]> <emph>Biennial Report of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, December 1, 1920 to June 30, 1922:</emph> Electronic Edition. North Carolina State Board of Charities and Public Welfare Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title. Text transcribed by Apex Data Services, Inc. Images scanned by Tampathia Evans Text encoded by Apex Data Services, Inc., Andrew Leiter, and Melissa Meeks First edition, 2003 ca. 383K Academic Affairs Library, UNC-CH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2003.

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 Biennial Report of the North Carolina State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, 1920-1922 Biennial Report of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, December 1, 1920 to June 30, 1922 North Carolina State Board of Charities and Public Welfare Mrs. Kate Burr Johnson, Commisioner 103 p. Raleigh The Board [1922] Call number C360 N87p 1920-1922 copy 2 (North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

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 Library of Congress Subject Headings English Mentally ill -- Care -- North Carolina. Orphans -- Institutional care -- North Carolina. Public welfare -- North Carolina. Orphanages -- North Carolina. Mental illness -- North Carolina -- Prevention. North Carolina State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. Child welfare -- North Carolina. Vocational education --North Carolina. Social service -- North Carolina. Mentally ill -- North Carolina -- Family relationships. 2003-05-14, Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic edition. 2003-03-06, Melissa Meeks finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing. 2001-11-16, Andrew Leiter finished TEI/SGML encoding 2001-09-26, Apex Data Services, Inc. finished transcribing the text.

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 BIENNIAL REPORT OF The State Board of Charities and Public Welfare December 1, 1920 TO June 30, 1922 MRS. KATE BURR JOHNSON Commissioner CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE [CONSTITUTION OF NORTH CAROLINA, ART. 11, SEC. 7.]

Beneficent provision for the poor, the unfortunate and orphan, being one of the first duties of a civilized and Christian State, the General Assembly shall, at its first session, appoint and define the duties of a Board of Public Charities, to whom it shall be entrusted the supervision of all charitable and penal State institutions, and who shall annually report to the Governor upon their condition, with suggestions for their improvement.

 STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES AND PUBLIC WELFARE

W. A. BLAIR, Chairman, Winston-Salem Term expires April 1, 1923 CAREY J. HUNTER, Vice-Chairman, Raleigh Term expires April 1, 1927 A. W. McALISTER, Greensboro Term expires April 1, 1923 REV. M. L. KESLER, Thomasville Term expires April 1, 1925 MRS. THOMAS W. LINGLE, Davidson Term expires April 1, 1925 MRS. WALTER F. WOODARD, Wilson Term expires April 1, 1927 MRS. J. W. PLESS, Marion Term expires April 1, 1925

EXECUTIVE STAFF

MRS. KATE BURR JOHNSON Commissioner NELL BATTLE LEWIS Secretary ROY M. BROWN Field Agent MARY G. SHOTWELL Bureau of Child Welfare M. EMETH TUTTLE Bureau of Child Welfare HARRY W. CRANE Psychopathologist FANNIE DARK Chief Clerk CLAIRE HODGES Stenographer and Librarian MRS. ARTHUR HOLDING Stenographer HOWARD W. ODUM Consulting Expert

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Public Welfare in General . . . . . 7Public Welfare in North Carolina . . . . . 10 Reports of Bureaus: Bureau of County Organization . . . . . 16Bureau of Child Welfare . . . . . 19Bureau of Mental Health and Hygiene . . . . . 40Bureau of Education and Promotion . . . . . 52Bureau of Institutional Supervision . . . . . 54 Public Poor Relief: County Homes . . . . . 54Jails . . . . . 78County Chain-gangs . . . . . 83State Training Schools for Juvenile Delinquents . . . . . 88Maternity Homes . . . . . 89 Reports of State Institutions . . . . . 90 The Wake Family . . . . . 99 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL To His Excellency, CAMERON MORRISON, Governor of North Carolina.

SIR:—I have the honor of handing you herewith the report of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare from December, 1920, to June 30, 1922. This report represents an unusual amount of hard and careful work on the part of the executive staff, ably directed by the Commissioner.

Many of the facts presented in this report are new to most of the people of North Carolina; some of them are startling; most of them unpleasant. Reference to such extreme conditions is not evidence that any one desires to be cruel or callous. These conditions are the out-growth of customs for which all of us are more or less responsible. As members of the State and of society we have, somehow, permitted these things to exist and to continue. In this report the Board is not censuring any individual or group or institution. We are merely trying to reveal frankly certain facts which have resulted because of conditions and social customs to which we have all been, for the most part, too indifferent, and for which, consequently, we are to a certain extent responsible. The Board feels that these conditions should be frankly, kindly, and honestly stated in order that the people of North Carolina may be acquainted with our social disqualifications, and that all enlargement of our program of public welfare may be made with full knowledge of these disqualifications as a foundation. Our State can well rejoice in the great things that it has done and is doing, but there is yet much to be accomplished, and in this great work for North Carolina we need the intelligent interest and patriotic support of our entire citizenship.

Very truly yours, WM. A. BLAIR, Chairman. THE CHILD PROBLEM IN NORTH CAROLINA

From May 1, 1921, when a systematic keeping of records was established, to June 30, 1922, the end of the fiscal year, approximately 10,000 children came under the supervision of Superintendents of Public Welfare and Judges of the Juvenile Court. (The picture facing this page is of an actual group.) We do not claim that these children have had everything done for them that should have been done, by any means. The facilities for giving them adequate care, training, and protection are totally inadequate. The encouraging aspect is that we are admitting the condition of these dependent, neglected and delinquent children to be an acute and far-reaching social problem. They are now at the crossroads; one way leads to correctional and penal institutions, the criminal courts, the almshouses, the street; the other to good citizenship. Which road will they take? On page 39 we are pointing out some of the facilities essential for a satisfactory State-wide program of public welfare that should lead the faltering feet of many of these wayfarers into happy, useful manhood and womanhood.

