■ JV ■;;••••; 'v' r - •. ■; v .. MlW- ' • ; .Jf , J v- i•.ti- . ■ . vi C 1 *’ v ’ 1 W ; *(^n Report •tmm, OF THE Municipal Commission on Delinquent Dependent and Defective Children m ST. LOUIS, MO. 1911 / ; > { ' w?R5j» t \ YARD AND BUILDINGS—DELINQUENT DEPARTMENT. 3 Fe’15N MS 2> t 2. • *7 )f|l REPORT OF THE Municipal Commission on Delinquent, Dependent and Defective Children In Accordance with Provisions of Ordinance No. 25377 An ordinance to create a commission to investigate and report as to the best method of the care and education of delinquent, dependent and defective children of the City of St. Louis and the best plan for the removal and reorganization of the St. Louis Industrial School and to make an appro¬ priation to pay the expenses and outlays which may thereby be incurred. Be it ordained by the Municipal Assembly of the City of St. Louis, as follows: Section One. There is hereby created a commission which shall consist of three members who shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council. Said commission shall be appointed within cen days after the taking- effect of this ordinance. Section Two. The duties of said commission shall be to investigate the methods adopted by other cities for the care and education of delinquent, dependent and defective children, to study the local conditions pertinent to such classes of children and to report to the Municipal Assembly its recom¬ mendations as to the wisest and most beneficial treatment of such children in St. Louis, and the best plan for the removal and reorganization of the St. Louis k Industrial School. The members of said commission shall receive no compensa¬ tion for their services, and the amount of their expenditures shall be limited to the amount of the appropriation herein. Section Three. There is hereby appropriated and set apart out of Munici¬ pal Revenue the sum of One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500), to a fund to be designated “Fund for Investigation of Care and Education of Delinquent Children,” to defray the expenses of the Commission created by Section One of this ordinance. Approved July 22, 1910. — 3 — St. Louis, Mo., March 4th, 1911. To the Honorable, the Mayor and Municipal Assembly. Gentlemen: The Commission appointed under authority of Ordinance No. 25377, 'which, for lack of a title in the Ordinance, has styled itself 4 ‘Municipal Commission on Delinquent, Dependent and Defective Children,” sub¬ mits herewith a report covering the problems of the care of these •classes of children in the City of St. Louis, together with recommen¬ dations. Respectfully yours, C. G. RATH MANN, Chairman. DWIGHT F. DAVIS. ROGER N. BALDWIN, Secretary. In signing this report, the undersigned wishes to state that, in . his opinion, the results of the investigation of the Department for Dependent Children in the St. Louis Industrial School, made by the Department of Research of the St. Louis School of Social Economy, should not have been embodied in the report of the Commission. The reason for the objection is that the Commission is not responsible for the conduct of the investigation and that it has had no opportunity for its verification. C. G. RATIIMANN. 4 CONTENTS. Page Introduction... 7 PART I. The Care of Delinquent, Dependent and De¬ fective Children in St. Louis . 10 1. Delinquent and Dependent Children. 10 (A) The Industrial School. 12 (1) Historical . 12 (2) Population. 14 (3) Cost of Maintenance. 17 (4) Administration . 17 (5) Equipment . 18 (6) Delinquent Department. 19 (7) Maintenance Department. 26 (8) Special Study of the Dependent Population. 29 (9) Summary of Defects.. 36 (B) Other Agencies Caring for Delinquent and Dependent Children. 37 1 Delinquent Children. 37 ( 1) Missouri Training School. 37 (2) State Industrial Home. 37 (3) House of Detention. 38 (4) Probation Office, Juvenile Court. 39 2. Dependent Children. 40 (1) In Private Institutions: St. Ann's, the Bethesda, and Colored Orphans’ Home. 40 (2) Probation Office, Juvenile Court. 42 — 5 — Page 2. Defective Children. 43 (A) Special Classes. 43 (1) Blind . 43 (2) Deaf-mute . 43 (B) A Study of Feeble-Minded Children in St. Louis. 43 Definitions . 43 Number and Classification. 45 Missouri Colony for Feeble-Minded. 48 «■ Tabular Statements. 49 PART II. Comparison of Methods in Other Cities and States. 51 1. Delinquent .!. 51 2. Dependent. 55 3. Defective. 59 part hi. Recommendations for the Care of Delin¬ quent, Dependent and Defective Children in St. Louis. 61 1. Delinquent . 62 Organization of an Institution. 64 House of Detention. 68 Juvenile Court. 68 Missouri Training School and State Industrial Home. 68 2. Dependent . 69 3. Defective . 73 4. Summary of Recommendations. 74 «/ 5. Legislation. 75 6. Estimate of Cost. 76 part iv. Laws. 1. Present Laws Relating to Public Care of Children. 80 2. Laws Proposed by the Commission. 81 — 6 — INTRODUCTION. Acting under the provisions of ordinance, the Commission has under¬ taken in this report to cover every phase of the problem of the care of delinquent, dependent and defective children by the city, except preventive agencies, on which the Commission will submit a supple¬ mentary report. The investigations were begun in September, 1910. Members of the Commission have visited the following institutions for children in Missouri: St. Louis Industrial School. Missouri Training School for Boys, Boonville, Mo. The Colony for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, Marshall, Mo. State Industrial Home for Girls, Chillicotlie, Mo. McCune Farm for Boys, Kansas City, Mo., and the following insti¬ tutions outside the state: St. Charles School for Boys, St. Charles, Ill. Hudson Home for Boys, Cleveland, 0. House of Refuge, Cincinnati, 0. State Training School for Boys, Plainfield, Indiana. Lyman School for Boys, AYestboro, Mass. State Agricultural School, Industry, N. Y. Massachusetts School for the Feeble-Minded, Waverlv, Mass. New York Juvenile Asylum and Children’s Village, Dobb’s Ferry, New York. Philadelphia House of Refuge (both boys’ and girls’ depart¬ ments), Glen Mills and Darling, Pa. Grossmann School for the PYeble-Minded, Plainfield, N. J. George Junior Republic, Freeville, N. Y. The Commission has consulted authorities in Chicago, Boston, New York, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Kansas City, among whom are Mr. Hastings II. Hart, Director, Depart¬ ment of Child Helping, Russell Sage Foundation; Mr. Homer Folks, President, New York State Probation Commission; C. W. Birtwell, Sec- retary, Boston Children’s Aid Society; Mr. Parker Field, Secretary, Children's Mission, Boston, Mass.; Miss Alice Higgins, Secretary of the Associated Charities, Boston, Mass.; Miss Mary Boyle O’Reilly, Secre¬ tary, Trustees for Children, Boston, Mass.; Mr. John McCarthy, Gen¬ eral Agent, Trustees for Children, Boston, Mass.; Mrs. Martha P. Fal¬ coner, Superintendent of the Girls’ Department, House of Refuge, Darling, Pa.; Mr. F. H. Nibecker, Superintendent, Boys’ Department, House of Refuge, Glen Mills, Pa.; Mr. Edwin D. Solenberger, Secre¬ tary, Children’s Aid Society, Philadelphia, Pa.; Mr. F. C. Weller, Sec¬ retary, Associated Charities, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Mr. Frederic Almy, Sec¬ retary of the Charity Organization Society, Buffalo, N. Y.; Hon. George S. Addarns, Judge of the Juvenile Court, Cleveland, 0.; Hon. E. E. Porterfield, Judge of the Juvenile Court, Kansas City, Mo.; Dr. E. L. Mathias, Chief Probation Officer, Juvenile Court, Kansas City, Mo.; Mr. Bernard Flexner, Louisville, Ivy.; Mr. Franklin Briggs, Industry, N. Y.; Mr. Elmer Coffeen, Westboro, Mass. The Commission has attempted to examine every type of modern institution for the care of delinquent and defective children, and to ascertain the very best systems of care for dependent children. It is fortunate that among the leaders of children’s work all over the coun¬ try, there seems to be a pretty close agreement as to the chief methods to be followed. This has been evidenced particularly by two important confer¬ ences dealing with the care of children—the first, the so-called White House Conference, called by President Roosevelt in 1908, attended by representative workers for children from all over the country; and the second, the First Annual Conference of Catholic Charities, held in Washington in the fall of 1910. The conclusions of both conferences in regard to the care of delinquent and dependent children were prac tically identical. The Commission sent a circular letter of inquiry to about 150 per¬ sons in St. Louis conversant with the local care of delinquent, depend ent and defective children, and received a large number of most help¬ ful replies. These replies came from the executive officers of public and private institutions for children, from members of the Board of Managers of the Industrial School, and from former and present Juve¬ nile Court judges and officials, from officials of the public and paro¬ chial schools, from members of women's clubs, and charitable and reli¬ gious associations. The Commission has been very largely aided in coming to its conclusions by the opinions and facts given by these per¬ sons, and through others who have offered verbal suggestions. — 8 — The Commission desires to express its indebtedness particularly to the St. Louis .School of Social Economy, which furnished, through the Department of Research, maintained by the Russell Sage Founda¬ tion, the investigations covering the dependent children at the Indus¬ trial School, and the feeble-minded children in the city, and which supplied also other valuable data. The Commission expresses its obligation to the Civic League for the use of the complete investigation of the Delinquent Department of the Industrial School, made by the League’s Social Service Committee, with the assistance of the St. Louis School of Social Economy, during the earlv months of 1910. t/ PART I. THE CARE OF DELINQUENT, DEPENDENT AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN IN ST. LOUIS. 1. PROVISIONS FOR THE CARE OF DELINQUENT AND DEPENDENT CHILDREN. At the present time and for many years past, practically all of the dependent and delinquent children for whom the City of St. Louis is responsible, have been cared for in the Industrial School. The excep¬ tions to this are (1) the care of certain delinquent boys at the State Training School at Boonville, and the care of certain delinquent girls at the State Industrial Home at Chillicothe, for whom the city pays a per capita sum; (2) the care of foundlings and babies under three years of age by St. Ann's Foundling Asylum, the Bethesda Home, and the Colored Orphans’ Home, for whom the city also pays a month¬ ly per capita. All other dependent and delinquent children between the ages of three and sixteen years in the care of the city, are housed at the St. Louis Industrial School. For the benefit of a complete record, a rather elaborate study of the Industrial School is herewith given. This study was made in the spring of 1910, but the facts then stated hold good for the present date. It will serve to substantiate the argument so many times ad¬ vanced, that this institution is utterly inadequate to perform its func¬ tion, and will also furnish a basis for the estimate of the number of dependent and delinquent chldren for whom the city will have to pro¬ vide in the near future. PLAT INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL GROUNDS •HXS AI Mi) aovso w > <1 0 . o i CO DC O < H i q . z H < CO pi J a •As z o o cc > < _j Ol Q Z < >- o: LXJ * < CO 100H3S •A1S l 13dVH3 w > < p w m O P O P P <1 M P W O P •HXS Ai Mi) aavKoosvo n (A) The St. Louis Industrial School. (1) Historical: The Industrial School, known until 1905 as the “House of .Refuge,” occupies a tract of a little over seventeen acres at Osage street and Virginia avenue. In 1853 a city ordinance was passed for the establishment of the institution. The location chosen was the county farm which had been deeded to the County of St. Louis, December 27th, 1838, and was known as the “City Commons.” Bonds for the sum of $8,000.00 were issued. Some of this money was used to put temporary additions to the buildings already on the land, while the remainder was set aside for the erection of a permanent building. In 1855 the State Legislature passed a very comprehensive and liberal act (approved February 28th), which authorized and directed the City Council of St. Louis to provide a House of Refuge for the confinement and reform of juvenile offenders; and which established the procedure for committing and releasing children and the method of managing the institution. This act was amplified by the passage of two ordinances, one approved March 31st, 1855, constituting the House of Refuge one of the departments of the city government, and the other, approved December 12th, 1855, specifying certain methods of management of the institution not covered by the statute. The permanent building contemplated in the bond issue of 1853, was not completed until about 1860, and was soon afterwards burned. The Municipal Assembly then passed an ordinance for the issuing of bonds to the amount of $50,000.00, for rebuilding and furnishing the House of Refuge. AVith the exception of the Girls’ House, the build¬ ings erected in 1860 are those still in use today. The statute and ordinances all indicate that the House of Refuge was originally designed for the reformation of juvenile delinquents, although the ordinance approved December 12th, 1855, provides that neglected children may be admitted—“those found in a state of want or abandonment, or grossly neglected or ill-treated, or those soliciting charity, and the children of prostitutes.” For the first year or two, delinquents were the class most generally admitted. In 1854, the number of inmates consisted of 28 boys and 12 girls. By 1856 the total number of children had grown to 111. The superintendent in charge during that year said in his annual report that a large number of these were neglected or abandoned children. The total number in the institution rapidly rose to 250, but fell again to 76 in 1860. Little is known of the school during the unsettled period between 1860 and 1870. In the Mayor’s report of 1872 the criticism was made “that the whole system is radically defective, principally a prison- house for the juvenile offenders, where compulsory educational disci¬ pline assumes the form of punishment.” Public opinion became so aroused over certain reports of ill-treatment, that the General Assembly in 1873 was moved to enact a new law in regard to the management of the institution. A complete change in management was made and the reports of the new Board and of the Mayor indicate that conditions were vastly improved. No great change occurred in the House of Refuge from then until 1885, when a separate building for the delinquent children was erected. This is the one now known as the ‘‘Girls' House.” As early as 1873 bonds were issued for the construction of this building. One reason for the long delay in using the money was the strong feeling that the institution should be reorganized and moved to the country. In 1879, the Assembly passed a bill providing for the change. The Mayor, however, feeling it would incur too great expense, vetoed the bill. The matter was compromised by placing the new building on the old grounds. The result was ‘'the greatest event in the history of the House of Refuge—the occupancy of the new building separating the unfortunate boys and girls from the vicious class.” However, the number of children soon outgrew the new quarters and from year to year came the plea for larger buildings and for better equipment. It became increasingly evident that the institution was not prop¬ erly educating the children in it s care and, in 1903, the superintendent complained of the low standard of school work due to the practical impossibility of securing competent teachers. On this account, some of the rooms were closed. This fact resulted in an agitation which secured the enactment by the Legislature in 1905 of an act permitting institutions of this character to contract with the Board of Education for school instruction. Under this act, a thorough up-to-date school system was established in the institution in 1906, under the control of the Board of Education. The passing of the ordinance in 1905, changing the name of the “House of Refuge” to “St. Louis Industrial School,” was a fitting 1 Q to—■ recognition of the real function of the institution, and largely removed the stigma which had attached to the “Ref”—the popular name of the institution among boys. (2) Population of the School: The number of children cared for at the Industrial School during the past fifteen years has not increased as rapidly as might be expected. The proportionate increase is, indeed, much less than the increase in the city’s population. The city’s population lias increased, roughly, 35 per cent since 1895, while the average population of the last three years at the Industrial School is only 22.7 per cent higher than the average of the three years 1894-1897. Numerically the population of the institution from 1895 to 1909 (with the years 1897-1901 ex¬ cepted, for which there is no published report), averaged 342, there being a daily average of 327 in 1894-1895, as compared with a daily average of 399 in 1908-1909—an increase of only 72. The daily aver¬ age for 1909-1910, has, however, been higher—433. POPULATION OF INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. YEAR Total Del. Dep. Boys Girls Average Detention w. C. w. C. June 1, 1895*. 296 f 179 104 168 47 62 19 13 mos. Apr. 10, 1896. 257 ±161 145 150 30 53 24 18 “ Apr. 1, 1897. 331 ±161 145 205 56 58 12 15 Apr. 9, 1901 . 408 232 72 81 33 14 Apr. 9, 1902. 403 §152 100 231 81 78 13 12 7-10 mos. 1902-03 daily average. 290 “123 107 178 36 66 10 1903-04 dailv average. 325 “168 157 201 48 69 7 1904-05 daily average. 343 “161 182 200 57 73 1905-06 dailv average. 367 1906-07 dailv average. 355 1907-08 dailv average. 367 1908-09 dailv average. 399 “188 211 234 62 90 13 Mar 18 1910 . 481 “184 297 306 59 106 13 Jan 1, 1911 549 203 346 356 55 126 12 _ *The number on specific dates from 1895 to 1902 is given, because the records were not kept in such a way as to permit of ascertaining the daily average. There are no published reports of the Industrial School from 1897 to 1901. fOf 283 committed. l;Of 306 committed. §Of 252 committed. “Partly estimated but very close to fact. —14 There were 296 children in the institution on June 1st, 1895; about 185 of these.were delinquent children and til dependent. (This is estimated from the record of commitments during the year.) The proportion of delinquent children in the school from 1895-1903 was from 53 per cent to 63 per cent of the total population. This large proportion was directly due to the lack of other than institutional treatment of delinquent children. Under the probation method of the Juvenile Court, which came into existence in 1903, many more chil¬ dren were left with their parents at home, and the proportion of de¬ linquent children was therefore reduced. On this account, ever since 1903, the number of delinquent chil¬ dren has been less than the number of dependent children. The pro¬ portion in April, 1910, was 61.8 per cent dependent, and 38.2 per cent delinquent, as against 39.7 per cent dependent, and 60.3 per cent delin¬ quent in 1902, and 36.7 per cent dependent, and 63.3 per cent delin¬ quent in 1895. In point of actual numbers, the delinquent group has remained practically the same—the population January 1st, 1911, of 203, being only 15 more than the previous year 's daily average, and only 21 more than the estimated number of delinquents, June 1st, 1895 (179). The dependent children have more than doubled in number, there being a daily average of 211 in 1908-1909 (346 on January 1st, 1911), against an estimated daily number of 100 to 150 in the years 1895 to 1902. The largest number given in the previous years was in 1901, when there were 408 children in the institution—232 white boys, 72 colored boys, 81 white girls, and 33 colored girls. The delinquent department accommodates comfortably 175 boys. There have been as many as 200 during the past three years, but it can usually be kept down to 150 or 160. January 1st, 1911, there were 180 delinquent boys in the school and 23 delinquent girls in the main¬ tenance department. The maintenance department can accommodate 300 to 350 chil¬ dren. Its numbers have very largely increased the past two years, owing to hard times, the increased cost of living, and such direct causes as desertion by fathers. Four thousand seventy-seven children were committed to the In¬ dustrial School during the seven years ending April, 1910, an average 15 — of 582 a year. Three-fourths of these came through the Juvenile Court, hut as delinquent children remain a comparatively short time (the average period of detention and training being four months), that number does not show so conspicuously in the average daily pop¬ ulation. Dependent children committed through the Board of Man¬ agers, stay a much greater length of time (an average of eighteen months), and therefore make a larger showing. A further reference to the table will show the figures for the past ten years. It will be seen that up to 1909 and 1910, the total population of the school did not materially increase, the Juvenile Court having reduced the number of delinquents, while the number of dependent children increased. The last few years have brought to the Industrial School, as to practically all other institutions caring for neg¬ lected and dependent children, a much larger number of dependent children. The reduction of tlie delinquent population, through the Juvenile Court, has been due, in a large measure, to the result of the probation method and also to a systematic co-operation between the Court and the institution, which effects the release of a child from the school as soon as his record and home permit it. This system, when inaugurated in 1907, relieved the institution of many boys committed by the Court, who had been neglected in the institution without thought of looking up relatives to assume their care. The homeless older colored boys, of whom there were formerly a large number, have been released and placed on farms and in homes through the efforts of the colored proba¬ tion officer. The character of the delinquent population has changed radically within the past five years. Instead of a greater proportion of children committed for larceny and serious offenses, the greater number is now committed for truancy and running away from home. In other words, the enforcement of the compulsory attendance law and the Juvenile Court law, have together succeeded in reaching children before they go so far as to commit the more serious offences. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the average age of delinquent boys at the Industrial School has been reduced within three years from almost fourteen years to twelve years and ten months. The institution so far as the delinquents are concerned, is very largely what might be called a parental school. 16 (3) Cost of Maintenance: The total annual cost of maintaining the Industrial School * increased from $45,592.55 in 1894-1895, to $70,416.56 in 1908-1909, and $62,656.59 in 1909-1910. This cost of maintenance includes also re¬ pairs, but it does not include the cost of maintaining the public school at the institution, for which the Board of Education has expended $20,000.00, or more, yearly since 1906. Comparing this cost, with the daily population of the school, it will he seen (see table) that the per capita daily cost, while it has varied considerably, according as money was spent for special pur¬ poses, has averaged 45.2 cents, the lowest being 38.2 cents in 1894-1895, and the highest 52.1 cents in 1907-1908, when extensive repairs were undertaken. Adding to this the amount spent to maintain the public schools in the institution, the per capita daily cost is increased to 60 cents to 65 cents (or $4.20 to $4.55 a week), which is as high as in many of the elaborate modern cottage institutions, (4) Administration: The Industrial School is, in reality, as the present statistics of population indicate, a combination of two institutions, which in fact are administered separately—one for the delinquent and one for the INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. Year. Cost of Maintenance. Average Daily Population. Per Capita Daily Cost. 1894-95. . $45,592.55 327 38.2 cents 1895-96. . 46.633.72 283 45.1 a 1836-97. . 49,095.75 303 44.4 a 1901-02t. . 65,655.74 381 47.8 it 1902-03. . 59,488.74 312.5 52 i i 1903-04 . . 56,209.96 325 47.3 it 1904-05. . 57,834.06 343 38.2 it 1905-06. . 58,910.72 367 43 it 1906-07. . 60,990.72 355 47 ft 1907-08. . 69,876.28 367 52.1 ft 1908-09. . 70,416.56 399 48.3 ft 1909-10. . 62,656.59 433 39.7 it Average. . $58,559.28 349 45.2 tt *The land on which the School is located (17.33 acres) is valued at $52,000.00, and the improvements at $150,000.00. tThere are no published reports of the Industrial School for the years 1897-1901. The figures of cost up to 1905-06 include instruction. The Board of Education has since spent over $20,000 yearly for instruction in the institution. —17 dependent children. The administration of the institution is in charge of a Board of Managers and a Superintendent, appointed by the Mayor, for a term of four years. In the administrative work, the Superin¬ tendent has, as assistants, a matron and an assistant superintendent. The institution employs about forty-five persons, nine to ten of whom are teachers in the various trade and industrial departments. In addition the Board of Education, which conducts the regular school work, employs at the Industrial School, one principal and sixteen teachers; seven of these teachers are in the delinquent department and nine in the regular school and kindergarten of the maintenance de¬ partment. Of the employees, about one-half are employed in the de¬ linquent department, although the number of children to be attended to is less by half than those on the maintenance side. This is due to the greater care and training demanded by delinquent children. The office work is attended to by three employees. The general super¬ vision of the institution is accomplished by about ten persons; night watchmen, night women and utility men. There are, in addition,, three nurses in tin; hospital. The institution employs three cooks and two engineers. (5) Equipment: The division of the institution into the delinquent and mainte¬ nance departments is not complete either physically or in point of con¬ tact among the children themselves. The delinquent boys meet depend¬ ent boys at meal time, and occasionally in the yard and in the band (which is composed largely of dependent boys). The separation of boys and girls is complete, except in the case of colored delinquent girls under Id, who attend school with the boys. The nursery children (that is those under 9 years), both boys and girls, are together. Every effort is made, however, to keep the classes as distinct as possible, and the training and treatment of the various groups is spe¬ cialized as much as the physical equipment of the buildings will permit. The entire ground space comprising the Industrial School consists of 17.33 acres. A little over three acres of this space is used for the buildings and playgrounds of the children. The remaining fourteen acres are occupied by the Superintendent’s residence, greenhouses, stables, gardens and orchard. The quarters for delinquent boys occupy about one-lialf of the space used for buildings and playgrounds, and are enclosed on all sides. The dependent children, of course, have the freedom of the grounds under proper restrictions. 18 The buildings are divided into five groups: (1) The main three and one-half story building, containing on tlie first floor offices, wash¬ room, small swimming tank; on the second floor domestic science room, sitting room and library for dependent boys; on the third floor, dor¬ mitories for delinquent white boys and library; and on the top floor dormitory and library for the negro boys; (2) a two-story building containing on the first floor the power-house, laundry, also the shoe shop and clothing shop—divided by a partition from the girls’ cloth¬ ing shop and the hospital; (3) the delinquent department’s two- story building containing on the first floor bakery and playroom, and LIBRARY FOR DELINQUENT BOYS. above, dining room and manual training room; (4) a long one- storv building containing five school rooms and a large chapel; a port¬ able school building of one room completes this row; (5) the girls’ house, a four-story building containing on the first floor, dining and play rooms, on the second and third floors, dormitories, and on the fourth, school rooms. (6) Delinquent Department: The yard and playground for the delinquent boys is enclosed on one side with a three-story brick building, on another side by the bakery and shoe shop, on the third by a long series of low buildings, 19 — while the fourth is marked off by a very high hoard fence. All the buildings are painted white. The ground is cinder-covered. This playground, where 150 to 175 white and colored delinquent boys play, has ail area of only about one and one-sixth acres. If base ball is the sport of the afternoon, there is room for only one or two games. In bad weather, the only provision for play under shelter is a long shed running along one side of the yard, and a gloomy store¬ room off the bakery, which can be pressed into service. In warm weather, the indoor swimming tank (poorly adapted to its purpose) is extensively used. Separate quarters are provided for the white and colored delin¬ quents at night. Their libraries are not attractive rooms. The furni¬ ture of both consists of row after row of school benches. Sleeping Quarters: The 50 to 60 colored boys sleep on the third floor of the boys’ dormitory building, in a room 47 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 13 feet m- 1 ■ li . i&M Bp? I l * ti ** *^**“pii* f 5. I iSWltfijlIlllSJ .* - • r| lift fans BED-ROOM FOR DELINQUENT BOYS. high. The 100 to 120 delinquent white boys sleep on the floor below in a room, the dimensions of which are 84 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 13 feet high. The air space in both rooms is barely 400 cubic feet for each boy, one-half the amount ordinarily required. The white single beds with their clean coverings in both of these rooms are well kept, though it is impossible to eradicate vermin in an old building with so many beds. Some of these beds have to be placed close to the windows which makes proper ventilation very difficult. The problem is most serious in the room for the white delinquent boys, as the windows on one side of the room open into the library and the back hall. Beside the unhealthful results of improper ventilation, there is a moral danger when so many boys of all ages and kinds, sleep in the same room. Its elimination is a difficult problem in all congregate in¬ stitutions. The report of the New York Juvenile Asylum says: “When 150 boys sleep together in one room, however vigilant the night watch¬ man and officer occupying the adjoining sleeping quarters may be, it is practically impossible to prevent evil-minded boys from corrupt¬ ing some of their companions/’ The Dining Room: All the boys, white and colored (except the ninety odd small boys in the nursery department), eat in the same dining room at the same DINING-ROOM FOR DELINQUENT AND DEPENDENT BOYS. -21 — time. This includes the one hundred or so dependent or neglected hoys who are over nine years of age, and are classed in the mainte¬ nance department. They are marched into the dining room in the same line with the delinquents, but have separate tables. The colored hoys also have a separate corner to themselves. The food is plain, but of good quality. As is the custom in most congregate institutions, no talking among the boys or to the colored boys waiting on the tables is permitted during meal time. Education and Training: The boys in the delinquent department arise at 6:30 in the morn¬ ing and after breakfast go to school at 8:00 o'clock. The boys under fourteen go to school live and one-lialf hours a day; those over four- teen go to school four hours per day, and work in the bakery, laundry, shoe or tailor shops four hours a day. School is dismissed at 12:00 noon, and dinner is served at 12:15. There is a session of school for those boys who have been em- «/ ployed in the morning, and a short session for the boys under four¬ teen, between 1 :00 and 5:00 o'clock. Supper is served at 5:15, and after a short time at play in the yard, the boys go up to the libraries at 6 :00 or shortly after. Bed time is not at any fixed hour, the bovs retiring any time be- tween 8 :00 and 0 :00 p. m. The training of the delinquent boys is in the hands of both the Board of Education and of the institution. The relation of the insti¬ tution to the Board of Education school is the same as the relation of a parent to the public schools. The school year at the Industrial School is longer than that in the public schools, being ten months, with an additional six weeks of sum¬ mer school (on half time). This leaves three weeks’ vacation in the summer when there is no school at all. In the school for delinquent boys, there are five grade teachers for white bovs and two for the colored. There is also a manual train- f ing teacher, who gives his whole time to that work. The grading on the delinquent side is not as rigid as in the pub¬ lic schools, because the instruction tends very largely to be individual. The grades taught are the first to the fifth, with occasional pupils in the sixth or seventh. Delinquent children are graded as nearly as may be in the same way as in the regular schools, but there is no passing from one grade to another at the end of the quarter, as in the public _ 99 _ schools; so that the same teacher can exert a continuous influence on a boy in her care. One room of bovs whose stay in the institution is likely to be short is frankly treated as an ungraded room, although an effort is made to prevent more than three grades being represented at one time in the room. White and colored delinquent boys under fourteen years of age have, as far as possible, the regular course of study, with about four hours a week of manual training and hand work in the form of wood¬ carving, bench work, basket weaving or clay modeling. White boys over fourteen years of age attend school only four hours a day. Colored boys over fourteen get the same training as white boys of the same age. The delinquent white girls over fourteen, especially those who are reported as immoral, are not placed in the regular school classes, but are given constant training by the institution in the tailor shop or kitchen. Delinquent white girls under fourteen are, of course, in school regularly, as are the few colored girls under that age. Colored girls over fourteen are almost never put in school because “the object of reforming their morals is not furthered by having them in small school rooms in contact with boys of corresponding age.” These girls are occupied entirely in housework, under the supervision of a caretaker. In every department of the school, both delinquent and mainte¬ nance, the number of pupils to a teacher does not exceed thirty or thirty-five, as against fifty or fifty-five in the regular grade schools. In the delinquent department the attempt is made to keep it even lower, and most of the time during the past two years the number has aver¬ aged twenty-five or less. The instruction at the Industrial School is the best that can be given the children. The teachers are especially selected for their adaptability to this particular class of children and receive a larger compensation than teachers in the grades. For the past year or two, since the system of close co-operation with the Juvenile Court was inaugurated, greater insistence has been placed on individual training, in order to reach the defects of each boy or girl. A great deal of this work has been accomplished out of school hours, and the results in many cases have been most gratifying, indi¬ cating the value of personal contact of the right sort, even under a congregate system. One of the chief difficulties in handling the delinquent boys at the 09 Lo —• Industrial School is the lack of separation outside of school hours and in the evening. At such times all the boys are allowed to play in the open yard—fairly good boys mingling with bad, colored with white, big with little, under supervision of only two male guards. Well directed play activities are totally lacking. The boys are merely watched to be kept out of mischief. The amount of time the boys spend together without directed supervision is one and one-lialf hours a school day, three to four hours on Saturday, and three to four hours on Sunday. There are also two to three weeks of school holiday in the summer time, when practically all day (except for the older boys in the shops) is spent playing in the yard. Being thrown together in this way is particularly injurious in forming intimate companionships which are likely to continue outside of school, and in destroying to a great extent the results of the school training. Summary of Defects in the Training of Delinquent Children at the Industrial School. Boys: The chief defect is the fact that all kinds of boys from nine to sixteen years, truants, incorrigible boys, and boys with long and bad records, are associated together without supervision much of their time. Second, the congregate plan forbids anything like a home atmo¬ sphere or a constant individual influence on a boy for the entire time of his stay. The training is more group training than individual in¬ struction. There is an absence of systematic teaching of trades and a lack of a definite relation between the training given by the Board of Education and the school. Third, the location of the institution in the city necessitates an enclosure to prevent boys from running away, which gives the institu¬ tion somewhat the aspect of a prison. Fourth, the presence of so many boys together, from a hygienic viewpoint, necessitate the shaving of the heads of many, which among tlie boys is regarded as a mark of the criminal. The use of uniforms tends also to differentiate the boys from 11 outside” boys and destroys the feeling of individuality. Girls: The delinquent white girls, who average twelve to fifteen in num¬ ber, are housed in the maintenance department, although they are kept separate from the maintenance children. The separation is not as complete as it should be, and their training lacks the variety and freedom it should have under the best svstems. There has been an average of eleven delinquent colored girls at the Industrial School for the past five or six years. The instruction and training given them is considerably limited and the problem of proper separation from the other girls and even from the colored boys, is a difficult one. (7) Maintenance Department of Industrial School: The maintenace department consists of the dependent and neg¬ lected children in the school, whether sent by the Juvenile Court or the Board of Managers. These children are housed in what is known as the “girls' house” (the four-story building described on page. . . .), and also on one floor of the main building, underneath the dormitories for delinquent boys. GIRLS HOUSE-DELINQUENT AND DEPENDENT GIRLS AND ALL BOYS UNDER 9 YEARS OF AGE. The following shows the provisions for the various groups in the maintenance department, and the amount of contact between the chil¬ dren of the various groups. Boys: The library for the dependent boys is underneath that for the de¬ linquent white boys, but in comparison is an attractive one. — 26 — Iii the sleeping room, next the library we find a more serious problem than in the case of the delinquents. In a room 60 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 13 feet high, sleep 100 or more boys. This means air space for each hoy of about 324 cubic feet (normal requirement of 800 cubic feet). This is 76 cubic feet less than the amount required in the very poorest lodging houses in New York City. The playground for these one hundred or more boys is much smaller than that for the delinquents. It comprises a little over one- fifth of an acre. There is one advantage, however, it does open out on a lawn, and the boys have the freedom of the place. There are few trees on the whole 17.33 acres, except in the orchard. Classes of Children in the “Girls’ House.” In the four-story building known as the Girls’ House, there are a greater number of classes of children than in the boys’ dormitory. Here sleep and eat, all in the same building, about 90 boys and 70 girls, ranging in age from three to nine years, twenty-six older white KINDERGARTEN—THE MOST ATTRACTIVE ROOM IN THE INSTITUTION. girls and twelve older colored girls. Many of the last two classes be¬ long to the delinquent department. The school rooms are on the third and fourth floors, the sleeping rooms on the second and third, and the dining room and play rooms on the ground floor. The Nursery Department: The nursery department, in which are the children under nine years of age, has a large, sunny room in which the children play. This leads out to a yard which has an open shed with swings and sand piles. The room used for the kindergarten is the most spacious and attractive in the whole institution. The children sleep in two large rooms below the kindergarten, in row after row of little white cribs. The Girls’ Department: The older white girls, delinquent and dependent, sleep in two ad¬ joining rooms. There is no necessity for crowding here as is the case in some of the other departments. The dependent white girls have a dining room to themselves. Provision for Colored Girls: As much as is possible with children of two races living in the same building, the colored girls (all delinquent with one exception for the past two years), are separated from the others. Those under four¬ teen go to school to the delinquent side with the boys. They have separate eating and sleeping quarters and also separate playgrounds. The building is so arranged that they must use the same hallways and passages. Education and Training : For the maintenance children, almost the entire education and training is in the hands of the school of the Board of Education. Al¬ most none of the dependent children are put at house work or trade work, having their time out of school for recreation. A large number of boys over nine years of age, however, are in the band (of which there are two divisions). This band is a means of musical training and is a form of discipline of distinct benefit. The instruction for maintenance children is the grade work of the regular schools, with the addition of manual training for the 28 — boys and domestic science for the girls in all grades, which in the other public schools are given only in the seventh and eighth grades. The maintenance children also get the benefit of the summer school, having only a three weeks’ vacation. The kindergarten provides for children between six and seven years of age. There is no provision for the training or education of children under six, of whom there were forty-one in March, 1910. They have a large playroom in charge of a caretaker, but the limitation placed upon the Board of Education by the constitution forbids any organized instruction. (This situation has been recently remedied by the Board’s decision to place children live years of age in kinder¬ gartens.) (8) Special Study of the Dependent Population in the Industrial School. Report made by the School of Social Economy, Department of Research, 1910. (Abridged by the Commission.) Dependent children are sent to the Industrial School by two methods: (1) by action of the Juvenile Court, which deals largely with the neglected cases and, (2) by action of the Board of Man¬ agers of the school, which deals with the dependent child only. Of this latter class of children in the school, a detailed study has been made. The dependent children are kept only in the “Maintenance De¬ partment.” In order to commit them to the institution, the parents guardians or friends of each child appear before the Board of Man¬ agers to tell the condition of the family. Records are kept regarding each child’s age, birthplace, religion, nationality, and cause of com¬ mit mnit, and number in family, but practically no investigation of the truth of the statements is made through personal inquiry at the home of the applicants. At the time 1 lie investigation was made (March to Ma} r , 1910), there were in this department 287 children, 90 boys and 70 girls, rang¬ ing from three to nine years, and 101 boys and 26 girls, over nine. The cases of 389 children were copied on schedules for the purpose of the investigation. This number includes the 287 in the “ Main¬ tenance Department” at the time and 102 others who have been in the institution within the last two years. Of these 389 cases, the investigator was able to look up by visits to the addresses given, 295. In 21 of the 94 cases not visited the par¬ ents had either moved from the city or the child had been in the insti¬ tution so long that no record had been kept of the parents or guar- dian’s home. The remaining 73 cases the investigator was unable to cover for lack *of time. One hundred thirty-four of the 295 whom the investigator tried to locate had moved and could not be found. DINING-ROOM FOR DEPENDENT GIRLS. Iii 9 other instances the street number given on the records did not exist. Therefore, it will lie seen that only 152 cases of the 389 were located, and information secured about them either from personal interview with parent or guardian, or from a near neighbor; in some instances from both. Out of the 389, tlie records show 258 to be Protestants, 129 Cath¬ olics; the religion of two of the children was unknown. The con¬ venience and adequacy of Catholic orphanages in St. Louis explains the small proportion of those committed. Ages: The investigation shows that more children were committed at the ages of five, six, seven, and eight than at any other time, the greatest number being 49 children at the age of five. Perhaps it will be something of a surprise that as many as 21 children were — 30 — placed in the institution at the age of thirteen or over for dependency. Only four of these 21 cases were located and in each instance these boys should not have been admitted. Causes of Commitment: The causes of commitments, as given on the records of the school, are shown in the following : Divorce and separation. 