order of admission, to discharge the feeble-minded person, or to vary the order of the court sending the feeble-minded person to an institution. If, on the hearing of the petition, the court is satisfied that the welfare of the feeble-minded person, or the welfare of others, or the welfare of the community requires his discharge, or a variation of the order, the court. may enter such order of discharge or variation, as the court thinks proper. Discharges and variations of orders may be made for either of the following causes: Because the person adjudged to be feeble-minded is not feeble-minded; because he has so far improved as to be capable of caring for himself; because the relatives or friends of the feeble-minded person are able and willing to supervise, control, care for and support him and request his discharge, and in the judgment of the superintendent of the institution having the person in charge, no evil consequences are likely to follow such discharge; but the enumeration of grounds of discharge or variation herein shall not exclude other grounds of discharge or variation which the court, in its discretion, may deem adequate, having due regard for the welfare of the person concerned, or the welfare of others, or the welfare of the community. On any petition of discharge or variation, the court may discharge the feeble-minded person from all supervision, control and care, or may place him under guardianship, or may transfer him from a public institution to a private institution, or from a private institution to a public institution, as the court thinks fit under all the circumstances appearing on the hearing of the petition. The superintendent of the institution having the feeble-minded person in charge, must be notified of the time and place of hearing on any petition for discharge or variation, as the court shall direct, and no order of discharge or variation shall be entered without giving such superintendent a reasonable opportunity to be heard; and the court may notify such other persons, relatives and friends of the feeble-minded person as the court may think proper of the time and place of the hearing on any petition for discharge or variation of prior order. The denial of one petition for discharge or variation shall be no bar to another on the same or different grounds within a reasonable time thereafter, such reasonable time to be determined by the court in its discretion, discouraging frequent, repeated, frivolous, ill-founded petitions for discharge or variation of prior order. On reception of a feeble-minded person in an institution pursuant to an order of court under this Act, the superintendent of the institution under regulations of the Board of Administration shall cause. the feeble-minded person to be examined touching his mental condition, and if upon such examination it is found the person is not feeble-minded, it shall be the duty of the superintendent to petition the court for a discharge or variation of the order sending him to the institution. Any person sent to an institution pursuant to an order of court under this Act shall have the right to at least one hearing on a petition for discharge or variation within one year after the date of the order sending him to an institution.

§15. Every person admitted to any institution for the feeble-minded shall have all reasonable opportunity and facility for communication with. his friends, and be permitted to write and send letters, providing they contain nothing of an immoral or personally offensive character and

letters written by any charge to any member of the Board of Administration, or to any member of the State Charities Commission, or to any State or county official, shall be forwarded unopened. But no leave of absence shall be granted except for good cause to be determined and approved by the Board of Administration in each case who shall take appropriate measures to secure for the feeble-minded person proper supervision, control and care during such leave of absence, and no leave of absence shall be for a longer period than two weeks in one calendar year.

§ 16. In the event of a sudden or mysterious death of a charge of any public or private institution for the feeble-minded, a coroner's inquest shall be held as provided by law in other cases. Notice of the death of such person, and the cause thereof, shall in all cases be sent to the judge of the court having jurisdiction, over such person, and the fact of the death, with the time place and alleged cause shall be entered upon the docket.

17. Any person who shall knowingly contrive, or who shall conspire to have any person adjudged feeble-minded under this Act unlawfully and improperly, or any person who shall violate any provision of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding $1,000, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court in which such conviction is had.

§ 18. The costs of proceedings in feeble-mindedness shall be defrayed from the county treasury, unless otherwise ordered by the court as herein provided. But when on the hearing of the petition, the person alleged to be feeble-minded is found not to be feeble-minded, the court, in its discretion, may require that the costs shall be paid by the person who filed the petition, and may render judgment against him therefor, except that judgment for costs shall be rendered against the petitioner who filed the petition pursuant to the direction of a court as provided in sections 20 and 21. The fees paid for attendance of witnesses and execution of legal process, shall be the same as are allowed by law for similar service in other cases. For service as commissioner, the sum of $5.00 per day and the actual and necessary traveling expenses shall be allowed, to each person so employed. But when the proceedings are instituted in a court of any county of which the alleged feebleminded person is not a resident, in case a judgment for costs is not rendered against the petitioner as above provided, the judge of the county court of the county in which the said feeble-minded person resides shall be furnished with a transcript of the record and findings in the case, and thereupon the said county shall be liable for the costs of the proceedings.

