indicated, we see no reason why the Bridge-
water should be any less healthy than its sister institutions. We
could discover no external causes of disease, such as stagnant water?
exposed filth, or insufficient drainage. On the contrary every thing
about the premises bears the appearance of great order and clean-
liness.

The Commonwealth, so profuse in her liberality for the relief of
the poor, the unfortunate, and the suffering, will surely not grudge
the comparatively small expenditure necessary to put the Bridgewater
house into such a safe condition as the health of its inmates demands.
We are aware that the subjects <5f our State almshouses are the worst
possible to deal with, largely made up, as they are, of men and women94 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

of broken down and diseased constitutions, the victims of vicious and
criminal habits and indulgences, and of children of diseased parents,
and infants deprived of their natural guardians, and ,of the suste-
nance nature designed for them. We do not think the physician will
gain any laurels for the treatment of such, while he must often be
painfully reminded of the insufficiency of his art, however judiciously
directed, successfully to combat such terrible agencies. Something
however, we hope much, may be done to mitigate the evils and suffer-
ings with which he is surrounded, and a reform in the right direction
can hardly fail of doing substantial good.

Very respectfully, we are your obedient servants,

E. HUNTINGTON.
JOHN HOMANS.

June, 1858.LETTERS

OP

HON. THEODORE LYMAN

RELATING TO

THE STATE REFORM SCHOOL,

ADDRESSED TO

HON. ALFRED D. FOSTER, OF WORCESTER, AND
WILLIAM T. ANDREWS, ESQ., OF BOSTON.

WITH SOME LETTERS OP MR. POSTER, OCCASIONED THEREBY.

[Copied from the Originals.]96 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster,

Sir,—I have lately read a Report and a Resolution of the legislature
on the subject of a Manual Labor School. I have also seen an adver-
tisement which the commissioners appointed to conduct the business,
have just published in regard to it. I know few objects more desirable
to accomplish than the reformation which an institution of that kind
contemplates and which, I have little doubt, but that it can to a con-
siderable degree effect.

I have been for five or six years a manager of the Farm School, a
charitable institution situated on Thompson's Island in Boston harbor

The object of this school, though a private incorporation, is not very
different from that proposed by the Manual Labor School. On that
account I have had a good deal of practical acquaintance with the class
of boys which it is probably intended to 'receive into the institution
for which you are one of the commissioners. I am rejoiced that the
State has entered on this business, because I am sure that a vast deal
of good can be done in a simple and easy way and without a great
expense in proportion to what shall be obtained. As one citizen, I
feel a great desire that the enterprise should be undertaken and a fair
trial made of its results. I am, therefore, ready and willing to make
a donation in money to the school as soon as I find that I have formed
a correct idea of what the legislature propose to accomplish. I may
as well add, however, that the view taken of this matter by Judge
Washburn, in a letter of March 11th, 1846, addressed to a committee
of the legislature, is in general terms what my own observation and
experience have taught me to be a just and correct one. I have to
request that this communication may be considered in all respects a
private one, and as addressed to you alone, for I am obliged to express
myself in general terms till I obtain a more definite account than I
now possess of what it is intended to do. I have taken the liberty of
addressing this letter to you in accordance with a request accompany-
ing the advertisement I have alluded to.

I am, sir, your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Brookline, June 22, 1846.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

97

Alfred Dwiglit Foster to Theodore Lyman.

Worcester, Jane 29, 1846.

Sir,—I duly received your favor of June 22, and thanlc you for
your benevolent interest and intentions in regard to a State Manual
Labor School. The commissioners have as yet done nothing more
than advertise for the offer of land for a site for the institution. They
have not discussed the subject at all, in detail, and are just in that
situation—at least I can say so for myself—in which they would be
glad to receive information. I presume from your connection with
the Farm School and the attention you have given to this matter, that
you may have specific views which would be of service to the com-
mission. Would it be taxing your kindness too much to ask you to
spread upon paper the opinions which you do entertain. And so far
as agreeable to you to mention your purposes in such way that I may
be at liberty to communicate them to the gentlemen with whom I am
associated. I seems to me that this is a plan for doing good which
should and will meet with general favor in the community ; and I
rejoice that among the earliest evidences of it is your letter indicating
not only interest in it, but a disposition to give it substantial aid.

I am, sir, most respectfully, your servant,

A. D. FOSTER.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of June 29. By the
terms of the Resolution, I find that the State have appropriated ten
thousand dollars for the purpose of establishing a State Manual Labor
School. I do not think that that sum is sufficient to have an experi-
ment of the results of such an institution fairly tried. And as I
consider it exceedingly important that a school of the kind should be
founded in this Commonwealth, I am willing to give to it a similar
sum, namely, ten thousand dollars.

It will most meet my convenience not to pay this money before the
first day of January next, but if it should be much wanted, I will pay
it at' an earlier day. I attach but one condition to this donation, and
that is, that the name of the donor shall not be known (for the present
at least), to any one but yourself It will of course be necessary for
you* to communicate the fact of the donation to the gentlemen asso-
ciated with you in the commission, but I am particularly solicitous
•that the name of the party making it should be withheld; so much so
1398 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

that I shall take it as a favor if you will not allow my letters to be
seen, for my handwriting maybe known to some persons ; it is, at any
rate to Mr. Walley, with whom I have the pleasure of being acquainted
for several years. Three or four weeks ago, Mr. Walley, knowing
that I had been connected a long time, with the Farm School, asked
me to send him such suggestions as might occur to me on the subject
of a Manual Labor School. I told him I would do so, and I intend
this week to put in writing whatever of a general nature I think may
be of use. I presume that this will fulfil the objects you had in view
in expressing a desire to me to the same effect.

I remain, sir, your obedient and faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Bkookline, July 6, 1846.

Alfred Dwight Foster to Theodore Lyman.

Hon. Theodore Lyman,

My Dear Sir,—Accept my most cordial thanks for the offer con-
• tained in your letter of the 6th instant. I can assure you that the
gentlemen associated with me, and all friends of the State Manual
Labor School, (which I hope may include all the inhabitants in the
State,) will regard your donation as an instance of enlightened, liberal
and generous benevolence. The condition imposed upon me shall be
faithfully complied with until such time as you may willingly remove
it. Your proposed communication to Mr. Walley will answer all my
wishes in regard to knowing your views. I think the commissioners
will meet early in August; and I hope they may, soon after their
meeting, be prepared to select a site for the institution, and proceed
to obtain plans for its buildings.

I remain most respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. D. FOSTER.

Worcester, July 8, 1846.

Alfred Dwight Foster to Theodore Lyman.

Worcester, August 31, 1846.
My Dear Sir,—From the deep interest you have felt in the matter
of a State Manual Labor School, I think it no more than proper to
intimate to you what progress we are making. In reply to the adver-#1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

99

tisement for the offer of farms, we received many letters and many
verbal communications. We have looked at some ten places or more,
and have not yet absolutely decided. But we found one farm of 180
acres in Westborough, owned by Lovett Peters, Esq., lying on the
north end of Chauncy Pond, having principally a southern and eastern
aspect, and rising from the shore of the pond by a gentle acclivity, to
a height overlooking the surrounding country and the whole pond ;
about twenty acres in wood, and the remainder pasturage, mowing
and tillage land; buildings not very valuable—price $9,000. We
have thought this place combined so many desirable points that we
have taken a bond for its conveyance, if-we elect to take it by October 1
next. It is two and one-half miles from the railroad depot in West-
borough, the road leading to it being either a level or rising gradually
to the highest part of the farm. The land lies in one body on the
west side of the road. The population in the vicinity is only a farm-
ing population, of respectable character. Bricks can be obtained
within two or three miles, and there are boulders enough on the
premises to split for cellar and foundation stone. The place pleased
me more than any thing I have seen for a long time. I should be
glad of your opinion, if convenient for you to look at the place, and
agreeable to you to let me know what you think of it. After this *
week I shall be absent ten or twelve days, and immediately after my
return we shall wish either to close the bargain for this place or make
further inquiries.

I remain, very truly and respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

A. D. FOSTER.

Theodora Lymdn to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I had the pleasure of your letter of August 31, in
due course of mail, but I was not able to go to Westborough until
yesterday. I consider the situation of Mr. Peters's farm a beautiful
one and not only suitable but favorable for your purposes. The soil
is good, as I infer from the appearance of the apple trees and the spon-
taneous growth of some hard wood trees, such as the walnut. The
farm contains sufficient variety of surface, such as wood, land for tillage
and mowing and pasture, the pond always furnishing abundance of
water for the animals. The situation will, I believe, be found to be
a dry one, the pond itself being apparently on gravel or sand. The
* spots for building are elevated, even the lowest enough so. If you100 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

build at A (see plan) you have a south or south-west aspect. If on
the other hand you should think it desirable to be farther removed
from the road from Westborough, and should put your buildings at
B, you have a south-east exposure. Perhaps on the score of security
and retirement B may be a preferable spot. The pond is a handsome
sheet of water. I was glad to see that the shores were gravel or sand.
Where the shores of fresh water ponds are soil, quantities of wild
plants grow on them.and when the water recedes in the dry season,
many of these plants perish, a great accumulation of vegetable matter
takes place which of course rots and more or less corrupts the air.
We have no fever and ague in New England, but I have sometimes
been led to think that in the neighborhood of large sheets of water
with the sort of shores and banks I have mentioned, a low typhus
fever more regularly prevailed in the autumn months than in dryer
situations. The supply of water for house purposes may be a little
uncertain. There are now two wells about 22 feet deep ; one at the
barn is occasionally dry ; one at the new house (stone colored) is 42
or 43 feet deep and furnishes a great supply. But I understand that
in digging it, they went through a great deal of what we call here dry
gravel. Such diggings in general do not give much water, though
* the water in the present house well is very abundant. The situation
in reference to other parts of the Commonwealth is good and the
access to this farm from Westborough itself is very easy. Another
advantage of this situation, I think, is, that though you may in fact
make your buildings and inclosures secure and retired, and the shore
of the lake will aid you much in both particulars, yet after all, the
whole is exposed to view, though a distant one, from the south-east
end of the pond. The effect of this will be good on the boys and will
do no harm to others.

I saw Mr. Peters, but I did not mention my name to him, as I do
not wish to be known in connection with this school, except as feeliag
a general interest in its welfare and success.

I am, my dear sir, truly your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Brookiine, September 22, 1846.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwigkt Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I am anxious to hear whether the commissioners
have purchased Mr. Peters's farm at Westborough or not, and also, if
it is proper to make the inquiry, how extensive a plan for the school
they intend to recommend to the legislature.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

101

In regard to the farm, I wrote you on the 22dof last month on that
subject, having paid a short visit to Westborough the day previous.

In about a month I shall remove to Boston where I pass the winter
My house is No. 8 Mount Vernon Place, very near the State House.
If you should come to Boston, I hope that you will give me the
pleasure of a visit.

Very truly your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Brookline, Oct. 29, 1846.

Alfred Dwight Foster to Theodore Lyman.

Hon. Theodore Lyman,	#

Dear Sir,—I have delayed writing to you, that, when I wrote, it might
be with more definiteness than I could at any time before this. The
commissioners have decided to take Mr. Peters's farm—the whole of it
—thinking it better to secure at first as much land as will ever be
wanted, and feeling confident that if it should be found to be more
than is desirable, the parts net needed may hereafter be sold, without
loss worth regarding. They will recommend an establishment capable
of accommodating 150 boys at first, and of being enlarged, without
destroying the symmetry of the buildings, so as to receive 300, if so
much room should be. required,

They have not yet fixed upon a plan to be recommended, but their
idea is that there should be as little as possible the appearance of a
prison, at the same time that perfect security from escape is attained ;
and without ex pending much if any thing for mere ornament the^ hope
to obtain a plan which will not be unsightly. The contract with Mr.
Peters is that the money shall be paid on or before the first day of
January next, and that he deliver the deed when the money is paid.
It has occurred to me that it might be agreeable to you to have your
generous benefaction used in the purchase of the site rather than have
it mingle with the money of the State, in the construction of the build-
ings or any of the other expenditures. It would be pleasant to be able
to report to the legislature that so noble a donation had been made,
and thus in part expended ; still the value of the donation is the same
and the merit of making it the same however you may choose to have
it expended. If you should find it inconvenient to pay it at the time
Mr. Peters must be paid, or for any reason should prefer not to have
it thus used, it will be necessary for the commissioners to ask of the
governor and council a warrant on the treasury on account of the
appropriation by the legislative resolve. I believe the next session of102 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

the council will be about the first week in December, and I should be
pleased to be informed of your wishes before that time. I shall be
happy to pay my respects to you at your house in the city, when
opportunity for it offers.

I remain most respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. D. FOSTER.

Worcester, Nov. 6, 1846.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster,

My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of the 6th instant. With
the notice that has now been given me, it will be perfectly convenient
for m|jfco pay the donation I have made to the State Labor School in
season to enable the commissioners to make their payment to Mr.
Peters. Early in December I will let you know the day on which
I will make the payment. And in the meantime I shall be obliged
to you to devise a mode (and inform me of it) by which the amount
of the donation can be paid into your hands without its being known
from whom it is received. Any arrangements will be agreeable to me
provided I can maintain my incognito.

I am very much gratified that you should propose to appropriate this
donation to the purchase of the land ; no disposition of it could be more
pleasing to me. I put a great value on the State Manual Labor School,
and I am therefore exceedingly desirous not only that it should begin
well, but that it should meet with an evident and decided success,
and on that account deserve and secure the approbation and support
of the community.

I do not think that a measure, costing an equal amount of money,
care and attention, could have been devised that would in the end
diminish to a greater degree, vice, crime and suffering in the Com-
monwealth. I have done something towards helping to found this
school; I am willing to do something towards helping to maintain it.
I will, therefore, now agree to pay for the use of the Manual Labor
School in January, 1848, (or make the amount a charge against my
estate) the sum of five or the sum of ten thousand dollars ; provided,
first, that the State will contribute a sum equal in amount to what I
shall contribute ; and provided, second, that the present commissioners,
or other persons duly acting for the Commonwealth, shall be of the
opinion that the further sum of ten or twenty thousand dollars, as
the case may be, received from the two parties just mentioned, can be
usefully employed for the school. I attach no conditions to the way
in which my second donation, whether of five or of ten thousand1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

103

dollars, shall be appropriated. But it has occurred to me, that a fund
might be established for giving those boys a start in the world, that
are discharged under meritorious circumstances, or of providing some-
thing to enable all properly discharged, to enter on a respectable course
of life. The moment in all cases is a trying one for a boy when he
leaves a school of this sort, and in many cases is, in fact, what may
be called the critical period of his life. A kind hand, therefore, held
out to a poor lad just then, even for a short time, may not only secure
and continue to him all the good that he has obtained in the institu-
tion, but may also place him in comfort and respectability as long as
he lives. In regard, however, to this second donation, whatever may
be the amount of it, you will permit me to say that it is again and
still earnestly my wish that my name should be known to no person
but yourself, at least for the present. So far, therefore, as tti^iame
of the donor is concerned, this second donation to the State Manual
Labor School is offered on the same conditions as the first.

