OUT-DOOR RELIEF BY THE STATE.

stances, to carry a family through its exigencies. We have, therefore, taken that judgment as the basis of audit, allowing a larger sum only in cases of evident emergency, such as a very large family, permanent disability in one or more members, recent widows with young children, immigrants newly arrived destitute of everything, or total inability to procure employment. Thus administering the law, we find that an average annual appropriation of $16,000 is ample to relieve those for whom it was intended, and to remove from the State those who belong elsewhere. The applications are relatively decreasing, and only 1,334 were made last year from a population of 1,850,000; showing, as we think, that this law, properly administered, can accomplish its intent without the mischief apprehended by some.

The number of families relieved for the year ending September 30, 1882, was then 1,334, covering 5,485 persons, who were resident in 124 cities and towns, in all the counties except Dukes and Nantucket. These families received 1,552 visits from the Superintendent of Out-door Poor and his officers; and the mass of information thus gathered and recorded, with that obtained as to the sick poor, will give an accurate and continuous annual history of the out-door pauperism of the State. The appropriation for this class for 1882 was $17,000, or an average of $12.74 for each family. Of the above 1,334 claims, 705 bills for support have been audited; of which 674 have been paid, and 31 have been rejected, for "settlement" or other sufficient cause. The claim for these 705 families was $3,665.91 being an average of $5,20 per family; the allowance, $3,137.94, or an average of $4.45 per family. And the number of persons provided for by this moderate sum was 2,829; 319 bills of transportation have been paid at a cost of $2,478.53, or $7.17 each; 115 bills still await audit; the remainder have not been presented, and a large proportion never will be. The portion of the appropriation properly assignable to this sub-department for salaries and expenses is $3,000.

In the Appendix will be found the location, by counties, of the temporary poor by families, which average for the present year 4.01 persons to each family.

THE CARE OF INFANTS.

FOUNDLING AND NEGLECTED INFANTS.

The care of the children directly provided for by the State, under the Act of 1880, has been exercised chiefly by two medical officers of the Department of Out-door Poor,- Dr. Edwin F. Cummings and Dr. Sarah M. Crawford, whose experience, acquired in hospitals and in general practice, has enabled them to save the lives of many of this class of infants. In both divisions of this work for foundlings, the records of the year ending October 1, 1882, are worthy of notice. At the Infant Asylum, and under the direct care of the Board, 277 infants under two years old were treated as follows:

Infant Asylum.

Number remaining in the Asylum October 1, 1881, .

Since admitted to the Asylum, .

In all at the Asylum, .

Of these, there were discharged well,

69

62

131

46

16

69

There died,

Remaining October 1, 1882,

The percentage of mortality among these 131 selected children was lower than that of infants in ordinary families; viz., 12.21. Seven of the deaths occurred, as many of these deaths. naturally occur, in August and September, and only nine in the rest of the year.

The infants taken in charge by the Board directly were, during the same year, 146, all of whom are distinct from the 131 infants at the Asylum; and all were placed in families under the care of the Department of Out-door Poor. results of the year were as follows:

The

60

86

146

50

31

65

.21.23

INFANTS AND INDIANS.

The mortality among this inferior class of infants was, of course, greater than among the asylum infants. Fourteen of the deaths occurred in July, August, and September, and only 17 in the nine remaining months. In all, the State cared for 286 infants of all classes (including 9 more over two years old); and the percentage of mortality among all who were cared for, within and without the Asylum, was 17.1; only 49 known deaths occurring among 277 infants less than two years old. That is to say, less than 18 per cent. of all the infants thus cared for are known to have perished; and most of those who died were so diseased when received, that it seemed improbable they could survive, while many revived whose chances of life at first seemed small. This is an encouraging result, especially when it is remembered that under the practice prevailing before 1867, nearly all such infants died within their first year, and that more than half of themdied previous to 1880.*

INDIANS AND PERSONS OF COLOR.

Few claims have been made, and scarcely any payments, from the appropriation in favor of the small class of State poor above named. Eleven Indians, so called, have been benefited by payments to the amount of $24.17. The case in dispute between the towns of Edgartown and Cottage City, in regard to the settlement of Eunice Rocker, which was mentioned in the Third Annual Report, has been decided during the past year by denying the settlement of the person named, apparently on the ground that the Indians, so called, merely occupied and did not own the real estate on which they had lived. An appeal will be taken to the Supreme Court.

Besides the 277 infants counted on page cxxv, nine other children, upwards of two years old, were cared for by the Board during the year ending October 1, 1882; to which were added, as they became two years old, 31 other infants from among the 277 above-named, making 40 in all, who, during the year, were above the age of two years. Of these 33 remained in the care of the Board, October 1, 1882, two having died, and seven having been adopted or otherwise discharged. The whole number of infants, therefore, coming under the care of the Board during the year ending October 1, was 286, of whom 49 died. The 33 children above two years old, remaining on the 1st of October, were all boarding in families, at a cost of a little more than $2.00 a week.

BURIALS.

BURIALS.

The Department of Out-door Poor audits the bills for the burial of State paupers, which involves the examination of their settlements, a task often very difficult, because important evidence is cut off by death. During the year ending September 30, 1882, there were audited 1,004 such bills for the same number of persons. The amount of the claim was $7,688.44; the amount of allowance was $7,241.50. The deduction, therefore, was $446.94, which was made for settlements found, or for over-charges. The bills were more than half for the year 1881; for these accounts are always in arrears, in consequence of the delay in towns and cities to send their bills in. The annual amount of such allowances has exceeded the appropriations for certain years since 1870; and we therefore asked for a slight increase of the appropriation in 1882, which seems likely to be sufficient. The whole addition to the regular appropriations made for burials in twelve years past, is about $14,000, or a little more than $1,000 a year, the regular appropriation averaging about $6,000.

DISPOSAL OF CHILDREN.

IV. CHILDREN OF THE STATE.

Under this name are included the juvenile offenders committed by the courts either to the State reformatories or to the custody of this Board, the children who enter the almshouse at Tewksbury, and the foundling and deserted infants provided for in the Massachusetts Infant Asylum, at the expense of the State, or taken charge of directly by the Department of Out-door Poor. The last-named class, however, have also been treated by themselves, their situation being peculiar, and different in most respects from that of the older children of the State.

Juvenile offenders, when sentenced by the courts, may go to some local reformatory or prison; but if not, and if they come into the custody of the State, they may be taken in charge either by the Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (in which case many of them go temporarily to the State Primary School, both boys and girls), or they may be sent, if girls, to Lancaster, and if boys, to Westborough, to enter the State reformatories. From all these establishments they go forth into families, it being the policy of the State to find them good homes as soon as possible. The children of the poor, who enter the State Almshouse, are transferred as above-mentioned to the State Primary School at Monson; but a few young children, with their mothers, remain at Tewksbury; and some of the older boys and girls also, either because their stay in the almshouse is likely to be short, or because they are reckoned unfit subjects for the Primary School. The number of such children in the State Almshouse on the 1st of October, 1882, was 67; the whole number during the year may have been 200. The following table, after what has been said, will explain itself: