§ 13. No member of the board of said commissioners shall be, directly or indirectly, interested in any contract for building, repairing or furnishing any of the institutions which by this act they are authorized to visit and inspect; nor shall any trustee or other officer of any of the institutions, embraced in this act, be eligible to the office of commissioner hereby created.

§14. The governor is hereby authorized to remove any of the trustees and directors of any of the institutions named in the ninth section of this act, whenever, in his opinion, the interests of the state require such removal; and in case of removal, he shall communicate to the legislature the cause of such removal.

15. No two members of the aforesaid boards of trustees or directors of said institutions shall be residents of the same county, nor shall more than one trustee or director aforesaid reside in the county where said institutions shall be respectively located. The principal of the "Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb," shall con tinue to be, ex officio, a member of the board of directors of that institution.

§ 16. All laws, or parts of laws, inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed.

17. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.

APPROVED April 9, 1869.

FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT.

PART FIRST.

THE BOARD OF PUBLIC CHARITIES.

ORIGIN.-There are in the United States seven state boards of public charity, of which our own is chronologically the fourth. The states which have created similar boards are Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and North Carolina. It is seven years since the Massachusetts Board of State Charities, the first in the country, was created.

The Illinois Board of Public Charities is a necessary link in the development of that noble system of state aid to the unfortunate, of which the people of Illinois are justly proud. In its origin, it was in part the outgrowth of an investigation into the financial and general management of the public institutions of this state, made in the year 1867, by a joint committee of both houses of the legislature, of which General Allen C. Fuller was chairman.

The creation of the board was recommended by Governor Oglesby, in his message, January 4th, 1869, in the following words:

"It has been earnestly represented to me, in view of the separate organization of our various charitable institutions under separate boards of management; the large number of inmates attending each, and the constant demand for more room and accommodations for the large numbers necessarily excluded at present from the benefits of each; together with the important question of the means to be raised by taxation for the support and enlargement of the present, or the construction of additional asylums; and to consider new questions arising out of experience as to the best modes of treatment and improvement of the various classes of patients and inmates in our several benevolent instituVol. I-2

tions, that the present system ought to be thoroughly and carefully reviewed and revised, and the whole subject, in its various bearings, placed in the hands of a board, to be created, with full powers to investigate and report upon all these questions, to be styled 'The Board of Public Charities."

The Governor added:

"We cannot lose sight of the never-ceasing and ever-present claims of the vast multitudes in our very midst―part of our being and associates with us in the society of life, afflicted with the terrible diseases which deprive them of sight, hearing and of reason, while we, more fortunate, enjoy all through life the full possession of each of those faculties undiminished, with which God, more merciful to us, has blessed us. A generous people, I feel safe in assuring you, will approve every act of yours to aid them, to make them less miserable and more happy, and to place our benevolent institutions upon the basis which will secure to the afflicted the highest sense of human intelligence and happiness."

In accordance with this recommendation, General Fuller introduced into the senate, of which he was a member, an act, (public laws, 1869, page 63). To this law, approved by Governor Palmer, April 9th, 1869, the present board of state commissioners of public charities owes its existence.

ORGANIZATION.-The original members of the board, appointed by the governor, were Hon. William Thomas, of Morgan county; Seldon M. Church, of Winnebago; Elmer Baldwin, of LaSalle; Dr. John N. McCord, of Fayette; and George S. Robinson, of DeKalb.

In response to a call of the governor, these five commissioners met at the office of the secretary of state, on the 27th day of April, 1869, and each of them took the oath required by the law. The members then retired to the auditor's office, and effected an organization by the election of Hon. William Thomas, President, and George S. Robinson, Secretary.

The first section of the act providing for their appointment requires that one of the persons appointed shall hold office for one year, one for two years, one for three years, one for four years, and one for five years. The decision of the question of the term of office of each commissioner having been left by the governor to the board itself, it was determined by lot, as follows:

To hold office five years, George S. Robinson.
To hold office four years, Seldon M. Church.
To hold office three years, William Thomas.
To hold office two years, Elmer Baldwin.
To hold office one year, John N. McCord.

CLERK.-At the third meeting, in Normal, June 8th, 1869, the Rev. Frederick H. Wines, of Sangamon county, was elected Clerk; and his salary was fixed at three thousand dollars per annum, payable quarterly, with the necessary traveling expenses.

CHANGES.-At the same meeting, in Chicago, June 10th, Hon. William Thomas tendered his resignation of the presidency. Action was by a unanimous vote deferred until the next meeting. At the fourth meeting, in Champaign, July 7th, he was unanimously requested to withdraw his resignation. He insisted upon its acceptance, and it was accordingly accepted.

Hon. Elmer Baldwin was unanimously chosen president, in Judge Thomas' stead.

Subsequently, Judge Thomas tendered to the governor his resignation of the position of commissioner of public charities, which was accepted. Z. B. Lawson, of Macoupin county, was appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. Lawson took the oath of office, November 14th, 1869.

At the expiration of the first year, the term of office of Dr. John N. McCord having expired, he was re-appointed by the governor.

POWERS AND DUTIES.-The duties required of the commissioners are quite onerous. The powers granted them are very limited. The board has unlimited power of inspection, suggestion and re.commendation, but no administrative power whatever.

The institutions which the commissioners are authorized and required, by the act of April 9th, 1869, to visit and inspect, are, first, the public institutions owned and controlled by the state, except the penitentiary; second, institutions not owned by the state, which receive any part of their income by legislative appropriation, from the state treasury; third, city and county alms and poor houses; fourth, other places where the insane may be confined, by which the board understands that county jails and private insane asylums are meant.

The commissioners, or some one of them, are required to visit institutions receiving state aid at least twice in each year, and as much oftener as they may deem necessary. They are required to visit and examine into the condition of each of the city and county alms and poor houses, etc., at least once each year.