I am, my dear sir, your faithful and obedient servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Brookline, Nov. 17, 1846.

Alfred Dwight Foster to Theodore Lyman.

Worcester, Dec. 5, 1846.

Dear Sir,—I ought to have acknowledged your last letter some
days ago. The money can be paid to me by being placed to the
credit of L. Lincoln Newton, cashier of Worcester Bank, at the New
England Bank, which I believe may be done without its being known
for what purpose it rs paid. Or if you prefer it, I will go to Boston
and receive it from your own hand, and give you a receipt. This I
can do and return the same day, in season to pay Mr. Peters, if you
can fix a day, and an hour between 10 A. M. and 1 \ P. M. when I
can see you. Perhaps this will be the better way. Your continued
interest in and benevolence toward this school (which we propose shall
be called the Juvenile Reform School) certainly demand the gratitude
of all who wish well to the enterprise. Your last offer is exceedingly
liberal, but it extends beyond the sphere of the present commissioners,
as it is designed for the benefit of the boys after the institution is
established or even after their discharge, and is conditional upon the
appropriation of a like sum for a like purpose by the legislature. We
cannot doubt that the legislature will appreciate your offer and in some
form meet your views, but we hardly feel authorized, now to make any
recommendation in regard to it, as the first object will be to obtain from104 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

them sufficient appropriations for the building and furnishing the
establishment. We propose therefore, with your leave, to mention the
fact of your generous offer and copy that part of your letter in which
you state your purpose, that the legislature may fully understand your
intentions. I communicated your letter to my colleagues by copying
so much as related to this subject, and have since seen and consulted
with them; but your condition of secrecy has been scrupulously
regarded.

A. D. FOSTER.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

M^pear Sir,—I have received your letter of December 5tti. I am
exceedingly sorry to put you to any trouble in regard to the payment
of the donation, but as there are some objections to making the
deposit you mention, I know of no other way than to place the bills
in your own hand. I shall be ready to make this payment towards
the end of next week. I will therefore be at my house, No. 8 Mt-
Vernon Place, at half past ten o'clock, morning, on Friday, the 18th
instant, or any day after that, excepting the 25th, which is Christmas,
that you will select; but I must beg you to give me seasonable notice
of the time when I may expect the pleasure of seeing you. If, how-
ever, it should not be convenient for you to come to Boston on one of
the above days, I will endeavor to make another arrangement. As
to the receipt you speak of, I presume that a few words would be
sufficient; for example—Received this day of T. L. the sum of ten
thousand dollars, a donation by said T. L. to the State Manual Labor
School. Mount Vernon Place is opposite the west door of the State
House, and my house makes the corner furthest from the State House.
You will see No. 8 on the door, and nothing else. My papers con-
cerning this school are now in the country. I will therefore defer
saying any thing on the general subject, till I have the pleasure of
seeing you; but from an expression in your letter of December 5th,
I have some little fear that a portion of my letter of November 17th
may have been misunderstood. I am quite willing that you should
make the extracts that you propose to insert in your report from my
last letter, though I ought to add that that letter, like the others I
have addressed to you, is entirely informal and written with no other
care than a person insensibly takes, when he seeks to express himself
distinctly upon a subject on which he feels deeply, and concerning
which his opinions are well settled.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

105

It should be observed, however, that though the topic is one that I
consider very important, yet what I have said in regard to it is stated
in briei and general terms. As this donation will be employed to
pay for the land, it is possible that you may think of saying in your
report that the person who made it has visited and examined the
farm. If that should have occurred to you, I will give you a reason
when I have the pleasure to see you, why I think it desirable that
that reference should be omitted.

I am, my-dear Sir, your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston., December 9, 1846.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster,

My Dear Sir,—I send enclosed those extracts from my letter of
November 17th, that I suppose it will be desirable for the commission
to insert in their report. When that letter was written, I did not
anticipate that the commission would wish to make use of any part
of it; I therefore did not state in it one or two ideas as distinctly as I
should otherwise have done. I have accordingly omitted two or three
lines from the original draft, and I have added a whole paragraph in
one place, and some words in another, in order to make my meaning
intelligible. This paragraph and words I read to you when I had the
pleasure to see you. I have also added a note to be inserted in the
report at the end of the extracts. The note will explain itself. As
Mr. Walley is acquainted with my handwriting, I am under the
necessity of requesting you to take the trouble to copy the contents
of the enclosed sheet.

I am, my dear Sir, your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

December 26, 1846.

(See Note.) " I put a great value on the State Manual Labor
School, and I am exceedingly desirous not only that it should begin
well, but that it should meet with an undoubted success, and deserve
and secure the approbation and support of the community. For I do
not think that a measure, costing an equal amount of money, care
and attention, could have been devised, that will in the end diminish
to a greater extent vice, crime and suffering in the Commonwealth. I
do not look on this school as an experiment. On the contrary, it
strikes me that it is an institution which will produce decidedly ben-
eficial results not only for the present day, but for many years to
14106 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

come. I do not, therefore, think it should even now be treated in
any respect in the light of an experiment, to be abandoned if not
successful, for if the school is introduced into public notice on no better
footing, and with no more preparation than usually attend* trial
schemes of most kinds, the probability is that it will fail, consid-
ering the peculiar difficulties of the case. So far then from doing
this, I should think it much better to lay out at once a plan for a
permanent school, but on a scale as moderate or limited as may be
thought proper, and of course to incorporate in that design those
arrangements that, after a due investigation of the subject, shall be
considered as likely to render the institution useful and efficient, as
well immediately as to a distant day; though at the same time, there
can hffij>ut little doubt but that after a few years' experience, altera-
tions1®!, or additions to, the original plan may be advantageously
made. I am happy to find, also, from the letters that I have had the
pleasure of receiving from you, that this is the view which the State
commission take on the subject. If, therefore, those to whom is or
may be intrusted the management of this school should entertain as
favorable an opinion of it as I have expressed, and should consider it
of sufficient importance to the public weal to justify them in laying
it out on a plan to which some elements of a permanent character
shall be given, I state at this time my willingness to contribute some
share towards the funds that may be required to effect the general
object. I will, therefore, now agree to pay for the use of the State
Manual Labor School in January, 1848, (or make the amount a
charge against my estate,) the sum of five or the sum of ten thousand
dollars, provided, first, that the State will contribute a sum equal in
amount to what I shall contribute, and provided, second, that the
present commissioners, or other persons acting for the Commonwealth,
shall be of the opinion that this sum of ten or twenty thousand dol-
lars, as the case may be, from the two parties before mentioned, can
be usefully employed for the school. I attach no conditions to the
way in which my second donation, whether of five or ten thousand
dollars, shall be appropriated.

" But it has occurred to me that a fund might be established for
giving a certain amount of aid in some shape or other to those boys
that are discharged from the school under meritorious circumstances,
or even of providing something to enable all properly discharged to
return again to society, without being immediately and directly exposed
^ to those temptations that probably were often the principal cause of
their originally becoming tenants of the institution. The hour is in
all cases a trying one for a boy, when he leaves a school of this sort and1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

107

in many cases is, in fact, what may be called the critical period of his
life. A kind hand, therefore, held out to a poor lad just then, even
for a short time, may not only secure and continue to him all the good
that he has obtained in the institution, but may place him in comfort
and respectability as long as he lives. In regard, however, to this
second donation, whatever may be the amount of it, you will permit
me to say, that it is again and still earnestly my wish that my name
should be known to no one but yourself, at least for the present. I
therefore now offer a second donation of five or of ten thousand dollars
to the State Manual Labor School on the same conditions, as far as
the name of the donor is concerned, that I did the first,"

Note.—To a letter of the chairman of the commission, proposing
to the gentleman making an offer of a second donation, tMpthose
parts of his letter in which he states his purpose should be extracted
and included in the report to be made to the governor and council,
the following answer was received. " I am quite willing that you
should make the extract that you propose to insert in your report
from my last letter, though I ought to sidd that that letter, like the
others I have addressed to you, was altogether an informal one, and
written with no more care than a person insensibly takes when he
seeks to express himself.distinctly on a subject in which he feels deeply.
It should be observed, moreover, that though the topic is one that I
consider very important, yet what I have said in regard to it is stated
in brief and general terms."

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I hope that you will excuse me for giving you so
much trouble about the Manual Labor School; but being anxious to
hear how matters stand, I shall be obliged to you to write me a line,
ib order that I may know whether the extracts that I sent you by mail
about ten days ago are such as will suit your purposes and will
answer for the report. Will you also be so good as to put the
letter into the post office without paying the postage, for the clerks
in the office must know you, and as you have already paid several
letters to me, they may be led by and by, to exercise their Yankee
privilege of guessing as to this matter of the donation to the State
Labor School. I suppose you will smile at my uneasiness on the
subject of being known, but so it is.

I am, my dear sir, your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

January 9, 1847.108 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I saw yesterday the report of the committee of the
legislature to whom was referred the Report of the Commissioners on
the State Labor School. And for fear that you may not have received
a copy of it yourself, I shall send one by the mail with this letter. I
believe that the bill reported by the committee has passed to be
engrossed, or at least to a third reading, in the senate, and without
amendments. It will therefore soon go to the house. I find that the
committee that have reported the bill do not make any appropriation
of the ten thousand dollars to be paid you next January, nor do they
make or propose any appropriation to meet that donation when it
shall be paid. This is probably the most judicious course, as it will
give jjpiandance of time to determine how that donation shall be
employed. I should have been exceedingly sorry to have had it put
into the bricks and mortar, when it could be used for a purpose which
I admit I have very much at heart, and which I think is indispensable
for the full success of this reform school. I mean the establishment
of a fund to give some sort of aid to a certain class of boys, not to
provide something for all the boys under all circumstances of dis-
charge, as the committee seem to think; a construction which it does
not strike me the language of my letter, as quoted in your report, will
bear. Perhaps the second donation of ten thousand dollars, or one-
half of it, will alone be sufficient to constitute this fund, the interest
of which could be annually appropriated in the discretion of the trus-
tees for the benefit of meritorious boys, whether while in or out of the
institution. At any rate, I had no inducement to make the offer of a
second donation, except to promote an object which appears to me to
be a benevolent and, as it respects reform, a most important one in an
institution of this kind.

If the legislature make the appropriation of thirty-five thousand
dollars now proposed by the committee, then the buildings can be
commenced, and next winter we shall have time to think of and decide
on matters of a general nature. All that it is important now to do is
not to make any permanent disposition of my second donation, or to
make an appropriation to meet it. May I, therefore, beg you to write
to some friend in the house, to this effect, and as soon as your leisure
will permit, for the bill will doubtless be taken up there next week
and perhaps early in it. I would not give you this trouble if I could
appear at present in the business. I am exceedingly anxious that the
legislature should not act definitely this winter on the subject of the
second donation. I had some conversation with Mr. Walley yesterday
in regard to this school. Meeting him in the street, he introduced1859.]

% SENATE—No. %.

109

the subject, and invited me to his office, where I said all that I thought
it prudent. He went to New York in the afternoon, and will not
return till Saturday. If you will take the trouble to write to some
member, I have no objection to having my opinions referred to, if you
think proper. All that I desire is, that the whole matter of the dispo-
tion of the second donation should be left for more consideration. I
think that it can be appropriated next winter in some way to the
advantage of this school, whether as already suggested or according
to another mode if a better one shall be proposed.

I am, my dear sir, most truly yours,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, March 18, 1847.

- t

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—Since the legislature adjourned, I have heard nothing
of the Reform School at Westborough. I suppose, however, that the
work is in a regular progress. The second donation from me will be
due in January, at which time I shall be ready to pay it. No appropri-
ation of this money was made, I observe, by the legislature last winter.
I have, of course, no control over the disposal of it, the State having
complied with the condition on which it was offered. Still I have
always had a wish that it should be kept as a distinct fund for some
special purpose. Nearly all the first donation was employed in the
purchase of the land, an arrangement with which I was much pleased.
One of the uses that occurred to me could be made of the second
donation at the time it was offered, was in furnishing from the annual
income of the fund aid in some shape to some of the boys that were
discharged. But as I have been led to think that doubts have been
entertained of the expediency of this disposition of it, I shall not
touch on that matter at present. It seems, however, to be understood
and agreed that no appropriation of this second donation shall be made
the present year, and of course,.when paid next winter it will then be
held subject to the order of the legislature. Though no way of em-
ploying it as a special fund may now occur, it does not follow on that
account that it would be expedient to appropriate for the use of the
school, the whole of both donations within a year or two. On the
contrary, if no good immediate use can be found for the second dona-
tion, it might be placed at interest and reserved for future occasions,
more especially as I think it is now clear that we may eipect in the
course of a few years to have many important matters in regard to
prison discipline investigated and explained. Doubtless you are110 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

aware how much the public attention both at home and abroad is now
directed to this subject, in which, of course is included juvenile delin-
quency, in my opinion, the most important part of the whole. And
that this latter branch of the general subject will hereafter attract a
great deal of the public notice and favor, I can have but little doubt,
for it is obvious at the first glance that the surest, speediest and cheap-
est mode of diminishing crime and reforming the criminal is by with-
drawing the offending party as early as possible from a career of vice.
I have seen enough of the poor and desolate to be long ago convinced,
that many of the persons that go to the jails, houses of correction and
state prisons are originally led there in consequence of the ignorance
or the poverty, or the neglect, or the dissolute habits of parents, or
from tj&i want of proper guardians in their youth; in other words,
from Wing exposed in some way to a temptation that they had, either
not knowledge enough or resolution enough to resist. How then
shall we diminish crime ? The process seems to be, at least a double
one. First, to diminish as much as possible in the community tempta-
tion to vice, and second, to withdraw as soon as possible from a course
of vice those that are unable to resist the tempation to it. The first
object can only be accomplished by improving the general condition
of society, and for the second, we must look, I think, in a considera-
ble degree, to institutions like the school at Westborough. This school *
I trust, will be made a model one. It is, I believe, the first State
institution of the kind in the country. It is proposed at an auspicious
moment, for the public is now much engaged about various moral
reforms, and among them, the improvement of prison discipline ; in
regard to which, enough seems already to be found useful to furnish a
starting point, whence we may arrive in a few years, at a good, if not
the best system.

