ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ. WALTER M. JORDAN, HELENA, STATE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. At the last legislative session, money was appropriated to build an addition to the Orphans' Home at Twin Bridges, and also to double the size of the School for the Blind and Deaf at Boulder. These additions have been completed, and accepted by the state. There is ample room now in all of our state institutions. During the past year a woman matron has been added to the forces at the state penitentiary at Deer Lodge. During the year the State Board of Charities and Reform visited all the state institutions, and made a careful examination of their present condition, and found them all in very fine condition. NEBRASKA. A. W. CLARK, OMAHA, STATE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY. There has been no meeting of our legislature during the past year. The most prominent factor in the field of charitable and philanthropic work since the last meeting of the Conference has resulted from the work of the State Board of Charities. Ten months ago the Insane Hospital at Norfolk was almost wholly destroyed by fire. After moving half the patients to the other two state hospitals, temporary buildings were constructed and the remaining patients. were cared for at Norfolk. Upon investigation by the State Board of Charities, this was found unsuitable; and upon the recommendation of the board all the patients were moved from Norfolk, and are now properly cared for in the other state hospitals. For some years past, efforts have been made from time to time to remove crippled children from poorhouses; but not until the past winter was anything accomplished in this direction. The State Board of Charities succeeded in arranging for their admission to the Home for the Friendless at Lincoln, where they may be properly cared for and educated at state expense, the various counties providing their clothing. Many of these children are bright and susceptible of an education and industrial training, so that they may become almost self-supporting and be in a much better situation to enjoy life. The State Board of Charities has also been successful in arranging for the removal of epileptics from poorhouses and sending them where they properly belong. The officials connected with all the state institutions have been very cordial in their co-operation with the State Board of Charities; and, after making personal visits during the winter to every state institution in Nebraska except two, I am very glad to report that conditions in all of them are better, and the management seems greatly improved over preceding years. Especially is this true of the Institute for Feeble-minded, especially mentioned in my last annual report. Only one new charitable institution has been established and come into prominence during the past year; namely, the Christian Home for Children, established by ne Free Mission Lutheran Church at Holdrege. A large farm was secured, and 45 children are being taken care of at present. farm make the home nearly self-supporting. tution is to keep the children until they shall be of age, when they will go out into the world for themselves. The proceeds from the The past year has seemed to mark a decline in the state in the matter of organized charities in cities and towns. Beginning with Omaha, the Associated Charities was disbanded nearly a year ago. During the past winter much of duplication and confusion in charitable work was apparent. The police authorities and private organizations and the county officials administered outdoor relief, without any system of co-operation with each other, there being no central bureau of information. The most discouraging feature of the situation is that there seems no prospect for any reorganization in Omaha. The old organization was so mismanaged, and disbanded with so much indebtedness unprovided for, that the whole movement is in disrepute. Several suits are now pending in the courts over this former indebtedness. The Charity Organization Society of Beatrice was also disbanded because of lack of interest and because it appeared to those in charge of it that there was no necessity for such an organization in that city of 10,000 people. The only Charity Organization Society in the state which is in active and successful operation is at Lincoln, under the efficient management of Professor C. E. Prevey, the secretary. Criminals. There is but one state penitentiary, in which are con fined, at present, 283 prisoners, which would be about the average for the past year. Of the 90 counties in the state, 67 of them have county jails, in which are confined at the present time 884 prisoners. There is no classification to show what proportion of these belong to the criminal class and what proportion to the vicious. The cities and larger towns of the state have city jails, in which are confined 276 prisoners, many of whom belong to the class of the vicious; but our statistics this year do not show how many. The whole number of prisoners in the state at present is 1,442. The Vicious. We have no workhouses in the state. The prisoners of this class are locked up in county and city jails. We do not have the information to show how many of them are males and how many are females. Through the efforts of the State Board of Charities we expect by another year definite information concerning this class. Insubordinates.