NORTH CAROLINA'S BEST CROP—HER CHILDREN

NORTH CAROLINA'S PLAN OF PUBLIC WELFARE

 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES AND PUBLIC WELFARE December 1, 1920, to June 30, 1922 PUBLIC WELFARE IN GENERAL

In any real democracy a state program of public welfare is as imperative for progress as a state program of public education or a state program of public health. Each of these three essential activities looks towards the same objective, that is, the development of a citizenry robust in mind, body, and estate. Each approaches, from a different angle the tremendous problem of developing and maintaining a population of the highest possible degree of health, happiness, and efficiency. Each makes a contribution of equal value to the common weal.

General recognition of the far-reaching significance of organized effort by the State in behalf of its delinquent, defective, dependent, and undeveloped members has been, on the whole, slow. This has been largely because the problem of the delinquent, the defective, and the dependent elements of population is a scientific as well as humanitarian problem, one which affects the very mainspring of a commonwealth, the quality of its human material, and as such must be approached first and foremost in the scientific spirit. This spirit, which is a result of broad education and experience, is naturally not generally prevalent among the masses of the people. A profound ignorance of the magnitude of the problem which delinquency, defectiveness, and dependency present in a complex civilization is mainly responsible for the sluggishness, and even occasionally the hostility of the common attitude towards public welfare work.

THE VEIL OF IGNORANCE IS LIFTING

But gradually the veil of such ignorance is lifting. An increasing number of specialists in the science of sociology, workers familiar with both the theory and the practice of this subject, as well as other longtime servants of the public good, are spreading abroad the knowledge that a civilization is exactly as strong as the human foundation upon which it rests. When this foundation is honeycombed by feeble-mindedness, insanity, crime, dependency, illiteracy, and all forms of mental and moral depravity, and when such menaces are allowed to increase without restriction, the superstructure of society is threatened and must eventually fall unless immediate steps be taken to check the spread of the basic deterioration: to repair as efficiently as possible the present wreckage and to prevent further havoc in future.

The encouraging fact that forty-one of the States in this Union have now official machinery for public welfare work bears witness that the importance of this proper function of the State is being more and more widely recognized. But complete education of the public in regard to the vital necessity of this work is the next step in order that it attain full efficiency.

 PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC WELFARE

Public welfare work deals primarily with four widespread conditions which debilitate a nation: delinquency, defectiveness, dependency, and unequal opportunity in the commonwealth. Delinquency shows itself in all the variety of offenses against society committed by criminals, adult and juvenile. The pitiful hordes of the defective, i. e., the feeble-minded, the insane, the epileptic, the deaf, dumb and blind overcrowd our inadequate institutions and spread themselves among the normal population, reproducing themselves so prolifically that, at their present rate of increase, in a few generations there may be danger of a preponderate majority over the superior. The dependent (who are usually also defective in some respect) are drags upon their communities, clogging the wheels of economic progress. And in our whole domain unequal opportunities are a constant source of dependency, defectiveness and delinquency. In the wake of these serious social ailments follows a swarm of attendant evils, of which prostitution with its spread of venereal diseases, and illegitimacy with its disgrace and handicap of innocent children are chief.

Such vast problems as these it is the business of the State's public welfare machinery to investigate, to remedy, and to take steps to decrease in future. The public health service may insure the feeble-minded child a vigorous body, but unless the State's public welfare program is such as to segregate this defective and thus prevent his promiscuous breeding, society will be increasingly weakened by the perpetuation of the mentally defective, however physically healthy they may be. Public education may provide excellent schools for those capable of learning in them. But what of the comparatively large element in the population which cannot profit by the unusual method of education, unless the State Department of Public Welfare will supervise their specially adapted training and will place them in institutions adequately fitted to care for them? Interlinked as the departments of health, education and public welfare are, they are all equally necessary in a democratic State where opportunity for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is guaranteed to every citizen.

 MODERN TENDENCIES IN PUBLIC WELFARE WORK

Evolution of public welfare work in the United States has been a steady, if slow, progression. None of the forty-one states which have established public welfare systems have in any known instance, abolished them. Instead, in practically every state and in all the more progressive where such systems exist, the scope of public welfare activities has been constantly widened with excellent results.

Certain general tendencies are to be noted in the work at present. Perhaps most conspicuous among these is the tendency to center more power in the State Department or Board of Public Welfare. State boards of charities and public welfare were organized originally merely for the supervision of state institutions for dependents and the correlation of efforts of various charitable agencies. In many states the function of the board remains to a large extent supervisory; but in more progressive states the board is given greater executive and administrative power. The most notable instance of this, as well as the most successful, is the State Board of Control of Minnesota, which has the administration of all state institutions. There are, however, numerous questions which arise in regard to the wisdom of such pronounced centralization as has been established in Minnesota. Still, results all over the country apparently point to the fact that when the State Department of Public Welfare has a moderate amount of supervision and control with which to put into force its recommendations, the benefits are more evident than when the board's function is merely supervisory.

