To the State Board of Charities:

The Committee on Inspection begs leave to submit herewith its report upon the work of the Department of Inspection for the year ending September 30, 1904, and to invite the attention of the Board to the matters considered therein.

The work of this department covers a large number and variety of private charitable institutions and societies in receipt of public money, as follows:

Dispensaries.

Fresh Air Charities

Homes for the Aged (including Homes for Blind, Deaf,

123

9

The following table summarizes the work of inspection during the year ending September 30, 1904:

The above table shows a total of 446 general inspections and 165 special inspections (a total of 611), as against 271 general and 141 special inspections (a total of 412) during the preceding year. A general inspection has been made of practically every institution and society in the Department for the first time in its history, and all the licensed dispensaries in the State have been inspected as to the extent of their compliance with the rules established by the Board pursuant to the provisions of chapter 368, Laws of 1899. Sixty-two general inspections of dispensaries have also been made in addition to the above and in the Western District a second general inspection has been made of 35 institutions. In addition to their work for this Department, two of the inspectors have devoted considerable time to special work in connection with the Department of State and Alien Poor, Inspector Lechtrecker having given more than two months to a special examination of the accounts of the Superintendent of the Poor of Ulster county, and to the subsequent investigation of the accounts by the Board of Supervisors of that county.

The chief features and results of the work of the year may be summarized as follows:

1. More emphasis has been laid upon the necessity for thorough and frequent inspection of the institutions in this Department, particularly those which are less well managed, and as a result the number of inspections has increased 50 per cent during the year.

2. The scope of general inspections has been enlarged so as to coincide with the requirements of the State Charities Law and to include every department of institution management, particular attention being given to the matters of compliance with the Public Health Law and the rules of the Board, fire protection, and educational work.

3. The institutions in this Department have been reclassified for purposes of inspection and the assignment of inspectors to the institutions modified, so as to secure a woman inspector for all institutions or divisions of institutions exclusively for women or girls. Where desirable the larger institutions have been divided for purposes of inspection with a view to equalizing the work of the inspectors, into two departments in accordance with the above principle.

4. The inspection reports have been studied, assigned to classes and transmitted to the Boards of Managers with some care and with a view to securing wherever possible certain definite improvements in the institutions affected by these reports. With this in mind a new classification of the inspection reports has been made whereby those showing practically no defects are placed in a class by themselves (Class I), and it is hoped by creating this class to give a healthful stimulus to the work of improvement and possibly arouse some emulation among the officers and managers of the institutions supervised by this Department.

5. As the work of this Department is contiguous to that of the local departments of public safety, fire and health, at certain points, the Board has endeavored to cooperate with these departments in securing adequate protection against fire for the resi dents of institutions, and full compliance with the provisions of the public health law. Accordingly reports, or parts of reports, which show serious deficiencies in the matter of fire protection or compliance with the Public Health Law are sent to the proper local officials, who have usually taken action where it has been within their province to do so.

6. The system of records, daily reports, etc., in use in this Department has been extended so as to cover the work of each inspector, and has also been simplified as much as possible. The inspectors have been required to plan their trips so as to visit several institutions in a given locality when in that vicinity, and so secure a maximum number of inspections with a minimum expenditure of time and money.

7. As a result of the increased number of inspections and the broader scope of investigation a considerable amount of information has been secured in regard to the institutions and dispensaries in this Department which affords a basis for more intensive work another year. With this data at its command the Department will be able to do more direct and effective work in the line of securing better conditions in the institutions under its supervision and to give special attention to the weaker and more imperfect ones, those whose reports have been assigned to Class III as showing serious defects.

CONDITIONS FOUND IN INSTITUTIONS VISITED.

The general condition of the institutions inspected by this Department is best shown in the disposition made of the inspection reports received during the past year. Of the 605 general and special inspection reports considered by the Eastern and Western District Committees respectively, 38 have been placed on file, 40 have been placed in Class 1 as showing practically no defects, 384 have been placed in Class II as showing few or minor defects, and 143 have been placed in Class III as showing serious defects. It is apparent, therefore, that nearly 25 per cent of the institutions and dispensaries examined during the year were below the standard which the Board desires. It should be remembered, however, that this standard is rightly a very high one and that a report upon an institution which may be excellently managed and equipped in most respects may yet be placed in Class III because of a failure to comply with some important provisions of the Public Health Law, the laws affecting fire protection, or the rules of the Board. It should be noted, too, that a large number of the reports upon institutions were placed in Class II because showing some small or temporary defect which alone prevented their being placed in Class I. Practically all of the reports show that improvements have been made since the last inspection, some of them extensive and thorough-going. It is evident, therefore, that gratifying progress is being made in securing the results for which the Department was created but that much remains to be accomplished, particularly in the case of those institutions whose reports have been assigned to Class III.

An important feature of the work of this Department is at present imperfectly performed, namely, that of bringing consistent and steadily increasing pressure to bear upon the managers of institutions which persistently fail to comply with the Public Health Law, the laws affecting fire protection, and the rules of the Board. The Board at present has no adequate machinery for securing continuity in this respect and its efforts. to secure compliance with the above laws and rules have thus far of necessity been intermittent. This seems to be in part due to the absence of any accessible record showing the Board's previous relations to an institution so that when an inspection re