Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 40, Number 276, 1 November 1915 — Page 9

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TnnnicimoND PALLADiuii and suiitclegeaii, iiootay, Kovi, 1916., V-: nr o) A.

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Governor Would Cut Of f Controliins Boards of All Stete Instituticrj end Substitute One Bcsrd cf FcurI.Ic bcr.yNn-Pttti2an in Cfckrstter, TUh Offltca Ef Indiaiupolis, to Mature Aff au-s Cbfcns Nw Qf Economical, Efficient cad Means R&d ic5ei&r cf SuiUcs Bought fcr StateInsists No tPoDticsM in' New Schcn:3H-Dc?cit3 Wfccle Addria to Defense cf Plan Cites Exsmpls of IUinci and "Points Out Biz.

' Saving to State.

In supporting, hit plan for aWlng all iUU Institutions undsr a central control board Governor Ralston mad the followlns address Sunday:" "What I shall nav to say on the subject assigned' ma, will relet to our correctional and benevolent instltu tlons; and I hasten at the ouuet at y remarks to declare that the proper administration of our state charities calls for a high degree of lnUlllg ence an intelligence that consider! them .from both business and humane view points. With some persons the dollar and cent preMem I the all teportant question in their administration, while with others, we should do what science and humanity suggest In their administration without regard to cost The extremist cannot be- followed hi either Instance. ' ': . ' "' v v- . Cost -ef Institutions. '. ' "The tax-payer has rights that cannot be ignored. .The millions he has contributed and is contributing for these institutions cneneat e respect for him and should secure Justice to him in their management. Annually he is paying on an average for their management and up-kaep two million five hundred thousand dollars; while his Investment in the various plants for real estate, buildings and equipment is little short of astounding. The last legislative committee estimated these investments as follows: , Central Hospital for the Insane. $2,01,353.34; Eastern Hospital for the Ifisane, $1,061,850.38; Northern Hospital for the Insane, $855,013.77; Southeastern Hospital for the Insane, $1,439,349.51; Southern Hospital - for the Insane. $922,692.62; Village for epileptics, $472,117.65; School for FeebleMlnded Youth. $948,859.20; Soldiers and Sailors Orphans' Home. S686.Z96.IB; State Soldiers' Home, $637,922.8$; Tuberculosis Hospital, ?198,984.1; Indiana Boys' School, $432,070.08; Indlana Girls' School. $419,806.86; Indiana Reformatory, $768,726.7$; Indiana State Perm (not by committee) $161,276.33; .Indiana State Prlso&V $084;574.47; Indiana Women's Prison, 9163,368.32; , School for Blind, $767,726.32; School for the Deaf, $868,855.17. Total $13,786,842.55. 4 ; ; "A first class business man or a i't-nl corporation having this vast sum fM '-"(I in various institutions or ln

s. would very promptly see to tin different plants were man-

' " 'tn high skUl with the view I f 'i f.o recnemy and service. v What t;! "-iv -or a corporation would ; "j cr: Iiia for and handling such an -' t. v u?d undoubtedly be' a - b pursued by tne atate . '11-cumstances. "fu'd be Improved. ' 'i.'lgment that our state : - 'mprove upon its meth--rarCmnt of the instltur !; ttth in economy and ef-

'1 -aying this I must not be J

-s criticizing the beads of V " t'tuUcns or the respective ,'' r control of the same. I am glad i 1 p atle to give it as my opinion that thfv are doing their respective work as wc!l as could be expected of them un: der the prevailing system; and as an evidence thereof I need but cite the fact that the work and conditions of these institutions will compare favorably with similar institutions to be found In the other states. So the point I shall attempt to make in my remarks will be against the system and not against the persons who operate the system. My relations as . Governor with the heado and board's of all the institutions of our state have been most .cordial and absolutely free from friction. -1 repeat, therefore," that'it is of a system and not of men that I shall speak. "Since coming to the Governor's office I have endeavored to five as much time and as close study as my office duties would permit to these institutions to their needs and how they might be controlled so as best to serve the purpose for which they are designed. I hsve a very fixed notion touching the sort of system under which they should be managed: but I am not indifferent to the fact, that all those in charge of and in supervision .over these institutions do not share my views on this subject. My views, however, are as sacred to ma as theirs are to them, and. It. follows, therefore, that our rights to our .-respective views are equal; and both, by reason

of our respective official positions.