The imperative need of employment of specially trained workers in public welfare activities is another comparatively recent development of this branch of social service in the United States. With the problems of public welfare essentially scientific and requiring for their solution not merely intelligence and tactful personality, but clear knowledge as well, the worker trained in the principles of sociology and the practice of case work becomes a practical necessity. The successful social worker, like the poet, is probably born, not made; but it is plain to persons familiar with the situation that suitable native endowment of the worker should be reinforced by special training if the best results are to be secured.

 CHANGES IN THE SPIRIT OF THE WORK

Various changes in the spirit of public welfare work as well as in its organization are also noticeable at present. Chief among these is the emphasis which is now being laid upon the idea of prevention rather than of temporary alleviation and palliation as the most important aspect of social work. Public welfare work now tends to look ahead. This is well, for without such intelligent anticipation the threatened menace of startling increase of mental and moral defectiveness cannot be successfully forestalled.

Another highly important forward step in public welfare work has been the growth of the idea of the advantage of rehabilitation rather than retribution in dealing with criminals, correction rather than undiscriminating punishment. The theory upon which is based this corrective rather than punitive method is that the great majority of offenders against society are not vicious, but sick—usually temporarily, either physically, mentally or morally—and that such sickness is amenable to intelligent treatment. The increasing popularity of the parole system is conspicuous practical manifestation of this idea. Although it may be assumed from this and similar evidence that humanitarianism is increasing, fortunately the tendency of the times is to strip it of its vitiating sentimentality and to clothe it, instead, in the durable and saner vesture of science and common sense.

 THE BLIGHT OF SOCIETY'S UNDESIRABLES

The undesirable elements of society, the delinquent, the defective and the dependent, are parasites—voluntary or involuntary—on the body social and politic. The health of this body, its progress, and in the not far distant future, its vitality itself, depends upon whether these inferior and unfortunate elements are allowed to increase without restriction, immeasurably to weaken and undermine the quality of the foundation of the social and political structure. The public welfare departments in the several states are the organizations most responsible for the efficacy with which this vital problem is to be met. Backed by the powerful support of enlightened public opinion, the State systems of public welfare can develop an efficient machinery whereby the present effects of these dangerous social ailments may be treated in the scientific spirit and with common sense as well as with all kindness; and whereby steps may be taken to prevent their future promiscuous spread.

The key to successful public welfare work is expressed in the familiar adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” And nowhere, for the sake of its own safety, can the State so ill afford to be negligent as with respect to the quality of the human material which is its ultimate and which must be its stable foundation.

 PUBLIC WELFARE IN NORTH CAROLINA

The report which follows is submitted with a reasonable degree of pride in what has been accomplished during the last biennial period. There has been a steady growth of the work in many directions as a result of a more and more intelligent public conception as to the service a State Board of Charities and Public Welfare may render. This service has been wider even than may be shown by this report, for in addition to routine work much time is given to conferences by different members of the staff with visitors who come to the office for assistance and information along various lines. During the eleven months from December 1, 1921, to November 1, 1922, more than six hundred persons have visited the office of the board.

Several outstanding pieces of work have been undertaken and practically accomplished during the past year. Notably, a comprehensive study of poor relief as administered through county homes and pauper lists; a study of penal institutions which included an inspection of a majority of the jails and chain-gangs in the State; an inspection of every private child-caring institution; a study of two feeble-minded families with the usual ramifications of crime and dependency; a study of the cases of 245 children. Forty of these were children who had been paroled from the Jackson Training School, fifty were children who had been placed by the North Carolina Children's Home Society, and the other 155 were children in two private institutions. In addition to the above studies, we have undertaken the formulation and promotion of a program for mental health and hygiene.

In our report we have tried to state facts as they actually exist in order that the public may understand and sympathize with the policies of the board—policies which we conceive to be fundamentally important. All the public welfare work is based on the theory that it is better, and will be ultimately cheaper, to prevent social misfits and social disorganizations than to care for social wreckage. The test of the value and thoroughness of the work will be whether or not it eventually decreases the State's liabilities and increases tremendously its assets.

The State Board had the misfortune to lose Hon. R. F. Beasley as Commissioner in March, 1920. Mr. Beasley resigned to go into private business. Any satisfactory extension of the work is built on the splendid foundation Mr. Beasley laid as the first Commissioner and executive officer of the Board.

Later on Miss Daisy Denson, who for a number of years had been the faithful secretary of the Board of Charities, previous to the establishment of a Board of Public Welfare, also resigned. This left the Board with a new executive officer and entirely new staff to be appointed. The Board was without an executive officer from March, 1921, until July of the same year, and during that period the present Commissioner, who had directed the child welfare work under Mr. Beasley for two years, was in charge of the office, and in July, 1921, was elected Commissioner. At the same time Dr. Howard W. Odum, Director of the School of Public Welfare at the University of North Carolina, was made Consulting Expert to the Board. In this capacity Dr. Odum has given generously of his time and ability, and his advice and assistance have been invaluable. Dr. Odum receives no salary for this work. The executive staff has been gradually increased by the addition of Miss Shotwell and Miss Tuttle, each of whom is responsible for a division of the child welfare work; Mr. Roy Brown, Field Agent; Miss Nell Battle Lewis, Secretary; Mr. Wiley B. Sanders, inspector; Miss Fannie Dark, bookkeeper and stenographer; Miss Claire Hodges, librarian and stenographer. Mrs. Arthur Holding, stenographer, is the only member of the staff or office force, with the exception of the Commissioner, who was with the Board when the last Legislature met. The University joins with the State Board in employing Dr. Harry W. Crane, Director of the Bureau of Mental Health and Hygiene. The limited appropriation of the State Board made it impossible for the Board to employ a whole time psychologist, so an arrangement was made with the University, whereby the University and the State Board jointly employ Dr. Crane and divide his salary and his time. Every addition to the staff of the State Board has been made after giving serious consideration to the training, experience and personality of the person under consideration in relation to the work they were to do, and, as a result we believe that the Board has an executive staff that for loyalty, ability and conscientious service is unusual. It can be truthfully said the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare is trying faithfully and conscientiously to serve the people, and where the Board falls short there are extenuating circumstances such as lack of personnel and funds. The work has been done as economically as possible to get results. The books of the Board have been audited by the State Auditor and found to be correct.

When the present Commissioner of Public Welfare was appointed her first efforts were directed towards organizing the work of the Board under five bureaus, whose activities should cover specialized fields according to the duties required of the Board by law. There are now five bureaus under the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. They are: County Organization, Child Welfare, Institutional Supervision, Mental Health and Hygiene, and Promotion and Education. The work of these bureaus will be given elsewhere in this report in detail, and will give a fair idea of what has been accomplished during the past two years.

But the organization of the public welfare work has not been without difficulties and dangers, for as has been pertinently said, “It's easier to get good laws than it is to get good out of the law,” and as a matter of general information it may be well to discuss briefly some of the difficulties encountered in organizing the work.

DIFFICULTIES

The first difficulty is the attitude of a great number of people who see in every public office created an extra burden to them as taxpayers and an easy berth for some one. It is usually, too, the individual who pays the smallest taxes and makes the least contribution to civic progress who speaks the loudest. Illustrating this was an incident that happened in a certain county. It had been advertised in the local papers that the Commissioner was to appear before the county authorities on a certain date to ask for the appointment of a local officer. The public was invited to express an opinion as to the appointment. The only organized opposition that was in evidence on the day the decision was to be made was led by a comparatively well to do, but illiterate farmer, who had gathered together a number of people from different sections of the county, to protest against any increase in taxation. The majority of his followers could probably neither read nor write, obviously they could have little conception of what they were fighting, but they had a voice and they had a vote; they were entitled to a hearing, and their leader expressed himself emphatically. He took for his text, “The back of the farmer is broke with taxes.” “What's your farm worth?” asked the county attorney. “Well, about ten or twelve thousand dollars,” he replied. “If that's so,” said the county attorney after figuring a little, “What we are planning to appropriate for welfare work in this county will cost you around eighty-three cents a year.”

But the story of the farmer is typical of a condition that is quite prevalent, and not confined by any means to the illiterate class. Frequently educated people are indifferent and really antagonistic to social work because they are uninformed as to the extent and seriousness of our social disabilities. To most social workers, and certainly those having experience in rural fields, such statements as these will sound familiar: “There aren't many weak-minded children in our community”: “There isn't any child labor here because we haven't any cotton mills, and any way I always worked, and it didn't hurt me”; “All the children around here are in school that ought to be,” etc. To overcome such an attitude it must be proven that the work is needed, and that it pays from an economical as well as a social viewpoint. Both are difficult, principally because they cannot be quickly done, and in the meantime an impatient public is demanding something for its money. In order to prove that the work is needed surveys must be made and statistics gathered that will bring to light the conditions as they actually exist, and that will give a basis for the requirements of the Board, and justify statements as to future probabilities.

During the past year the Board has made a careful study of two families for the purpose of proving how much it cost the State not to do good social work. In these families the problems of mental defectives, dependency and crime all entered. The cost of these two families alone, which are but typical of others, is so enormous that “he who runs may read” how foolish it is to permit human wreckage, and then try to patch it up by remedial measures, rather than to stop the supply. A synopsis of one of these is included in this report (see Wake family), and the other which is very much more thorough and comprehensive will be published January 1st.

Another difficulty to overcome is the necessity for shattering pleasant traditions, that have been carefully nurtured and extensively believed, if we are to be honest with the public and with our own convictions. The General Assembly is memorialized at each meeting to enlarge institutional facilities and build new institutions, and petitioners have a very comfortable feeling that if all could be gotten that was asked for, many social problems would be solved, and individual responsibility relieved. As a matter of fact admission of the necessity for a correctional institution, particularly for children, is prima facie evidence that the home, the school, the church and the community have all failed in their jobs to some extent. Again we frequently hear people remark that “it's a pity more children couldn't be gotten into orphanages.” It is a tragedy when any child in need of help and care fails to receive it, but the fundamental problem with which we should grapple is the one of keeping the family intact, rather than striving to provide institutional care for a fragment of it. So long as a child is considered a thing apart from the family environment, no material progress is made in reducing the number of dependents in the State.

Then there is a minimum danger of too much centralization of power. Just how far the State should go in its efforts to carry out the constitutional mandate that all men shall have an opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and at the same time avoid lessening individual responsibility and discouraging initiative is a serious question. It is obvious that social progress will travel a very uneven road unless there is some general plan for the good of all, and some agency that has the power to supervise and execute to a limited extent. Rich and progressive counties where social leadership exists would have compulsory attendance laws, child labor laws, establish juvenile courts, give attention to the needs of the poor and defective; other counties or communities would be indifferent to all or many of these measures. We believe we are overcoming this difficulty to some extent in North Carolina through the plan of county units of public welfare. These have some definite responsibilities under the State law; they are required to send in certain reports and represent the State in certain instances, but they are largely left to their own wishes when it comes to promoting, correlating, and applying local ideas and efforts and using local agencies, the State acting in an advisory and assisting capacity only. No State program of public welfare should be made so inelastic in its general conception that it cannot conform to local conditions. We believe this can be done without endangering definite and integral policies that must be maintained by the State department.

Another great handicap in organizing the public welfare work has been the wide gap between our progressive social legislation and our facilities for carrying out the same. When the juvenile court law was passed there were only two corrective institutions in the State for juveniles, the Jackson Training School for White Boys and the Caswell Training School for Mental Defectives. The institutions for the insane and epileptics were totally inadequate to care for the number of applications. Consequently it has been most discouraging for superintendents of public welfare and judges of the juvenile courts to have defective and delinquent persons in their charge for whom the State failed to provide sufficient corrective institutional care. This is a condition that is being gradually overcome, and it is safe to say that better and increased facilities have come about as a result of the welfare work which has shown the pressing need for the same.

The last difficulty to be mentioned is probably the most serious one of all—the need for trained workers to carry out the program and plan of the State department, and overcoming this difficulty will include to a large extent the solving of all others. That such workers are more successful if familiar with local conditions, and if they have a local background is also true. Then to take a highly trained worker, accustomed to city work, where adequate facilities are available to handle practically any social problem, and put him in a small town or a rural community where the worker has not only to solve the problems, but be ingenious enough to make the facilities, is exceedingly discouraging to the worker. It was evident then that trained leadership must largely be gotten from local material, and in order to meet this end not only in North Carolina, but in other southern states, the University of North Carolina established the School of Public Welfare (see report of Bureau of Promotion and Education).

Revealing the difficulties of the work of a State Board of Public Welfare presents the best argument for a state having a well organized department of public welfare. The ignorance and indifference of the public as to social disqualifications; a sentimental attitude rather than a scientific spirit; short-sighted economic policy in handling social problems; lack of facilities to train and treat defectives and delinquents; the lack of trained leadership. These are the problems that can only be overcome by a State Department of Public Welfare that functions for all classes and all sections. That progress is slow and frequently retarded need not be discouraging. Christian civilization is two thousand years old, and we are only beginning to recognize that the test of civilization is the care and protection afforded those who of themselves cannot function as assets to society.

 COUNTY ORGANIZATION

Forty-six counties have whole-time superintendents of public welfare, eleven counties have superintendents giving part of their time to the work, and forty-three counties are requiring the superintendent of public instruction to serve also as superintendent of public welfare.

There is more work along the lines required of superintendents of public welfare in any one county than can be efficiently done by one person, therefore to require the superintendent of public instruction to add to his already manifold duties by undertaking any part of the welfare work is obviously unfair. It is also obviously unfair to deprive the children and the disadvantaged adults in a certain number of counties of the services that a superintendent of public welfare may render. There is no democracy in providing special care and protection for only a part of the people and neglecting the other part. The welfare work should be enlarged and strengthened to the extent that the enforcement of school attendance, child labor and probation service at least would be a state-wide social program. Then only can there be guaranteed to every child protection and education, and to this should be added recreation and such relief or charity as his condition requires.

In organizing the work in the counties one of the most difficult things has been to get local officials to see that the “welfare officer,” as he is frequently called, should be a person of education, high moral standards and social vision, and that the office is not to be filled by a political dependent. There is just as definite a technique in handling social problems as there is in practicing medicine or law. The social worker who does not understand this, and add to his inclination to do what's right for human beings, the knowledge of how to do what's right, is guilty of experimenting with human misery and need. Having said this much, we must go further and say that the majority of the superintendents of public welfare are doing excellent work in their respective counties. They are men and women who are doing the work because they love it and see the seriousness of our social problems, and frequently they do it at a financial sacrifice. If ever the history of North Carolina's great adventure in public welfare is written as it developed in the various counties it will be a story of the self-sacrifice, the heart-breaking labor, the devotion of a small group of men and women—“welfare officers”—who heard a voice that said, “Even as you do it unto the least of these.”

The State Board of Public Welfare has established a standard system of record-keeping for county officers, and requires monthly records to be submitted to the State Board. These reports keep the Board fairly well informed about the work in general in the various counties and furnish valuable statistics as to the number of persons or cases handled, the charges on which children are brought into court, the disposition of court cases, county poor, relief, etc.

When the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Federal Child Labor Law unconstitutional, five federal inspectors were automatically removed from the State, and superintendents of public welfare, as local representatives of the State Child Welfare Commission, assumed the responsibility of enforcing the Child Labor Law. This put an extra burden on the time and resources of officials who were already taxed to the utmost in doing the work required of them, but with the help of the State Child Welfare Commission, which put some additional field agents to work, the situation has been satisfactorily handled. (See report of the Commission.) The time has now come when North Carolina should strengthen her laws relating to child labor in order to conform to national standards and make adequate provision for their enforcement. In this way only will we be forever relieved of any necessity for federal inspection and be in a position to say to the Federal government, “We can do our own job.”

As to the administrative machinery for enforcing child labor legislation, this is already provided in a State Child Welfare Commission, of which the Commissioner of Public Welfare is chairman, whose local agent is the County Superintendent of Public Welfare. Additional help should be given superintendents of public welfare in order that the law may be thoroughly and efficiently enforced, and it is but fair that this help should be provided through State funds that will supplement the funds appropriated by the counties. It would be advisable, we believe, for the State to require a certain group of the larger counties to have whole-time superintendents of public welfare with an assistant to be paid from State funds, another group to have whole-time superintendents, one-third of whose salary should be paid by the State, and still another group of rural and sparsely populated counties to put a limited sum for clerical assistance and traveling expenses in the office of the superintendent of public instruction. This plan of course should be worked out on a basis of population and manufacturing interests.