15 Desertion. 158 Half-orphans. 130 Orphans. 14 Sickness . 28 Other causes. 44 381 The small number of children committed because of separation and divorce may be explained by the fact that a large number of so- called desertion cases are really separation cases. (In one instance where the wife had given desertion as the cause for putting the two boys in the institution, the investigator found instead that it was a case of separation by the woman from a seemingly hopeless drunkard.) Although separation and divorce account for many so-called desertion cases, yet if 40 per cent give this cause for commitment, desertion must be a cpiite prevalent cause. Many of the half-orphan cases have mothers out in service often making enough to help to support the child. In several cases where sickness was given as the cause, temporary assistance was needed, but the children remained in the school after the need was removed. It is surprising to And that only 14 children out of the 389 are orphans. In¬ sanity and “Father in the workhouse ” are the chief reasons given under the head "Other causes,” and these were found for the most part to be correct. Length of Time in Institution: A study of the length of time spent by each child in the institu¬ tion was made by copying from the alphabetical card-index the length of stay made by 451 children who had left the school previous to the investigation. Six of the 389 already discussed, who have been in the school for eight or more years, were added to this list, making a total of 457 children. — 31 — LENGTH OF TIME IN INSTITUTION. Children. Children. I week . . 20 1% 2 years. 30 2 weeks . . 21 u 39 9 << fj . . 17 2V Z 3 a 13 4 “ . . 41 a 19 2 months. . 47 314 a 3 “ . . 20 4 6 i 13 4 . 22 4i/ 2 5 i i 8 rr i ( 0 . . 19 (C 8 6 “ . . 16 5% 6 u 3 7 “ . . 18 a 9 8 “ . . 16 rr i a 0 9 “ . . 13 8 a . 6 10 “ . . 15 sy 2 10 a 1 11 “ . . 8 i < 1 1 year . . 9 11 a 2 11 V 2 u . 1 302 155 302 Total. 457 LENGTH OF TIME IN INSTITUTION OF THE 302 CHILDREN REMAINING LESS THAN A YEAR (See Above). Under 1 month. Children. . 99 Under H i months.... Children. . 241 “ 2 “ . . 146 i6 8 (6 . 257 << g f( . 166 a 9 a . 270 “ 4 “ . 188 n 10 a . 285 “ 5 “ . . 207 << 11 a . 293 “ 6 “ . . 223 u 12 a . 302 If the admittance of 20 of these children remaining less than a week, and 99 less than a month had meant their imperative tempo¬ rary need, or had their leaving meant that desirable homes had been found for them, this would be to the credit of the institution, but few belong to the former class, and none to the latter. In the main the cases are those of parents having made an experiment of placing the children in the school and, finding them dissatisfied, of taking them home. As an instance, the institution received from a father three chil¬ dren who stayed only one day. The record states his “wife is dead.” From this same wife, however, the investigator learned that, night coming, she wanted her children and went for them. This occurred two years ago. If the mother had not happened to get homesick for the children, there is a possibility that the city would be supporting them now. A calculation of the average time spent by a child in the institu¬ tion from 457 cases, including the 166 who stayed less than three months, shows it to be one year and six months. This is six times as long as the average in the Michigan State School, and three times as long as that in the Minnesota School —both excellent institutions. The average length of time for children spending six months or over in the institution is two years and three months. At present, since people have become aroused to the difficulty an institutionalized child encounters going out into the world, it is a serious reflection on our system that 250 average a stay of two years and three months in an institution. Yet, three of these children have been in the Industrial School eight years, one ten years; another eleven and one-lialf years. The last mentioned boy was seen by the investigator. It was learned that when a baby of three his mother boarded him, and in six weeks after providing for him thus, abandoned him. The woman in charge of the child, after keeping the boy a short time and not finding his mother, put him in the Industrial School. He is a fine boy of fourteen, and one for whom a society for placing out children would have little difficulty in finding a good home. An estimate of the boy’s expense to the city, taking as a basis the 41 cents per day given in the annual report of the Industrial School for 1908 as the average daily expense for each child, shows that he alone has cost the city $1,720.97. Even if no free home could have been found for him, which is unlikely, the city could have saved $638.97 on this child alone by boarding him out at $1.75 a week, the rate paid in other cities for like cases. A half-witted girl and a boy with epilepsy, have both been in the institution eight years. These children should have been cared for at Marshall. Number from Each Family: The number of children in each family who become dependent on the city affords an interesting group of facts. The following table shows the number of children in the institu¬ tion, now or formerly, from each family represented in the group of # the 389 studied. Number Number Families. Children. 1 2 child . . 62 62 children . . 76 152 3 children. . 35 105 4 children. . 15 60 5 children . . 4 20 6 children. . 1 6 193 405 Some families having only one or two children in the Industrial School now, have previously had others there who were taken out —33 upon reaching working age. In this case of the six children from one family, the mother is insane; tlie father not located. His neighbors of earlier days say he is steady and industrious. If this is true, it would have been well to hold him responsible for his children’s support. The total of 405 indicates that 16 children in excess of the 389, were members of the same families formerly in the institution. In one of the four families with five children, the parents were not seen; two other families could not be located; the fourth, a widow, with a daughter, was out working at the time of the call. A neighbor BED-ROOM OF DEPENDENT GIRLS. gave the account, however, that the woman’s father, mother and mother-in-law are in comfortable circumstances, the latter owning a corner home on a good street in South St. Louis. In the group of fifteen families listed with four children, two were not visited and six could not be located. Five of the seven found were clearly able to support their children at home. One of the re¬ maining two really worthy families with four children in the insti¬ tution needed temporary aid only. Three children were brought home after a few days. One, however, objected to returning and has been 34 in the institution a year and ten months. The other worthy family gave desertion as the cause on the record, but the investigator found the cause to be sickness of the father. Although the city has been and was then supporting four children for the family, the mother had a baby three months’ old in her arms. The following summary table of the complete investigation gives the number of children properly placed in tlie institution and those considered unworthy: Number of cases visited. 295 Number of cases not located.. 143 Number of cases found,. 152 Number of worthy cases found. 45 Number of unworthy cases found. 107 Percentage of located cases found to be unworthy, 70 per cent. This means, in brief, that of the 152 cases found, 70 per cent were of children belonging to families able to support them. Of the 45 cases recorded as worthy, and where the parents wanted to care for their children but were unable to do so, the causes for the commitments will be found in the following table: Desertion . 13 Sickness . 22 Half-orphans . 5 Father in Penitentiary. 4 Separation of Parents. 1 In 4 of the 13 cases of desertion, the investigator learned that the mothers were immoral. Nine of the cases needed temporary aid only, and were returned to their families in from two weeks’ to three months’ time. One family, which placed three children because of sickness, has not been able to take them home because the step-father since lost his leg in an industrial accident. In each of the other cases, the half-orphans, those with fathers in the Penitentiary, and in the one separation case, the mother is working hard, trying to do her best. Summary of Defects in the Care of Destitute and Neglected Children at the Industrial School. 1. The record-keeping at the Industrial School is faulty in that the data given by parent or guardian are not verified. 35 — 2. Seventy per* cent of eases located were not in need of institu¬ tional care. 3. The average time spent in the institution is one year and six months, as against three months in Michigan and five months in Min¬ nesota. The average for those staying over six months is two years and three months, some children having stayed seven, eight, ten and eleven years. 4. The chief difficulty in the care of these destitute and neg¬ lected children is a lack of home atmosphere, and no opportunity to cultivate those traits of character which come from the discipline of tin* small home group. The training is group, not individual training. The contact of these children with the delinquent children, while not frequent enough to work any permanent harm, is undesirable at any time. 5. The institution, with its physical limitations, cannot give these children proper physical care or accommodation. The opportunity of developing healthy bodies and active minds is lacking. (9) Summary of Defects of the Whole Institution: The history and description of the Industrial School bring out the following significant facts: 1. The buildings of the institution were built fifty years ago; they have been added to but little since; and in construction and ar¬ rangement they are entirely unsuited to the care of over 500 children of so many different classes. 2. There are housed in this institution, delinquent children, boys and girls, colored and white, and dependent children of the same classes, making a total of eight different classes of children to be provided for. Among the delinquents, much further subdivision than this is recognized as necessary. The dependent children should not be in the same institution with the delinquent. The combination of the two defects above mentioned makes an institution which with difficulty accomplishes its purpose. It denies to the children in the first place, a proper separation of the different classes; secondly, Hie advantages of small group or home or individual training, and in the third place, sufficiently healthful and attractive surroundings. — 36 — The location in the city necessitates a small play space, and re¬ stricts freedom to a great degree, denying especially to delinquent children that out-of-door farm training which is recognized as most beneficial, from the experience of such institutions in other communi¬ ties. The trade training given at the school is limited by a lack of facil¬ ities, and must he directed largely to supplying the needs of the insti¬ tution, not to training the children. These are the chief defects of the institution, the detailed defects having appeared in the body of the report as given. (B) Other Agencies Caring for St. Louis’ Delinquent and Dependent Children. 1. Delinquents: (1 & 2) Missouri Training School and State Industrial Home: The institutions referred to previously as caring for St. Louis children who have violated the law and who are in the hands of the courts, are the Missouri Training School for Boys at Boonville, Mo., and the State Industrial Home for Girls at Chillicothe, Mo. Children are admitted to these two institutions only through the Juvenile or Crim¬ inal Courts, and are usually not sent to them until all other means for their reform have been exhausted. Through the increased efficiency of the Juvenile Court and Industrial School, the number of commit¬ ments to the Missouri Training School have been considerably re¬ duced, and with further efficiency of both court and school, the num¬ ber can be reduced even more. The following shows the daily average number of St. Louis chil¬ dren in the institutions in the last five years: MISSOURI TRAINING SCHOOL. STATE INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR GIRLS. Boonville, Mo. Average Number Year. of Children. 1906. 128.6 1907 . 107.8 1908 . 132.1 1909 . 132.2 1910 . 96.7 Chillicothe, Mo. Average Number Year. of Children. 1906 . 5.9 1907 . 10.2 1908. 18.2 1909 . H.2 1910 . 20.8 The following has been the annual cost to the children at those institutions during the last the city for keeping five years, at a rate of $120.00 a year for each hoy at Boonville, and $150.00 a year for each girl at Cliillicothe. MISSOURI TRAINING SCHOOL. Boonville, Mo. Year. Cost. 1906 . $15,432.54 1907 . 12,938.49 1908 . 15,851.12 1909 . 15,625.92 1910 . 11,611.44 STATE INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR GIRLS. Chillicothe, Mo. Year. Cost. 1906 . $ 885.43 1907 . 1,522.95 1908 . 2,734.47 1909.. 1,677.58 1910. 3,136.37 The Missouri Training School at Boonville is an institution occu¬ pying between 400 and 500 acres near the town of Boonville, and the buildings are large brick cottages, placed rather close together accommodating about fifty boys each. The daily population of the school averages close to 500. The cottages are usually over-crowded, the one for colored boys averaging more than 125. Conditions at the school are not what they should be, and it is not in spirit or in fact an institution with an educational program. Many of the boys are too old for the purpose of reform-school education. The insti¬ tution is physically in a bad condition, and suffers from lack of funds for the proper care of its inmates. It is not an institution to which a boy may be committed with any assurance of having intel¬ ligent means adopted for his individual reformation and education. The State Industrial Home for Girls at Chillicothe accommodates 220 to 225 girls, and is a pleasing contrast to the Missouri Training School. The girls are housed in large cottages; there is a good deal of home life; the institution is kept in splendid physical shape, and the girls have a fair amount of schooling and training. There is another State institution in process of organization, which will care for delinquent colored girls, to be known as the “ State Industrial Home for Negro Girls,” authorized by the Legislature of 1909. (3) House of Detention: It may be well to take notice here of the House of Detention in St. Louis, now located at No. 1226 Clark avenue, a building which serves largely as a means of confinement for children awaiting hear¬ ing, who cannot safely be released to relatives. Its maintenance is required by the Juvenile Court act, which prescribes that children awaiting hearing must be kept in quarters separate from adults. It is at present operating under a city ordinance. - 38 - The following is the monthly average of children detained in the House of Detention from April to December, 19.10. CHILDREN DETAINED IN THE HOUSE OF DETENTION FROM APRIL 1 TO DECEMBER 31, 1910. Total Boys Girls White Colored White Colored April. 98 67 18 9 4 May. .. 130 80 30 14 6 June. 104 67 22 11 4 July. 126 81 21 17 7 August. 122 87 15 15 5 September. 106 66 24 12 4 October. 100 73 17 8 2 November. 74 52 8 11 3 ^December. 75 43 22 6 4 Total 39 weeks. 935 616 177 103 39 Average number per week. 23.9 15.8 4.5 2.6 1.0 Average number per day. 3.4 COST OF MAINTAINING THE HOUSE OF DETENTION. 1906-1907 1907-1908 1908-1909 1909-1910 $1,256.15* $1,536.59* $5,938.66 $5,302.15 The present House of Detention is a converted three-story dwell- . ing house, built many years ago, and although it has been extensively repaired, it is difficult to keep clean, is unsanitary, and a fire-trap. It has eleven rooms and basement, but tlie space is so small that the children have to spend the day in their bed-rooms, and there cannot be proper separation or supervision of children during the period of their detention. The institution is as well conducted as could be ex¬ pected, but for some years the city will have as much need for an institution of this sort as at present, and the Commission thinks it should be properly provided for. ('See page 68 for recommenda¬ tions.) (4) Probation Work: The problem of the care of delinquent children cannot be passed without a statement of the function of the Probation Office of the Juvenile Court, which has been the means of reducing the delinquent population at the Industrial School during the past seven years, since the inauguration of the Court in 1903. The probation method by which children who are found to have violated law are allowed to go back to their homes, under the careful and thorough supervi- *Portion of the fiscal year only. - 39 - sion of a probation officer, has resulted in preventing a great many commitments to institutions. The probation work of the Juvenile Court has gained with great rapidity, and the system of caring for children on probation is efficient, although greatly handicapped by too few officers to look after the large number of children. The following table shows the number of officers each year in the Juvenile Court since 1903, with the average number of children in the care of each officer during that period, and the total number of children in the care of the office each year: «/ YEAR Number of Offi¬ cers Doing Probation Work Number of Children Under Supervision Average in Care of Each Pro¬ bation Officer Total Delin¬ quent Neglected Jau. 1, 1904. 3 371 371 123 Jan 1905. 3 180 180 60 Jan 1906. 4 200 * 50 J an 1907. 4 200 * 50 Jan. 1908. 3 206 125 81 68 Jan. 1909. 6 626 538 88 104 Jan. 1910. 8 961 654 307 120 Jan. 1911. 8 1333 824 509 167 It is conceded everywhere that one probation officer, however diligent he may be, is not capable of caring competently for more than 100 delinquent children, and fewer children, if they be neg¬ lected, in which case entire families need the painstaking, watchful guidance of a probation officer. The probation officers of the Court tes¬ tify uniformly that they would be able to save many more cases from commitment to institutions had they each fewer children to handle. The present average of 167, with a large proportion of neglected chil¬ dren, is excessively high. The saving in commitments to institutions is, of course, a saving in money. The probation system is at present doubtless saving the city a large sum of money, which cannot be ex¬ actly computed. The method of care and supervision in the home is bound to lessen the expense of maintaining institutions. 