alms-houses is that of determining the period of detention of their inmates. Remembering that the objects contemplated in the removal of persons thither are two-fold, viz.: First to disburden the county poor-houses, and second to teach the parties themselves some manual art by which they may become self-supporting, it would seem expe. dient that the period of detention should be as long as possible.

"In order, however, to remove everything like an appearance of punishment from those who are legitimate paupers, it would be advis able to make the period of their discharge depend both upon good conduct and season of the year; as where a party is committed at the beginning of winter, and without reasonable prospects of finding occupation, until spring. Besides which it must be remembered that some time is required by all men to learn an art, and it is hardly worth the while to begin the instruction if the party must be discharged before he has attained sufficient proficiency in it to make it of permanent use to him.

"WORK-HOUSES OR REFORMATORIES.

"In connection with the proposed establishment of industrial alınshouses for legitimate paupers, arises as a natural corollary the question of district work-houses to be attached to them as reformatories. There are a number of minor offenses against society which might be more profitably expiated in such establishments than in ordinary penitentiaries. From vagrancy, in all its mulitudinous forms, to larcenies and assaults of a minor grade, there are causes enough of commitment to jails to furnish a large number of able-bodied persons capable of laboring. It would only be necessary to remodel portions of our criminal statutes to enable commitments to be made directly to these work-houses, of all petty offenders liable to be sentenced to a county jail for a period of more than ten days. It seems but just that the present system of herding prisoners in county jails, and leaving them afterward to sit out their sentences in idleness, should give way to one which will render such persons in a degree self-supporting, and thus diminish the burdens of taxation of the communities whose laws they have violated.

"It will also devolve upon the State to provide such means of employment as will render the labor of the inmates of these reforma. tories not only equal to the cost of their support, but even profitable to the institution in which they are placed. We accordingly suggest that the direction and supervision of these institutions, in both their

industrial, pauper and reformatory departments, be assigned to this Board, and that they be allowed to make all such rules for their government as in their judgment may seem proper.

"We are persuaded, therefore, that the interests both of society and the person committed to a work-house are best subserved by rendering the period of detention not less than three months.

"HOUSES OF REFUGE FOR GIRLS.

"Ample provision seems every where to have been made for the safe-keeping and reformation of male juvenile delinquents. In the House of Refuge on Randall's Island, there are accommodations for over 700, and the Western House of Refuge will accommodate some 500. It is evident, therefore, that the public mind is fully aware of the urgent necessity of institutions of this kind, where youth may be reclaimed in the earliest stages of its delinquency, rehabilitated with moral character, and confirmed in the determination to lead a future life of industry, thrift and self-respect. There can be no exaggeration of the value of such reformatories. When the single fact that a boy is there taught the art of self-support and the habit of self-reliance is taken into account, apart even from the higher moral elements which are also inculcated, it will be seen that few of the many so-called Christian firesides do as much for their children as these homes of reformation. Surrounded by all the sweet charities. of love, justice and mercy, with the material advantages superadded of instruction in some profitable trade, and the development of an honest ambition to excel in it, we can point to no better illustration of the humane solicitude of the State, in its parental relations to its citizens, than is here afforded. It is true, perhaps, that this charity is not wholly spontaneous, and that its objects must first bring themselves within the penal observation of the State before these reformatory measures can be employed in their behalf. But even as it is the sick and not the well who need the physician's ministrations, so in respect to these juvenile delinquents; it is their moral sickness which calls for the intervention of the State as a moral physician.

"The offenses which bring those young culprits into the hands of a reforming institution are more or less specially designated by statute. They are reckoned as minor, in the general scale of crimes against the moral order of society, and, so far as boys are concerned, do not tend necessarily to entail permanent degradation upon them. There are offenses which may be frequently committed without destroying

the springs of self-regeneration. They reduce and demoralize, but they leave no ineradicable sting behind them. In this respect the male sex has a decided advantage over the female. It must be remem. bered that the loss of virtue, like the loss of a member, is an irreparable injury. Reform may be as complete as possible, and the subsequent life void of offense, but this does not act retrospectively to restore what has been lost; it only guarantees a more prudent and circumspect behavior in the future. The great point of all, in the problem of moral guardianship, is to prevent the first wrong step in the child, In all our populous towns, as well as in our large cities, sources of contamination exist, and these sources being ineradicable, the only remaining course to pursue is that of withdrawing young girls altogether from the possibility of temptation.