§ 19. Where an order that a feeble-minded person be placed under guardianship or be sent to a private or public institution, is made under this Act, the court entering the order, or any court having jurisdiction under this Act, may at any time, on the application of the petitioner, or of the guardian, or of the managers of the institution or of the Board of Administration, as the case may be, make an order requiring the feeble-minded person, or any person liable or undertaking to maintain him, to contribute such sums towards the expenses of his guardianship, or of his maintenance in the institution and any charges incidental

thereto, including the costs of the proceedings in feeble-mindedness, of his conveyance to the institution, and in the event of his death in the institution his funeral expenses, as seems reasonable, having regard to the ability of the feeble-minded person, or of the person liable or undertaking to maintain him. Any such order may be enforced against any property of the feeble-minded person, or of the person liable or undertaking to maintain him, in the same way as if it were a judgment or decree for temporary alimony in a divorce case. When a conservator of the estate of the feeble-minded person under guardianship, or in an institution under this Act, has been, or is appointed pursuant to "An Act to revise the law in relation to idiots, lunatics, drunkards, and spendthrifts," approved March 26, 1874, in force July 1, 1874, any such order for contribution to maintenance may be made and enforced against such conservator only by the court that appointed such conservator and in the mode and manner prescribed by said last named act.

§ 20. When a child is brought before a "juvenile" court as a dependent or delinquent child, if it appears to the court, on the testimony of a physician or a psychologist or other evidence that such person or child is feeble-minded within the meaning of this Act, the court may adjourn the proceedings and direct some suitable officer of the court or other suitable reputable person to file a petition under this Act; and the court may order that pending the preparation, filing and hearing of such petitions, the person or child be detained in a place of safety, or be placed under the guardianship of some suitable person on that person entering into recognizance for his appearance.

21. On the conviction by a court of record of competent jurisdiction of any person of any crime, misdemeanor, or any violation of any ordinance which is in whole, or in part, a violation of any statute of this State; or on a child brought before a juvenile court for any delinquency, being found liable to be sent to a reformatory school, a training school or an industrial school, the court if satisfied on the testimony of a physician or a psychologist or other evidence that the person or child is feeble-minded within the meaning of this Act, may suspend sentence or suspend entering an order sending the child to a reformatory training or industrial school and direct that a petition be filed under this Act. When the court directs a petition to be filed it may order that pending the preparation, filing and hearing of the petition, the person or child be detained in a place of safety, or be placed under the guardianship of any suitable person on that person entering into a recognizance for his appearance. If upon the hearing of said petition or upon any subsequent hearing under this Act the person is found not to be feeble-minded the court shall impose sentence.

22. When the mental condition of a person under guardianship or in an institution for feeble-minded persons, pursuant to an order of court under this Act, becomes or is found to be such that he ought to be transferred to an institution for lunatics, the guardian or managers of the institution, or the Board of Administration, as the case may be, shall cause such steps to be taken as may be necessary for his removal to an institution for lunatics under "An Act to revise the law in relation to the commitment and detention of lunatics, and to provide for the appointment and removal of conservators, and to repeal certain Acts

therein named," approved January 21, 1893, in force July 1, 1893. And when the mental condition of a person in an institution for lunatics under such lunacy act of 1893 becomes, or is found to be such that he ought to be transferred to an institution for feeble-minded persons, or placed under guardianship under this Act, the managers of the institution for lunatics, or the Board of Administration may cause such steps to be taken as may be necessary for having an order that he be sent to an institution entered by the court of original jurisdiction for feebleminded persons, or placed under guardianship under this Act.