I am, my dear sir, very truly your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Brookline, Aug. 24, 1847.

Alfred Dwight Foster to Theodore Lyman.

Dear Sir,—I received your letter of August 24, on the eve of a
journey which occupied me during the month of September; and,
since then, various circumstances have occasioned my deferring an
answer.

The comnfissioners for erecting the reform school buildings at West-
borough adopted the plan of building substantially, as reported to the
legislature at its last session. By some strange error or blunder the1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

Ill

architect's estimates which werg presented to the legislature were some
thousands of dollars less than the sum at which he was willing to
undertake to erect the buildings. The contract was not given to him,
but to Mr. Daniel Davis, of Boston who made the lowest offer, and
appeared to be a competent man,

The commissioners employ two men, both very worthy and skilful
builders, Elias Carter and James S. Savage, Esqs., who between them
oversee the execution of the contract. Thus far the work has advanced
as rapidly as could be desired and appears to be very thorough and
good in all respects. The walls of the wings and rear are ready for
the roof, and the frame of the roof is on more than half of those parts
of the building and partly boarded. The workmen will commence
laying slates next week, and it is expected that the whole building
(except the towers, and possibly those also) will be covered aid en-
closed before winter. The contractor is bound to complete the building
ready to be occupied by the first of December, 1848, and will probably
do it two or three months earlier. The amount of his contract was
$52,000; but, as usual, some changes have been made which will add
to that sum.

You noticed, I suppose, the terms of the Resolves passed last winter
appropriating the remaining $1,000 of your donation to permanent
improvements, to be made under the direction and at the discretion of
the trustees. The money was lying in the Worcester Bank at the
time, and as soon as the trustees would receive it I paid it to Hon.
George Denny, one of their number, wl^o gave me his receipt in their
behalf. I am not informed that they have as yet definitely determined
upon the use to be made of the money, but it will doubtless be in
conformity with the Resolve.

Since receiving your letter I have twice met some of the trustees,
particularly Mr. Andrews and Mr. Green, and have asked their attention
to the subject of your second donation : that their board might recom-
mend some plan to the legislature on which the necessary legislation
may be based. At present nothing has been done further than to
accept the offer without making any corresponding appropriation.
This I understood to be in accordance with your views last winter, and
this course was adopted at my suggestion of those views to members
of the legislature. The members of the former commission had doubts
as to the expediency of the plan first proposed by you, and preferred
not to recommend it to the legislature without more consideration than
they could give it before their report was to be made. Since then the
subject riot coming particularly within their province, the present
commissioners have not much discussed it. The matter now belongs
to the trustees.112 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

I have faithfully, to the extent of my abiIUifr. Lc^h by word and look,
kept your secret. But your visit to the farm was remembered, and
your known interest in the subject of juvenile reformation has directed
attention to you as the benefactor of this enterprise. If therefore
you find yourself so considered, I beg you to believe it has not been
occasioned by my faithlessness. If you still wish to preserve your
incognito, and desire me to be the medium of any communications to
the trustees or others on this subject, I shall be happy to meet your
wishes as well as I am able.

The trustees I am told will hold a meeting in December to prepare
a report to be made to the governor and council, and they hope then
to appoint a superintendent. I appreciate your remarks on the subject
of prispn discipline and the reformation of juvenile offenders, and can
cordially respond to the wish that the school at Westborough may be
a model institution. Whether it become so or not will very much de-
pend upon the way in which it shall be managed. And it is of incal-
culable importance that the right man be found for superintendent.

I think the buildings will be convenient, well arranged and well
built; but the plan will be condemned, I doubt not, by those who only
approve of solitary confinement. I consider that question, as yet, an
open one in regard to 'prison discipline, but I must say I am very
strongly persuaded it cannot be the best in training youth, even if they •
be offenders against law. Nor could I have the confidence in a refor-
mation effected by solitary confinement which I should have in that
which was brought about in regulated association with those of similar
ages. I was sorry not to be able to submit to your particular exami-
nation the plans of the buildings, and advise with you personally about
them. I did not see how I could do it without attracting more notice
than I supposed would be agreeable to you.

With assurance of my high respect, I am, your obedient servant,

A. D. FOSTER.

Worcester, Nov. 6, 1847.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I have had the pleasure of your letter of the 6th inst*
If the roof of the principal building of the reform school should be put
on this autumn, I have no doubt but that the whole structure will be
finished by the end of next year. I am very glad to learn that the
interior will be adapted to the management of the boys on the social
plan. That this is the best system for persons of the age and charac-
ter of those that will go to the school, I am well persuaded. The1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

113

object of this institution, as I understand it, is not so much that of
punishment as of reform, for I suppose it never would have been es-
tablished except on the ground and expectation that many of the
inmates would be reformed. When out of the school they must live
and associate with other boys and with men. I think that they will
be more likely to do that without risk and peril to themselves, if while
in the school, they are trained to the habits of social life. Young
persons stand extremely in need of sympathy, and I think that they
can only really find it by being mingled under some restrictions with
others of the same age and condition. It strikes me that if it were
possible to see a human being dazzled, bewildered, lost, it would be
a lad that should be kept in separate confinement two or three years
in the school at Westhorough, and then all at once turned out into
the hurry and noise and bustle of the world, particularly s uch a very
driving, go-ahead world as we have in these parts. And here let me
say a word on a subject, in regard to which I have some practical
knowledge.

It is sometimes said by those who vindicate the principle of separate
confinement and labor, that a sufficient number of persons can be found
to visit, gratuitously and voluntarily, prisoners in their cells, talk with
them, read to them, and in other ways break up the dreadful solitude
to which, in a separate confinement, they are condemned. But, truly,
I greatly doubt if a sufficient number of suitable persons can be pro-
cured for any length of time. In Boston, it is now difficult to obtain
the services of a sufficient number of suitable persons to attend to
our charities and other institutions, and yet there are very many
benevolent, enlightened individuals there, well qualified for such a
work. It is not difficult to get plenty of money for these institutions,
or to induce persons in high positions in life to be present on stated
anniversaries for the purpose of making or hearing addresses, or to
get speeches delivered on public occasions, or to have reports written
and printed for a wide distribution. Such a sacrifice of a man's time
or interruption of his usual habits is, at the worst, periodically made
and at long intervals, in the presence of an audience, or in some shape,
that of the public. But this is a very different sort of a business
from going quietly and all by one's self two or three times a week,
for a year or more to the same man in a solitary cell. There is no
audience there, and after the first visits, no excitement.

Some individuals, I know are ready for and equal to a labor so
entirely obscure, so long continued and both voluntary and gratuitous.
But as I have seen men, the greater part require that what they
do frequently, periodically, through a series of months and without
notice and compensation, shall be made of more stimulating stuff.

15114 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Besides in the different communities of this country most persons are
too much occupied with their private affairs, to be able to undertake
a work that not only requires a strong effort of philanthropy, but also
a large share of leisure.

Another reason why such a task will prove so very burdensome is,
that so far as I have been able to observe, convicts in State prisons are
for the most part dull, uninteresting people. There will usually be
some individuals with quick, bright intellects ; but the large propor-
tion, I think, are possessed of but little understanding; the chief
reason in fact, why persons in this country get into prisons for crimes.

Then how many persons are really suitable ?

According to my observation, very few.

It.probably does not require talents of a remarkable kind to talk
with a prisoner, to awaken his attention, by degrees to gain his con-
fidence, and finally to acquire a decided influence over him; but it
does require a faculty that in my opinion few men possess. It is not
education that will enable a visitor to do this, nor the appearance of
respectability, nor the use of the best English, nor of any number of
phrases on the propriety of behaving well, on the enormity and the
dreadful consequences of breaking the laws of God and man, nor even
the most benevolent purposes. Some men, and after all only a few
in any line of life, have the power of exciting in others what is called
sympathy ; of making others feel that they take an interest in them,
particularly if the parties do not stand on an equal footing; but
unless this mysterious, very peculiar chord called sympathy, is touched,
little good, I think, will ever be done by visits made to prisoners by
persons from society at large.

I do not object to the principle of separate confinement as applied
to adults in some cases ; on the contrary, I think that after the subject
of prison discipline is well winnowed, the public is likely to settle down
on a sort of composite or mixed system ; that is to say, that both the
social and separate systems will be introduced into the same prison,
coupled, however, with classification. Some prisoners will be trained
separately, others in company, but they will be associated only, as far
as can be done, according to age, character, habits before entering
the prison, and other circumstances that go to constitute differences.
At the same time, it is quite clear, that to administer such a system
effectually, to distribute and manage prisoners according to character
and conduct, will require an uncommon share of intelligence, discre-
tion, patience and knowledge of human nature. But whatever may
be the system, I feel sure that the public will be obliged, substantially,
. to trust for the proper discipline of the establishment to the official
persons in it,—to the persons that are paid for being there and perform-1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

115

ing a duty there ; that little aid, in the long run, will be rendered by
private individuals, except that some assistance may always be ex-
pected on the Sunday for Sunday schools and teaching, when prisons
are situated near a populous neighborhood. In a word, in order to
get the most good out of a system, whatever it may be, the public
must employ the best men they can find to administer it, and pay them
well for the work.

I have been exceedingly surprised by the intimation in your letter
that the attention of some persons has been directed to me as the
author of the donations to the reform school. It has never occurred
to nfe that the slightest suspicion rested on me in any quarter. I beg
you to be assured, however, that I am entirely satisfied that the secret
has been discreetly guarded as well as faithfully kept, and that if the
belief or conjecture you have mentioned exists anywhere, it is to be
explained and accounted for by the circumstances that you have related.
Still, however, this single fact may be in itself of little importance. My
purpose has been substantially accomplished. If a stray guess has
reached me, why should I be surprised, much less complain ? Every
other man and thing is guessed about, when the slighest new move-
ment takes place and always will be in all states of society where the
mind is free and active. Besides, I am not, in fact, known as the
author. No one has said so, and to my knowledge, my name has
never appeared in the public prints, nor has any allusion been made
to me in connection with the school, I mean publicly.

Being tolerably well acquainted with the general subject of juvenile
delinquency, with the condition of the truant or idle or profligate boys
in large towns; being also persuaded that the quickest, surest, mildest,
cheapest, and therefore, on all accounts, the wisest mode of diminish-
ing suffering, vice and crime, was by beginning with the young, I con-
fess I felt the strongest desire that a reform school should be estab-
lished under the authority and auspices of the State. And after care-
fully considering in my own mind, the nature and cost of the enter-
prise, particularly the novelty of it and the uncertainty of any good
results, as some might think, proceeding from it, I determined to offer,
in the first place, ten thousand dollars towards it and afterwards as it
is known to you, I added a similar amount for the general purpose,
in both cases, of giving the work a strong and early start or push, and
of securing for it, as far as such a step on the part of an individual
could do it, the public attention and favor* I was then very solicitous
as I still am, that the institution should be made a model one, not only
for the great good it would do Massachusetts, but in order,, also, that
other States might be induced to establish schools similar both in plan116 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

and principle; for in my opinion they will gain in proportion just as
much as we shall by beginning with the young.

And now, my dear sir, I dare say you will ask why I wished so
earnestly that my name should be withheld as the author of those dona-
tions ? I will give an answer to the question, though I fear that it will
hardly be considered a reason. All I can say is, that it was more agree-
able to my feelings to remain unknown. And do I not still so remain ?
Is what has been said on the subject more than conjecture and that of
a loose kind ? I make these inquiries because, until I received your
letter, nothing has ever happened either in public or private to make
me think that I was supposed to be the " man in the mask." But if
that should now be the case in any precise form in the minds even of
a few individuals, I think you may well be relieved from having any
trouble in regard to receiving the second donation in January, especially
as among the trustees there is a gentleman of this city (Mr. Andrews)
with whom I have long been well acquainted. I have a great regard
for him, and I have no objection to his being made with yourself the
depository of the secret. If, therefore, you should think the proceed-
ing a proper one, in no respect wanting in delicacy as it regards any
party, I request and authorize you to make the necessary communica-
tion to him, though in confidence. But if any objection to doing this
or any better mode of doing it occurs to you, I shall be obliged to you
to let me know it.

I have written you a long letter, but I cannot close it without thank-
ing you for the attention you have paid to my wishes on the subject of
the donations to the reform school. I have all along been very sensi-
ble of your kindness in this particular as well as truly grateful for it,
and I shall always remember the circumstance with great satisfaction.

I am, my dear sir, very faithfully and with great respect,

Your friend and servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, November 26, 1847.

I have just removed to town for the winter. I am still at No. 8
Mount Vernon Place, where I shall always be happy to see you. I
suppose that I cannot be mistaken in the Mr. Andrews that has been
selected from Boston as one of the trustees. The gentleman I mean
has been a director of the House of Correction at South Boston for
many years, was a member of the legislature last year, &c.1859.]

SENATE—No, 2.

irr

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I wrote you a long letter two or three ^eks ago
on the subject of the reform, school, and among other things I said
that if it was the case (as I inferred from some remarks in your last
letter,) that I was known with any degree of certainty, even by a few
persons, to be the author of the donations to that school, I had no
objection (provided you approved of the proceeding and considered it
in no way indelicate) that the fact should be communicated in confi-
dence to Mr. W. T. Andrews of this town, recently appointed one of
the trustees of the institution in question. It has since occurred to me
that perhaps it was unreasonable in me to make you the judge of the
question whether I was known or not, or at any rate to what extent I
was known. It is a matter of which of course I cannot myself judge.
But I should not have thought of proposing to have the information
conveyed to Mr. Andrews, if it had not struck me that as he lives in
Boston, it would be more convenient for him than for you to receive
the last donation. I have not heard from you since I wrote the letter
now referred to, and I should not now write again except to express
to you my earnest wish that you should take in this business the
course most agreeable to yourself.

Truly your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, December 20, 1847.

William T. Andrews to Alfred Dwight Foster.

Boston, December 29, 1847.
Hon. Alfbed D. Fosteb, Worcester:

Dear Sir,—I received your communication in regard to the State
Reform School which I made known in the quarter which you indicated.
I have since had an interview with that gentleman, and shall most
scrupulously attend to all his wishes in the whole matter.

I am very truly, your friend and servant,

WILLIAM T. ANDREWS.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I beg to trouble you with the enclosed paper, which
I suppose will explain itself. It may not be necessary, but I think it118 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

advisable, that my intention in regard to the second donation to the
Reform School at Westborough should be made perfectly clear.
—	Truly and faithfully yours,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, January 3, 1848.