At the present time $115,543.96 is being spent annually from public funds on county public welfare work. This includes the salaries of superintendents of public welfare, probation and school attendance officers, office help, office supplies, transportation, etc. In comparison with the work that is done and the various and serious responsibilities that are placed on the department of public welfare, this is an entirely inadequate sum to finance the work properly. The amount of $140,000 is spent annually in North Carolina from public funds for outdoor poor relief. In other words the “pauper lists” cost the State approximately $5,000 more each year than is spent for public welfare in both State and county work (the State Board gets $20,000 annually). The pauper lists are composed of persons who for different reasons cannot or will not be sent to the county home, and who appear before the county commissioners and ask for aid. Generally speaking no investigation is made to determine the applicant's real need, but on recommendation of some one, usually a neighbor, enough is given to tide the applicant over from one month's misery to the next. Just as frequently as not the money is given unwisely and foolishly used. Indeed the pauper list in some counties is so large that it raises a question of whether or not its administration is not quite a political asset. Yet no question has ever been raised regarding this careless handling of public funds (there are some exceptions of course to the way outdoor relief is administered), but much has been said in the various counties about the cost of public welfare whose ultimate object is to decrease the State's dependents.

COUNTY BOARDS OF PUBLIC WELFARE

The weakest link in the chain of public welfare agencies is the county board of public welfare. This board should be more definitely related to the superintendent of public welfare and assume a greater responsibility for the work in the county. Under the present system the superintendent of public welfare is appointed and paid by the joint boards of education and county commissioners. Naturally he reports to these boards and looks to them for direction. These boards have their special interest and specific duties, which places the welfare work in the unenviable position of the step child of the boards. On the other hand the county board of charities and public welfare, composed of three persons selected for their especial qualifications to serve cannot be expected to feel as great an interest as they otherwise might in the work of an executive officer for whose selection and program they are not responsible. It might be advisable to make the chairman of the board of county commissioners and chairman of the board of education members, ex officio of the board of public welfare, or some other member designated by these two boards, and allow this board the privilege of appointing the superintendent of public welfare, subject to approval by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, and at such compensation as shall be fixed by the joint boards of county commissioners and education. The chairman of the county board of charities and public welfare should be selected from one of the three members appointed by the State board.

WHOLESOME RECREATION AT ONE OF THE ORPHANAGES

 BUREAU OF CHILD WELFARE

(The work of this bureau is carried on through two divisions: Division of Child-Caring Institutions and Division of Case Work.)

I. DIVISION CHILD-CARING INSTITUTIONS

The responsibility for the care and training of the dependent child is a matter of supreme importance and not to be lightly undertaken by individuals or organizations. It is the duty of the State to supervise duly approved public and private institutions, and to refuse to license any that are not absolutely necessary, properly established and well equipped to receive children.

Institutions are to be judged by the quality of the product they turn out. There are institutions in the State whose children in health, social habits, education and all round personality and character justify the belief that high standards can be lived up to and fulfilled. What one has done others can do, and it is the privilege of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare to make available all the resources of the best training and experience in child care in the country for the benefit of the child-caring institutions of the State.

At present there are twenty-three private and two semi-private orphanages in the State. The semi-private are the white and colored orphanages at Oxford, both of which receive State appropriation. More than 2,900 children are being cared for by these institutions. Only one new institution was granted license this year. This is the Mary Lee Home for Dependent Colored Children at High Point. The building is small, hence the capacity is limited, but the superintendent, Mary Lee Byerly, is planning to enlarge it as soon as she can secure financial assistance.

It has been necessary to close up two child-caring institutions and to refuse to license ten organizations and individuals wishing to receive dependent children because of failure to meet State requirements.

INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS REFUSED LICENSE SINCE THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE BOARD OF CHARITIES AND PUBLIC WELFARE Southern Juvenile Protective Association—Rev. Crawford Jackson, Atlanta, Georgia. American Rescue Workers—Gen. James W. Duffin, Philadelphia. Volunteers of America—Capt. Walter Peterson, Fayetteville, N. C. Industrial Union Training School and Orphanage (Colored)—Rev. James Henderson, Southern Pines, N. C. Carolina Children's Bureau—W. B. Streeter, Asheville, N. C. National Nazarene Institute for Advancement of the Race (Colored)—Rev. A. T. Draper, Greensboro, N. C. Negro Family Orphanage—R. S. Fowler, Wake Forest, N. C. National Orphanage—Rev. Marcus Smith. Mary Elizabeth Moore, Hiddenite, N. C. (Colored). Mrs. Henrietta Kornegay, Mount Olive, N. C.

The following individuals have been throughout the State soliciting funds for institutions that do not exist, and the public is warned not to contribute to them:

Otto Cox, “Church of God” Orphanage. Supposed to be located in Tennessee.

Two colored women soliciting for home for “Daughters of Jerusalem and Sisters of the Church of God and Christ.” Supposed to be located near Rocky Mount, N. C.

 VISITS TO INSTITUTIONS

A visit lasting from one to two days has been made to every child-caring institution in the State. The administration and work of each has been studied carefully and a written report made of each visit. These reports, with recommendations whenever deemed wise, have been sent to the various members of the board of trustees. The following extracts from letters received from trustees show that they are intensely interested in their institutions, and many of them want all the assistance they can get to improve the orphanages:

“This seems to me to be a very full and complete report. In fact it gives detailed information that as a member of the board of this institution I am very glad indeed to have, and shall file for future reference. I am sure that the entire board appreciates the fact that this inspection has been made by the Board of Charities and Public Welfare.”