§ 23. No person shall be discharged from a public institution for the feeble-minded without suitable clothing and a sum of money not exceeding $20, sufficient to defray his expenses home, which shall be charged to the county in which the person resides, and collected as other debts due the institution are collected. But the court ordering the discharge may dispense with this requirement if the court, in its discretion, thinks it fit and proper under the circumstances.

§ 24. If any feeble-minded person shall escape from an institution for the feeble-minded, it shall be the duty of the superintendent of the institution and his assistants, and of any sheriff or constable, or other officer of the peace in any county in which he may be found, to take and detain him without a warrant, and report the same at once to the county judge of said county, who shall return him to the institution at the expense of the county from which he was admitted.

§ 25. Each court having jurisdiction under this Act shall keep a separate docket of proceedings in feeble-mindedness upon which shall be made such entries as will, together with the papers filed, preserve a complete and perfect record of each case, the original petitions, writs, and returns made thereto, and the reports of commissions shall be filed with the clerk of the court.

§ 26. The Board of Administration shall keep a record of all persons adjudged to be feeble-minded, and of the orders respecting them by the courts throughout the State, copies of which orders shall be furnished by the clerk of the court without the board's application or upon the board's application.

§ 27. The invalidity of any part of this Act shall not be construed to affect the validity of any other part capable of having practical operation and effect without the invalid part.

§ 28. All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.

APPROVED June 24th, 1915.

MATERNITY HOSPITALS-REGULATION.

§ 3. Investigation of homes.

§ 1. Must procure license-revocation.

§ 2. Information to be kept-monthly report to board.

§ 4. Access to books and institutions.

§ 5. Offenses and penalties.

(HOUSE BILL No. 724. APPROVED JUNE 21, 1915.)

AN ACT for the licensing, inspection and regulation of maternity hospitals, lying in homes, or other places, public or private, for the confinement of women, and to provide a penalty for violation thereof.

SECTION 1. MUST PROCURE LICENSE-REVOCATION.] Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assem

bly: That all persons, societies, associations, organizations or corporations, conducting, maintaining or carrying on any maternity or lying-in hospital or other place, public or private, where females may be received, cared for or treated during pregnancy or during or after delivery must apply for and obtain license therefor from the State Board of Administration. Applications shall be made upon the blanks prescribed by said board, and shall be endorsed by six or more persons of good moral character who are regular taxpayers of the county where such maternity or lying-in hospital is located and who shall certify to the respectability of the applicant. If, in the opinion of said board such hospital is to be carried on for legitimate purposes and the persons connected therewith. are proper and suitable persons to conduct such hospital, then a license shall be issued.

If at any time after such license is issued any manager, superintendent or person in charge of such hospital shall have violated any of the provisions of this Act or that such hospital shall fail or refuse to comply with the orders of the State Board of Administration made pursuant to this Act, such license shall be immediately revoked.

§ 2. INFORMATION TO BE KEPT.] Every licensee shall keep a register of all persons admitted, the date of birth of every child born on said premises, date of discharge of mother and of child, and if child is placed in a foster home, the name of such foster parent or parents, the address thereof, when placed, and if the child has been legally adopted, and such other information as the State Board of Administration may from time to time require. A copy of all such information shall be made to said board on the first of each month.

§ 3. INVESTIGATION OF HOMES.] No child from such maternity or lying-in hospital shall be placed in a family, home or be legally adopted until such home shall have been investigated and approved by the State Board of Administration.

§ 4. ACCESS TO BOOKS AND INSTITUTIONS.] The Board of Administration, through its agents, shall at all times have free access to any hospital licensed under this Act and to all its records.

5. PENALTY.] Any manager, superintendent, or person in charge of such maternity or lying-in hospital who fails or refuses to procure a license as provided in section 1 hereof, or any one who violates any of the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not less than $50 nor more than $500, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not to exceed one year, or both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

APPROVED June 24th, 1915.