My Dear Sir,—On the 17th of November, 1846, I addressed to you
a private and confidential letter, in which (among others) was the
following expression: 441 will therefore now agree to pay, for the use
of the State Manual Labor School, in January, 1848, (or make the
amount a charge against my estate,) the sum of five or the sum of ten
thousand dollars, provided, first, that the State will contribute a
sum equal in amount to what I shall contribute, and provided, second,
that the present commissioners, or other persons acting for the Com-
monwealth, shall be of the opinion that this sum of ten or twenty
thousand dollars, as the case may be, from the two parties before
mentioned, can be usefully employed for the school."

As a doubt may arise in the minds of some persons, whether I am
under an obligation to pay the sum above mentioned, unless it should
be made to appear that the State shall have complied with the condi-
tions expressed in my letter by the end of the present month, I take
this opportunity to say, in the first place, that I shall be ready to pay
the whole of this donation at the time originally mentioned, viz.:
"January, 1848," or to pay it any time thereafter on receiving infor-
mation from a competent source that the conditions above referred to
have been complied with.

I shall send a copy of this letter to William T. Andrews, Esquire,
the only person besides yourself to whom it is known that I am the
author of the donations to the Reform School at Westborough.

I am very truly, your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, January 3, 1848.

The Hon. A. D. Foster, Worcester.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—A large piece of land (I believe at.-whole farm)
directly opposite the farm of the Reform School at Westborough, in fact
just on the other side of the road, was conditionally secured some time
ago by Mr. Denny, one of the trustees of that institution, It was thought1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

119

by that gentleman, as well as by others of the board, that it was very
important the school should have not only the control, IKhe pos-
session of this land. I have been and am still clearly <5Fthe same
opinion. Meeting Mr. Andrews yesterday by appointment, I told
him I would contribute thfc money required to pay for it, provided
the remaining thousand dollars of my first donation, not originally
required for the purchase of the Peters's farm, should be employed in
part payment. This one thousand dollars has, I believe, never been
formally appropriated by the State, but is in the hands of the trus-
tees, a portion of it having been employed in making plantations, or
in some other way adding a permanent value to the property. Mr.
Andrews said there would be no difficulty in transferring the wliole
of this sum and in paying for whatever engagements had been entered
into, out of money contributed by the State.

The price agreed to be given by Mr. Denny for this additional farm
was thirty-five hundred dollars. Employing, therefore, the one
thousand dollars already mentioned in part payment, a further sum of
twenty-five hundred dollars would be required to complete the amount.
And this sum of twenty-five hundred dollars I have agreed in confi-
dence with Mr. Andrews to give towards the purchase of this land for
the reform school, provided the one thousand dollars remaining of my
first donation shall be appropriated to make the whole sum. This
matter I mention in the usual confidence to you ; and in order that this
offer may take the course of the others, I have to request that you
will have the goodness to write to William T. Andrews, Esquire, one
of the trustees of the reform school, inform him of the offer (but
without using my name, as it may be necessary for him to show your
letter) and of the condition on which it is made, so that he may com-
municate the subject to the proper parties ; and if they should think it
advisable, the necessary transfer or appropriation can be made. If
this last offer should be accepted, I shall have paid for all the land
for the State Reform School, which up to the present time, it has been
thought advisable or necessary to buy;—a circumstance on which I
reflect with great satisfaction.

In the course of a month or two I intend to take a day for West-
borough and quietly and carefully examine all that has been done
there since my former visit.

Truly your friend and servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, April 1, 1848.120 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Theodore Lyman to William, T. Andrews.

My M Sir,—I have written to Mr. Foster to inform him of what
passed between us on Friday evening. He will probably write you
soon and communicate to you in a formal way the offer I made in
regard to the purchase of the additional farm, and will put the
letter (or at least the offer) in such a shape that you can use it with-
out bringing me on the scene, to effect the transfer of the one thousand
dollars remaining unappropriated towards completing, with the twen-
ty-five hundred dollars proposed to be given, the entire sum of thirty-
five hundred dollars necessary for the purchase of the farm secured
by Mr. Denny. I enclose a paper with a few lines which will, per-
haps, answer the purpose of the advertisement referred to by you on
Friday. I think it very desirable to put something of the kind in the
papers.

Perhaps you can make a suitable article out of this. And my
handwriting not being seen, I dare say that Hayden would get it
put into the Atlas; then it would be copied into the Daily Adver-
tiser, the Courier, Mercantile Journal, and the Morning Post. These
papers would be sufficient, and I suppose that the "trade" could
arrange to have the copies properly made.

Your faithful servant

THEODORE LYMAN.

April 3, 1848.

Alfred D. Foster to William T. Andrews.

*	Boston, April 4, 1848.

William T. Andrews, Esq.:—

Dear Sir,—On my return to Worcester on Saturday evening, I
received a letter from the benefactor of the Reform School at Westboro\
He has been informed that Mr. Denny, one of the trustees of that
school, has a bond from the owner of a farm adjoining the school farm,
conditioned to sell the same for thirty-five hundred dollars. He has
also been informed that the trustees consider it desirable to procure
this farm for the benefit of the school. He approves their judgment,
and is desirous of being the donor of all the land which, up to the
present time, it is thought advisable or necessary to buy for the
school. He therefore proposes that if the trustees will appropriate to
this object the one thousand dollars remaining of his former donation,
he will add thereto the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, making1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

121

up the sum of thirty-five hundred dollars necessary to purchase the
farm on the conditions of the bond. He desires me tojrake this
communication to you, that his proposition may be formally laid by
you before the trustees.

I am Sir, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. D. FOSTER.

Theodore Lyman to William T. Andrews.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your note with the paper enclosed.
I am very desirous of seeing you for a few minutes to-morrow. I shall
be at the farm school (unless it rains) all the morning, but in the
afternoon after four and all the evening I shall be at your service. I
beg you to appoint the time, and I will either be at home or meet you
at any place you will name.

Truly and faithfully your servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

No. 8 Mt. Yernon Place, Thursday.

N. B. The paper above alluded to being, George Denny, Treasu-
rer's receipt for $2,500.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of the 4th instant. I have
seen Mr. Andrews on the subject of the additional farm. It does not
appear to be important to decide now whether a part of it shall be
disposed of or not, but I have no doubt but that it can be sold for -guite
as much six months hence as at the present time. I shall endeavor to
get a plan of the farms, the Peters's and the one lately secured, and
when I make my visit to Westborough I will examine the boundaries
and the neighborhood of the two. If the institution should succeed,
I cannot but think that extensive buildings and much space will be
wanted before many years. The position of the present school and its
situation in reference to other parts of the State is so good that it is
not at" all likely that another place will be selected and, on account
of the railroads that we now or shall have, it will cost so little either
of time or money to transport boys or girls that, in fact no inducement
will arise to make it desirable to establish an institution in any other
part of the Commonwealth. In twenty years, I think, there will be in
Massachusetts one million of people; and at least three hundred and
16122 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

fifty thousand in and about Boston. And a great increase of wealth
but not£^ increase of vice in proportion to that of wealth and popu-
lation, for to my mind, it is evident that a decided improvement in
the habits generally of the people has taken place the last quarter of
a century ; and the causes of it being fixed, radical, I believe that im-
provement will grow gradually but steadily on. Still, we must expect
that society will be infested with a large number of vicious young
persons of both sexes, and as I am well persuaded that the best mode
of treating them, both for their own sakes, and that of the public, is to
withdraw them as speedily as possible from the community at large.
Spacious buildings and extensive grounds will, I think, be required to
receive and. train them in a proper course of discipline.

In all permanent arrangements now adopted at Westborough, I am
of the opinion, that we should keep in mind the probability of a great
increase of the school in future years. I will write you fully concern-
ing the buildings, &c., after my visit. In the meantime, I should be
very glad to see a plan of the interior arrangement of all the stories if
there is one that can be spared. If it should be sent to my house in
town, (No. 8 Mount Vernon Place,) which is open all the summer,
it will reach me in safety.

I go to Brookline in a few days for the season.

With great regard, your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Boston, April 13, 1848.

Theodore Lyman to Alfred Dwight Foster.

My Dear Sir,—I return the elevations and the plans for the school
at Westborough. I am much obliged to you for them.

I have made a rough copy of the interior which will answer all my
purpose.

I will not trouble you to send me the specifications.

Your faithful servant,

THEODORE LYMAN.

April 18, 1848.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

123

Theodore Lyman to William T, Andrews.

My Dear Sir,—Shall you be in this part of the town tomorrow
between nine and ten o'clock? If so, can you make it convenient
to call here for a few minutes.

Very faithfully yours,

THEODORE LYMAN.
Boston, May 6, 1848, Sunday Evening.

Theodore Lyman to William T. Andrews.

My Dear Sir,—I have received your letter with Mr. Denny's receipt
for fifteen hundred dollars enclosed. I return (enclosed) the receipt
for the same amount that I received from you.

When I was at Westborough the other day, it struck me that the
lower floor in the wings of the building was not strong enough, and
the piers in the cellar to support it, quite insufficient.

The piers are built of a single brick. This style of pier is new to
us, and I should think a slight spring or vibration in the floor would
throw them off of a plumb line.

Truly and faithfully yours,

THEODORE LYMAN.

Brookline, July 3, 1848.

Samuel A. Eliot to William T. Andrews. -

Court Street, Sept. 22, 1849.

My Dear Sir,—I enclose the extracts which I promised you from
the codicils to the will of my late brother Theodore Lyman, relating to
the Reform School at Westborough.

These codicils were both entirely in his own hand writing, and were
among his most recent acts, the one being dated the 10 th of July, 1848,
just before his embarkation for Europe, the other, six months previous.
It would seem impossible to leave home with a pleasanter subject of
recollection upon one's mind.

Yours most truly,

SAMUEL A. ELIOT.

William T. Andrews, Esq.124 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Extra%ts from two codicils to the will of Theodore Lyman. The first
codicil is dated the 5th day of January, 1848 ; the second, the 10th
day of July, 1848. *

After making provision in the first codicil for the payment of ten
thousand dollars to the reform school, unless he should give that sum
during his life, he goes on to say :—

" I give to the reform school established by the State at Westbor-
ough in this Commonwealth, being the same school to which I have
already made a donation, the sum of thirty thousand dollars.

" And it is my will that the aforesaid sum of thirty thousand dollars
shall be appropriated by the trustees, or other persons duly appointed
and authorized to manage and conduct the concerns of the said school,
in such way and manner as to them shall appear most likely to promote
the objects of the institution under their care and charge."

In the second codicil, after revoking the donation of ten thousand
dollars to the reform school, because he had given that sum to its
treasurer, through the hands of William T. Andrews, on the first day
July, 1848, he adds: 14 Second, in addition to the sum of thirty
thousand dollars given in the preceding codicil to the reform school
established by the State at Westborough, in this Commonwealth, I
now give the further sum of twenty thousand dollars, and I declare it
to be my will that the whole and the sole object of these two donations,
of thirty thousand dollars, and of twenty thousand dollars, respectively,
made to my native State in the two codicils attached to my last testa-
ment, is to aid in enabling the legislature of the same to establish in
the town of Westborough an institution or institutions, on the most
approved plan for the proper discipline, instruction, employment and
reformation of juvenile offenders, whether male or female, or both."APPENDIX,

PREPARED BY

DEXTER F. PARKER.CONTENTS OF THE TABLES.

Page.

Table A.—Compilation of returns in " Pauper Abstracts " from 1837
to 1859, giving number of Paupers having a legal settlement in
the State) number of Paupers relieved or supported; number of
State Paupers; number of Paupers who are foreigners ; number
of Insane Paupers; number of Idiotic Paupers; cost of supporting
Almshouses, including Interest; amount received by the towns
from the State; value of Pauper Labor; value of Almshouses,
and number of them in 1837 and 1857, . . .	. 131

Table B.—State Lunatic Paupers—number in Worcester Hospital
from 1842 to 1859; number in Taunton from 1854 to 1859, and
also in Northampton in 1858; whole number of patients in each
Asylum, . . * . . . . . .	. . 132

Table C.—Actual expenses of Lunatic State Paupers for 1854,1855,
1856, 1857, also actual expense of State Paupers supported by
Towns and State Almshouse expenditures to December 31, 1858, 133

Table D.—Gives the amount paid to each County in the State for the
support of State Paupers, (including Lunatic Paupers,) for the ten
years ending 1854,...... . . . 134

Table E.—Statistics of our State Almshouses since they were opened;
number admitted to them; weekly average; cost per week per
head; expense of each Almshouse; sums drawn from the State
treasury by them; expense of supporting Paupers in State insti-
tutions from 1854 to 1859,........ 136-7

Table F.—Yalue of State property at the four State Almshouses, . 138

Table G.—Lunatic Hospitals; number of acres of land at each; value
of lands and buildings when opened; number of patients during
the year; average number during the year; number at the end
of the year; current expenses and cost for inmates at Worcester
LunsCtic Hospital, from 1833 to 1859 ; Taunton, from 1854 to 1859 ;
Northampton --(opened August, 1848,) . . . 139-40

Table II.—Westborough Reform School; acres of land; cost of the
estate to the State; number of inmates; value of their labor*, esti-
mated cost per head to support them; salaries and wages paid
each year,...........141128 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

Page.

Table I.—Arrivals of Alien Passengers into the country; number
landed at Boston and Charlestown; number of English passen-
gers ; number of Irish passengers; number of State Paupers;

number who are foreigners; number who are English and Irish,
and cost to the State of supporting the same, embracing the years
from 1831 to 1858,......... 142-3

Table J.—Receipts from Alien Passengers from 1839 to 1859, and
expenses of the Office, and also of Alien Commissioners from
1851 to 1859,..................144-7

Table K.—Perkins' Institution for the Blind, number admitted and

in attendance ; sketch of, &c.,...... . 147

Table L.—American Asylum for Deaf and Dumb, Hartford, Connecti-

ticut; sketch of, &c., ........ 147-51

Table M.—Idiotic School, South Boston; sketch of, &c., . . . 151

Lancaster Industrial School for Girls, ....... 152

Table N.—Yearly Appropriation of and Payments by the State
since 1831 to Asylum for the Blind; to Asylum for Deaf and
Dumb; to Asylum for Idiots; to Eye and Ear Infirmary; Taun-
ton and Worcfestei; Hospitals, (Northampton Hospital, $1,800, also
included. It was opened August, 1858.) Annuities of Martha
Johonnot; Coroners' Accounts ; Indian Accounts; Pensioners'
Accounts; Rainsford Island and Salary of Keeper to 1854 ; Life
Boats, Alien Passengers, Alien Commissioners, State Paupers,
and expense of State Almshouses, and Total Expenditures each
year under the head of " Charitable," . . . . following 152

Table O.—Indebtedness of the State for its Charitable Institutions, . 153.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

129

STATISTICAL TABLES.