2. Dependent Children:^ The foundlings and babies under the age of three years who become the city’s charges, are cared for at St. Ann’s, the Bethesda, ^Estimated; no report. t : A census of all the children in private institutions in St. Louis and St. Louis County, made in December, 1910, shows a total of 3,726, of whom 1,110 were in Protestant institutions, and 2,616 in Catholic institutions. Of the Protestant children, 1,071 were white and 39 colored. This census was made by the Department of Research, School of Social Economy, and includes all dependent and neglected children in private institutions in the City and County. - 40 - or the Colored Orphans' Home, according to race or religious affilia¬ tion, so far as it can be determined. When religious affiliation can¬ not be determined, foundlings discovered north of Olive street are sent to St. Ann’s, and those found south of Olive street to the Bethesda. The following is an exhibit of the number of babies sent to the three institutions for the last live years, together with the cost to the city at a rate of $12.00 per month a child: FOUNDLINGS PLACED BY THE CITY IN ST. ANN’S— Boys. Girls. Total. Deaths. Cost per annum, for fiscal years ending APRIL. 1905. 23 9 32 28 1906. 15 4 19 15 $2,595.22 1907. 12 15 27 17 1,325.00 1908. 11 11 22 18 1,619.32 1909. 9 5 14 8 1,835.91 1910. 3 5 8 * 5 1,567.28 73 49 122 91 BETHESDA— Boys. Girls. Total. Deaths. Cost per annum, for fiscal years ending APRIL. 1905. 20 15 35 2 1906. 18 10 28 2 $4,856.81 1907. 10 11 21 2 4,783.71 1908. 7 14 21 7 3,441.30 1909. 10 3 13 4 2,689.15 1910. 7 7 14 1 2,742.03 • 72 60 132 18 COLORED ORPHANS’ HOME— Cost per annum, for fiscal years Boys. Girls. Total. Deaths. ending APRIL. 1905 2 5 rr { 4 1906. 3 4 7 9 $ 594.30 1907. 3 7 10 7 364.26 1908. 2 4 6 5 730.97 1909. 3 3 1 474.25 1910. 1 1 1 138.14 13 21 34 20 TOTALS FOR SIX YEARS ENDING APRIL, 1 910. Boys. Girls. Total. Deaths. Cost. St. Ann’s. 73 49 122 91 $ 9,700.25 Bethesda. 72 60 132 18 20,291.79 Colored Home. . . 12 21 34 20 2,455.30 158 130 288 129 $32,447.34 -41- The total number committed in the year ending April, 1910, is seen to be only 23, at a cost to tlie city with those previously sent and still in the institutions, of $4,447.45. When these children attain the age of three years, they are either placed out in foster homes, sent to the Industrial School through the Board of Managers or, in the case of St. Ann’s, sent on to institu¬ tions for older Catholic children, St, Mary’s caring for the girls, and St, Joseph’s for the boys. The city ceases any payments when the children arrive at the age of three years. St, Ann’s Foundling Asylum, 5301 Page avenue, is conducted by the Sisters of Charity, and the babies are cared for both by them and by trained nurses. The death rate in the institution is very high (74.5 per cent), as in many foundling institutions. (See table.) The Bethesda Foundling Home, 3551 Vista avenue, is a private charity under Protestant control. The death rate in Bethesda, at least among the city’s charges, is unusually low (13.6 per cent) for an insti¬ tution for foundlings. The Colored Orphans’ Home is a small institution located at 4316 Natural Bridge Hoad, housing 35 to 40 children, ranging from one day to twelve or thirteen years. The death rate among the city charges is high (58.8 per cent). For recommendations in regard to the care of this group of children see page 73. Probation Office: The care of dependent children is also a function of the proba¬ tion work of the Juvenile Court, which had in its care January 1st, 1911, 509 children. These have been found neglected in the Juvenile Court, either through the cruelty, carelessness, shiftlessness or other moral failure of their parents. Such children are returned to their homes under the supervision of a probation officer, who does every¬ thing in his or her power to patch up the family shortcomings, and establish them in normal ways of life. This process, which has grown with extreme rapidity the last three years (from 81 neglected chil¬ dren in the care of the office in January, 1908, to 509 in January, 1911), is preventing the commitment to institutions of a great many neglected children. -42 2. PROVISIONS FOR THE CARE OF DEFECTIVE CHILDREN IN ST. LOUIS. • The group of defective children includes those children who are either feeble-minded, or who are blind, deaf mute, or epileptic. The provisions for such children, in cases where their parents are able to pay, are adequate for all but the feeble-minded children. In cases where children are both defective and destitute, the problem is a dif¬ ficult one. (A) Special Classes. (1) Blind:- The Missouri School for the Blind, located at No. 3815 Magnolia avenue, takes both boarding children and day-school pupils, children from other parts of the State boarding at the school during the school term, September to July. The institution is unable to provide quar¬ ters at present for blind colored children, who may be admitted only as day-school pupils. (2) Deaf Mute: There are private institutions for the deaf mute, as well as the State School for the Deaf Mute at Fulton, and the Board of Educa¬ tion's day-school (Gallaudet) for the deaf mute at Henrietta and Compton avenue. At Fulton the same arrangements hold as those for the School for the Blind at St. Louis. Neither of these schools keep children the full twelve months in the year, and the child who is destitute and either blind or deaf mute, is thrown on the community without any remedy for his proper care. (B) A Special Study of Feeble-Minded Children. By the School of Social Economy, Department of Research, January, 1910. (Abridged by the Commission.) Feeble-Mindedness Defined: The term feeble-minded has been used by specialists to cover all grades of imbecility, from the child who is simply dull and incapable of profiting from ordinary school work, to the gelatinous mass that simply eats and lives. There is the absolute idiot who, while able to see and hear, never learns to talk or perform the simplest service for himself. There is Note—Since this study of the feeble-minded children in St. Louis was made, the dependent children in the Infirmary have been transferred to the Sanitarium and placed in a ward by themselves. They are receiving no instruc¬ tion, however, and do not have under present conditions the care and atten¬ tion recommended in this report. 43 — the imbecile who, while lie cannot take care of himself, can do pretty well under the direction of others. Imbecility represents many de¬ grees of deficiency, moral and intellectual; on the one hand passing by imperceptible gradations into idiocy, on the other hand passing insensibly into ordinary intelligence. Feeble-mindedness, including, both idiocy and imbecility, al¬ though incurable, can be ameliorated or modified, .just as it has been superinduced by causes congenital or accidental. Another phase of mental defect, unrecognized until of late, has developed the term “backward child ’—one unable to advance rap¬ idly. In every community there are children who, while not imbecile, are of so slow a type of mind, that they cannot keep pace with the work of even the average child. While they are capable of learn¬ ing, they require several years to accomplish what the normal child does in one year. In 11)07-1908 the Superintendent of the Public Schools in the City of St. Louis, recommended that pupils of this class be taken from the ordinary schools and placed in small groups, fifteen to a room, thirty to a school. The result of this recommendation was that residence buildings, suitably located and arranged were secured and what is known as special schools were provided for the backward child, where educational facilities adapted to the varying degrees of intel¬ ligence were furnished. The children are more carefully classified than is possible in the ordinary schools, one teacher being responsible for only fifteen pupils. At present there are eight schools of this class in the city, one alone providing for colored children. Our special schools provide for the backward child, who, while he will always remain below the normal standard, is enabled to go through life in much the same manner as his fellows. Each child of the 210 children receiving their education in the special schools is given an opportunity to learn, and if apparently incapable of im¬ provement at the end of that perod, he is dropped from the school. From ten to twelve of these children are dropped each year, and as the attendance in the special schools increases, a greater number of those dropped can be expected. This intermediate class represents a problem of danger and dif¬ ficulty both for the sufferer and society, and it is this class of middle- grade imbeciles which, because it is continually being dropped from our special schools, remains in the homes, untrained and untaught. 44 Institutions are absolutely necessary for this class, both for their their own degenerate kind. A large percentage of the feeble-minded way to the Infirmary or Sanitarium, where naturally they do not re¬ ceive proper care and attention. Many of the adult idiots there at present entered in childhood, and have received no care other than that given to the pauper insane inmates. These unfortunates having no opportunity for improvement, live on until disease or old age re¬ leases them. Number of Feeble-Minded in the City of St. Louis: Of the 36,000 public school children in St. Louis, it is probable, from conservative studies and estimates elsewhere, that three-fifths of one per cent, or about 500, are either backward or feeble-minded. According to good authority, about 150 of these are feeble-minded. Some of these children are in institutions, some are in their homes and a not inconsiderable percentage of the 210 children now in the special schools are so defective that their proper place is in an institution for the feeble-minded. An investigation was made of 73 children of this large group, of which 8 could not be found, owing to wrong addresses; 9 were in the public special schools and 1 in a private school. Of the remaining 55 children, a detailed study was made in order to ascertain the nature of the problem of care involved. These children are distributed in the city as follows: Place. Infirmary . Sanitarium . Industrial School Mission Free School Bethesda Home. In Their Own Homes Number of Children. ... 17 o o 2 6 4 23 Total 45 — and unable to furnish the necessary care and training. The parents of the other 5 children are comparatively well-to-do, and the chil¬ dren are receiving* some education, either in a private day-school, or in their homes. The remaining* 15 children in the group at home should be placed in a suitable institution. Four of these homes are in comfortable cir¬ cumstances, and the parents would be able to pay a small sum to¬ wards the support of their children. Four of the remaining homes consist of one or tAvo rooms each, and are miserable and dirty beyond description. In many cases, the mother engages in laundry work in order to raise the family income. There is one case of non-support and desertion on part of the hus¬ band, and another of drunkenness. Two of the homes contain such large families that it is almost impossible for tlie parents to support the normal children. The homes of the 17 children found at the Infirmary belong to the very poor tenement districts, and it is safe to say that, even in the Infirmary, their condition is superior to what it must have been in their homes. The parents of the majority of these children are liv¬ ing, but, owing to insufficient wages or large families, the mother is often compelled to work. It then becomes necessary for her to place her child somewhere, because it is impossible for her to give him at home tlie constant attention which is necessary. As she cannot afford to place it in a private institution, the only home open to it is the Infirmary. At the Infirmary all the girls and boys under ten years occupy the same dormitory as the female insane, while boys over ten years are housed with the insane men. Although all of the chil¬ dren there, with the exception of an epileptic boy, are idiots or low- grade imbeciles, yet there is no reason why, with proper care and training, they could not be made useful in the institution. Instead of this, they sit about lined up along the Avail, aimlessly doing nothing. The children housed at the Bethesda Home, Mission Free School and Industrial School, besides exerting a bad influence on the other children in the institutions, do not receive the training fitted to the needs of the normal child. In time these children, on account of unfitness, pass from one institution to another, their ultimate home being the Infirmary. Note—Since this study was made, these children have been transferred from the Infirmary to the Sanitarium. 46 — Classification of Children: The fifty-five feeble-minded children studied, vary greatly as to ages and degrees of deficiency. On this basis they may be classified as follows: Grade. Number. Imbeciles—* Boys . 23 Girls . . .. .. 7 1-5 yrs. 6-10yrs. 11-15 yrs. 2 8 8 1 4 16 yrs. 5 2 Total . 30 Epileptics— Boys . 5 Girls . 1 2 9 12 4 1 7 1 Total . G Idiots—• Boys . 9 Girls . 10 Total . 19 Grand Total. 55 4 6 5 1 6 15 7. 7 24 2 2 10 Of the 55 cases of feeble-mindedness, 23 were congenital and 32 were acquired. Nineteen of the 23 congenital cases are idiots and 4 are imbeciles. The 19 idiots consist of 13 boys and 6 girls, and the 4 imbeciles of 2 boys and 2 girls. In these cases, the parenthood of 6 is unknown. There are three instances of defective parents, two cases of defective brother or sister, while in 6 cases no defect can be traced. In the cases of the children having a defective family history, only the maternal side was affected, both imbecility and idiocy occur¬ ring. The majority of the congenital cases are healthy, but are un¬ able to care for themselves and need constant supervision and atten¬ tion. Four of the boys are paralytic and are unable to move without assistance. The 32 cases of acquired feeble-mindedness represent 23 boys and 9 girls. In the majority of cases, the defect is due to severe falls or diseases in infancy, while in a small percentage it was the result of epilepsy. The epileptic cases, of course, vary; some of these chil¬ dren having daily attacks, while others enjoy much longer intervals. Seven-tenths of the imbeciles are between the ages of six to fifteen years, which is the most critical time of a child’s life, for even with the most efficient training, little can be accomplished to develop the mentality of the child after the fifteenth year has been reached. The 47 groups of imbeciles are all trainable, and two of the idiots are too young to be judged otherwise. Of the entire number of 55 feeble¬ minded children, 36 can speak and are able to care for themselves. The Missouri Colony for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic: In the colony at Marshall, Mo., expert care and training is pro¬ vided for the feeble-minded. This institution, supported by the State, furnishes a “home for homeless and helpless children who are af¬ flicted both mentally and physically.” Scientific care and treatment is provided for the most incapable, while those capable of improvement are placed under competent teach¬ ers, and are enabled to become in a measure, self-supporting within the institution. Care and treatment are also given to those epileptics who are not insane or dangerous. The average number of inmates for the year 1907-1908 was 425, of whom 63 were from St. Louis. «/ The monthly per capita cost to the city is $12.50. The institution, however, does not care for colored people who are feeble-minded, there being no provision in the State or City of St. Louis for the care of feeble-minded and epileptic colored adults or children. STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF TIIE INVESTIGATION. I. Distribution of Children: Place. Infirmary . Sanitarium . Industrial School. .Mission Free School. Bethesda Home. In their own Homes. Number. . . 17 3 2 6 4 . . 23 Total 55 II. Character of Homes of Children: Type. In Institutions. In Their Own Homes. Good . 4 12 Fair . 8 9 Poor . 10 2 Unknown . 10 Total . 32 23 -48 III. Grades of Defect and Age Distribution: Grade. Number. 1-5 yrs 6-10 yrs. 11-15 yrs. 16 yrs. Imbeciles—• Boys . . 23 2 8 8 5 Girls . . 7 1 4 2 Total . 30 2 9 12 rr 7 Epileptics— Boys . 4 1 Girls. . 1 1 Total . 6 r a 1 Idiots— Boys . . 9 4 5 Girls . . 10 1 n ( 2 Total . 19 4 6 7 2 Grand Total. 55 6 15 24 10 IV. Vital Statistics of Parents: Number Having Number With One or Both Children. Parents Living. Parents Dead. Parents Unknown. Boys . . 18 14 6 Girls . . 8 6 3 Total . . 26 20 9 V. Congenital and Acquired Cases: No. CONGENITAL, attributed to- Defective Family History. 5 Defective Parenthood. 6 Cause Unknown. 6 Parenthood Unknown. 6 Total . 23 No. ACQUIRED Cases, result of— Severe Fall. 1 Malignant Fever. Paralysis . Meningitis . Convulsions. Fpilepsy . Causes Unknown. Total . 32 VI. Physical and Mental Condition: No. 1. Class. 1-5 yrs. Trainable— Boys . 4 Girls . -Age- 6-10 yrs. 11-15 yrs. 8 12 1 5 Total . 4 Untrainable—- Boys . 2 Girls . 17 5 Total 2 6 16 yrs. 6 2 8 2 2 49 — O M i—! lO. Tf VII. Physical and Mental Condition: No. 2. Speak Violeiu Can Care for Self. Sex. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Boys . . . 27 10 6 31 27 10 Girls . 9 9 8 10 9 9 Total . . . . 36 19 14 41 36 19 — 50 — PART II. COMPARISON OF METHODS IN OTHER CITIES AND (1) DELINQUENTS. STATES. The successful institutions in this country and elsewhere, for the training of delinquent children, whether they be what is known as parental schools or reform schools for older boys and girls, are uni¬ formly on the cottage plan. That is, they are situated in the country and the population is divided up among small cottages, in which there is some attempt at producing a homelike environment. The cottage unit varies anywhere from 15 to 60 or 75 children. There are a few successful congregate institutions, but the results in such institutions have been obtained under great difficulties by seg¬ regation as in the cottage system. There are practically no authorities who advocate the congregate institutions for delinquents, however well run. The physical obstacles to proper segregation are too great. The chief advantages of the cottage system are these: First: It permits a proper separation of the children. Second: It insures a type of family life, with its housefather and housemother, enabling a delinquent child to receive individual attention, impossible under the congregate system. Third: It fosters a love of home life and the home virtues. Fourth: It affords an opportunity for country life and country occupations, which are not only healthful, but form a type of training essential to the development of most delinquent children. Fifth: of a prison, It absolutely removes the appearance and char act erist regulating freedom with proper supervision. ics The experience of the entire United States with institutions for delinquent children is very well set forth in a most admirable report published in 1909 by the Commission appointed by the New York Legislature to “Select a Site for the New York Training School for Boys.” The report of this Commission, which has been most favor¬ ably commented upon throughout the country, contains specific recom¬ mendations as to the organization of an institution for delinquents on 51 - the cottage plan, and these recommendations arc* drawn from the ex¬ perience of the best institutions of the sort throughout the country. A set oi questions was submitted to the men in charge of these institu¬ tions, and the report itself embodies their conclusions. These gentlemen are the following: Superintendent Franklin IT. Briggs, of the State Agricultural and Industrial School, at Industry, New York; Super¬ intendent Chas. D. Hides, of the Children’s Village, Dobb’s Ferry; Superintendent F. II. Nibecker, of Glens .Mills, Pa.; Superintendent Jos. P. Byers, Randall s Island House of Refuge, New York; Superintendent Edwin T. Wentworth, of the State School for Boys, Portland, YTe.; Mr. T. F. Chapin, formerly of the Lyman School for Boys, Westboro, Mass.; James Allison, Superintendent Cincinnati House of Refuge, Cin¬ cinnati, ().; E. E. York, Superintendent Indiana Boys’ School, Plain- field, Ind.; AY. AY. McLain, formerly superintendent St. Charles School for Boys, St. Charles, Ilk, and R. R. Reeder, Superintendent of Orphan¬ age, Hastings-on-Hudson, New A’ork. These men, who are regarded as the most experienced and most expert in their field, were not all superintendents of institutions organ- izd on the cottage plan; several of them were superintendents of con¬ gregate institutions, so that a diversity of experience was brought to bear on the questions asked. The inquiry was directed to ascertaining desirable points in pro¬ viding an institution for delinquent boys between nine and seventeen years of age, practically all of them city boys. The capacity of the institution was to be 800. The Commission agreed that all the boys should be cared for in cot¬ tages, and that the cottage unit should be 12 to 25; that each cot¬ tage should have its own parcel of land, with barns, livestock, etc.; that a central school should be established with 16 boys to a room, and that these 16 boys should be the cottage unit unbroken. As to instruction and training the following points were brought out: The uniform testimony of all superintendents consulted is, that a majority of the boys can be easily interested in agriculture, espe^ cially in the care of animals, regardless of the probability that they would follow such occupations after leaving the institution. All con¬ sultants agreed upon the educational value of farming for delinquent boys. One question inquired as to whether manual training or definite trade teaching would be provided. This