SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

State Charities Aid Association.

To the New York State Board of Charities:

In closing our last report to you, of a year ago, we spoke of the zeal and efficiency of those members of your Board whose field of duty lay within our view, and of the relations of cordial co-operation and regard which existed between them and this Association.

Of those thus referred to, one has passed on to another sphere of service. By the death, on the 9th of February, of Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Vice-President of the State Charities Aid Association, and Commissioner for the First Judicial District of this State, our Association has sustained an irreparable loss.

Mr. Roosevelt was among the first to recognize the value of active co-operation between officials and volunteers in all measures of reform. From the time of his appointment as a member of your Board, he lost no opportunity of strengthening volunteer effort by the power his official position gave him, as he never hesitated to apply to the members of this Association for assistance in every movement in which he was engaged for the

reform of the public charities. To this close co-operation much of the efficiency of his and our work is due.

For the past three years Mr. Roosevelt has given the greater part of his time to the interests of the Public Institutions of Charity of this city, bringing to the service natural and acquired powers, rare experience, physical strength, and a cheerful, healthy tone of mind. Ever hopeful, working always with singleness of purpose and untiring energy, strong in his denunciation of wrong, of unsurpassed moral courage, modest and gentle, true to his high standard of honor, and firm in his religious faith, he brought to his work all that he had and all that he was, giving himself freely and joyfully, realizing that the extent of his duty was to be measured only by the extent of his ability.

No more beautiful tribute of affectionate respect to the friend, the man, and the citizen, could be rendered, than that which was paid to the memory of our VicePresident at a private memorial meeting of the Association, held a few days after Mr. Roosevelt's death. Extracts from the records of this meeting, published elsewhere, will serve to keep in our remembrance as a guide for future action, and as an incentive to future effort, the various interests in which Mr. Roosevelt was engaged this winter, as well as his more far-reaching plans. To try to continue the work he has left us to do, animated by his example of high endeavor and cheerful courage, will be our truest memorial service.*

THE work of this Association and of its Branches has now become so extended that many of these print their Annual Reports, although reporting directly to the Central Association. It is only possible to touch upon the more prominent points of interest in this general review of the work of the past year, referring you for

*See page 92.

fuller information to the interesting extracts from the annual reports of our Visiting Committees and to the Appendices. An increasing interest in the work of the Association is manifest, both on the part of its members and of the public at large. Our plan of work remains the same. The members of our County Committees still visit the Almshouses, the Hospitals, the Poor in their Homes, reporting month by month the improvements made, the evils which exist, the difficulties to be met;and the student members of the central Association still earnestly search for the best measures to meet these needs, deeply conscious of the responsibility which such study involves. For the conclusions reached by our students, unlike those of students of Social Science generally, are frequently to be put to an immediate practical test, to a test which may involve the welfare or misery of thousands of human lives. Surely there is no room here for rash assertion or hastily-considered measure. Rather let our members give years to patient investigation and well-tried experiment before they dare to answer many of the questions which are constantly asked them as guardians of the interests of the poor of this State.

The efficiency of all associated effort depends largely upon good organization, the enforcement of discipline and the thoroughness of the work performed. Our Constitution is not a dead letter but is amended when necessary, to meet any need which may arise, and its requirements are faithfully observed by our members. This obedience to rules, and the esprit de corps which pervades the entire Association, enabling it to concentrate its power at any time upon any one given object, are marked instances of the soldierly qualities, so essential to volunteer work, which may be developed by firm discipline and an earnest interest in a common cause. We hope that the same conscientiousness may prevail in

maintaining a higher standard of thoroughness for the work yet to be done by all our members.

CHILDREN.

We continue to watch with gratitude and much interest the effect of the law removing healthy children from the Poor-houses. It is very generally observed throughout the state, although two noticeable instances of its evasion require mention. One of these was the establishment of the "Children's Home" at Newburgh, by the Commissioners of the Almshouse. The Home reflects favorably the benevolent intentions of the Commissioners; but in view of the experience of the Randall's Island Nursery, of this city, which, opening with the same bright prospects of benefitting the children, by separating them from poor-house influences, degenerated in a few years, by the introduction of pauper nurses, into a very "hotbed of crime," the experiment is too dangerous to be repeated. The only safeguard is the strict maintenance of the principle that pauper children and pauper labor should not be under one and the same management. It is a pleasure to add that when the Commissioners of Newburgh became aware of the danger of their course as a precedent, the bill prepared by them to authorize the permanent establishment of the "Children's Home," was promptly withdrawn. The views of our Association upon this subject are given in a letter from the President to a Newburgh journal (Appendix A).

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The following resolutions, adopted at a special meeting of the Committee, still further emphasize these views: Resolved: That the Committee on Children of the State Charities Aid Association protests against every attempt on the part of Commissioners of Almshouses and Superintendents of the Poor, to keep under their management or control children removed from the poorhouses of the State.

"Resolved: That such attempts are not in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 173, of the Laws of 1875, and are an evasion of the law."*

The other evasion of the Children's Law, unlike that at Newburgh, reflects the gravest discredit upon the Superintendents of the Poor of Westchester County. Unwilling to pay for the support of the pauper children, in an institution where they were well cared for, these officials removed the children to the home of a married daughter of the keeper of the poor-house, where they could be boarded at less expense. When the children were visited in January, it was found that two pauper women had already been sent from the poor-house to assist in the care of these thirty-two neglected little children.

It is hoped that the bill lately introduced by Senator Marvin, which has passed the Senate, will speedily become law. It removes from the poor-houses all children over the age of two years, including idiots, epileptics, paralytics, and other diseased, and unfortunate children. The attempt to amend the bill, by the addition of a religious clause, which obliges children to be committed to institutions, "governed or controlled by officers or persons of the same religious faith as the parent of such child, as far as practicable," is much to be regretted. Such a clause can do much harm, while its benefits are doubtful. Without any such legal obligations, it will be found that practically, during the past two years, the local officials, have already placed the children in institutions governed by the religious faith of their parents, and that each community will, in this respect, jealously guard

*At date of going to press we are informed that the management of the Newburgh Home has already deteriorated. Two women have been brought from the Alms-house to assist in the care of the children. One of these women is the mother of two illegitimate children.

The law of 1875 removed all healthy children over three years of age from the poor-houses, but did not provide for the removal of diseased children.