“I have yours of yesterday, and thank you for your interest in the orphanage. We feel that this is going to work well, and if so it is to your credit that we try it, for nobody thought of doing so until you suggested it. Our board feels very kindly toward you. You have helped us get some things we have been unable to get in the management of the institution.”

“I have read the report with the keenest interest, and am sure it will be helpful to us in planning for the future of the orphanage. The whole situation is covered in a most systematic and helpful way, and the suggestions and recommendations are excellent.”

“I think the report and the study very thorough, and I heartily agree with the recommendations.”

Since the orphanages are so unlike and conditions are different, it is impossible to draw any definite comparisons from the visits or the reports made to the boards of trustees. Realizing that there were many phases of work that were more or less similar, a questionnaire dealing with five phases of institutional management—administration, finances, number of children received and dismissed, education and physical care of children while in the institution, was sent to each superintendent. This information has been tabulated so that each institution can study its own work in the light and experience of the others.

 ADMINISTRATION (See Table I, Page 28)

From Table I of the comparative summaries of the questionnaire it will be noted that there are 251 trustees in these institutions, and that they hold 152 meetings each year. Each institution has a superintendent, and four of them in addition, a business manager. There are 261 other men and women assisting the superintendent in their work, 87 being teachers, 47 cottage mothers, 62 matrons, and 66 officers. It will be observed that in five institutions the members of the board of trustees meet once a month, and that in one, the Alexander Home in Charlotte, they meet once a week.

 FINANCIAL STATEMENT (See Table II, Page 29)

The estimated value of orphanage property in the State is $3,888,000. This means that 161 buildings and 2,276 acres of land owned by the orphanages are valued at $3,888,000.

Last year $904,495 was used in caring for dependent children in the orphanages. Of this amount the churches and fraternal orders gave $748,909, the State $50,000, and individuals $105,586.

Thirteen institutions have an endowment fund of $613,547, while seven have an indebtedness of $51,246.

There is no uniform method of keeping books in the institutions, and the item “other expenses” in the expenditure column has several meanings. It was placed under “maintenance and operation of plant” in the questionnaire filled out by superintendents, but the interpretation has not been the same, hence the meaning varies.

The expenditures of the institutions is $467,200, which includes $174,910 for salaries, $42,640 for clothing, $148,165 for food, $95,558 for other expenses, and $5,927 for interest on borrowed money. The above expenditure does not include the improvements being made in twenty institutions with the approximate cost of $242,388.

The per capita cost of caring for the children as given in the questionnaire is $195.

 CHILDREN (See Table III, Page 30)

Last year 2,940 children were cared for in the institutions. From Table III it will be seen that the capacity of the institutions is 3,020, but that only 2,940 cases were cared for. Within the past few weeks two institutions have completed new buildings, thus increasing their capacity. In all 1,581 applications for admissions were received by the institutions, but only 431 children were admitted, while 331 children were dismissed from orphanages the past year. This number is fairly large considering that only two institutions make any attempt to place children. These were dismissed as follows:

47 graduated. 155 returned to relatives. 31 placed in homes. 28 secured positions. 21 have gone to college. 27 ran away. 3 were sent to Caswell Training School. 2 died. 17 were disposed of otherwise. (No statement made as to disposition.) EDUCATION (See Table IV, Page 31)

The average school term for the orphanages is nine months, with an average of four hours per day per child. Last year 2,269 children were in school and they attended the grades as follows:

321 in the first grade. 248 in the second. 268 in the third. 247 in the fourth. 297 in the fifth. 278 in the sixth. 198 in the seventh. 134 in the eighth. 91 in the ninth. 106 in the tenth. 81 in the eleventh.

It will be observed that more than 1,600 children that attend school in the orphanages are in the first six grades, and that there is a considerable dropping off in numbers in the grades that follow. This is not easy to explain, since only two of the orphanages attempt to do any child-placing, and the total number that these two placed was very few over one hundred.

Six institutions, Alexander Home, Buncombe County Children's Home, Falcon, Nazareth, Pythian and Union County Children's Home, send their children to public schools of the community in which the orphanage is located. Three institutions, Christian, Eliada and Thompson, send their high school pupils to the city schools, and two others, Freewill Baptist and Children's Home, receive salary from the county for one or more teachers in their schools.

The number of volumes in the libraries of the orphanages runs from 50 in the small home to 3,000 in the larger, making a total of 15,059 in all the institutions.

One hundred and twenty magazines especially suitable for children are taken, and the number taken in each institution varies from three to twenty-two.

Only one institution, Oxford, employs a director of physical education. Three, Thomasville, Oxford, and the Odd Fellows Home, have a teacher of home economics.

 PHYSICAL CARE (See Table V, Page 33)

Seventeen of the twenty-four institutions require a physical examination of the children upon entrance, while four of these have a physical examination at regular intervals, and eight have a regular dental examination. Eighteen doctors, fourteen dentists and nine nurses are regularly employed by the institutions to look after the health of the children.