question brought out con¬ siderable difference of opinion. The Commission on this point said: — 52 — “The typical delinquent is more or less a specimen of retarded development, in need of physical improvement and mental stimula¬ tion, that lie may lie capable of entertaining the ambitions of the average American boy. He needs not only the complete change of physical atmosphere which the small cottage colony affords, but an in¬ tellectual awakening which shall make him capable of grasping moral standards and of making moral judgments. Ilis hands will be found, in our judgment, the best approach to his intellect. To make things, to do things, to bring things to pass, will catch and hold his interest. Hence, all the operations of the institution need to be organized, arranged, and carried out with a view to make him an interested par¬ ticipant, and an important agency in its activities. Every man in charge of a cottage should be an efficient teacher of something, and to effect a harmonious and symmetrical training should co-operate with all other agencies. In scholastic lines nothing beyond a good common school education should be attempted, special emphasis being laid upon the ability to read. Along with this should go a good ele¬ mentary manual training in the use of woodworking tools. All boys who show ability'and ambition to learn a trade should be afforded adequate opportunity to do so, so far as their age and the length of their stay permit, but those of little mechanical ability should he encouraged to learn the simpler trades, or to train for work on the farm. As far as practicable, every boy should be taught to do some kind of remunerative work efficiently before he leaves the school. One of the most important lessons he has to learn is to like work. The delinquent boy has seldom arrived at the 1 hobo stage of inactivity and degeneracy. He likes to be active; if his work is made interesting, he will like work and may form the habit of liking it. The Commission therefore recommended one simple building pro¬ viding quarters for the teaching of the following trades: tailoring, shoe making, carpentry, masonry, bakery, house painting, printing, bookbinding and laundry; the cottage managers to be teachers and leaders in this industrial training. The Commission recommended in the matter of cottage plans, first, that there should be a pleasant sitting room where reading and games could be carried on; second, that there should be a sleeping room with sixteen square feet of floor space for each bed. The Commission advocated cottages with single sleeping rooms for ten per cent of the boys, to be known as “honor cottages,” in which each boy would spend at least three months before his parole. For the remaining cot- tages, each one to hold sixteen boys, two open dormitories with eight hoys each were recommended rather than one with sixteen boys; third, for the house-father and house-mother, a good sitting and sleep* ing room with toilet and bath and a sleeping room for the teacher, with hath; fourth, a convenient kitchen with pantry or store room and a pleasant dining room. The toilets and baths for the hoys should he on the dormitory floor, with additional toilets in the base¬ ment. There was also advocated a workshop in the basement, but a playroom was specifically not advocated by the Commission, which held that out-of-door recreation was better in almost all weathers. The training of delinquent girls, it is generally agreed, should follow the same principles as that of delinquent hoys, with such modi¬ fication as is demanded by the difference in the pursuits which girls and hoys follow after leaving an institution. Out-of-door and manual training are becoming more and more recognized as proper instru¬ ments of education for delinquent girls, as w^ell as hoys. As an illustration of the tendency to the cottage system, and be¬ cause of the similarity in its history to our Industrial School, a brief statement of the New York Juvenile Asylum is given. ITiril the year 1905 the history of the New York Juvenile Asylum, as it was then called, was quite similar to that of the Industrial School. It, too, was founded in the early fifties. It was situated in the city, on a tract of land containing thirty acres. Its single building accom¬ modated nearly a thousand children. There, too, a hundred or more children slept in each bedroom. There was no classification of chil¬ dren. for the institution gave shelter to the dependent and delinquent children, to white and black, and to girls and boys. “Considered simply from the standpoint of the congregate institution, the old Juve¬ nile Asylum reached a point of singular efficiency,” but, like the In¬ dustrial School here, it was the machine efficiency of an institution. Just six years ago a great change occurred in the Juvenile Asy¬ lum. The congregate system was abolished and the school was moved to the country. There was also a change in the class of children cared for. The rule had been made by the New York State Board of Chari¬ ties that delinquent and dependent children should no longer be al¬ lowed in the same institution. Compelled to make a choice, the direc¬ tors of the New York Juvenile Asylum decided in favor of the de¬ linquents. On the 218 acres at their disposal, twenty-five cottages, accom¬ modating twenty boys each, have already been completed. None of the bedrooms in these cottages accommodates over ten boys. In sev- - 54 - eral of the cottages, where the boys who have made the best records are located, each boy has his own room. ‘‘The high Avails which bounded the old playground have gone and the boys can roam over fields covering many acres. The athletic field will accommodate eight baseball games at the same time and no boy during his play time is compelled to be an idle spectator while his fellows take their turn at play. Meals are no longer disciplinary functions, but opportunities for conversation, and there is a house¬ mother and often a house-father, too, present in the cheerful dining¬ room AAdiere the boys come and sit around tAvo separate tables.” Each cottage is made as homelike as possible. Besides the cottages, the Children’s Village contains two school buildings, tAvo industrial buildings, a church, a gymnasium, and admin¬ istrative building, the superintendent’s cottage and a general power- house and kitchen. Another interesting study of existing tendencies has been made in Pittsburgh. The County Commissioners of Alleghany County ap¬ pointed a Commission to draw up plans and to select a site for a new cottage institution for delinquent boys, Avhite and colored. The gen¬ eral conclusions to which this Commission has come are as folloAvs: The institution should be primarily industrial and agricultural, modeled on the plans of the school at Industry, N. V. The Com¬ mission believes that an acreage of one acre to a boy is about cor¬ rect. The Commission advocates the cottage plan, Avith a unit of six¬ teen to twenty boys in a cottage, the cottages to be placed far apart. They do not advocate the single bedroom, feeling that it leads to more abuse than the open dormitory, Avell supervised. (2) DEPENDENT CHILDREN. The Avhole tendency in the care of dependent children all over the country, whether such children are in. need of temporary or permanent care, is to place them in a family home. It is usual that children who have lost both parents, or avIio must be removed from the care of uiiAvorthy parents, are placed in permanent family homes, in which the city or state seldom lias to pay anything. In the case of children needing temporary care, the city or state places children in homes carefully investigated, and boards them there at Ioav rates for varying periods of time, until conditions come about through which the children may perhaps be returned to their own relatives. This method is followed in Massachusetts, even in the cases of children — od— whose mothers have to go to the hospital for a week or so, and who need temporary care. The city or state, or private charity, pays the board of such children at comparatively low rates, $1.50 to $3.50 per week, which is, of course, a much more economical method than any institution affords. The Commission submits the following facts regarding the care of destitute children. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, social workers were divided in their opinions as to the care of the dependent child. Some considered institutional care better; others favored placing the child in a family home. In 1899 the controversy practically ended through the adoption of a common program. An extract is given from the report then drawn up by a Committee of the National Con¬ ference of Charities: “All workers agree that the home is tlie nat¬ ural place to develop properly a child * * * and urge upon all charitable people the absolute necessity of preserving the home wher¬ ever possible. * * *” They agree also that “the institution is still to be retained as a temporary home for delinquent and dependent children and as a permanent home for the defective class.” The White House Conference, called by President Roosevelt near the end of his administration, was composed of the most prominent social workers from all over the country, and it adopted much the same program. The emphasis was placed on preventive work, to the end that all child-caring agencies should co-operate to ascertain and control the causes of dependency. Especially did they urge that chil¬ dren of worthy parents be left in their own homes. One of the author¬ ities on the care of children said: “However good an institution may be, however kindly its spirit, however genial its atmosphere, home¬ like its cottages, however fatherly and motherly its officers, and ad¬ mirable its training, it is now generally agreed among those familiar with the need of the children of this class, that institutional life is, at best, artificial and unnatural, and that the child ought to be re¬ turned at the earliest practicable moment to the more natural environ¬ ment of the family home—his own home, if it is a suitable one, and, if not, then some other family home.” If the home surroundings of a dependent child are not morally wrong, the best way to help is not to place him in an institution, or to place him or board him with another family, but to aid the family itself to become self-sustaining. Private charities in many American cities today are adopting the method of keeping destitute widows and their small children together by paying them a sum of money weekly -56 until the children reach working age and until the family reaches self-support. New \ ork and California have a unique plan by which dependency has greatly increased. Parents or guardians are allowed to place children in private institutions and the state makes a per capita payment for the care of the inmates. In both these states this was done without judicial investigation. Under recent laws in New York, however, the State Board of Charities controls the admission and time of detention of the children in these subsidized sectarian institutions. In California the result has been that in 1904 that state was caring for 7,801 dependent children, at a cost of $465,872.94, while Minnesota, a state with the same population, has only 760 dependent children in her care, at a cost of $29,800.00. California has gone so far as to forbid her State Board of Charities to inspect these private institu¬ tions. New Hampshire has recently adopted the method of subsidiz¬ ing private institutions. It remains to be seen whether dependency will be on the increase there, as in the other states. Oregon also has the state subsidy system, but it is surrounded with protective provi¬ sions. The Michigan state system is well worthy of study. The chil¬ dren are sent to the State School, an ideal institution, built on the cot¬ tage plan. It they are in proper condition to be placed out in families, this is done as soon as the placing-out agents have found a suitable home. If not, the child is kept in the school sometimes as long as a year, but at least until he is judged ready to enter a family. After the placing-out, the children are supervised by state and county agen¬ cies. If a child is not developing in the best way, he is changed to a new home. No child is taken into the school until all the facts re¬ garding his family have been investigated. The decision that his support cannot be enforced against the parents and that the child is dependent on the public for support, is made in the county in which he lives. More than 92 per cent of all the children that have been admitted have turned out well. AVlien the school was first established in 1871, there were 600 de¬ pendent children in the alms houses throughout the state. Prom that time until 1908 there had passed through the school 4,708 children, an average of 141 per year. Perhaps this will give some idea of the great decrease in dependency resulting from the adoption of this sys¬ tem. It has been well said: “The State of Michigan, which has ex¬ isted only about forty years, has the merit of preceding ancient Europe in the investigation of a new era for dependent children. In Massachusetts, in the year 1880, a law was passed providing for the boarding out of children in family homes. The placing-out agencies were so successful in their work that the state school was abolished fifteen years later, because of the scarcity of dependent children to be cared for there. This work is carried on by various agencies under the supervision of tlie State Board of Charities. Dependent children under public care are placed out in foster or boarding homes. Those who need permanent care arc usually placed in “free foster homes,” and those for whom there is prospect of return to relatives are placed in boarding homes. Children with disease, or crippled, are often boarded out in family homes for long periods of years at high rates. Three groups of agencies care for dependent children. (1) The State Board of Charity, which places out those children whose parents have no legal settlement in any town or city. (A legal settlement is established by a residence of three years.) (2) Trustees for Chil¬ dren in Boston care for those children whose parents have a legal set¬ tlement in the City of Boston. (3) The private charities care mainly for those children who need to be boarded, and for whom there is pros¬ pect of later care by relatives. The total cost of the placing-out and supervision of children in Massachusetts, is in the neighborhood of $600,000.00 a year. The rate of board ranges from $1.75 per week—sometimes even less—to an average of $2.50, with a maximum of $9.00 a week for children who are diseased or in need of special care. Children are placed out in both country and city homes. Even for the children who need only tem¬ porary care for a few days, placements are made in boarding homes, some homes being paid a sum regularly each week to keep open day and night for such children as may be sent to them. Nursing babies are placed out with wet nurses, at a usually higher rate than older children. The Children’s Aid Society pays $2.75 board for nursing babies. All these children placed out are con¬ stantly visited by women agents, who have fifty to seventy-five chil¬ dren each in their care. The orphan asylum, as an institution, is disappearing in Massa¬ chusetts, although the Jews and Episcopalians are building new ones in Boston. The reason given in both these cases is that there are not enough Jewish and Episcopalian homes for placement and they prefer to care for their children in the institution, rather than in the homes of people of other faiths. New Jersey boards out her dependent children, but the work there is supervised by a special State Board of Children’s Guardians — 58 — Each child is placed within the state in a family of like religious faith. In 1904 the state had 531 children in its care, 360 boarding and 171 in free homes, all at a per capita expense of $60.15 for a year, count¬ ing those in the free homes. Contrasting this with the amount that St. Louis pays for her dependent children, we find that allowing for repairs on the building, the averagedaily expense in 1908 was .46 cents, a per capita yearly expense of $176.65, or $110.50 more a year than New Jersey pays. The foregoing methods used in the various states are applicable to cities as well. Indeed, cities sometimes have set the pace which their own states well might follow. Springfield, fourteen years be¬ fore Massachusetts, adopted the placing-out system. The cost per capita, including clothing and other necessary expenses, was $2.00 per week, or $104.00 a year. For each dependent child St. Louis pays about $63.00 more a year than does Springfield. Washington, D. C., like New Jersey, has a Board of Children’s Guardians. Infants and children under nine are boarded in private families, while, unfortunately, the older children are boarded in insti¬ tutions. Washington has also solved the problem of desertion and parental indifference—cases of non-support. Instead of the city sup¬ porting the children, as St. Louis does, the fathers are brought under the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court. About 88 per cent of them have been placed upon probation on condition that they support their families, and that each Saturday night they shall pay at the Station House of the precinct wherein they reside a stipulated sum for the support of their children. This is turned over, without reduction, to the wife or trustee. Failing in this obligation, the father is committed to the city workhouse, where he is put at hard labor, fifty cents of his earnings each day being paid to his family. In the last four years the Juvenile Court has collected from delinquent fathers and paid to the families, $101,490.08. If St. Louis had a similar system for the desertion cases, 158 of the 389 investigated at the Industrial School, or 40 per cent of the children, would never have been placed in the institution. Not only has no money been collected from the fathers in St. Louis for the support of children, but the city has paid out $57,717.35 in four years to support these desertion cases. (3) DEFECTIVE CHILDREN. It is clear that the special classes of blind and deaf mute chil¬ dren need special instruction in an institution; if possible, in a day- 59 — school, living at home and having parental care. If they are desti¬ tute, in addition to being blind and deaf mute, they are usually com¬ mitted to such institutions permanently. There can be little question but that feeble-minded children need the most careful institutional treatment. The best institutions, how¬ ever, for the care of feeble-minded children, attempt to make the surroundings as homelike as possible. Every child, except those bed¬ ridden—that is, the hospital cases—is given some educational training, if he is only able to pick stones from a held and put them in piles, the simplest work which a feeble-minded person is educated to per¬ form. The care of the feeble-minded throughout the country is. how¬ ever, almost universally a state function. AYe have found no local public municipal institutions for the care of feeble-minded children. The reason for this is that the great amount of segregation—and seg¬ regation is essential among feeble-minded children—can be had only in an institution housing a comparatively large number. The Commis¬ sion believes that the methods in vogue at the Alassachusetts School for the Feeble-AIinded at AVaverlv, Alass., and tlie New Jersey Train¬ ing School for Feeble-Minded Girls and Boys at AJneland, X. J., are to be commended for the State of Missouri. Because of the fact that the care of these children is properly a state function, and because that system is apparently the only logical one for Missouri, the Commission omits any detailed description of in¬ stitutions elsewhere as more pertinent for the inquiry of other bodies. —60 PART III. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE CARE OF DELINQUENT, DE¬ PENDENT AND DEFECTIVE CHILDREN IN ST. LOUIS. These recommendations are briefly stated. A large portion of the facts and discussion on which they are based, will be found in Parts I and II. GENERAL. The Commission believes firmly that no one institution, however well located and organized can properly care for all classes of chil¬ dren, delinquent, defective and dependent. It may be possible that the board or group of persons who are officially in charge of one group of children, can provide for the other groups, as long as that system does not involve the association of the children themselves. The custodial care which dependent children must have is a con¬ siderably different function from the educational training which is the chief need of delinquent children. The Commission recommends, therefore, absolute and entire sep¬ aration of tlie groups of delinquent and dependent children. The Commission recommends for care of both groups of children, delinquent and dependent, also for defective children who may be de¬ pendent, that there be established a Board of Children’s Guardians of seven persons, appointed by the Mayor and serving without salary, who shall have full power to care for these various groups of children under the provisions of the law. (See pages 88 to 90.) The Commission agrees that the system for the care of the groups, boys and girls, colored and white, should be uniform, with such segre¬ gation within any institution as is deemed wise, but not separate in- stitutions for the various groups. The Commission can see no advantage in a separate institution for any of’ these groups, in view of the great exjiense incidental to the establishment and maintenance of separate institutions. The cot- tage system will offer in itself whatever segregation is desirable. -Ill— DELINQUENT CHILDREN. The Industrial School, like most institutions for delinquents in this country, is the survival of the old penal system by which cliil- dred used to pay for their offenses by “serving time” in the same way as do adults. In reality tlie Industrial School, like other institutions for young offenders, has become more and more identified with the educational work of the community, and more truly a part of the school system. As a matter of fact, the analysis of tlie offenders at the Industrial School contained in this report, shows that they are children from defective homes, and the misfits of the school—the tru¬ ants, school offenders, and, in some instances, children who have gone beyond truancy and school offenses to larceny and the more serious offenses. The whole tendency is to regard such an institution as a part of the system of education. The Commission, therefore, recommends that the delinquent children be cared for in an institution established and maintained by the Board of Education as a parental school; this school to be located in the country and organized on the cottage plan. Should the Board of Education be unwilling or unable to establish such an institution and to maintain it, the Commission recommends that whatever institution for delinquents is maintained by the city, be controlled by the same board or officers in charge of the system of care for dependent children, in order to avoid unnecessary duplication of administrative offices. Regarding the relation of the Board of Education to the city in the care of delinquent children, the Commission submits four plans: Plan No. 1 recommended by the Commission, contemplates the ac¬ ceptance on the part of the Board of Education of the task of caring for the approximately 200 delinquent children at any one time in the public care. It is not likely, from the figures shown on page 14 to 16, that the number of delinquent children in the care of the public will soon exceed the number in the Industrial School, January 1st, 1911, divided as follows: 126 white boys; 54 colored boys; 11 white girls; 12 colored girls. As a matter of fact, most of the white girls can be cared for either in private institutions or at Chillicothe, and the few colored girls may be largely cared for in the new State Indus¬ trial Home for Negro Girls as soon as that is in operation. A new institution would, therefore, within a year or two, be charged with the care at any one time of approximately 175 boys, 125 white and 50 colored. The initial cost of such an institution would run from $175,000.00 to $250,000.00. Its annual cost — 62 — of maintenance would be $36,000.00 to $45,000.00. We realize that this is a considerable additional burden upon the Board of Education. Plan No. 2 recommended by the Commission provides for the con¬ struction of a cottage institution for delinquents in the country, with its management and control by the Board of Education, under the pro¬ visions of an amendment to Section 7 of the present compulsory school attendance act, introduced into the Legislature, which will permit the Board to maintain such an institution. Since the Board, however, may not legally have the right, and is not now financially able to pay the maintenance of children in such an institution—that is, their clothes, food, etc., as well as their entire instruction, the Commission recom¬ mends a division of the burden between the Board and the city, the city paying a monthly per capita of $10.00 for each child committed to such an instutution. For copy of the proposed act permitting this arrangement see pages 81 to 82. Plan No. 3 is offered as a substitute in case the Board of Educa¬ tion should not wish to assume the burden of establishing an institu¬ tion for delinquent children, and in event Plan No. 2, with a division of the burden should not prove desirable. In that event, the Com¬ mission recommends the establishment by the city of a cottage insti¬ tution in the country to be operated along the general lines laid down on pages 64 to 67, to be under the control of the Board of Children’s Guardians, appointed by the Mayor. Plan No. 4. It seems to the Commission likely, in view of the present financial situation, both as regards the Board of Education and the city, that no immediate steps can be taken to raise the amount of monev necessary to re-locate the Industrial School in the country. If the change cannot be made within a reasonable time, the Commis¬ sion recommends the following procedure, all of which is, however, contingent upon the securing of the legislation discussed on pages 81 to 90. The Commission wants to point out emphatically, how¬ ever, that this Plan No. 4 is only a make-shift, and in no way will solve satisfactorily for the future the fundamental problems of the care of delinquent children: 1. That the dependent children be gradually removed from the Industrial School and placed out in family homes. 2. That the feeble-minded children now in the City Infirmary and private institutions, except in such cases as it seems unwise, be trans- -63- ferred to the Industrial School, and provided for in quarters entirely separate from all other children, these quarters being made possible by the removal of dependent children. 3. That the entire plant of the Industrial School, except that portion used by feeble-minded children, be utilized for the care of delinquents. Even under the adverse conditions of building and ar¬ rangement at the Industrial School today, there will be facilities for much greater segregation of the various groups of children when the population is reduced by more than half, as it will be with the dependents removed. The entire seventeen acres of the institu¬ tion can be utilized for delinquents, instead of the present two or three acres to which they are confined. The various other changes suggested by the Commission in a cottage institution for delinquents can be approximated at the Industrial School if it is used only for de¬ linquent children. There can be separate families, with a man and woman in charge of each, even though the families have to live in a suite of rooms in one of the old buildings. These families can be preserved as a school unit, considerable out-of-door training and a little agriculture can be given the boys, and the present system may be very radically changed in favor of the small group family life. Organization of an Institution for Delinquents. The Commissions thinks that the question of the organization of an institution for delinquents has been most adequately treated in the report of the Commission appointed to ‘‘Select a Site for the New York Training School for Boys,” cited on pages 51 to 51. That re¬ port, toegther with the Russell Sage Foundation publication on “Cot¬ tage and Congregate Institutions,” answers as fully as possible all the questions which this portion of the report should cover. On the various practical matters affecting such an institution, the Commission is unanimous in recommending the following: 1. The Number of Children to Each Cottage: The Commission feels strongly that sixteen is a most desirable cottage unit. It is dangerous to establish a family of boys of a greater number, on account of the difficulty of supervision, individual attention and proper training. The Commission, under no circumstances, would recommend a maximum greater than twenty, however crowded the institution might become. — G4— 2. Type of Training to Be Given: The Commission thinks that the type of training to be given in the institution would depend very largely on the character of boys whom the institution receives. In general, the Commission thinks that the boys under fourteen should get common grade-school instruction, simple farm training, and a wholesome home life. The boys over fourteen, who will probably not go again to school, should have in addition whatever industrial and trade instruction can be given in the comparatively short period spent in the institution. 3. Physical Environment: An institution for delinquents organized on the cottage plan, should be located not nearer than ten miles to the city, nor more than twenty- five or thirty miles from it. Not too near, chiefly because of the price of land, and also because of the added temptation to escapes, and the accessibility to parents and friends;—and not too far, because of the cost and difficulty of transportation, and because of un¬ reasonable inaccessibility. It should be near a railroad in order to reduce the cost of transportation; should be composed of good farm land, some woodland, and should have a constant and adequate supply of water. Regarding the acreage of such an institution, the Commis¬ sion feels very positive that anything less than an acre to a boy would geratly handicap the usefulness of the institution. Plenty of space, considerable distance between each cottage, and considerable farm land to be cultivated, are essentials. 4. What Buildings Are Necessary: (1) One cottage for each sixteen boys. (2) One central school building, with auditorium, chapel, gym¬ nasium, and manual training rooms. (3) Industrial and trades buildings, with storage rooms, with power plant and laundry. (4) Hospital building, which will also serve as a home for such employees as cannot be housed in cottages; barns, farm houses, etc. 5. Construction: The Commission recommends fireproof construction, but since no building would be over two stories high, does not regard it as abso- lutely essential. - 65 - Each cottage should be as homelike as possible; two stories high, with large basement ; first floor to contain living room, dining room, kitchen, teacher's room; second floor to contain boys’ rooms, the cot¬ tage unit of* sixteen divided into three or four small dormitories, four to six boys to a dormitory. The Commission believes that the large, open dormitory, containing all sixteen boys, is not desirable, because it destroys privacy, is likely to cause disorder, and tends to give some¬ what the air of an institution. The individual room, on the other hand, is possibly objectionable, except in one or two “honor’’cottages, because it does not permit any supervision of the individual boy after he has retired at night. The superintendent’s and wife’s quarters should be on the second floor, in order to enable them to supervise the boys at night. In the basement there should be baths and a rainv-day play¬ room. The furnishing of the cottages should be bright, attractive, home¬ like, though simple. Each cottage should have about it a playground for the usual outdoor games, and some slight playground apparatus. The Commission is unanimously in favor of a separate kitchen and dining room in each cottage, because of economy and because it con¬ duces to a more normal family life. The alternative, a central dining¬ room, destroys the very object of the cottage system, and the method employed in some institutions of a central kitchen, with the food wheeled around to the different cottage dining rooms tends to bring food to the table poorly prepared, cold and unappetizing. 6. Segregation: Segregation in the different cottages should be on a basis of moral character, rather than on differences in age or size. Boys who are alike in temperament and disposition should be grouped together. For the purpose of this segregation, the Commission recommends a receiving cottage, in which each of the boys should be placed on ar¬ rival, and in which he should remain until it becomes perfectly clear to the Superintendent (who might with great benefit live in the re¬ ceiving cottage), to what groiq) a boy is particularly adapted. The Commission is opposed to uniforms of any kind, and believes the boys should be allowed to wear such clothing as their relatives may send them, or as they may select from that furnished by the in¬ stitution. -66- 7. Instruction: Every boy should be supervised the full twenty-four hours of each day. He should be kept busy all his waking hours. The simple vir¬ tues, usually lacking in delinquents—honesty, perseverance and loy¬ alty—should be encouraged by definite tasks. The Commission would recommend a limited amount of self-government among the boys as a matter of education, provided that whatever form self-government takes, it should be well supervised by officers and teachers. The central school building should be in charge of a principal, as¬ sisted by one teacher for each sixteen boys. These sixteen boys should consist of one cottage unit, ajid the teacher, if possible, should reside in the cottage to which his or her boys in the schoolroom belong. In this way the family life will be preserved twenty-four hours in the day. The only point of contact between boys in the different cottages would be in competitive games, and in such common exercise as might be held in the school auditorium. 8. Admission and Release: All admissions to the institution should be on the order of the Juvenile Court, and all releases, while made technically through the Court, should be made only on recommendation of the institution. Every commitment should be indeterminate, a boy to be discharged from the institution only when he shows he is capable of handling him¬ self under the normal conditions of life outside. For this purpose, the Commission recommends that the institution employ its own parole officers for supervising the boys released. All orders for release or re¬ commitment of boys who violate their paroles should be, of course, made in the Juvenile Court. Parole supervision should be maintained until the institution sat¬ isfies the Court that either the boy is completely cured or that he has failed under the institution's care and needs the dicipline of the State Training School. 9. Girls: For the small number of delinquent girls who may need tempo¬ rary care in a local public institution, the Commission recommends a cottage as widely separated as possible from any cottage occupied by bovs. Their school instruction should be confined to their cottage. Otherwise the general provisions recommended for boys, will operate equally well for girls. - 67 - House of Detention: The means of detaining children held for the Juvenile Court, de¬ scribed on page 38, can be remedied in one of two ways—either by the erection of a small institution by the city, or by the use of some institution now owned by the city. The commission appreciates that the erection of a new institution however small, would cost between $20,000.00 and $35,000.00, and does not feel, in view of the present financial situation, that it should recommend such an expenditure. The Commission does recommend, however, that the city either give up the present unsafe and unsanitary House of Detention or lease another building better suited to the purpose; or that a special examination of the present House by the Board of Public Improve¬ ments be made with a view to such immediate repairs as are necessary to put it in a thoroughly safe and sanitary condition. Juvenile Court: The importance of the function of the Juvenile Court in prevent¬ ing delinquent and dependent children from being committed to in¬ stitutions, as shown on page 40, is one which calls for some further assistance on the part of the city, if the city is to decrease the expense of institutional care. The probation officers are appointed by the circuit judges, after competitive examination, but the judges may appoint only so many probation officers as the Municipal Assembly is able to pay for. The appropriation for the Juvenile Court, therefore, dictates the number of probation officers employed. The cost for the last fiscal year of operating the Probation Office of the Juvenile Court has been about $13,800.00. In order that the Probation Office may effectively perform its work and reduce the average number of children in the care of one probation officer, from 167 to approximately 100, it will require three more officers, for which an additional appropriation of $3,300 is necessary. The Com¬ mission urges the inclusion of that additional amount in the appro¬ priation for the Probation Office for the fiscal year 1911-1912. Missouri Training School and State Industrial Home: The Commission cannot pass the matter of the care of St. Louis boys at the State Training School at Boonville, Mo., without recom¬ mending that some steps be taken at once to secure a better system in that institution and a larger appropriation for its needs. The condi- 68- tions at the institution are almost intolerable. The Commission has called the matter to the attention of the Governor and the State Board of Charities and Correction. The State Industrial Home for Girls at Chillicothe, Mo., is fre¬ quently filled to its limit and is then unable to accept children from St. Louis. The appropriation for that institution and its facilities for caring for girls, should be enlarged, unless St. Louis is to expend a considerable amount of money each year to provide local facilities for caring for such delinquent girls as cannot gain admission to Chillicothe DEPENDENT CHILDREN. The Commission recommends, unhesitatingly, that every dependent child, who is not in need of hospital treatment, be cared for in a fam¬ ily home, either by boarding out, or, in the case of orphans and others whose parents will never be able to properly care for them—in free homes. For the purpose of placing dependent children in such homes, the Commission recommends the establishment of a Board of Children’s Guardians, to be appointed by the Mayor and serving without a sal¬ ary, which would employ under a prescribed civil service, such assist¬ ants as will be necessary to carry out the work. Those assistants would consist of a secretary, who should direct the entire work of car¬ ing for dependent children under the Board, and who should have under her or him, visitors or agents. These visitors or agents should (1) investigate every home applying for the care of a child, and (2) the case of every child for whom care is requested. The Board should receive dependent children, either on the order of the Juvenile Court (which may find children either neglected or dependent), or by vol¬ untary surrender of a parent or guardian. The voluntary surrender should be a matter of record, the parent or guardian releasing temporary control of the child for stated reasons. Only such children should be accepted by the Board for whom abso¬ lutely no other provision seems possible after a full investigation. Every attempt should be made to keep the child with its own family, or relatives, and no pains should be spared to exhaust the family resources to provide for the child. Even distant relatives should be appealed to. Deserting fathers should be brought to account by law, and in¬ terested friends and neighbors called in to help, rather than that the Board should allow public funds to be used'for the care of such a child. - 69 - The Commission wishes to place its whole emphasis as to the care of dependent children on the maintenance of the family relation. In the matter of the Board’s receiving dependent children, the Commission wants to call attention to the present power of the Mayor to commit children to the Industrial School. That power is the sur¬ vival of an old custom, the exercise of which is a burden on the Mayor’s office, and under the modern procedure of the Juvenile Court, quite unnecessary. Destitute Widows: In maintaining the integrity of families, the Commission calls attention to the extremely difficult problem of the proper care of widows with small children. As shown in the body of the report, that problem is met in different ways in different places, and there appears to be a considerable difference of opinion about it. It seems to us rea¬ sonable, however, that a woman—whose husband has died and left her destitute with small children—is entitled to keep these children at home with her, rather than to have them placed out in a boarding- home, or in an institution, at a doubtless larger cost to the community. The Commission believes, therefore, that it is preferable to board such children with their own mothers, if that term may be used, pay¬ ing her approximately the same sum which would be paid in a board¬ ing-home, were that widowed mother obliged to give up her children. It seems far more rational to pay the same amount of money, which would have to be paid in foster homes for children placed out, to the mother herself, who is certainly the best guardian of her chil¬ dren’s welfare. We realize that St. Louis would be the first American city to adopt such a system of “boarding children with their own mothers,” but we feel that such a method is sound and backed up by the tendency in other cities today. On account of the difficulty of drawing the line at any other point, we recommend that this system of paying for children in their own homes be confined exclusively to the cases of destitute widows with small children. In cases of illness of the father (or other temporary distress), private charity should be the means for temporary relief; and, in the cases of deserting husbands there is a strong statute (see page. . . .), which makes the desertion of, or failure to support, children on the part of a father, a felony. The Commission recommends that the Board entrusted with the care of dependent children should be empowered to pay for the return of any deserting husband, in order to bring him to justice before our courts. In addition, such men con- - 70 - dieted of wiie and child abandonment, need tlie most careful super¬ vision when paroled, in order that their earnings may be turned over intact for the benefit of their wives and children. The Commission, therefore, recommends the employment of one or more parole officers in the criminal courts for this purpose alone. Number of Children to a Visitor: The number of supervisors, or visitors, whom it will be necessary to employ to look after children