owe it to the public to point out what we respectively consider t& be the better or the best method of managing the institutions in question. Central Board ef Control. ' "Coming directly to the point, therefore, I favor '-'a central non-political

board of control . composed . of four

members, hot more than two of which

shall belong to the same political par

ty, for the management of these instltutlons. The different members of this board should be chosen with . specie,! reference to their qualifications and fitness for the work required of them. The board of course should possess high business ability, and at least one member should be a. lawyer. I would put the members of this board on a fixed salary of $4,000 per year and require that all their time be given to their official duties. "This board should have offices provided by the state at the capital of the state and It should be directly connected by a telephone system, installed by the state, with each of the institutions so that the board would be in Immediate touch with all of the institutions, and in this way enable it to be most responsive In meeting their demands. By this method of communication the institutions would be in as close touch with , the control board as ,a domestic is with the mistress of the home; and having its offices in the

capital, it would be Is. close touck with the state laboratory, whose services it would often seek, i .. ' He Answers Objeotle As. - "i am not indifferent to the objections to the system I am suggesting. I know it li charged that a control board would be more expensive than is the present scheme Of control. IMo not think so. The plan I am suggest

ing would, without reference to trsveM

Ing expenses, cost, the State for sala

ries $16,000. The members of tb dif

ferent boards now in control of -these iasUtuUeas are costing - the state in salaries $20,400. To this should be added $125 for each member of the several boirds allowed for. traveling expenses, making a total of $9,000 annually for such expenses, and a grand total of $39,400 per year for salaries and traveling expeasee of the members of the several boards under the present system. And this too, ot-. withstanding the fact that they fire but very little trf their time to the Institutions they, represent; whereas under the central board Ideas all the time of the different member would be devoted to their work; aid this is what good business skill demands. It cannot be argued wth aoxJorce, that a board Of trustees which arrives at Vis institution at the close of ne day and leaves it at the close of the next day only once in every ihtrty days, can render as efficient service to the institution and the state as can a board that Is at its work all the Urn. Under the present system the work of a trustee is merely incidental to his Other intents, and his institution receives only such time and attention as be can in haste spare from his life Wrk; whereas, under the central idea system this work would receive his entire time and continuous thought. To. my iiiind. considering the .vast investment in these institutions and the enormous current expense required in their management, it would be Just as consistent to require a brief visit to the institution once every month by the. superintendent thereof, as It la to require no more time of the trustees

In the management of the physical and

fiscal affairs of .the institution than is required of them. If.lt be said that the superintendent represent in a way his board of trustees that the law

charges with certain responsibilities, and iri my Judgment should charge

with graver ones, it could be. argued with equal force that the superintendent could he represented in his absence by his assistants, and we at once see to what this line of reasoning would lead. Partisan Control Discussed.

"In my examination of this question, I find that one objection made to the central board is, that It may lead to dragging the institutions into politics

or putting politics into the institutions

if the central ooara is more uaeiy to lead to -this result than-the 'separate

boards it would indeed be a serious objection to the former, I have never been able to persuade myself that the objection Is a sound one. In the first place. I do not believe any man is ever

likely to be selected Governor of Indi

ana who will take a partisan view or our state charities. Certainly such a man should not be elected to the gov

ernorsbip of our state. But if such a

man should be elected Governor, in my

Judgment, he could serve political ends to a much better advantage through eighteen separate boards scattered

throughout the state, touching and overlapping every congressional dis

trict in the state, than it would be

possible for him to dor through the in-!

strumentality of one central non-partisan board. And a Governor who will yield to political pressure in the one instance will with equal promptness yield in the other. "In advocating the central, board Idea, I do not desire to -see any system inaugurated for the control of our Institutions that is not properly supervised, and 1 - would therefore strenuously object to the elimination of our Board of state Charities udder any conditions; The field of operation for this board should not be narrowed. In my Judgment it is indispensible to the welfare of those institutions that we have both a board of control and a board of supervision. It is a question, however, if it would not be wise to have among the members of 'this letter board a penologist and an alienist, who would be required to perform the duties now performed by the members of this board without compensation but who could be paid by this -board for any special services that might be required of them. 1 The Board of 8tate Charities Is a board of supervision. It Investigates and counsels in the management of the Institutions and it is a. source of much needed' information to the executive of the state. Wo should clearly and at all times hold In mind the distinction between a board of control, as proposed., and a board of supervision as suggested. The board of control should be a piece of executive machinery. It should be the business head of the institutions under it. It would bring things to pass or pre vent them from coming to pass as its Judgment suggests. Its voice would be the voice of the publlo In the Management -of the people's Institutions. It would not educate nor pry into social conditions, nor discuss the mental or moral aspects of the inmates of its institutions,, further than to see that proper persons qualified to deal 'with these questions were put at the head and in charge of its' institutions. The work and duties of this board would of course be- defined by the statute creating It"I am not going off on a tangent in my advocacy of a central board of control. . Men of wide ; experience in

lUblllUlHIUai WUI& liBID MTVICU IU1D I idea. Indiana has furnished several l

mea fm dim wort who have gained for

theaiselves national reputations aadJ

wno are regarded as authorities in their retpectlv fields; . Among them

la ona wiatttaad. tut himself an Inter-

national reaatapoa for his great ability in tta hoBdlUig of sociological

problems, aecsjessffly Involving; of

esmrsa. ue.penai eorracuonat. ana Benevolent institutions of our couatryyea of the civilised world. I refer to the late Charles Richmond Henderson. He wga IteS.aa advocate of the central board idea, H. rendered valuable strvice on the eommlssion that made' an extended lavesiltation of this Question

as it relate u penal and correctional insutattona,;and la 1902 as a member of the oofnmlssion he joined in a re

port to the National Prison Assocu-

tion fatsfUg the placing of penal abd

correctional institutions under the control of a. single. adminlstraUv aceaey. in that report he says: 'Furthermore, 'sneervisioa'- and "control' do not. ex elude eaeh other; they are not nvaia; the are ibOth aecasaarv in the neat

order of administration. 'Aa argument

is behan-OT on pot m opposition eftha etharV . " . - . 1 Wjt InveetiBStlon. -"I am not unfamiliar, with the fact that a few years ago an. elaborate investigation: of the methods of fiscal

control of state institutions was made

by ne Henry c Wright, tor the new

York authorities and that 4n Jkls report it is pointed out that the- instftutions in question ih Indiana were conducted at a lower cost : per capita' per year than ere similar instttntlons in either Kew York or. Iowa where the central control plan obtained. This report states, however, that 'under ' average political oOBditionsV tt would seem wise to hare soma form of central con

trol greater than that exercised la In

diana and leas than that in either New York or Iowa.' This rcnort mikM kn-

other signlficetit statement" it says:

inaia&a secures an economical administration mqd very satisfactory resolU ttftiar the present form of supervision through the Board of State ChariUes. . . "from this it would, seem, therefore, that whatever advantage Indiana has

in the management of these institu

tion over that of New York: with bar-

tlal eenfrslixatlon, and with Iowa, with complete centralisation- without any stfperfisidn. Ohi has secured by -virtue of and through the supervision of her Board of State Charities, which is a Central hoard. . U the Board of State Charities has been able to bring about the results indicated la tnis report