- The Industrial School for Boys at Kearney has at present 141 inmates, which is about 15 above the average for the past year. The Industrial School for Girls at Geneva has 50 inmates, which is about the average for the past year. The Milford Industrial Home for fallen women between the ages of fifteen and thirty has 59 inmates, which is about the average for the year. This makes a total of 250 insubordinates. The Aged and Infirm Poor.- Nearly all of these are kept in county poorhouses. One Old Ladies' Home is maintained in Omaha, under the auspices of the Women's Christian Association, with an average of about 20 inmates. 7 old ladies are kept in the Home for the Friendless at Lincoln at state expense. All others are supported by county and by private charities. Recent reports from 67 counties of the state showed that these counties were supporting, of this class, 188 males and 148 females, and that 87 children were in the poorhouses supported by these counties. Great efforts will be made by the State Board of Charities and by private organizations to have these children removed as soon as possible. The above figures are not complete, because no word has been received from the 23 other counties, and because the 67 counties reporting indicated that others were supported in private homes at county expense. Destitute Children.- The Home for the Friendless at Lincoln has 43 girls and 19 boys, making a total of 62. The Tabitha Home at Lincoln, supported by the Lutheran denomination, has 30 boys and 30 girls, making a total of 60. The Mothers' Jewels' Home at York, supported by the National Methodist Episcopal Conference, has a total of 100. The Christian Home for Children, supported by the Free Mission people, at Holdrege, has a total of 45. The St. James Orphanage at Omaha has a total of 95. The Child Saving Institute of Omaha has a total of 30. The Nebraska Children's Home Society has no home, but transfers children directly to homes. for adoption. The Sick and Injured Poor.- Omaha is well equipped with one large, first-class hospital,- the St. Joseph, Catholic. There are also three others, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Immanuel Lutheran. Recently the Methodist Hospital has been largely endowed; and the managers contemplate a new, first-class building, with all necessary equipments. Omaha has also an Emergency Hospital for small-pox and other contagious diseases. Lincoln has one private sanatorium, in which city patients and others are treated. The Seventh Day Adventists have a large sanatorium at College View, near Lincoln, which is after the model of the Battle Creek Sanatorium at Battle Creek, Mich. There are no other hospitals in the state. The Insane. The present population of the Insane Hospital at Lincoln is 312 females and 306 males, making a total of 618. This large number at present is due to the recent coming of a large number of the patients from the Norfolk Hospital for Insane, which was destroyed by fire. The average population of the hospital at Lincoln for each day during the past year has been 441. The population of the Hospital for the Chronic Insane at Hastings is 788, which is very much above the average for the past year. Idiotic and Feeble-minded. There is in the Institute for Feebleminded at Beatrice a total population of 290. Among these are 174 epileptics. The Blind. -The State Institute for the Blind is located at Nebraska City, and has a population of 50. The Deaf and Dumb.- The Deaf and Dumb Institute is located at Omaha, and has a population of 177. Nebraska has only two other State institutions; namely, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Grand Island, with a present population of 412, and the Soldiers' Home at Milford, with the present population of 87. Both of these institutions have large numbers out on parole, and the population in each is very irregular. NEW HAMPSHIRE. (MRS.) LILLIAN C. STREETER, CONCORD, STATE CORRESPOND ING SECRETARY. The legislature meets biennially. Each of the four bills introduced into the New Hampshire legislature of 1901 by the State Board of Charities and Correction was acted upon favorably and almost unanimously, the tide of public opinion setting as strongly in favor of the board, apparently, as it has heretofore been against it. The first of these bills provides for an annual appropriation of $2,000 for the salary of a secretary from outside the membership of the board. This was the entire sum asked for, and is the first money ever appropriated for the Board of Charities by the legislature. The second bill provides for the return annually to the State Board of Charities and Correction of accurate statistics of all outdoor and indoor pauper relief given either by town or county officers. Heretofore no such statistics have been available, and it has been impossible to secure anything but approximate estimates of the amounts expended or numbers relieved. The third bill provides for an indeterminate sentence for criminals. The fourth bill provides for a State Home for the Feeble-minded, and appropriates $30,000 therefor. Heretofore the state has appropriated but $1,000 annually for its feeble-minded,— a sum sufficient to care for but three children, who had to be sent to another state for such care. All the rest of the feeble-minded are kept at the county almshouses. The place chosen for the School for the Feebleminded, for which the state made an appropriation of $30,000, is Laconia. The buildings will be erected immediately, and it is hoped that the school will be opened for pupils during this year. It is estimated that there are about 200 feeble-minded children who will be cared for at this school. A. GROUP OF DELINQUENTS. Class 1.-Criminals convicted of felony are confined in the state prison at Concord. On Jan. 1, 1902, there were in this prison 156 convicts, 154 men and 2 women. |