placed in boarding or foster homes, is a very essential consideration. The chief difficulty with the placing- out system in other communities has been inefficient supervision after placement. The Commission believes that the question of the number of children lo each supervisor should be determined largely by the factor of distance which a supervisor would have to travel. Should she have a number of children in the country, the number she could visit would be proportionately less than were they all in the city. The Commission believes that one person, even were all the children under her supervision in the country, should be able to adequately supervise at least sixty children, and ordinarily, eighty, at the same time including in her work the investigation of the homes of applicants for children. Placement in Country or City: Regarding the placements in country and city, the Commission thinks that each case will have to be decided on its individual merits, remembering that the city offers certain advantages, particularly from the educational standpoint, which the country does not. Certainly the children who most need fresh air and country life—that is, little children and those who are delicate, should be placed in the country. The suburbs offer an excellent home for all children, combining educa¬ tional advantages and healthful freedom. Boarding Homes: The Commission feels certain that there will be no difficulty about securing an adequate number of good homes for the two or three hundred dependent children who will doubtless come under the care of the Board the first year. The experience of all communities has shown that good foster or boarding homes can be had in plenty. - 71 - Tubercular, Crippled and Diseased Children: Regarding the tubercular, crippled, or otherwise diseased chil¬ dren, the Commission thinks that the Massachusetts system of placing- such children in boarding homes may not be altogether desirable here. The cost has often been excessive, $8.00 or $9.00 per week, and the care inferior, perhaps, to that of a good hospital. The procedure in this matter again will have to be dictated by the needs of the individ¬ ual case. The Commission wants to emphasize, even in such cases the preservation of family relations between children and their own parents wherever possible. Payment by Parents: When parents surrender their children on account of destitution, even though it be temporarily, they should be required to pay just as much as they can afford towards the maintenance of their children, if it is only a few cents a week. It is to be assumed, of course, that every case has been thoroughly investigated, and that no children are received by the public office who are not in real need of assistance. No father or mother should be permitted to put the burden of the care of their children upon the community, without being compelled (if necessary), to do everything in their power to assist. Such cases, if unresponsive to persuasion, should be taken into the Juvenile Court and the order for maintenance enforced by execution, as provided by law. Visits of Parents: Parents should be informed of their children’s whereabouts when placed out in boarding-homes, and should be allowed to visit them in all cases where they show themselves worthy. The privilege of visitation should be denied such parents as have been judged unworthy in the Juvenile Court. Rate of Payment: As to the rate to be paid in these boarding homes for children, the Commission recommends that a maximum be established beyond which the Board having the matter in charge may not go, without spe¬ cial authority from the Comptroller. That maximum the Commission feels, should be $3.50 per week. .Usually good board can be obtained at from $1.50 to $2.75 per week. The per capita cost in an institution is usually over $4.00, so that even a maximum of $3.50 is not exces¬ sive. The Board should supply clothing for the children, costing on an average $15.00 to $20.00 a year, and should pay doctors’ bills, when medical treatment is necessary. Medical Aid: 1 he Board should have the power to have sick children placed in private hospitals in cases where public hospitals cannot take them, and they should be paid for when they cannot be admitted as charity patients. Such payment should be certified in each case by the Comp¬ troller’s office, if in excess of the maximum amount of $3.50 a week. Foundlings: In regard to the care of foundlings and little babies, the Commis¬ sion recommends strongly their placement in boarding homes like other dependent children. These boarding homes can be kept constantly open to the Board, so that they may be reached at a moment’s notice, dav or night, the Board, if necessary, paying them a sum weekly for holding themselves thus ready. Foundlings and babies should be placed with wet nurses wherever possible, such boarding homes being preferable to homes in which they must be raised on the bottle. Receiving Station: The Commission has considered at length the question as to whether a receiving station, for the temporary care of dependent chil¬ dren is necessary. Most of the Commission’s consultants agreed that local conditions would largely determine that question, although the Massachusetts system, by which homes are constantly open in the city, seems to have met the situation adequately without a receiving home. The Commission recommends, therefore, that no receiving station be established at first, and that the Board attempt to work out the prob¬ lem by means of the use of the House of Detention (if necessary), in connection with whatever open boarding-liomes are used, as under the Massachusetts plan. The most potent argument against a receiv¬ ing station of any kind is the fact that it is often tied up by quarantine, which destroys its usefulness. DEFECTIVE CHILDREN. The problem of feeble-minded children is one which calls for their care by the State for the reasons given in this report. It is almost needless for the Commission to call attention to the lack of facilities of - 73 - the State Colony at Marshall, other public officers, have been for the State Board of Charities and urging tor some time the enlargement of facilities for that institution. The Commission does want to recommend, however, provisions for the temporary care of those feeble-minded children now in the City Infirmary, in private institutions, or in their own homes here in St. Louis, pending the enlargement of the colony at Marshall. Only two plans are possible to provide for their adequate care and training. One is the establishment of a separate ward in charge of a qualified director at either the City Infirmary or the City Sanitarium. This plan has two objections. The first is that the contact between children and adults cannot be entirely avoided; and, second, that the educa¬ tional work, so necessary for feeble-minded children, cannot be so well done in these institutions, as in an institution with better educational facilities. The second plan is to have the children cared for in a separate ward, or rooms, at the present Industrial School, or a separate cottage when that institution is moved to the country. They could be prac¬ tically separated from all other children and they could have the very best educational training. The Commission does not regard their removal to the Industrial School as a necessity, provided proper ar¬ rangements can be made at the Infirmary. The Commission does rec- ommend their separation from all other classes of adults and children, and their intelligent treatment as a group along educational lines. BRIEF SUMMARY OF CHIEF RECOMMENDATIONS. The Commission recommends— 1. The entire separation of the groups of dependent and delin¬ quent children. 2. The placing out of all dependent children, whether they must be cared for temporarily or permanently, in family homes, to be paid for, when necessary, by the city. 3. The sale of the present Industrial School plant and its re¬ location in the country on the cottage plan, to care for delinquent chil¬ dren only, boys and girls, white and colored, in separate cottage groups. The institution, if possible, should be under the control and management of the Board of Eduction, since it is primarily educa¬ tional in its function. - 74 - 4. The temporary care and education of the feeble-minded chil¬ dren at the Infirmary and other institutions, as a separate group, either in a ward at the Infirmary, City Sanitarium or at the Industrial School. 5. The establishment of a Board of Children’s Guardians of seven persons appointed by the Mayor and serving without salary, to have full charge of the care of all children for whom the city is re¬ sponsible. LEGISLATION. In order to accomplish the recommendations made by the Commis¬ sion, the following legislation is necessary. (For copies of each act and ordinance see pages 81 to 90. State Laws: 1. An act to repeal the Industrial School Act of 1873.* 2. An amendment to the Compulsory School Attendance Act Sec¬ tion 7, providing that the Board of Education may establish an insti¬ tution for the correction of delinquent children committed to it by a court, the maintenance of such children (that is, their food and cloth¬ ing), to be paid for by the city under arrangement with the Board of Education. 3. An amendment to the Juvenile Court Act, permitting the Juve¬ nile Court to commit children to an institution so established by the Board of Education. 4. An act authorizing cities having 500,000 inhabitants or more, to establish a Board of Children’s Guardians for the care of all de¬ linquent, dependent and defective children committed to it, or who otherwise become public charges, providing such Board shall have the right to place dependent children in family homes, safeguarding their religious faith, and permitting the city to pay the board of such children in such homes. * This action by the Legislature is necessary in order to give St. Louis control of the care of her own delinquent and dependent children. The Indus¬ trial School, at present, is controlled by legislative enactment, although the Chat- ter authorizes the City to maintain an Industrial School. City Ordinances: 3. An ordinance continuing in force the present management of the St. Louis Industrial School, as provided by statute, in order that that management may continue uninterruptedly until other provision is made by ordinance. 2. An ordinance to provide for all the children in the city’s care and creating a Board of Children’s Guardians, abolishing the Board of Managers of the Industrial School. ESTIMATE OF COST. (See pages 78 and 79.) The estimates made for the proposed system are what might be called conservative. It is possible that the figures in some instances may run higher than the estimates. The Commission believes, how¬ ever, that the cost under the proposed system will be very materially less than under the present because of three factors: First, the system of caring for dependent children in family homes is much cheaper than institutional care. Second, a large number of dependent children, 50 per cent to 70 per cent, now in the Industrial School, do not need to be cared for by the city at all. Third, the newer methods of supervision of neglected and delinquent children in their own homes by the Juvenile Court tends to reduce largely the number committed to institutions. The figures given in the Table of Cost indicate that a considerable saving is effected in the expense of caring for dependent children, both delinquent and defective children costing more under the pro¬ posed system. The increase for these groups, however, is less than the decrease in the dependent group. The entire problem of the cost of construction and maintenance of a cottage institution for delinquents is so thoroughly and clearly set forth in the publication entitled “Cottage and Congregate Institu¬ tions,” by Hastings II. Hart of the Department of Child Placing, Rus¬ sell Sage Foundation, that the Commission omits any detailed figures here. The following explanations are given of the figures submitted: Under Plan No. 1, the cost of maintaining a cottage institution ($39,000.00) is based on the care of 200 children, according to the es¬ timates given in a study of the cost of cottage and congregate insti¬ tutions published by the Russell Sage Foundation. Plan No. 2 contemplates the expenditure of a per capita of $10.00 per month by the city to the Board for 200 boys, $24,000.00. t he cost - 76 - of instruction, including the trade instruction now given by the City in the Industrial School, will cost almost half as much again under the cottage plan. Plan No. 3 contemplates the continuance of the trade instruction under the control of the city, and the school room instruction under the control of the Board. The same standard of instruction under Plan 1 will, therefore, equal the same amount of increase, $7,000.00, making a total of $31,000.00 expense to the city under Plan No. 3. Plan No. 4, by which the only change is the removal of the de¬ pendent children from the present Industrial School, will increase the per capita slightly, and result in an increased cost for delinquent chil¬ dren to the Board of Education and the city. The increase in the cost of the probation system of the Juvenile Court is accounted for by the recommended addition of three officers at $1,000.00 a year each. The cost of the Board of Children’s Guardians, according to the experience of other communities, will be about as follows: The average board of a child in a family home, including those children who could be placed out in free homes, with clothing and med¬ ical attention, will be $2.00 to $2.25 a week. It is certain that a large number of children now in the care of the city can be cared for by their own relatives, or by other means. The proportion of dependent children, therefore, to be cared for, including those now at St. Ann’s, the Bethesda and the Colored Orphans’ Home, will probably not ex¬ ceed 250. This would give a total of board bills for the year, using the low estimate of cost, of $26,000.00. The cost of administration will approximately be as follows: Office stationery and office expenses.$ 800.00* Salary of one general secretary. 2,400.00 Three assistants at $900.00. 2,700.00 One stenographer at $800.00. 800.00 Carfare and traveling expenses. 300.00 $7,000.00 Board.$26,000.00 Total.$33,000.00 Defective Children: The present cost in the Infirmary is estimated at $2.00 a week a child. The cost of their adequate care as a separate group will be larger from a maintenance standpoint, and their instruction by a teacher from the Board of Education would cost the Board at least $1,000.00 a year. *Assuming that offices may be secured in a municipal building. - 77 - 1. Delinquents: TABLE OF COST. Estimated Approximate (a) Industrial School—• Proposed Cost. Present Cost. Plan No. 1 (See page 62). To Cit y. $24,000.00* To Board of Education. $39,000.00 8,000.00t $39,000.00 $32,000.00 Plan No. 2 (See page 63). To Cit y. $24,000.00 $24,000.00* To Board of Education. 15,000.00 8,000.00t $39,000.00 $32,000.00 Plan No. 3 (See page 63). To Cit y. $31,000.00 $24,000.00* To Board of Education. 8,000.00 8,000.00t $39,000.00 $32,000.00 Plan No. 4 (See page 63). To City. $26,000.00 $24,000.00* To Board of Education. 9,000.00 8,000.00t $35,000.00 $32,000.00 (b) House of Detention. $4,000.00 $ 4,000.00 (c) Probation System, Juvenile Court. $17,000.00 $14,000.00 Total cost under any arrangement, except Plan 4. $60,000.00 $50,000.00 Total cost under Plan 4. $55,000.00 $50,000.00 2. Dependents: (a) Industrial School— To City. $36,000.00 To Board of Education. 12,000.00 (b) Board of Children’s Guardians. $33,000.00 (c) Foundlings boarded at St. Ann’s, Beth- esda and Colored Orphans’ Home. 4,500.00 Total cost of dependents. $33,000.00 $52,500.00 3. Defectives: (a) City Infirmary or Industrial School (17 children)—• To City. $ 2,000.00 $ 1,750.00 To Board of Education. 1,000.00 . Total cost of defectives. $ 3,000.00 $ 1,750.00 Total cost of all three groups (excepting Plan 4). $96,000.00 $104,250.00 Total cost of all three groups under Plan 4 $92,000.00 $104,250.00 * The delinquent population is practically two-fifths of the total population of the school. $24,000.00 is two-fifths of the average annual expenditure of $60,000.00. f This is two-fifths of the average annual expenditure of $20,000.00 by the Board of Education. NOTE—The only other expense to the City on account of delinquent chil¬ dren is at the Missouri Training School and the Girls’ Industrial Home at Chillicothe. The number of children committed to these institutions is declin¬ ing, and the cost to the City will be less rather than more. - 78 - For the purposes of comparison the following statement of the actual cost of the above items for the fiscal year 1909-1910 is given : Industrial School, cost to City.$ 62,656.59 Industrial School, cost to Board of Education. 21,989.92 House of Detention. 5,302.10 Probation Office, Juvenile Court. 10,105.00 Care of foundlings in Bethesda, St. Ann’s and Colored Orphans’ Home 4,447.45 City Infirmary (17 children), only estimated cost obtainable. 1,750.00 $106,251.06 - 79 - PART IV. PRESENT LAWS RELATING TO PUBLIC CARE OF CHILDREN. I. Relating to Industrial School: 1. An act creating the Board of Managers of the St. Louis House of Refuge and providing for the maintenance and conduct by the city of that institution; act of 1873, laws of Missouri 1873, pp. 353, 354, 355 and 356; and also Revised Code of St. Louis, pp. 162, 163 and 164. 2. Name of the House of Refuge changed to the St. Louis Indus¬ trial School; Ordinance 22145, approved November 21st, 1905. 3. Board of Managers of the Industrial School authorized to contract with the Board of Education for the education of the inmates thereof: Section 10895, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. II. Relating to Delinquent, Neglected and Dependent Children: 1. Juvenile Court act: Sections 4098 to 4122 inclusive, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. 2. Compulsory school attendance act: Sections 10896 to 10917 inclusive, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. 3. Child labor act: Sections 1715 to 1726 inclusive, Revised Stat¬ utes of Missouri, 1909. 4. Act relating to the Missouri Training School for Boys, at Boonville, Mo., and concerning commitments to it: Sections 1524 to 1542 inclusive, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. 5. Act relating to the State Industrial Home for Girls, at Chilli- cotlie, Mo., and concerning commitments to it: Sections 1543 to 1547 inclusive, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. 6. Act relating to the State Industrial Home for Negro Girls: Sections 1558 to 1570 inclusive, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. 7. Punishment provided for parent or other person having legal care of child under sixteen years of age for refusal or neglect to pro¬ vide therefor: Section 4492, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. 8. Ordinance governing the House of Detention : Ordinance 25322, approved July 8tli, 1910. 