In appending to this Report the accompanying tables, we believe
that we place before the people information really valuable and useful
to them, and without the aid of which no correct idea could be formed
of the great increase of our expenses for the charitable institutions
of the State, and particularly- that branch of them in which are sup-
ported the State's poor. Certain differences will be found between
the figures given in one of our tables and those previously published,
but this is caused by the fact, that in all returns heretofore published
the cost of supporting our State paupers in State almshouses, lunatic
asylums and town almshouses, has been given from the amount of
payments for that purpose during the year named, no mention being
made as to whether the sums thus paid were for the support of the
paupers for that or the preceding year, while in one of the tables
(D,) which we give, (furnished us at our request by the Auditor,) the
sums named are those paid for the support of the paupers in the years
cited, viz.: 1854, 1855, 1856 and 1857. To preserve uniformity,
however, in the series of years from 1831 to 1859, we have in table
A, C, and I, K, copied the reports of every year, irrespective of the
lapping over of one year's account with another, but in No. 5 of table
E, we give the exact expenditures of the State almshouses since they
were opened, to December 31, 1857, and the appropriations for each
for the year 1858. We have also in connection with our general
table of expenditures for State charities since 1831, written a brief
notice of the three private corporations to which the State gives
largely of its bounties, but yet has no controlling power in their
management. See articles on Perkins' Institution and Massachusetts
Asylum for the Blind, at South Boston, American Asylum for Deaf
and Dumb, at Hartford, Connecticut, and Massachusetts School for
Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth, South Boston.

STATE AND TOWN PAUPERS.

The following table (A.) has been compiled from the yearly
returns, entitled " Pauper Abstract/' The first return was made in
1837, and the form of it has not since been changed, so that the
returns since 1854, so far as relates to paupers relieved or supported
as State paupers, are not reliable for this reason. Upon the comple-
tion of the State almshouses in 1854, towns began at once to send
State paupers to them, but in some towns paupers thus sent were not
17130. PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

included in the number of those relieved or supported, or reckoned as
State paupers, while in other cities and towns they were so included.
We have, however, given the tables as we find them, and we would
remark, in further explanation of them, that in the columns headed,
<fc Received from the State for Support of Paupers," expenses for lunatic
State paupers are not included, and the sums named as received in
certain years from the State, and in most cases for expense of State
paupers the year previous. In the years 1845 to 1855 inclusive, no
amount was given in the returns of the sums paid by the State to the
towns. So we have supplied the omissions by copying tables found
in flouse Document 123, 1854. In examining these tables the reader
will bear in mind that the number of towns that made no returns
was, in 1837, 16; 1838, 1 ; 1839, 1 ; 1840,11 ; 1841,1; 1842,5;
1843, 12; 1844, 24; 1845, 11 ; 1846, 21; 1847,24; 1848,41 ;
1849, 14; 1850, 11 ; 1851, 32; 1852, 15; 1853, 23; 1854,42;
1855,47; 1856,29; 1857,21; 1858,20.

The number of almshouses in 1838, was 180; in 1857, 213.
Average cost of supporting each pauper in the almshouse in 1838,
$0.83; in 1857, $1.53.Table A.

	23*	<u .  > -o		o  A .  £ £		£	v ® i A  S 1^3		£ 1	« ft	1
	1 3		u  u>	in <0 'r> P	<u &,	a> ft	s I -5 s		^ GQ	a  C3	
TEARS.	CO C3 .	£ o	ES ei	a .rf  5 2	03 ft	, eS ft	Z i tl	p-	.O" o	£ °	o <n
	in  8 « a  PH	$ |  e. m 3 £  ei © PU	ft  o  Js oo	P. <2  -2 2 « 8  w	© 5  W  C	p O	" «•§ § "g fco O -t->  % aa z	a  M	•ll o £  M	•a a  >	Value house
1837,.....	8,981 9,326	14,091	4,846	2,870	546	370	$306,548	00	$37,236 00	$32,368 69	$803,982 67
1838,.....		15,069 14,541	5,288	3,333	570	376	325,092	00	40,094 26	34,214 93	859,766 00
1839,.....	9,293		4,908	2,880	548 *	353	323,099	00	38,384 62	31,469 69	919,348 00
1840, .....	9,327	14,912	5,271	3,178	518	369	320,241	00	41,055 15	31,422 80	_ -
1841,.....	8,550	13,148	4,393	2,560	625	341	308,885	00	37,437 97	29,205 18	909,368 00
1842,.....	8,521	13,688	5,251	2,805	540	338	306,070	00	40,997 73	26,509 00	900,2.31 00
1843,.....	9,214	15,655	6,153	3,737	573	335	286,986	00	49,152 52	25,041 89	887,127 00
1844,.....	7,889	14,308	; 6,060	3,663	568	373	299,367	00	45,606 81	20,973 14	932,966 00
1845,.....	7,871	14,161	5,837	3,582	619	385	301,360	00	47,168 59	21,651 83	941,817 00
1846,......	7,850	15,261	7,022	4,411	629	356	301,607 347,411	00	33,652 19	19,501 56	987,809 00
1847,.....	7,920	18,717 18,693	9,005	7,035	612	377		00	37,611 82	17,463 00	1,020,739 00
1848, .....	7,166		9,431	7,413	611	324	372,749	00	52,102 51	16,232 00	1,056,491 00
1849, .....	8,381	24,891	14,083	10,253	661	352	441,675	00	56,804 71	17,221 36	1,185,438 00
1850,.....	7,900	25,981	16,058	12,334	676	390	467,959	00	68,188 45	17,966 15	1,255,125 00
1851,.....	8,093	27,624	16,154	12,940	626	372	484,688	00	65,140 70	18,921 00	1,317,250 00
1852, .....	8,235	27,737	14,388	11,321	753	382	476,674	00	51,826 70	22,186 00	1,292,242 00
1853, .....	8,004	26,414	14,831	11,874 9,671	722	371	46o,599	00	49,139 48	19,679 23	1,307,124 00
1854,.....	7,830	23,125	12,814		864	345	457,506	00	48,600 8*t	18,091 00	1,273,297 00
1855, .....	8,154	18,217	7,742	5,387	582	289	637,661	00	16,815 77	19,545 40	1,127,258 00
1856,.....	9,865	21,102	8,365	5,807	634	280	484,869	00	6,677 64	20,899 00	1,174,549 00
1857,* ....	9,902	24,905	12,530	8,300	666	341	521,254 549,719	00	7,149 08	20,191 00	1,206,322 00
1858,.....	13,129	38,197	14,016	12,440	868	306		00	3,971 47	21,274 00	1,266,123 00

* All allowances to towns for support of State paupers was this year cut off, and towns can now draw payment from the State only for the burial expenses of that class of the poor,
t Expenses of lunatic State paupers not included in this sum; but for amount thus expended see Tables B, C, D, Lunatic State Paupers.

t State almshouses opened this year, May and part of this sum was for support of paupers in 1853.

* All allowances to towns for support of State paupers was this year cut off, and towns can now draw payment from the State only for the burial expenses of that class of the poor,
t Expenses of lunatic State paupers not included in this sum; but for amount thus expended see Tables B, C, D, Lunatic State Paupers.

t State almshouses opened this year, May and part of this sum was for support of paupers in 1853.132 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

STATE LUNATIC PAUPERS,

One of the large items of expenditures for the support of State's
poor, is the expense of the lunatic State paupers, who are confined in
our lunatic asylums. For the board of these persons we pay each
institution from $2.75 to $3 per week, and below we give tables
showing the number of them in the years named, at the various State
hospitals, and in another table will be found the sums paid to the
city of Boston, for the same class of State paupers that have been
kept at South Boston by the city, as per agreement. Since the
opening of the Northampton Hospital, in August, 1858, sixty-eight
patients have been sent from the City Hospital, at South Boston, to
that place, and 'thirty-one have been sent to Worcester. We are
unable to ascertain by any official document the number of State
lunatic paupers, or the cost of supporting them, prior to 1842. For
tables given below see Alien Commissioner's Report, 1854; Worces-
ter Hospital do., 1858; Taunton do., 1854-58; Northampton do.,
1858; tables furnished by State auditor, House Document, JNo. 48,
1852"; and Senate Document No. 103, 1853.

Table B.

State Lunatic Paupers at State Hospitals at close of following years:—

	Worcester.		Taunton.		Northampton.	
	E	o	£	o	S	o
YEARS.	A S3 eS Pk o cS	Whole No. patients.	c« a  CS ft 0> OS	Whole No. patients#	1 cS p. ffl 03 02	Whole No. patients.
1842, ....	34	238				
1843, ....	38	255				
1844, ....	38	263				
1845, ....	57	360				
1846, ....	52	367				
1847, ....	121	394				
1848, ....	150	409				
1849, ....	167	429				
1850, ....	181	441				
1851, ....	208	466				
1852, ....	241	532				*
1853, ....	216	520				
1854, ....	151	381	147	330		
1855, ....	115	336	53	167		
1856, ....	155	376	94	185		
1857, ....	119	372	126	207		
1858*....	86	301	139	223	189  4	228

State Lunatic Paupers at State Hospitals at close of following years:—

Total number in the three hospitals,. . . .752
Number of State paupers in the three hospitals, . 414

Total number in the three hospitals,. . . .752
Number of State paupers in the three hospitals, . 414

♦ October!.Table C.

	1854.	1855.	1856.	1857.	1858.
At Worcester Hospital,.......  At Taunton Hospital,.......  At Boston Hospital, .......  At Ipswich Hospital,.......  Berkshire County,........  Norfolk County, . .......  Worcester County,.......  Middlesex County,.......  Essex County, ........  Totals,.........  Expense of paupers not in State almshouses, .  Expense of paupers in State almshouses, f  Totals,.........  Totals for both classes,......	$14,305 11 7,297 99 21,059 64 4,463 58 143 08 319 83 328 08 5,168 39	$15,661 38 11,900 05 18,538 25 3,361 22  100 00  3,229 56	$14,436 80 12,828 97 17,465 77  926 38 1,337 05	$19,760 31 22,895 16 12,294 53	_ — "
	$53,085 70  $33,768 39 80,900 61	$52,790 46  $14,087 60 172,558 80	$46,994 97  $17,736 24 173,565 13	$54,950 10  $13,254 75 166,056 58	$60,000 00* $164,836 00
	$114,669 00 $167,754 70	$186,646 40 $239,436 86	$191,301 37 $237,296 34	$79,311 33 $234,261 33	$154,836 00 $214,836 00

Total in five years, ending December 31, 1858, for all State paupers, ......$1,093,585 23

Total in five years, ending December 31, 1858, for lunatic State paupers,..... 267,821 13

Total in five years, ending December 31, 1858, for other State paupers,..... 825,764 10

Appropriated by law.

t In this Hem tbe year ends December 1, as per Auditor's yearly reports.

CO
COTable D.

CO

Amount annually paid to each County by the State during the Ten Tears ending 1854, for support of State Paupers, not including

those who were " Lunatics ."

COUNTIES.	1845.		1846.	184?.		1848.	1849.		1850.		1851.		1852.	1853.		1854.
Suffolk, . . . .	•16,125	47	$10,567 98	$12,817	70	$14,126 81	$21,434	97	$25,195	65	$22,175	48	$18,293 75	$18,344	45	$22,194 54
Essex,.....	4,489	21	2,917 62	3,666	77	4,847 81	8,631	46	7,750	60	8,363	18	4,716 12	3,868	51	3,056 32
Worcester, . . .	1,434	85	1,284 26	1,552	99	2,098 33	2,407	78	2,663	94	2,738	22	3,189 44	3,066	99	2,508 31
Middlesex, . . .	8,873	46	6,789 66	7,980	48	10,980 82	9,628	55	10,381	29	10,477	80	6,846 17	6,948	50	6,620 08
Hampshire, . . .	800	86	1,074 70	666	07	306 74	602	24	1,116	32	1,281	65	1,554 09	1,529	23	1,401 13
Hampden, . . .	1,831	89	1,666 79	1,162	62	1,259 53	1,572	15	2,956	06	3,169	32	2,494 07	2,058	68	1,705 32
Franklin, . . .	400	66	724 91	550	66	571 43	407	34	642	41	725	38	831 27	719	47	409 30
Plymouth, . . .	853	25	1,105 -11	600	89	556 59	516	84	958	41	916	84	967 66	928	09	578 12
Berkshire, ...	2,658	49	2,473 19	1,785	65	1,671 49	1,139	12	2,545	55	2,206	46	2,851 43	2,559	83	2,247 71
Norfolk, . . . .	2,024	76	2,187 75	2,080	00	8,462 13	2,863	14	7,164	35	6,306	63	4,586 49	4,638	81	3,704 52
Bristol, . . . .	3,674	76	2,376 19	3,789	20	6,595 43	6,789	21	5,669	84	5,808	30	4,689 84	3,240	41	3,460 07
Nantucket & Dukes,	300	00	425 48	337	25	484 90	275	71	378	63	488	35	278 77	1,236	51	196 18
Barnstable, . . .	462	30	259 83!	631	54	140 so;  i	536	26	765	50!	483	13	525 90	-		447 27
Totals, . . • .	$43,929 90* $33,883 47j #37,611 82					$52,102 51	$56,804	71	$68,188 45		$65,140 70		$51,825 30	$49,139 48		$48,600 87

Amount paid each County for support of Lunatic State Paupers during the same Period.

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Amount paid each County for support of Lunatic State Paupers during the same Period.