"The public mind, as elsewhere said, is fully impressed with the necessity that exists for more reformatories or houses of refuge. In the western part of our State, in particular, several important meetings have been held, and reports made of the extreme urgency of this necessity. Such a necessity, like the outbreak of an epidemic, should be met at once, and in all sections where it exists. It would not be difficult to show, therefore, that one, certainly, if not two houses of refuge for girls are immediately needed in the western parts of the State. Exactly where, we shall not pretend to indicate, since that is a question to be decided under the light of population, accessibility and economy of construction and support; nor as to the particular ages within which alone girls should be permitted to enter such institutions. All these are details subordinate to the great fact that an urgent necessity exists, and a solemn responsibility rests upon the State to meet it at the earliest possible moment. We accordingly recommend that a board of commissioners be appointed to select a site for the construction of such an institution during the coming year."

PRIVATE LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

In some preceding reports, and more particularly in its last, the Board has called attention to the peculiar condition of the insane in private asylums, and the more this question is examined the more its importance justifies a fresh discussion of its merits. In the light also of recent events, the time has evidently arrived when public opinion will demand from the

State additional measures of protection for that class of insane citizens which it has heretofore overlooked. This fact has long been expected by those who, observing the course of events in other countries, foresaw the necessity in our own of throwing more positive safeguards around the insane than had yet been done.

There can be, and is no good reason why the State should make any distinction between its insane citizens in public and in private asylums. They are in either case the wards of the State, and as such entitled to its constant supervision. In the one case it appoints boards of managers to superintend the administration of its public hospitals or asylums, and compels them to render an annual account at least of their trust. Giving to such institutions the lawful authority to hold in custody its insane citizens, it still extends over these unfortunates a parental oversight, and, as if desirous to multiply all the sources of protection for them, it has further given to this Board the power, and imposed the duty of visiting them and inquiring into their condition. Such are the supervisory agencies thrown around the insane in public asylums.

But in the case of private asylums, while the State allows any citizen to be confined in such places by legal process, it virtually abandons him the moment he crosses the threshold. It conducts him in custody to the door and there leaves him in the keeping of a self-constituted guardian. What means has it taken to ascertain the character or qualifications of this legal custodian? None. In public asylums the superintendent is selected by, and is ever responsible to, his own board of managers, and they, in turn, are supervised by this Board, each making its separate report to the Legislature.

But no similar safeguards are thrown around the insane in private asylums, therefore is it the more incumbent upon the State to extend, through some competent officer, its protecting arm over them. Nor is it less necessary for the protection of

the keepers of these institutions against unjust suspicion and

censure.

PRIVATE LUNATIC ASYLUMS.

[Visitation by request of their Superintendents.]

Although, as before said, this Board have no power, and therefore no right given them by statute to inspect private lunatic asylums, the superintendents of some of these institutions have very courteously solicited such visitation, and freely' opened every part of their establishments to our inspection. Dr. George Cook, of Brigham Hall, Canandaigua, was the first to extend this invitation to our Board, in accordance with which request Messrs. Anderson and Dwight visited his asylum in 1870. No account of it, however, appeared in the report for that year, as the circumstances of that visit did not seem to justify official notice. Dr. Cook having repeated the invitation this year, with a request to have such visit included in our report, as an official act, the Associate Secretary was accordingly directed to inspect the institution, which he did on the 5th of December.

Within the past few months, Drs. Brown, of Bloomingdale, N. Y., and Barstow, of Sanford Hall, Flushing, have also extended similar invitations to the Board, with similar requests to be officially reported. We do not think that, after this, there can be any doubt of the willingness manifested by all these gentlemen to throw open their doors to the full inspection of the Board, and of the good effect to be produced upon the public mind by having this fact generally known. In the light of recent events calling for a special commission to inspect the Bloomingdale Asylum, the Board feel that they can, with more reason than ever, ask the Legislature to grant to this Board the power heretofore asked for to visit and inspect all places where the insane are kept for profit. The superintendents and managers of these institutions need protection, as before said, against suspicion and detraction, just as much as the public