at the expense of the towns that send them, and of the state, which grants appropriations for most of the hospitals. Fitch's Home for Soldiers at Noroton had an average of 518 inmates.

The state had about 65 blind beneficiaries during the year, of whom about 15 were supported at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, South Boston, and 50 at the Kindergarten and Industrial Home for the Blind in Hartford. Ratio, 72 to a million.

The state supported last year 125 deaf pupils, of whom 91 were at the American School for the Deaf at Hartford, and 34 at the Mystic Oral School. Ratio, 138 to a million.

Feeble-minded children are cared for and instructed, at state expense, at the Connecticut School for Imbeciles, Lakeville. Average number, 180. Ratio, 198 to a million.

The Connecticut Hospital for the Insane at Middletown contained an average of 2,115 inmates during the year. The Retreat for the Insane at Hartford had an average of 160 patients. In eleven private sanatoria for mental diseases there was an average of 280 patients; and among the town poor there were 275 cases reported, chiefly of a chronic nature. Total, 2,830. Ratio, 3,117 to a million.

The cost to the state for the delinquent, defective, and dependent classes for the year ending Sept. 30, 1901, was:

MRS. EMALEA P. WARNER, WILMINGTON, STATE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.

(Report made by M. A. T. Clark, Superintendent Associated Charities.)

The Delaware legislature meets biennially. This being the intervening year, there is no legislation to report.

The most important event since the last report is the completion of the Newcastle County Workhouse, managed by a board of

trustees appointed by the court. All classes of criminals, long term, short term, and persons in default of bail, are confined in this institution. Employment, classification, and a library are hopeful features toward the reformation of the criminals. Prisoners all eat at tables in a bright, cheerful dining-room.

A large and commodious annex, with improved facilities, has been added to the Delaware Hospital, almost equal in capacity to the original building. They have now a training school for nurses, and had their first graduating class last October.

Wilmington, like other cities, has been visited by small-pox. The first appearance of the disease found the city unprepared to cope with it, should an epidemic occur. Measures were at once taken to erect and equip a building to permanently meet the need. The trustees of the poor and the city council united, and built the Emergency Hospital on the county grounds at Farnhurst. All cases, after the first two or three, have been sent there, and successfully treated. There have been no deaths.

The Delaware State Hospital for the Insane has completed the pathological laboratory, and is doing some original work, besides making examinations for physicians outside. They have also a fully equipped surgery, and operate when necessary. They have a training school for attendants, where they are taught the best ways to care for and control the patients. They have both the trained nurse course and the special care of the insane department.

A Home for Incurables has been recently opened by the Noblesse 'Oblige King's Daughters, who have worked toward this end for several years. They have now five patients, with accommodations for six, and hope to increase the capacity as the need demands.

Other circles and kindred societies have organized the People's Settlement, have employed a trained worker, and are doing good work in a slum district. Their clubs and classes number one hundred, exclusive of a kindergarten recently opened.

Criminals are confined in county jails and the new workhouse of Newcastle County,- average in workhouse, 185. 115 are employed in manufacturing clothing, the rest in quarry, carpenter shop, laundry, and kitchen.

Delinquent children are cared for in the Ferris Industrial School for Boys and Delaware Industrial School for Girls,— 80 boys and 19 girls in the two schools. Both institutions are doing better work each year.

The aged poor are partly supported in homes, two for white and two for colored, all now sheltering about 70. Others are cared for in the three county almshouses. Improvements have been added to the institution of Newcastle County, and the new name of Newcastle County Hospital takes the place of almshouse. Present population, 234.

Destitute children are cared for in the Home for Friendless Children (inmates, 67); and St. Michael's Baby Hospital and Home (inmates, about 10, both Protestant); St. Peter's Female Orphanage, 53 girls; St. James Protectory, 63 boys; St. Joseph's Home for Colored Boys, 140, and their industrial school and farm at Clayton under same management, with 60 boys, all Catholics.

The sick and injured are provided for in two well-equipped hospitals, Delaware Hospital (allopathic) and Homœopathic Hospital, and in the Emergency Hospital and Home for Incurables.