Suffolk, , . . .	$9,431	86	I  $10,170 52	$9,738 46	$9,940 40	$12,954 96	$15,906 19	$15,830 55	$17,295 11	$19,569 03	$19,805 09
Middlesex, . . .	2,030	71	2,040 88	2,306 73	2,968 06	3,332 20	3,119 31	4,057 02	4,731 47	5,180 39	5,834 40
Nantucket, . . .	451	17	174 78	-	-	-	-	-		-	-

P

P.Barnstable, . . . Dukes, .... Berkshire, . . . Norfolk, .... Hampden, . . . Essex, .... Bristol, .... Worcester L. Hosp. Worcester, . . . Hampshire, . . .	260 00 260 00 124 00 3,437 14 130 00 4,909 76 1,811 96 138 56	259 72 224 70 368 15 3,607 11 131 27 7,954 43 176 10 ° 132 68	291 14 614 41 295 52 3,428 42 100 00 9,126 86 205 60	55 42  200 00 573 93 300 00 3,780 98 13 93 11,526 69	52 00  200 00 • 300 00 200 00 3,726 83  13,259 46	41 42 190 80  119 75  3,285 83  16,212 34	100 00  200 00  100 00 4,064 93  17,580 69	200 00 200 00 100 00 4,337 87  21,750 01	170 00 180 00 100 00 4,897 40 785 00 23,102 76	200 00 323 14 100 00 5,569 64 i _ 19,108 84 991 32
Totals,....	$22,985 04	$25,240 04	$26,107 17	$29,785 41	$34,033 45	$38,875 64	$41,933 19	$48,614 46	$53,984 58	$51,932 43
Totals for both										
classes,* . .	$66,914 94	$59,023 51	$63,718 99	$81,887' 92	$90,838 16	$107,06109^107,073 89		1100,439 76	$103,124 06	$100,533 30

Total amount for paupers in ten years,........$886,618 62

Total amount for State*paupers in ten years, in towns,..... 507,227 21

Total arfiount for lunatic State paupers in hospitals, &c.,..... 379,391 41

O

to

# There are some slight discrepancies between these amounts and those given in the Auditor's; but the difference is not material, and is owing, probably, to the different periods
of time at which the two tables were made.

co
cn186 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

In table C, we gave a summary of expenses for State pampers, as
paid to the lunatic hospitals, to the counties or otherwise, from tables
furnished us by the Auditor, giving in each table the expenditures
for the year named.

To table C, should be added bills against the State almshouses in
1857, paid in 1858, amounting to $35,013.68, (including inspectors'
salaries,) making the total cost of supporting the State paupers,
$860,777.78, which added to the expense of lunatic State paupers,
swells the aggregate to $1,128,598.91.

In addition to the above should also be included the cost of our
four almshouses, which is $338,354.02.

Having in tables C and D, given certain data in regard to our
State pauper expenses since 1853, we will now give the number of
paupers admitted to our three State almshouses and Rainsford Island
since they were first opened, the average weekly number, and the
cost per capita per week for the support of the same.

Table B.
No. 1.— Whole Number Admitted,.

PLACES.	1854.  (7 months.)	1855.	1856.	185T.  (9 months.)	1858.
Tewksbury,  Bridgewater, .  Monson, .... Rainsford Island Hospital,  Totals,	2,193 860 723 560	2,481 1,267 1,622 824	1,529 1,786 1,252 723	1,314 1,839 1,379 656	2,835 2,209 2,938 870
	4,336	6,194	5,290	5,188	8,852
No. 2.—Average Weekly Number.					
Tewksbury,  Bridgewater,  Monson, .  Rainsford Island Hospital, Totals,	705 382 354 168	• 830 528 626 206	816 539 719 220	765 636 632 250	941 770 823 236
	1,732	2,190	2,294	2,283	2,770
No. 3.— Cost per Week for each Pauper.					
Tewksbury,  Bridgewater,  Monson, . . . . Rainsford Island Hospital,	$0 94.5  1	04.8 99.7  2	61	91 31 1 09 1 51 3 17	U 22 1 08  1	42  2	88	$1 18 1 03  1	35  2	64	$0 96* 1 02

Table B.
No. 1.— Whole Number Admitted,.

* To June 22; 87 to October 1.

Current expenses of each institution, as per alien commissioner*#
report, 1855, 1856 and 1857, and reports of superintendent of alms-

* To June 22; 87 to October 1.

Current expenses of each institution, as per alien commissioner*#
report, 1855, 1856 and 1857, and reports of superintendent of alms-1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

137

houses and RainsforcTIsland hospital, 1854 and 1858. For explana-
tion of certain discrepancies in the aggregates given and those found,
in the Auditor's report, the reader will remember that it is caused in
part by the different periods of the year at which the two reports close.

No. 4.

PLACES.	1854.  (7 months.)	1855.	1856.		1857.  (9 months,)	1858.  (Apropria- tion.)
Tewksbury,.	$20,374 68	$56,685 99	$51,919	14	$35,319 00	$48,00^ 00
Bridgewater, ....	12,218 47	29,962 18	33,091	72	25,639 83	44,836 00
Monson,.....	10,719 27	49,312 11	53,515	97	33,283 53	37,000 00
Rainsford Island Hospital, .	22,618 26	33,993 60	32,838	75	24,366 49	25,000 00
	287 94	' 2,604 92	2,199	55	1,328 95	-
Totals,.....  1	$66,208 95 '$172,558 80		$173,565	13	1 $119,937 80	$154,836 00

The year's account that we have given above, closed Oqtober 1, in
1857, and December 1, in 1854, 1855 and 1856, but under the opera-
tions of the appropriation law of 1858, their fiscal year begins in
future January 1, thus leaving three months of last year in a separ-
ate account, which deficiency, the Auditor supplied by bringing his
accounts with the institutions above named, down to December 1,
as usual. To complete therefore our summary of expenditures for
these various institutions since they were first opened in April and
May, of 1854, we subjoin the following table, furnished us by the
Auditor, and duplicated from our Note. Let us here remark*that the
salaries and expenses of the inspectors for 1858, are taken from the
sum appropriated to each establishment.

No. 5.—Expense of supporting State Paupers at—

	Bridgewater.	Tewksbury.	Monson.	. Rainsford Island Hos- pital.*	Salaries of Inspectors & expenses.
7 months, to Dec. 1854, .	$14,806 10	$28,043 15	$23,692 69	$14,070 73	$287 94
12 " " 1855, .	29,952 18	56,685 99	49,312 11	33,993 60	2,604 89
12 " « 1856, .	33,091 72	51,919 14	53,515 97	32,838 75	2,199 65
12 " " 1857,. .	35,882 63	48,504 56	47,061 39	32,675 92	1,932 08
1 month, to Jan. 1, 1858, (ar- rearages,) ....	8,237 14	8,357 76	6,837 80	9,580 98t	165 00*
Appropriation for 1855, .	37,000 00	.48,000 00	44,836 00	25,000 00	-
Totals, ....	$158,979 77	$241,510 60	$225,155 96	$148,179 98	$7,189 46

No. 5.—Expense of supporting State Paupers at—

* To October 1st.	t Embraces three months.	X Estimated.-

* To October 1st.	t Embraces three months.	X Estimated.-

18138 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

The reader will bear in mind that the sums above named are
claimed to have been expended for the support of the paupers, but in
the following table we will give the amounts drawn from the State
funds by each institution, and expended in yarious ways, including
current expenses, as above, but not including construction account.

No. 6.

PLACES.	1854:.	1855.	1856.	185?.  (9 months.)	1858.
Tewksbury, (7 months,) Bridgewater, (7 months,) . Monson, (9 months,) .  Rainsford Island Hospital, (9 mos.)	$28,043 15 20,479 71 29,078 24 22,618 26	$56,685 99 31,985 08 50,845 89 35,650 81	$51,769 14 34,662 73 54,068 97 31,278 20	$40,767 97 30,173 78 39,036 80 24,366 49  1	$170,004 13*

No. 6.

* Expenses of the four institutions to Oct. 1st, 1858.

* Expenses of the four institutions to Oct. 1st, 1858.

Table F.

Value of State Property at the three Almshouses, and Rainsford Island

Hospital.

ARTICLES.	Monson.	Bridgewater.	Tewksbury.	Rainsford Island.
Horses, .... Cattle, .... Swine, .... Fowls, .... Carriages and utensils, . Mechanical & Machinery, Fuel, .... Products of farm, .* Supplies,  Furnishing goods, . Dispensary and drugs, Library, .... Vessels, .... Patriotic,* . .	$650 00 1,502 00 700 00 6 00 2,062 50 2,149 00  1,337 22 2,19 L 54 16,421 66 604 96 373 22  87 00	$615 00 1,356 00 470 00 7 25 1,856 83 1,551 34  393 54 626 14 9,487 33 248 04 364 42	$525 00 1,075 00 406 00  1,914 28 3,237 70  1,104 09 2,108 50 11,999 62 422 94 495 84	$170 00 82 00 284 00 78 00 395 21 256 21 1,623 14 189 70 275 53 6,509 25 539 54 189 16 2,577 00
Totals, . .	.28,085 10	$16,975 89	$23,288 42	$13,149 49

Total of the four,	$81,498 90

Total of the four,.....$81,498 90

* A brass cannon, to announce the arrival of the governor, and distinguished guests at the
almshouse.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

139

For the first time since these institutions were opened, there has
been taken, during the last summer, an-account of . stock in the
institutions located in the places named below, and we herewith give
a brief summary of the same.

The committee have suggested that in future the account of stock
shall be taken at the close of each year, and be inserted in the yearly
report.

The sums expended upon construction account of these State
buildings, will be found in our Note in detail; its aggregate is
$338,354.

STATE LUNATIC HOSPITALS.

In the following tables we give the present cost of each insane
asylum, number of acres of land attached to each, the year the
hospitals were first opened, and the whole number of patients during
the year; the average number, number at end of each year, current
expenses of each year, and annual expense of each patient at Worces-
ter Hospital since 1833, and Taunton since 1854. The data of the
oldest asylum we take from its annual report, and Dr. Choate, of
Taunton, furnishes the one relating to his own institution, and in
connection with it we give his explanatory note attached to it.

Table G.—No. 1.

Name of Hospital.	When opened.	Acres of Land.	Present Cost.	When established.
Worcester, . . .	1833	100 t	$185,000 00	1830
Taunton, . . .	1854	134	214,000 00	1851
Northampton, . .	1858	175	302,461 00	1855140 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

No. 2.—Showing the Whole Number of Patients during the year, the
Number at the end of teach year, and the expenses of each of the
twenty-five years the Hospital has been in operation.

Years.	Whole No. of Patients dur- ing the year.	Average No. each year.	No. at the end of each year.	Current expenses each year.	Annual expense for each patient.'
1833, .	153	107	Ill	$12,272 91	$114 67
1834, .	233	117	118	15,840 97	135 38
1835, .	241	120	119	16,576 44	137 30
1836, .	245	127	138	21,395 28	168 44
1837, .	306	163	185	28,027 07	159 64
1838, .	362	211	218	28,739 40	136 20
1839, .	397	223	229	29,474 41	132 16
1810, .	391	229	236	27,814 98	121 59
1841, .	399	233	232	28,817 62	123 81
1812, .	430	238	238	29,516 87	111 12
1843, .	458	214	255	27,914 12	114 40
1844, .	491	261	263	29,278 75	112 17
1845, .	656	316	360	43,888 65	138 88
1846, .	637	359	367	39,870 37	111 06
1817, .	607	377	394	39,444 47	101 62
1818, .	655	404	409	42,860 05	* 106 09
1819, .	682	420	429	40,870 86	97 31
1850, .	670	440	441	46,776 13	106 40
1851, .	704	462	466	52,485 33	112 61
1852, .	775	515	532	43,878 35	85 20
1853, .	820	537	520	53,636 66	103 14
1851, .	819	430	381	53,221 52	123 77
1855, .	580	349	336	54,895 88	157 29 *
1856, .	577	357	376	45,631 37	128 64
1857, .	647	387	372	49,004 75	124 04
1858, .	679	372	301	38,267 26	102 86

No. 3.—Lunatic Hospital at Taunton.

Years.	Whole No. of Patients dur- ing the year.	Average No. each year.	No. at the end of each year.	Current expenses each year.	Annual expense for each patient.
1854, .	330	224	239	$18,261 69	$124 68
1855, .	406	262	262	32,930 42	125 65
1856, .	447	282	298	34,871 26	123 66
1857, .	505	320	327	33,735 95	. 126 50
1858, .	550	328	301	42,481 50	129 51

No. 3.—Lunatic Hospital at Taunton.

The years 1854 and 1857 were fractions of a year, 1854 consisting
of seven and three-fourths months, dating from the opening of the1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

141

institution. The year 1857, in consequence of an alteration, by a
new statute, in the time of making up the accounts of the year, con-
sisted of ten months only. In the last column in both these instances
the rate per annum is reckoned. In estimating the current expenses
of the year 1858, the sum of $3,625.79, being amount paid for con-
struction of the new barn, is deducted from the total expenditures of
the year.

The amount paid for interest, amounting to from $300 to $600 per
annum, has been included in each year's current expenses. This, I
believe, has not been done in the Worcester account.

WESTB'OROUGH REFORM SCHOOL TOR BOYS.

This institution for the reformation of juvenile offenders was first
opened in 1849, and it has cost the State for building and lands,
$165,000. The farm contains 1.85 acres. The following table will
give the the number of boys, value of their labor, &c.

Table H.—No. 1.

Years.	Average No. of Boys.	Value of their Labor.	Estimated Cost to support them per annum.	Appropriation by the State.
1849, . . .	-	-	- '	-
1850, ...	309	$3,426 20	$34 00	$22,500 00
1851, . . .	324	4,639 37	34 00	22,500 00
1852, . . .	319	3,072 42	34 00	20,000 00
1853, . . .	341.8	4,015 49	40 00	30,000 00
1854, . . .	470.9	6,753 06	40 00	45,200 00
1855, . . .	537	7,835 02	45 00	47,960 00
1856, . . .	568.8	6,017 72	45 00	40,390 00
1857, . . .	580.5	5,610 57	45 00	49,500 00
1858, . . .	590	3,456 50	45 00	44,000 00

In our " Note " we have spoken of immigration and its direct bear-
ing upon the increase of pauperism in the State, That each and
every reader may judge for himself of the correctness of our views, we
herewith present tables giving the arrival of alien passengers into the
country, number landed at Charlestown and Boston, number of Eng-
lish and Irish, number do. State paupers', &c.Table I.

Tear.	Alien Passengers arrived in Amer- ica.	Landed at Boston and Charlestown.	No. of English Passengers.	No. of Irish Passengers.
1831, .....	22,633	1,417	251	1,647
1832, .....	53,179	2,373	944	1,903
1833,.....	58,640	3,140	2,966	4,511
1834, . . . . .	65,365	2,931	1,129	6,772
1835,.....	45,374	3,168	468	5,148
1836, .....	76,242	3,258	420	2,152
1837, .....	79,340	9,678	896	737
1838, .....	38,914	2,070	157	1,225
1839, . . . . .	68,069	3,046	62	1,199
1810, .....	84,066 *	5,361	318	677
1841, .....	80,289	8,634	147	3,291
1842, . . . . .	104,565	8,021	1,743	4,844
1843, .....	52,496*	3,654*	3,517*	1,173*
1844, .....	78,615	6,355	1,357	5,491
1845,.....	114,371	10,281	1,710	8,641
1846,.....	154,416	13,998	2,854	12,949
1847,.....	234,968	20,744	3,476	29,640

Whole No. of
State Paupers.

to

Whole No. of
State Paupers.