9. Provisions for the placing of foundlings in Bethesda, St. Ann’s Widows’ Home, Infant Asylum and Lying-In Hospital and St. Louis Colored Orphans’ Home: Sections 1728, 1729, 1730 and 1731, of the Revised Code of St. Louis. III. Defective Children: 1. Act relating to the Colony for Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, and concerning commitments thereto: Sections 1499 to 1510 inclusive, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909. - 80 - LAWS PROPOSED BY THE COMMISSION. An Act to Repeal an Act Entitled “An Act Concerning the Saint Louis House of Refuge,” Approved February 24th, 1873, Laws of Mis¬ souri, 1873, Pages 353, 354, 355, 356, and Being Article 21 of the Appendix of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1899, Under the General Title of “Laws Specially Applicable to the City of Saint Louis,” Pages 2553, 2554, 2555, 2556. Be It Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as Follows : Section 1. That an act entitled “An Act Concerning the Saint Louis House of Refuge,” approved February 24th, 1873, “Laws of Missouri of 1873,” pages 353, 354, 355 and 356, and being Article 21 of the Appendix of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1899, under the general title of “Laws Specially Applicable to the City of Saint Louis,” pages 2553, 2554, 2555 and 2556, be and the same is hereby repealed. An Act to Repeal Section 10900 of Article 6 of Chapter 106 of the Re¬ vised Statutes of Missouri of 1909, Pertaining to Compulsory Attendance of Children, and Providing Truant or Parental Schools, and to enact a New Section in Lieu Thereof, to Be Known as Section 10900. Be It Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as Follows: Section 1. That Section 10900 of Article 6 of Chapter 106 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri of 1909, pertaining to compulsory attend¬ ance of children and providing for truant or parental schools, is here¬ by repealed, and a new section is hereby enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as Section 10900, as follows: “Section 10900. The Board having charge of the public schools of any district now having, or which may hereafter have, 10,000 in¬ habitants or more, may establish and maintain from the public school funds one or more special truant or parental schools in such city or district for children who are either habitual truants from any day school in which they are enrolled as pupils, or who, while in attend¬ ance at any school are incorrigible, vicious, or immoral, or who habit- - 81 — iirtllv wander or loiter about the streets or roads, or other public places without lawtul employment, or who, in the opinion of such Board or of its superintendent of instruction, require special attention and in¬ struction; all such children may hv said School Board, through its offi¬ cers, be assigned to and required and compelled to attend such special truant or parental school, or any department of the graded schools as such Board may direct; and any such Board of Education may also es¬ tablish and maintain from the public school funds, either within or without its district, a parental school for the care and education of any child resident of said school district adjudged to be a delinquent and committed to it by any court of competent jurisdiction therein; provided, however, that for every such delinquent child thus commit¬ ted to such school there shall be paid to such Board of Education out of the treasury of said city or county, the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) per month for the support, maintenance, clothing and other expenses of such child from the time of its entrance into said school until its discharge therefrom. ” An Act to Amend Section 4114 of Article 6 of Chapter 35 of the Re¬ vised Statutes of Missouri, 1909, Relating to Juvenile Courts in Certain Counties of 50,000 and Over, by Adding a Clause Thereto Permitting Children to Enter Schools Now or Hereafter Estab¬ lished by the Board of Education of Such County. Be It Enacted by the General Follows: Assemblv of the State 1 of Missouri, as */ 7 Section 1. That Section 4114 of Article 6 of Chapter 35 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1909, relating to Juvenile Courts in cer¬ tain counties now or hereafter having a population of 50,000 inhab¬ itants or more, be and the same is hereby amended by adding thereto the following clause, to-wit: “or to any special, truant or parental school which now or hereafter may be established by the Board of Education of said county"; so that said Section 4114 when amended shall read as follows: ‘'Section 4114. In the case of a delinquent child, the court may suspend the sentence or execution thereof from time to time, and mav in the meantime commit the child to the care and control of a «/ probation officer duly appointed by the court, and may allow such child to remain in its home, subject to the visitation and control of the probation officer, such child to report to the probation officer as often as may be required, and to be subject to be returned to the court — 82 for further proceedings whenever such action may appear to the court to be necessary; or the court may authorize the child to be placed in a suitable family home, subject to tlie friendly supervision of a probation officer and the further order of the court, or it may authorize the child to be boarded out in some suitable family home, in case provision is made by voluntary contribution or otherwise for payment of the board of such child, until suitable provision may be made for the child in a home without such payment ; or the court may commit the child, if a boy, to the Missouri Training School for Boys, or if a girl, to the State Industrial School for Girls; or the court may com¬ mit the child to any institution within the county, incorporated under the laws of this State, that may care for children, or to any institution which now or hereafter may be established by the State or County for the care of boys or girls, or to any special truant or parental school which now or hereafter may be established by the Board of Educa¬ tion of said County.” An Act to Authorize and Empower Any City Now or Hereafter Having Five Hundred Thousand Inhabitants or More to Create by Ordi¬ nance a Board of Children’s Guardians, the Number of Whose Members, Their Terms of Office, Their Qualifications, Compensa¬ tion, Duties and Powers to Be Prescribed by Ordinance; and Au¬ thorizing Such Board to Manage Any Public Institution in Such City for the Care of Delinquent, Dependent or Defective Children of Such City; and Authorizing Such Board to Receive Delinquent, Dependent and Defective Children and to Place Them in Public Institutions or with Families, and Permitting Any Such City to Provide for the Payment for the Care of Any Such Child in Any Public Institution or with Any Family. Be It Enacted by the General Assembly of Missouri, as Follows: Section 1. Any city in this State now or hereafter having five hundred thousand inhabitants or more is authorized and empowered to create by ordinance a Board of Children’s Guardians, the number of whose members, their terms of office, their qualifications, compensa¬ tion, duties and powers to be prescribed by ordinance. Such Board shall be appointed by the Mayor. Section 2. Such Board shall have the power and authority to manage any public institution that now exists or may hereafter be established by any such city for the care and maintenance of delin¬ quent, dependent or defective children of such city. - 83 - Section 3. Said Hoard shall have power and authority to receive upon commitment to it by any court of competent jurisdiction in such city and to take charge of any child, and to receive and take charge of any dependent or defective child who is a public charge on such city, for such care and treatment as such Board may determine. Section 4. Said Board shall have power and authority to place any child in its charge or under its control in any public institution in this State suitable for such child, or with any family qualified and able in the opinion of such Board to provide for the comfort and wants of such child and to care for its moral and physical welfare, provided that no child shall be placed with any family where the head thereof is of different religious affiliation from that of the child’s former parents or guardians, if such affiliation can be ascertained. Section 4. Any such city shall have the power to provide by ordinance for the payment by such Board of Children’s Guardians for the care and maintenance of any child in any public institution or with anv family. An Ordinance Concerning the St. Louis Industrial School and Pro¬ viding for Its Administration and Creating a Board of Managers Therefor. Be It Ordained by the Municipal Assembly of the City of Saint Louis, as Follows: Section 1. The institution known as the Saint Louis Industrial School shall hereafter be under the control of a Board of Managers, to be appointed as soon after the first day of April, 1911, as practi¬ cable, which consist of five members, four of whom shall be appointed by the Mayor; and the Mayor of the city shall be ex officio a member of and president of said Board. Section 2. The Mayor shall appoint one member for the period of one year; one member for the period of two years; one member for the period of three years, and one member for the period of four years. The Board of Managers so appointed shall organize, by election among their members of a vice-president and a secretary; a majority of said Board of Managers shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business or the exercise of any power conferred upon said Board. Section 3. Every child found in the City of St. Louis in a state of want, or abandoned, or improperly exposed, and grossly neglected - 84 - by its parents or persons having its charge, and every child of any person in said city or county convicted of being a common prostitute, or keeper of a bawdy house or house of resort for prostitutes or of assignation, and every child found living in such house, may be com¬ mitted to said Industrial School by the Mayor, or by any court in St. Louis having competent jurisdiction, upon complaint and competent proofs of the facts charged. Section 4. All males under the age of sixteen years, and females under the age of fourteen years, shall be liable to commitment to the industrial school in accordance with the provisions of the following section; and any parent or guardian having legal power to apprentice any male child or ward under the age of sixteen years, or any female child or ward, under the age of fourteen years, who shall, in writing, by him or her signed, represent to the board of managers of said industrial school that such child or ward is a proper and fit subject for admission into said industrial school, stating the particular facts which constitute such fitness, and petitioning said managers to take charge of said child or ward, may be examined in relation thereto by said board of managers, who are authorized to receive all such children or wards at their discretion; the expenses of such child or ward before such reception shall be secured to be paid by the parent or guardian, unless in cases where the managers, for good cause, shall otherwise determine; and in all cases where such payment is ordered to be made by such parent or guardian, it shall be according to the rates fixed in the general regulations hereinafter provided for; but in no case shall any child be committed to the industrial school under the age of three years; and all minors committed thereto shall be under the control of said board of managers, until discharged under the provisions of this act or under the general laws of the state. Section 5. The mayor shall have authority to order the discharge of any inmate from the industrial school when, in his opinion, an urgent reason exists for granting such discharge before the next meet¬ ing of the board of managers, but in all other cases applications shall be made to said board, which shall dispose of the same at a regular meeting. The said board may surrender any inmate of said indus¬ trial school, not convicted of crime, to its parents or guardian, or if it have no parents or guardian, to the managers of any asylum within the City of St. Louis, or chartered protectorate, who may desire to take charge of same at their own expense: Provided, such persons - 85 - shall satisfy the board of managers as to the qualification and ability to provide for the comfort and wants of such child, and to care for their moral and physical welfare; and provided, further, that no child shall be surrendered to or placed in such asylum or protectorate, the officers or managers whereof, or a majority of them, are of differ¬ ent religious tenets from those of its former parents or guardians, if such tenets can be ascertained; and provided, also, that no such asylum or protectorate shall have any claim upon the City of St. Louis or upon any public fund whatever, for or in respect of the care or support of any such child, nor on account of any expense incurred on account thereof. The board shall meet not less than twice in each month for the auditing of ])ills and other business. Section 6. All males under sixteen years of age and females under fourteen years of age who shall, under existing laws of the State of Missouri or ordinance of the City of St. Louis, or such as may hereafter be enacted or passed, be liable to confinement in the work-house or jail of the City of St. Louis, may, at the discretion of the court or magistrate giving sentence, be placed in said industrial school, and when so placed in said industrial school, shall be under the control of the board of managers thereof. Section 7. Said board of managers of said industrial school shall have power and authority: First—To make all needful contracts for said industrial school, its officers and inmates, subject to such conditions as may be imposed bv ordinance. Is Second—To make, establish, alter and enforce all needful regu¬ lations for the government and control of said industrial school, its officers and inmates. Third—To make all needful by-laws for the government of said industrial school. Fourth—To employ and appoint such officers as may be needful. Fifth—To apprentice any inmate of said industrial school until the time when such inmate shall reach the age of eighteen years. Section 8. The said board of managers shall submit to the municipal assembly annually, an estimate of the sum needed for the maintenance and operation of said industrial school. All bills pre¬ sented for payment shall be signed by not less than two members of said board of managers and approved by the city comptroller. 86 - Section 9. The mayor shall appoint a superintendent and a matron for said industrial school, with the consent of the city council, for a period of four years, and the compensation of such superin¬ tendent and matron may be fixed by said board of managers. Said board shall appoint such other employees as may be necessary. Said superintendent shall render to said board of managers a monthly statement of all moneys received and paid out on behalf of said indus¬ trial school, which shall be carefully inspected by at least two mem¬ bers of said board; and, if found to be in all respects correct, the same shall be approved. Said board shall keep a record of their pro¬ ceedings, and shall report annually to the municipal assembly of the City of St. Louis, the fiscal affairs, management and conditions of the said industrial school. Section 10. Said industrial school shall be open to visitors at reasonable hours, and shall be conducted in a manner entirely non- sectarian, and yet open to ministers of every denomination, and with a discipline suited to the government of children; but no clergyman or teacher of any religious sect or denomination shall be appointed a manager of said industrial school, nor shall said industrial school be in any manner placed under the management or control of any religious sect or denomination. No child shall be compelled to per¬ form severe or exhaustive labor, and any cruelty or unnecessary harsh¬ ness by any officer or employee shall be followed by the immediate discharge of such officer or employee. The board shall provide edu¬ cational facilities, and some suitable employment for the inmates of said industrial school; and all moneys derived from such employments, or in any other manner from the operation of said industrial school, shall be promptly paid into the city treasury; and the annual reports of the board of managers, which they shall make to the city, shall give a detailed statement of said collection. Section 11. Said board of managers shall as far as may be pos¬ sible, establish, and it is hereby made their special duty to establish apartments and grounds for inmates of said industrial school com¬ mitted there under sentence of court, as in section 6 hereinbefore provided, or inmates deemed by the superintendent especially vicious or ungovernable, separate and apart from the remainder of said inmates: and it is made the special duty of said managers and super¬ intendents to prevent all contact and association between said classes hereinbefore mentioned, so far as may be practicable. - 87 - An ordinance creating the Board of Children’s Guardians, defining the number of its members, their terms of office, their qualifica¬ tions, duties and powers, authorizing* said board to manage the St. Louis Industrial School, and authorizing said board to receive delinquent, dependent and defective children and to place them in public institutions or with families, providing for the payment for the care of any such child, and making an appropriation there¬ for, and repealing Sections 1728, 1729, 1730 and 1731 of the Re¬ vised Code of St. Louis. Be it ordained by the Municipal Assembly of the City of St. Louis, as follows: Section 1. There is hereby created the Board of Children's Guardians of the City of St. Louis, to consist of seven members, at least two of whom shall be women, who shall be appointed by the mayor, with the approval of the council, for a term of four years and shall serve without compensation. No clergyman nor teacher of any religious sect or denomination shall be qualified to membership for appointment to said board. Section 2. ‘Within thirty days after the passage of this ordi¬ nance the mayor shall appoint two members to said board for a term of one year each, two members for a term of two years each, two members for a term of three years each, and one member for a term of four years, and thereafter, as these terms expire, the mayor shall appoint members for a term of four years. The board shall choose one of their number as chairman thereof and one as vice-chairman. The board shall meet at least twice a month and a majority of their number shall constitute a quorum. Said board shall have an office in the City Hall or in some other municipal building. Section 3. The board shall appoint a secretary who shall not be of their own number. Such secretary shall receive a salary not ex¬ ceeding twenty-four hundred dollars annually, payable out of the city treasury in monthly installments. The board shall appoint three vis¬ itors at an annual salary not exceeding nine hundred dollars each, and a stenographer at a salary not exceeding seventy-five dollars a month. The secretary and all other employees shall serve during the pleasure of the board. The appointment of secretary and visitors shall be made on merit only, after competitive examination conducted by the - 88 - board or by a committee thereof under rules made a matter of public record of the board. Section 4. Said board shall have charge of and shall manage the St. Louis Industrial School. It shall have power and authority, first, to make all needful contracts for said industrial school, its officers and inmates; second, to make, establish, alter and enforce all needful regulations for the government and control of said industrial school, its officers and inmates; third, to appoint and employ upon the recommendation of the superintendent such officers and employees as may be necessary. Section 5. The mayor, with the approval of the city council, shall appoint a superintendent of said industrial school for a period of i'our years. No clergyman or teacher of any religious sect or denomination shall be qualified for such appointment, nor shall said industrial school be placed under the management or control of any religious sect or denomination, but shall be conducted in an entirely non-sectarian manner and yet open to ministers of every denomina¬ tion. Said superintendent shall render to said Board of Children’s Guardians a monthly statement of all moneys received and paid out on behalf of said industrial school. All bills presented for payment on account of said industrial school shall be signed by not less than two members of said board and shall be approved by the comptroller. Section 6. Said Board of Children’s Guardians shall have the power and authority to receive upon commitment to it by any court of competent jurisdiction in the City of St. Louis and to take charge of any child, and to receive and take charge of any neglected, depend¬ ent or defective child who is a public charge on said city. Section 7. Said Board of Children’s Guardians shall have the power and authority to place any child in its charge for temporary custody in the House of Detention; to place delinquent and defective children in any public institution within the State of Missouri for the care of delinquent or defective children, provided, however, that no child shall be placed in the St. Louis Industrial School unless it shall have been adjudged a delinquent by a court of competent jurisdiction, or unless it be a defective child. Said board shall have power and authority to place any child in its charge or under its con¬ trol with any family qualified and able in the opinion of said board to provide for the comfort and wants of such child and to care for its moral and physical welfare, provided that no child shall be placed with any family when the head thereof is of different religious - 89 - affiliation from that of the child's former parents or guardians, if such affiliation can he ascertained. Section 8. For each child so placed by said board in any public institution within the State of Missouri, the City of St. Louis shall pay whatever sum may be fixed by statute or whatever sums may be agreed upon by said Board not in excess of the sum fixed by statute. For every child placed with a family the city shall pay whatever sum is agreed upon by said board, not in excess, however, of the sum of $3.50 per week; provided, however, that with the consent of the comptroller first had and obtained, as evidenced by his certificate in each and every case, the said board may authorize and the citv shall pay a greater amount, as fixed by the comptroller’s certificate. In addition to said amount thus fixed, the city, upon the action of said board, shall pay for clothing and for medical treatment the additional sum of $25.00 per year per child, provided, however, that a greater sum may be authorized by said board and shall be paid by the city, upon the certificate of the comptroller having been first had and obtained in each and every case. Section 9. Said Board shall submit to the Municipal Assembly annually an estimate of the amount needed for the maintenance and operation of the St. Louis Industrial School and also an estimate of the amount needed for the payment of board of children placed by the said board in public institutions or with families. Said board shall also render an annual report to the Municipal Assembly and a monthly report to the mayor showing the number of children in its charge or under its control, the manner in which each child came into said board’s control, its age, sex, color and last known address, and the names and residence and occupation of the parents or guardians of each child if such information is known, the disposition of each case, the number and names of those finally discharged from the board’s control, the amount of expenditures on account of the work of the said board, and any and all information that the board may be able to furnish. Section 10. Sections 1728, 1729, 1730 and 1731 of Article 2 of Chapter 21 of the Revised Code of St. Louis relating to “Foundlings” are hereby repealed. Section 11. There is hereby appropriated out of the moneys not otherwise appropriated, the sum of . dollars for the purposes of said board. 90 - k rtf/ < - .V UK if *T(i try