There are no institutions in Delaware for the blind, deaf, or feebleminded; but the last legislature appropriated $7,000 for the care of these wards outside of the state.

The Delaware State Hospital for the Insanè cares for all state patients, average, 315.

The Associated Charities and Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children both come in daily contact with all the foregoing, and cooperate with all agencies to promote the best interests of the individual.

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND, WASHINGTON, D.C., CORRESPONDING

SECRETARY.

No legislation of importance affecting the charities in the District of Columbia has been enacted since last report, and no measures of vital importance are pending in the present Congress. A bill providing for the temporary care of the insane in general hospitals has been favorably reported upon by the police, legal, medical, and charity departments, and will probably be passed. A bill to limit the jurisdiction of the Board of Charities, and place some institutions now supervised by that board under the supervision of the Interior Department, has been adversely reported by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia and the Board of Charities. A bill

changing the methods of procedure for commitment of patients to the insane asylum and providing for a more exhaustive investigation of cases presented to the court has been introduced, but not yet reported from committee in either House.

The Board of Charities in its annual report and estimates to Congress recommends further extension of the contract system as a substitute for the subsidy system in those cases where it is deemed desirable to use private institutions. The board also recommends the elimination from the appropriation bill of small subsidies heretofore granted to private charities, and the reduction of other similar items with a view to their ultimate elimination. The board recommends also that local charities at present carried on under the direction of departments of the federal government be transferred to the supervision of the District authorities, and made an integral part of the local system of public charities.

A tract of land of 255 acres has been purchased by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia as a site for a new almshouse and burial ground for the indigent dead, and the architects are now engaged in preparing plans for the new buildings. Architects are also at work preparing plans for the new municipal hospital. It is hoped that appropriations for buildings may be secured for these two institutions during the present session of Congress. The system of release on probation of juvenile offenders has been inaugurated under authority provided by a law passed at the last session of Congress. In the absence of law establishing a juvenile court, the judges of the police court have voluntarily made arrangements whereby separate sessions of court are held for the trying of cases involving children. We have in effect, therefore, a juvenile court; and the children are no longer brought to trial during the regular sessions of the police court, but their cases are heard at separate sessions, when only parties having a legitimate interest in the cases are permitted to be present.

In the field of private charities a more wide-spread interest is being manifested in the work of the Associated Charities. Two social settlements," Neighborhood House" and "Noel House," have been established; and, although these places are still conducted upon a modest scale, there is evidence of great interest and promise of helpful results. New interest has been aroused in the work of providing better housing conditions for the poor; and a committee of

citizens has recently been organized for the purpose of studying housing conditions in this and other cities, with a view to securing the passage of new laws, as may be necessary to accomplish the desired results.

A greatly increased interest in charities and corrections has resulted from the meeting of the National Conference held here in May, 1901; and we expect to feel the beneficial effects of this meeting for many years to come.

Prisoners serving a sentence of less than one year are confined in the local jail, while those sentenced for a longer period are sent to the penitentiary at Moundsville, W. Va. The average number of prisoners is about 700, divided nearly equally between the jail and the penitentiary.

The vicious, including vagrants and petty criminals, are confined in the local workhouse, and are employed on farm and in work of grading city streets. The total commitments during the past year were 4,035, the daily average number under confinement being 260.

We have two reform schools, one for boys and one for girls, with a daily average during the past year of 220 boys and 30 girls. The Reform School for Girls has recently been enlarged, and for the current year the daily average number will probably be about 60. Under the recently enacted probation law, juvenile criminals are also placed on probation under the care of the Board of Children's Guardians, and a considerable number are now being handled in this

manner.

The daily average number in the almshouse during the past year was 237.

The daily average number of destitute children under the care of the Board of Children's Guardians, during the year, was 665; under the care of other institutions receiving public money, about

400.

The sick and injured, in public and corporate hospitals, averaged during the year about 600.

Blind children are educated at the Maryland School for the Blind, the number present at the end of the fiscal year being 25. Adult blind are cared for in the almshouse and by an association for the blind, where employment is furnished to those able to work.

Deaf-mutes are cared for in the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. From July 1, 1900, to November, 1901, there were 38 pupils from the District of Columbia in this institution.