No. who are
Foreigners.

No. of English
and Irish.

Cost to the State for
State Paupers.

a
w

E

Q

I

>

w

fei
HH

22S

GO

H3

HH

H

a

H

t—I

0

01

C-f

P

P

1,800

4,846
5,288
4,908
5,271
4,393
5,251
6,153
6,060
5,837
7,022
9,005

2,870
3,333
2,880
3,178
2,560
2,805
3,737
3,663
3,582
4,411
7,035

2,533
2,955
2,415
2,589
2,198
2,302
3,094
3,087
2,973
3,834
6,383

$18,086 76
35,562 49
53,208 89
52,122 53
55,836 22
41,200 74
37,076 78
46,268 45
48,246 56
45,805 28
55,207 27
47,953 89
56,529 64
69,159 20
67,738 73
60,561 79 .
63,949 931848, .....	226,527	22,152	4,455	. 24,802	9,431	7,413	6,707	.83,033 67
1849, .....	297,024	29,490	6,036	31,321	14,083	10,253	9,128	91,867 23
1850,.....	310,004	26,612	5,276	27,674	16,058	12,334	10,816	112,265 35
1851, .....	379,466	25,187	5,036	55,874	16,154	12,940	11,905	107,515 63
1352,.....	371,603	21,831	30,007	159,548	14,388	11,321	9,788	100,647 72
1853, .....	368,645	25,832	28,867	162,649	14,831	11,874	10,014	103,330 43
1854, .....	427,833	27,483	48,901 *	101,606	12,814	9,671	7,640	181,631 54
1855, .....	200,877	17,735	38,871	49,627	7,742	5,387	4,620	259,412 88
1856,t.....	224,496	19,429	25,904	54,904	8,365	5,807	5,044	240,443 19
1857,t.....	271,558	13,901	-	-	12,530	8,300	7,453	230,787 79

* Nine months.

t The reader will remember that there is a material difference in the aggregates between the number of passengers arriving in the country and the number of alien passengers
arriving. We have taken the latter cumber from 1831 to 1856, and the former for 1856 and 1857, because wc had no other data. So, also, in regard to the number of passengers
landed at Boston and Charlestown, there is no distinction between the two classes; but in a separate table, relating to Supeiin ten dent of Alien Passengers, full and complete
information will be found in regard to this subject, and the apparent discrepancy that seems to exist between the numbers there given and those that we have copied to 1856, from
u Brownwell's History of Immigration," is owing to the fdct that the tables last named are in some years made up in about equal parts of two separate years, while the other da.a
is in most cases from January to January, excepting .the years 1857 and 1858, which end September 30, that of 1857, therefore, embracing only nine months.144 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jaa.

ALIEN PASSENGERS ARRIYING AT BOSTON.	^

The office of superintendent of alien passengers was first estab-
lished in 1837, and below we give certain tables relating to the
business of that office since the year named, including the gross
amount received from alien passengers. In number two of this table
will be found the amount paid into the State treasury, it being the
net proceeds.

Table J.—No. 1.

Years.

No. of Alien
Passengers.

Paid Head Money.

Amount paid out
for expenses.

Paid to City
and State.

1837,

1838,

1839,

1840,

1841,

1842,

1843,

1844,

1845,

1846,

1847,

1847,

1848,
1848,

Totals, . .

2,594
1,138
1,709
8,237
3,649
5,445
" 2,411
4,602
8,550
15,504
12,990
11,255
6,784
18,258

$5,188 00
2,276 00
3,418 00
6,474 00
7,298 00
10,890 00
4,822 00
9,204 00
17,100 00
31,008 00
25,980 00
22,510 00
13,568 00
36,516 00

98,126

$196,252 00

$974 55
1,080 95
722 34
3,749 31
4,154 37
4,658 61
3,695 75
3,439 98
5,573 61
9,327 07
3,483 93
1,442 48
1,226 07
3,551 32

$4,213 45
1,195 05
2,695 66
2,724 64
3,143 63
6,231 39
1,126 25
5,764 02
11,526 39
22,496 07
21,680 73
21,067 52
12,341 93
32,964 68

$47,080 39

$196,252 00

Paid for sending foreigners home, from 1837 to 1849,

Total receipts, ........

Paid to Boston as head money,. .

Grand total,
Deduct as above,

Net income,

$47,080 39
196,252 00
8,970 02

$205,222 02
47,680 39

$158,141 63

The reader will notice that above, the years 1847 and 1848 are
repeated twice. We suppose that they are half years.

We are now obliged to change the form of our table, and before
proceeding to do so, we will remark that in 1849, 16,815 passengers
gave neither bond nor paid head tax, and in 1850 there were 1,658 of
the same class. In the last column we have given the gross receipts
of the office, in addition to which there was collected on the bonds*
of passengers in 1850, $6,069.39 ; in 1851, $2,358,06; and in 1853,
$8,776.75, making actual receipts from aliens in 1850, $49,021.39;
in 1851, $51,540.57; and in 1853, $50,628.70.JSfo. 2.

YEARS.	No. of Passengers at Boston.	No. of Aliens landed.	No. of whom no Tax co did be taken.	So. commuted at $2 per head.	No. of extra commuted.	No. bonded.	Receipts.	Expenses of Office.
1849, ...	34,873	30,961	3,912	11,548	-	2,598	$23,026 00	- .
1850, ....	30,075	24,395	5,680	21,476	-	1,200	42,962 00	$6,354 15
1851, . .	29,319	23,200	6,119	21,382	-	1,718	42,704 00	5,637 46
1852, . . . .	25,956	23,813	2,143	18,392	-	773	36,786 00	6,441 13
1853, . . .	28,030	22,168	5,479	21,905	263	12	48,270 64	6,074 49
1854, . ... . .	31,006	29,295	6,738	23,718	114	24	50,344 47	6,428 44
1855, . . . .	. 20,853	18,813	8,128	12,364	109	238	26,744 37	6,514 39
1856, . . . .	21,912	19,429	,8,540	13,245	71	39	28,000 07	6,848 45
1857, ...	16,467	13,901	6,131	10,263	38	13	21,490 00	6,531 86
1858, . .	11,587	9,995	7,022	4,456	72	23	10,455 00	6,100 00
Totals, .	250,078	215,967	59,892	158,749	667	6,638	$330,772 55	

QO
Crt
co

GO

I

p

tSD146 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jaa,

Of the head tax, collected as above, $16,278 has been refunded to
parties paying the same, making the gross receipts from 1849 to 1859,
$314,494.55. Since 1853 there has been expended in returning
foreigners to their native country, $17,715.51.

RECEIPTS OF THE STATE FROM ALIEN PASSENGERS, AS PER AUDI-
TOR'S REPORT.

The law levying a tax of two dollars per head upon every alien
passenger landed in the State, was first passed in 1837, and by its
provisions said sum was paid into the treasury of the city or towns
where said passengers were landed, to be appropriated for the sup-
port of foreign paupers, and the same law also provided for the
bonding of every passenger. In 1849 the law levying the head tax
was declared by the United States Supreme Court to be unconstitu-
tional, and since then the captains of vessels have their choice, to bond
all their alien passengers or commute the bond by the payment of a
fee of two dollars or more. Below we give the receipts from this tax,
remarking that the small sums set down to 1840 and 1844 was
owing to the towns and cities retaining the funds in their own hands,
which was remedied by chapter 96, Acts of 1840, and chapter 76,
Resolves of 1845.

No. 3.

1840, .	$60 00	1849,	. &10,3O6 08
1841, .	. 9,504 31	1850,	. 35,136 08
1842, .	. 4,914 86	1851,	. 37,066 54
1843, .	... . 4,926 76	1852,	. 29,469 52
1844, .	47 12	1853,	. 81,008 51
1845, .	. . 6,920 24	1854,	. 52,634 73*
1846, .	. 11,526 39	1855,	. 15,848 62
1847, .	. 21,669 93	1856,	. 16,878 68
1848, .	. 26,884 66	1857,	. 15,490 00
# There is a discrepancy in this year of more than $2,000 between the sum giyenin the Auditor's Report of 1856, and the Alien Commissioners' Report of 1854.			1859.]	SENATE—No. 2.	14T

No. 4.

' Cost to the State of Board of Alien Commissioners, established by Act of

May 24, 1851.

1851, .	. $2,670 18	1856,	. $11,237 08
1852, .	8,230 89	1857,	9,952 17
1853, .	. 8,643 80	1858, f .	7,000 00
1854, .	7,968 22	Total,	. $65,226 58
1855, .	9,634 24	•-? ......	

t Appropriation.

t Appropriation.

PERKINS* INSTITUTION AND MASSACHUSETTS ASYLUM FOB, THE
BLIND, SOUTH BOSTON.

Aside from the expenses that the State incurs at its own charitable
institutions, the yearly grant made to this private corporation is one
of the largest of the many munificent donations of the Commonwealth.
The germ of this most humane institution of Massachusetts, wa&
planted by Dr. John D. Fisher, and associated with him were Edward
Brooks, Esq., Prescott, the historian, and other public spirited citi-
zens. For the purpose of effecting their object they procured an Act
of incorporation in 1828, and in 1833, Thomas Handasyd Perkins,
becoming interested in the plan, gave them his estate on Pearl Street,
Boston, on condition that the public should contribute $50,000 more
as a permanent fund for the support of the school, which sum was
promptly realized. Soon after this it was considered advisable to sell
the Perkins estate and purchase a new spot in the suburbs of the city,
and accordingly (he consenting) it was sold, and the present site, at
South Boston, was purchased, it costing at the time $35,000, and
though additional purchases were soon afterwards made, raising the
sum to $45,000, it has proved to be a very profitable investment,
the estate being now valued at about $80,000. It is owned by a
corporation, who choose eight directors, and the governor and council
appoint four, making twelve in all, they unitedly choosing their
treasurer, whose services are gratuitous. The agreement of th^
corporation, with the State, is to take forty pupils per year* but th6y
have received as many as sixty. As an institution for educating the
blind, it stands in the same relation to the New England States a*
ddes the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Hartford,
Connecticut; yet Massachusetts furnishes more than one-half of the148 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan.

pupils. Private pupils out of the State pay $200 per year, those
in the State $150, while the beneficiaries of the various States
who send their blind there, pay such sums as is agreed upon by the
parties concerned. (For Massachusetts grants, see table N.)

Table K.

Number of Pupils supported by Massachusetts at the " Perkins9 Institution
for the Blind" from the year 1831 to 1859.

		Number in		No. admitted.	Number in
Years.	No. admitted.	attendance.	Years.		attendance.
1832, ...	7	#7	1846, . .	16	46
1833, . . .	21	26	1847, . .	10	51
1834, . . .	8	28	1848, . .	8	55
1835, . . .	2	28	1849, . .	11	63
1836, . . .	10	36	1850, . .	15	70
1837, . . .	4	32	1851, . .	13	72
1838, . . .	14	42	1852, . .	15	77
1839, . . .	5	44	1853, . .	10	78
1840, . . .	5	41	1854, . .	10	73
1841, . . .	' 5	40	1855, . .	11	74
1842, . . .	6	40	1856, . .	9	73
1843,	. . .  1844,	. . .	8	41	1857, . .	11	77
	6	45	1858, . .	9	70
1845, . . .	7	41			

Whole number admitted, .	256

Average yearly admittance,	9^

Average yearly attendance,	50f^

Whole number admitted, ......256

Average yearly admittance,.....9^

Average yearly attendance,.....50f^

The whole number of pupils admitted to the institution since it was
opened, is 450. Present number there, 114; belonging to Massachu-
setts, 84. The average period of schooling is about seven years.

AMERICAN ASYLUM FOR DEAF AND DUMB, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.*

In regard to the expenditures of the State for this important class
of our citizens, it may be well to remark that in 1815, seven persons
in Hartford, Connecticut, chose a committee to solicit funds for the
purpose of sending some person to Europe to qualify himself to
become an instructor to the deaf and dumb, and accordingly the Rev.
Thomas H. Gallaudet was selected for, and sent upon the mission.
Not being permitted to acquire in the Edinburgh or London institu-
tions the knowledge he desired, he went to Paris, and in 1816 he
returned again to this country, bringing with him Mr. Laurent F.

* See table N. for appropriations for the Massachusetts Deaf and Dumb at that Institution.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

149

Clerce, an educated deaf mute, and a teacher in the Royal Institute
of Paris. They at once began to collect funds to establish an institu-
tion in this country fofr the thorough education of deaf mutes, and in
a short time they raised $12,000. In May, 1816, an institution
for that purpose was incorporated by the legislature of Connecticut,
and in October of the same year, the State granted it $5,000. In
1817 the donations amounted to $3,131; in 1818, $7,538, besides
$2,646 donated by the churches in Connecticut; in addition to which
in this year Congress gave to the new undertaking 23,000 acres of
land, which were afterwards located in Alabama. In the same year
an estate was purchased in Hartford, upon which to erect permanent
buildings for the use of the school, which now had in its charge forty-
seven pupils, and the next year Massachusetts made her first appro-
priation to it, giving it a sum sufficient to educate twenty pupils at
$200 per year. But this price was reduced the next year to $150
per annum. In 1825 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massa-
chusetts, by their legislatures, sent commissioners to Hartford to
investigate the condition of the asylum, the treatment, employment,
and education of the pupils, and to ascertain the terms and conditions
upon which the deaf and dumb who might be sent to the asylum
from those States, could be received. The result of their labor was,
that a compact was entered into between the commissioners of the
States named, on the one part, and the directors of institution on the
other part, by which it was agreed that the deaf mutes from those
States should be sent there to school, each State making sufficient
appropriation to pay the expenses of the same, which the directors
were to reduce as fast as the income of the permanent funds would
permit. As the result of this agreement, the price of board and
tuition was reduced from $200, the sum first charged, to $115, and
nine years after it was placed at $100 per annum, the present terms.
The income of the permanent fund in 1858, used towards defraying
the current expenses of the school, was about $17,000, which divided
among the 221 pupils in the institution, gives $77 to each one. As
Massachusetts has 78 pupils in the number named, their share has
been some $6,000. Below we give the number of pupils from
Massachusetts since 1819, price of board and tuition for same period,
and in connection with this data (referring the reader to the table for
the yearly appropriations since 1830,) we would say that from 1831
to 1841, the State gave to the school for educating its deaf mutes,
$39,913.54; from 1841 to 1851, $56,140.29; and from 1851 to 1859,
$65,081.67 ; total, $161,135.40 since 1830. At the close of the year
1858, there were in the school 246 pupils, of whom 25 were supported
by their friends, 42 by Maine, 19 by New Hampshire, 24 by Vermont,150 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jaft.