by coming in coataet oceaeJeaatly with th heesia and boards or our diffarent inatltuuo&s what miht U aot aoompllsh, it it were permitted to coma lh daily contact with m central hoar charged with the welfare of ail th inatHutlona. tf Mf U' wise la hkve a separate board of tidsuee for each Institution, why . would there aot be equal wisdom in having a separata hoard of charttlei for each iastltutlon? Tha principal osdadyfo a eaatral supervisory boardvia not- dtffere nt fresh the. principle, underlying a . .central beard, of .control.. ; . " -1 .: "Thecentrat board of . control, of course, . would, fix , the aaiaria of the heads of the tnstltntlens and of the different, employe of. the Institution!. Ths woujd lead to a, stAadjirdisatiOh of salaries, ra most desirable thing to hive. . No one can scan the salaries paid the heads Of these Institution without .being impressed - With the marked inequalities, considering- the responsibilities assumed and the daties performed. - .. ,:- . -v -. "Many stats hava adopted the central control plaa aad.-the movement in this direction is growing in popularity. -The moat cotqpreheoalye fnvestigaUon and report aver . made on tha question we are conaidariagv was made

by the Cffideney and Economy Com-j

mission of Illlnola m 1914 - Thl investigation explored every branch -of the public service in that stats. A student of government,, who has given special attention to the subjects of sociology and economics, recently atated to me that this HUnoie " report is the . bast known study .-of efficiency in government that has ever been made. It is

to note that this reDort states 'there

is a marked tendency in this country towards the abolition-Of separate local -boards for: state -institutions, and the substitution of central boards for the control of all Instltuttohs1 of efcch class. This report further states that 'practically all of tha civilised governments in the world have likewise organized their .phbllc.admlnUtratlon in a limited number of Important departments, each under a single official, who has supervision over the Various relatad-services Id" iCe department, and . it endorse tha central board plan with supervision which was

adopted in that state in 1909.

tutlons under the central board, supervised as I have indicated, we would have, in addition to centralised responsibility and greater economy and effi

ciency, j

-1. Tha stanslaHaptioa of . suppUee purchased. - - ; .-. - 't. The execution' of continuing contracts or - sMsaaats for furnishlog galla.v: - . - The porchaaa la large quantities, thus obtaining the advantages usually accorded to wholesalers. '' 4.' 'The rlgbTOaa inspection Of supattea pureaased, to ascertaia whether they conform with the adopted stagdard. y ' ... , ;5. - COmpeUtive bidding W supplies for all th lnsUtutions. - ' - 6.v' Pablie nouce ia advance of all purchases except - those covered - by continuing agreements and 'contract. "The legislative committee that made a report on these institutions to thi last legislature keenly recognised the Importance of having a standardisation of supplies tor the different institutions. This' committee pointed out tha radical difference in the views held by 4he various boards of trustees in providing supplies for their reepee tlva institutions by calling attenton to the 4 fact that 1ft one institution the hoard waa furnishing its Inmates with coffee coating $22.00 per hundred; another with coffee ranging In price from 89.75 to 118.00 per huddred: and anoth

er with an -inexpensive cereal coffee coating-not mora fthan -12.00 per hundred. . It Is difficult to understand why the state should pay $22.00 per hundred tor one das of her wards, $9.76 for' another similar class and still for another class bat $2.00 per hundred. "The committee pointed out that one hoard of trustee got its prime whole beeves at Sli.OO per hundred and another fore-quarters oaiy at tll.oo per

of intareet, therefore and worth whilel hundred. -Ona institution was furnished

butteriae -at 22H cents per pound, while another institution got Its butterine at 9 7-2 to 16 cents per pound. One institution was - supplied- -with whole grain rice - at 64 cents per pound while another -got cracked or broken rice at 2 9-10 cents ier pound. Tha committee states that 'prices of various other food supplies show a corresponding' range.' .How long - do you suppose the head of a big business concern would allow it business to be carried on in this manner? This committee calls attention In its report to Certain objections made to a central board of control but it adds:

