The Minnesota System in the Management of Public Charitable and Correctional Institutions

In the beginning the new state of Minnesota adopted the traditional policy of separate board of trustees for each of the institutions as they were created from time to time by act of the legislature. In process of time each town in which an institution was located demanded and secured a member of the controlling board of trustees. When the state had three hospitals for the insane the local member became practically the autocrat of the institution, and in every other case the local member had a large share of control. During this time it was not unusual for heads of state institutions to be removed by successive governors and others appointed for no other reason than that the new men were friends of the appointing power. In I863 a Board of State Charities was established in Massachusetts and proved so useful that twenty other states followed the example and the legislature of Mitnesota in I883 organized such a board with strictly supervisory powers. The board was, in effect, the charity cabinet of the governor for the examination of institutions and for suggestions leading to their improvement. The board consisted of six members, was made non-political, and so grew in public favor that executive functions were gradually added to its duties. In I889 the legislature provided that no county should change its system of caring for the poor without consulting this board. In I893 the Children's Home Society was required to report to the board. In the same year county commissioners were required to present pIans for new jails. In I895 a similar law was passed in regard to village lockups. In a law passed for the incorporation of chattelmortgage banks to make loans to indigent persons, it was pro-