79 by Massachusetts, 11 by Rhode Island, and 46 by Connecticut,
and the principal receipts were from the States above named,
$16,554.16 ; income from permanent fund, $15,933.76 ; received from
private pupils, $2,041.67; balance from old account, $4,144.40;
expenses about $38,500.

Table L.

Statement of the number of Pupils supported by Massachusetts, annually
received into the Asylum at Hartford, and also the number actually in
attendance. in each and every year, from 1819 to 1859. (For the
yearly appropriations by the State to support its Pupils, see Table N.)

Tears.	No. of Pupils received.	No. of Pupils in attendance.	Tears.	No. of Pupils received.	No, of Pupils in attendance.
1819, . . .	19	19	1839, . .	4	46
1820, . . .	3	20	1840, . .	9	31
1821, . . .	4	21	1841, . .	3	35
1822, . . .	_	25	1842, . .	4	31
1823, . . .	6	25	1843, . .	12	24
1824, . . .	6	21	1844, . .	17	36
1825, . . .	39	24	1845, . .	11	46
1826, . . .	7	49	1816, . .	21	50
1827, . . .	7	55	1847, . .	18	62
1828, . . .	8	54	1848, . .	15	75
1829, . . .	10	54	1849, . .	12	72
1830, . . .	8	51	1150, . .	11	73
1831, . . .	7	37	1851, . .	8	69
1832, . . .	9	38	1852, . .	19	74
1833, . . .	11	38	1853, . .	8	68
1834, . . .	12	39	1854, . .	15	71
1835, . . .	3	40	1855, . .	15	77
1836, . . .	12	40	1856, . .	13	81
1837, . . .	6	41	1857, . .	9	68
1838, . . .	8	42	1858, . .	18	78

Statement of the number of Pupils supported by Massachusetts, annually
received into the Asylum at Hartford, and also the number actually in
attendance. in each and every year, from 1819 to 1859. (For the
yearly appropriations by the State to support its Pupils, see Table N.)

Average number in attendance, . . . .47^

Average time at school,......4^ years.

Whole number admitted,.....421

Average yearly admissions,.....10J

Price of board and tuition per year:—

From 1817 to 1821, . . . . . . .	1200 00

From 1821 to 1825, . . . . . . :.	150 00

From 1825 to 1834, . ...........115 00

From 1834 to 1859,..............100 001859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

151

MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL FOB IDIOTIC AND FEEBLE-MINDED YOUTH.

In the founding of this institution, it is claimed by its friends, that
Massachusetts was the pioneer State in this country in establishing a
public school for the systematic training of idiotic children. This
claim is stoutly denied by New York, and without entering into the
merits of the case, we would refer those interested in the subject of
the education of the class of helpless unfortunates above named, to
the Fourth Report of the Trustees of the New York Asylum for Idiots,
the Report of the Commission on Idiocy to the General Assembly of
Connecticut, May session, 1856, and Dr. S. G. Howe's Letter to gov-
ernor Gardner on his veto of the bill relating to the Idiotic School at
South Boston, and also his Ninth Report. The school was established
in 1848, and removed from the institution of the blind to its present
location, in 1855, the State appropriating $25,000 for the building
and lands. $5,000 more will be required before the institution
will be completed, when it will accommodate one hundred pupils, its
present number being sixty-four.

The accompanying tables show the number of pupils supported by
the State* since 1851, while table No. 2 gives the number of private
pupils for the same time. Present cost of the establishment to the State,
$27,754.94. Appropriations for its support, $46,875 since 1848.

Table M.—No. 1.

DATE.	Admitted.	Discharged.	Remained at end of year.	Yearly Appropriations.
October 1,1851,f . .	11	-	11	$3,750 00
January, 1852, . . .	10	3	18	3,750 00
1853, . . .	38	20	31	5,000 00
1854, . . .	12	10	33	5,000 00
1$55, . . .	4	11	26	30,000 00$
1856, . . .	23	10	39	5,000 00
1857, . . .	16	16	39	6,875 00
1858, . . .	21	15	45	7^500 00
December 20,1858, .	19	13	51	-

* State pupils stay from five to seven years.

t $2,500, in 1849 and 1850, was given by the State for the education of idiots, before the school
at South Boston was opened.

t $25,000 of this sum was for the land and buildings now occupied by the school; and $5,000
more have been expended, of which the legislature is expected to make an appropriation for the
present segsion, or at least $2,500 of it.

* State pupils stay from five to seven years.

t $2,500, in 1849 and 1850, was given by the State for the education of idiots, before the school
at South Boston was opened.

t $25,000 of this sum was for the land and buildings now occupied by the school; and $5,000
more have been expended, of which the legislature is expected to make an appropriation for the
present segsion, or at least $2,500 of it.152 PUBLIC CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. [Jan. "

Private Pupils.*—No. 2.

DATE.	Admitted.	Discharged.	Remaining.
October 1, 1851,	4	-	4
January 1, 1852,	2	-	6
1853,	5	5	6
1854,	4	3	7
1855,	6	9	4
1856,	7	5	6
1857,	4	2	8
1858,	12	4	16
December, 1858,	7	10	13

* The price of board for private pupils varies from $1 per week to $7; income from such pupils,
about $2,000 per year.

* The price of board for private pupils varies from $1 per week to $7; income from such pupils,
about $2,000 per year.

LANCASTER STATE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

Established 1855, first opened August, 1856. Present cost, to
State for buildings and land, (farm 100 acres,) $45,324.63*

Years.	Number received.	Present at the end of the year.	Appropriation by the State.
1856,.....	36	35	$8,000 00
1857* ....	68	92	13,500 00
1858, .....	22	95	13,000 00

* Actual current expenses of the school, $10,075.78, to October 1; and the $13,000 for 1858 is for
the entire year, from January to January.

* Actual current expenses of the school, $10,075.78, to October 1; and the $13,000 for 1858 is for
the entire year, from January to January.

The reader wiirbear in mind that the expenditures for the West-
borough and Lancaster institutions are not classed under the head of
" Charitable," but as " Reformatory and Correctional," yet they are
generally visited and examined at each session of the legislature by
the committee upon charitable institutions.\

DATES.

1831,	.

1832,	.

1833,	.

1834,	.

1835,	.

1836,	.

1837,	.

1838,	.

1839,	.

1840,	.

1841,

1842,	.

1843,	.

1844,	.

1845,	.

1846,	.

1847,	.

1848,	.

1849,	.

1850,	.

1851,	.

1852,	.

1853,	.

1854,	.
, 1855,	.

1856,	.

1857,	.

1858,	.

Asylum for
Blind*

$1,000	89

2,438	08

6,871	56

8,049	57

9,080	83

8,550	00

8,882	70

8,486	11

8,070	74

9,213	26

8,926	94

9,265	31

9,772	45

8,782	74

7,777	55

7,605	18

7,500	00

9,000	00

9,000	00

14,000	00

14,000	00

14,000	00

14,000	00

14,000	00

10,500	00

12,000	00

12,000	00

12,000	00

Asylum for Deaf
and Dumb, at

Hartford,
Connecticut.

$6,745 25
2,091 68
4,164 26
3,877 93
5,814 17
1,850 00
5,781 19
4,429 26
3,286 74
1,873 06
3,434 69
3,127 55
2,967 26
4,072 45
5,209 22

5.751	22
7,337 56
7,879 68
8,155 08
8,205 58
7,892 05
9,726 96
7,567 41
7,309 24

7.752	77
8,909 33
7,823 81
8,600 00.

Asylum for Idiots,
at South Boston.

Table N.

STEARLY EXPENDITURE OF THE STATE FOR CHARITABLE PURPOSES, FROM 1830 TO 1859.

lye and Ear In-
Armary, Boston.

Expenses of
Taunton
Hospital.f

$2,500 00
2,500 00
3,750 00
3,750 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
30,000 00
5,000 00
6,875 00
7,500 00

$5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
5,000 00
7,000 00
7,000 00
7,000 00
7,000 00
2,000 00
2,000 00
2,500 00
2,500 00
2,500 00
2,500 00

Expired.
2,500 00

$11,785 08
2,706 94
3,070 98
3,115 07
3,225 00

Expenses of
Worcester
Hospital4

$22,000 00
16,083 00
18,000 00
12,729 30
14,000 00
26,000 00
29,345 60
16,792 IS
7,150 00
3,200 00
7,700 00

5.199	49

3.200	00
8,200 00
3,200 00
5,200 00
3,200 00
4,350 00

11,606 34
3,200 00
3,200 00
3,200 00
3,200 00
3,200 00
3,200 00
2,775 00
2,900 00
3,400 00

Annuity of

Martha
Jolionnot.§

$2,520 00
2,520 00
2,520 00
2,520 00
2,535 57
2,420 00
2,420 00
2,468 06
2,212 82
2,140 00
2,148 33
2,040 00
1,971 38
1,910 11
1,640 00
1,640 00
1,640 00

Coroners'
Accounts.

$284 95
231 59
255 18
247 43
461 09
217 40
428 93
267 82
430 81
432 83
555 38
653 31
355 59
517*08
366 27
1,078 32
1,136 91
1,135 26
1,170 83
2,773 44
1,607 14
2,754 00
1,962 55
2,002 69
2,388 56
1,959 36
1,271 78
1,000 00

Indians'
Accounts.

$15^ 00

380

68
00

25 4j 00
23fij. 01

381! 00

j

20(1 00
1,233 38
849 26
197 50
531) 00
471 25
1,361 50
511 50
506 27
613 00
483 85
1,041 96
37i 00

3,91£» 86

2,19(

1,880 96

l,54i
3,06(
2,65^
6,18'
3,30C

91

40
V 63
i0
1
)

Appropriations from 1831 to 1841, ......

Appropriations from 1841 to 1851, ......

Appropriations from 1851 to 1859, . . . . .

Total appropriation for support of " Charitable Institutions " since 1830,
Expended for lands, buildings, and fixtures of " Charitable Institutions " since 183(

Grand Total, . . .

# Instituted 1828; opened 1832.

f Established 1851; opened 1854.

j Established 1830; opened 1833.

j Condition attached to her bequest made to Worcester Hospital in 1842.

|| Granted in 1841 to City of Boston, for quarantine ground, and not occupied again by the State
till 1854. See State Almshouse Report.

IT Established 1855; opened August, 1858.

*# Paid to Massachusetts Humane Society.

Pensioners'
Accounts.

Rainsford Island. ||
Salary of Keeper.

$1,605 16
1,593 33
3,729 68
8,964 46
7,693 23
6,001 50
3,862 53
2,932 70
2,279 62
1,715 00
1,637 33
1,753 09
1,493 67
1,352 00
1,363 23
1,292 30
1,105 00
2,174 00
1,387 17
1,552 67
1,474 26
1,112 55
855 64
731 14
827 50
1,370 20
5,500 00
500 00

$582 62
1,981 45
7,104 44
5,104 44
1,722 17
4,208 88
2,602 22

986 64
1,160 14

Northampton
Hospital.!

Life Boats. **

Alien
Passengers, ft

$1,800 00

$5,000 00
1,350 00
600 00

2,560 00

2,500 00

$150 00

3,025. 00
6,750 00
6,000 00
6,000 00
6,000 00
7,000 00

Allen Com-
i missioners. fcj:

State Paupers.

$ 857,508 56
1,014,744 76
1,891,423 16

$3,763,676 48
1,039,815 19

$4,803,491 67

$2,670 16
8,230 89
8,543 80
7,958 22
9,634 24
11,237 08
9,952 17
7,000 00

$76,086 76
35,562 49
53,208 89
52,122 53
55,836 22
41,200 74
37,076 78
46,268 45
48,246 56
45,805 28
55,207 27
47,953 89
56,529 64
69,159 20
67,738 73
60,561 79
63,949 93
83,033 67
91,867 23
112,265 35
107,515 63
100,647 72
103,330 43
100,730 93
86,854 09
66,878 06
64,731 21
60,000 00

Expense of State
Almshouses. §§

$80,900 61
172,558 80
173,565 13
166,056 58
154,863 00

Totals.

$110,457 65
60,415 30
93,714 01
91,349 66
94,846 72
88,409 52
93,180 00
82,399 90
73,300 37
69,436 43
82,502 75
73,543 89
80,201 11
97,114 97
90,681 27
86,642 38
94,132 25
118,034 57
138,032 71
153,859 86
145,169 10
147,261 36
148,905 79
241,386 59
339,899 94
299,559 74
296,552 63
272,688 00

tt Tax first levied upon alien passengers by Act of 1837; and superintendent of the same made s
State officer by Act of 1848, prior to which time his expenses were paid by the City of Boston.
Established by law in 1851.

H Established by law in 1852; first opened May, 1854.1859.]

SENATE—No. 2.

158

Table 0.

Indebtedness of the State for its Charitable Institutions.

LUNATIC HOSPITAL, TAUNTON,

Due April 1, 1865, ....

Due November 1, 1865,

Due July 1, 1874,.....

FIVE PER CENT. SCRIP.

. $70,000 00
. 100,000 00
. 16,000 00

NORTHAMPTON LUNATIC HOSPITAL SCRIP, SIX PER CENT.

Due April 1, 1868, ...... $150,000 00

Due June 1, 1877,...... 50,000 00

$186,000 00

$200,000 00

STATE ALMSHOUSE SCRIP, FIVE PER CENT.

Due November 1, 1872,
Due October 1, 1873,
Due October 1, 1874,

$100,000 00
60,000 00
50,000 00

$210,000 00

$6,000 per year of the receipts from alien passengers are set
apart as a sinking fund, to extinguish this debt. See chap. 275,
Act of 1852, and chap. 355, Act of 1854. Present amount of
the fund, $37,539.29.

The six per cent, scrip of 1856, ($300,000,) due July 1,1862,
1864, and 1866, was to extinguish an equal amount of the float-
ing debt of the Commonwealth; and of this sum $136,429.74
were the arrearages of our Charitable Institutions.

Total, ..........

Annual interest upon the same, . .

$136,429 74

$732,429 74
39,985 18

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