" 'Notwithstanding the 'objections as

In the management of theso insti-4 urged by the various superintendents,

we believe tha proposition either of a

central board of control for all benevolent and penal institutions, or of a general purchasing agency for the institutions as now organised, .is worthy

of. and should receive tha thoughtful consideration of the chief executive and the legislature of the state.' " "In tha Illinois report to which reference has been made a showing 'is mad that uader tha centralised -System established by the act-of 1909. a saving was made in the administration of -certain state charitable institutions in. the year 1910 from the per 'capita cost for 1909 of $241480.17. and that saving was made notwithstanding a marked advance ill price. "The cities of Atlanta, Cincinnati. Ft. Worth. Texas, New York. Philadelphia, Houston. Texas, and Kansas City, all have purchasing departments which are working most satisfactorily. Mayor Woodward of, Atlanta has made the statement that this department- Is saving that oUy about Sl.DOO par, month as compared with purchases made during previous years. "' ' "Prior to 1912 this department' In Cincinnati was regarded as inefficient, but in that year a retired business man of unquestioned integrity was given the position and it is stated that during the year 1913 he saved to that city approximately. $75,000. Ho secured a reduction in the price Of lend pencils from $4.60 per gross, to $2-20 per gross; he saved 20 per cent in ' the price of soap and he predicts, Judging from his experience, that he can save his city $150,000 annually, in the purchase of supplies. In New York City on a single item of rubber bands, over $6,000 was -saved compared with prior purchases, and the statement is made that the saving la the city's fuel-bill is Incredible. In 1909 the Bureau of Education standardised the lead pencils in the schools of that city and effected an annual saving of $12,000. - ' Economy In Large Purchases. - "It stands to reason that a central board of control over all Institutions could purchase the necessary , supplies therefor in large quantities at a much less figure than a single hoard can purchase the supplies for a single institution. But if proof of this fact were demanded, we have it In the showing made by the central board of Illinois and the purchasing departments of the cities and the purchasing -agency -of Texas to which I have called your attention. And proof is also found In the operation of the practical business methods of the great Industries of the country.' . " "To illustrate, when the central board of control desired to purchase potatoes. It could purchase them in the great potato markets Of the country by the train load at the minimum

wholesale price, ! aad breaklac thi train up; could send them to tha dlf ferent institutions In need thereof Meata and flour could he! bought bj tha train load at tha minimum whole salt) price, as could -all th other neo essary supplies 'of the Institution ti large quantities and at the lowest prtct -tie market affords.- " -. . . "And so it Is that I am convinced, from tha study I have given thl qoea tion. that a central board of controi operating under a central supervisor board could add to the efficiency o! the management of these institution! and at the same time eave to the tax payer of Indiana, without la aay wtt neglecting the neede of the lnmatea $250,000 every year, if not a greatei sum. And this. I submit, calls for th moat serious consideration on tha pan of. those who are Identified with the. Institutions' and who are looked to foi suggestions and advice In their man' gement. We cannot cloe our eye tc the fact that tt is costing- the peoplf more and more to take care of almost every branch of their government, and the he were of wood aad th drawer oi water, the bearer of . the tax burdehi of the state, should have their Interesti properly protected by their public servants at every turn, and not wantonlj wasted and sacrificed. Increase of Defectives. "Those In charge of those Institutions and connected with their man agement know, better than the genera: publlo at' what an alarming rate the criminal, the defective and the' other classes of unfortunates, coming wlthlr the purview of our state charities. ar increasing. I shall not enter.thls field, however, at this time by way of dl cussion. It abounds with alarming a pects. and we cannot close our eyes to the fearful consequences of not car ing for them properly and in prevent-; lng In so far as we can the raulttpllca tion of their kind. I have recently appointed a commission to study the problems Involved in the lives of these unfortunates, with, the hope that s proper investigation will 'lead to 'thc inauguration. of ' the 'best preventltc remedies. - r . V v "In conclusion, I want to thank in the name of all tho human and gener ous people-of Indiana those who are Id any wise contributing to the propei management of our state charities under present conditions, and to assure them of-my keen appreciation of the kindly consideration I have always received from them 1n my association with them as the chief executive of Indiana." .

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