The children are provided with individual toilet articles as follows:

20 institutions provide combs and brushes. 23 institutions provide toothbrushes. 18 institutions provide towels. 20 institutions provide washcloths. CHILD-CARING INSTITUTIONS

Following is the list of child-caring institutions in North Carolina:

Alexander Home—Mrs. Fannie Sharpe, Charlotte. Baptist Orphanage and Kennedy Home—Rev. M. L. Kesler, Thomasville. Buncombe County Children's Home—Miss Emma Donoho, Asheville. Baptist Orphanage (Colored)—Rev. W. J. Poindexter, Winston-Salem. Catholic Orphanage—Rev. George Woods, Nazareth, Wake County. Methodist Children's Home—Rev. Chas. A. Woods, Winston-Salem. Christian Orphanage—Chas. D. Johnson, Elon College. Eliada Orphanage—Rev. L. B. Compton, Asheville. Falcon Orphanage—J. A. Culbreth, Falcon. Freewill Baptist Orphanage—C. G. Pope, Middlesex. Grandfather Orphan's Home—J. W. Holcomb, Banner Elk. Mary Lee Home for Dependent Children (Colored)—Mary Lee Byerly, High Point. Maxwell Orphanage—George L. Newton, Franklin. Methodist Protestant Children's Home—H. A. Garrett, High Point. Methodist Orphanage—Rev. A. S. Barnes, Raleigh. Mountain Orphanage—R. D. Bedinger, Balfour. Nazareth Orphanage—Rev. A. S. Peeler, Crescent. I. O. O. F. Home—Chas. O. Baird, Goldsboro. Oxford Orphan Asylum—R. L. Brown, Oxford. Oxford Orphanage (Colored)—H. P. Cheatham, Oxford. Presbyterian Orphans' Home—E. McS. Hyde, Barium Springs. Pythian Home—C. W. Pender, Clayton. St. Ann's Orphanage—Sister Mary Clare, Belmont. Thompson Orphanage—Rev. W. H. Wheeler, Charlotte. Union County Children's Home—E. C. Snyder, Monroe. OUTSTANDING FEATURES

The orphanages of the State have many things in common, but all have their own individuality and are working out their problems in a different way. The spirit and interest of the workers in all the institutions is remarkable. In many instances there is such a devotion to the work that many of the officers have been in service twenty-five years. Some of the most interesting features of the work being done are given below:

1. Cottage System.—Only one institution in the State is run on the cottage system entirely. The plan is so successful that the superintendent would not consider returning to the congregate plan. Several others have a partial cottage system, using the cottages for small children, but have the congregate dining-room for the larger children.

2. Spirit of the Institution.—One of the finest features of several orphanages is the “homelike atmosphere.” The superintendents and their families eat in the dining-room with the children, and there is no difference in their food. The children realize that the superintendent is their friend and the spirit of the institution is very fine. Plans for developing the initiative of the individual children are worked out, thus preventing the danger of them becoming more or less institutionalized.

3. Children's Contact with Society.—Until recently there was only one institution that sent the children to the public schools of the community. The children of this orphanage do not know of any other plan and their work is quite remarkable. They take part in all community activities and are considered a definite part of the community. This plan is now being tried in five other institutions with splendid results.

In six or more orphanages the children attend church and Sunday School outside the institution. Many of them sing in the church choir and play in the Sunday School orchestra.

4. Physical Examination of Children.—One of the first things a new superintendent did was to have every child in the orphanage given a thorough physical examination. This information was recorded and a photograph of every child was taken and attached to his record.

5. Teaching of Thrift.—One superintendent has worked out a most unique and practical plan for the teaching of thrift. All children over ten years of age receive a penny a day for doing their tasks well. In case of failure to do the task satisfactorily the child forfeits his penny for that day. All children under ten receive one-half penny for their tasks. At the end of the month one-third of the amount that is due the child is placed to his credit in a savings bank. This money will be given him when he leaves the institution. The other two-thirds of the month's earnings is given to the child and he is taught to spend it wisely.

6. Physical Education.—The establishment of a department of physical education is one of the most important pieces of work that has been accomplished in any institution during the past year. There are two divisions of this work, one for boys and one for girls, with a director for each division. The work is similar and is organized into four groups: playground activities, swimming, folk games, and scouting.

Each month the children are weighed and the records kept. Report cards are given every three months and the children are graded on proficiency, conduct and attendance.

7. Mothers' Aid.—As a usual thing, the orphanages are not given to many and varied experiments, but one of them is doing some work in aiding mothers in their own homes, which is rather unusual. The plan is worked in connection with the local church. The church appoints a committee whose duty it is to look after the case and report to the church and to the orphanage. More than 130 children are being kept with their mothers through this aid. It costs a great deal less than it does to bring the children to the institution, and does not separate them from their mother.

The orphanage officials have found that there should be skilled supervision of this work, and have decided to secure a field worker who will make a survey of the cases asking for aid and give close supervision to those receiving it.

8. Alumni Association.—The girls and boys who leave one of the orphanages have organized an alumni association which meets once a year. The annual meeting is held at the orphanage at Easter, and many look forward to returning for the meeting. Everything is done by the institution to make their stay happy.

 AIMS TO BE ATTAINED IN CHILD-CARING INSTITUTIONS OF NORTH CAROLINA

Institutions represent a financial investment by the public; they represent also a sense of responsibility in regard to the care and training of children. There is a large place in the scheme of child welfare for the orphanage and the institution that accepts children for care, temporary or permanent, assumes a responsibility far reaching in its scope.

What dependent children need is exactly what all children need. Every child is a part of a family group and should be so considered. Any plan of child welfare that does not take into consideration the child's family background in planning for his training and protection is inadequate. Some competent person connected with the institution should in every case visit the home from which the child comes. When children are received without due precaution, homes are needlessly broken up and often the institutions become overcrowded with children who might have been kept within the circle of their family. The State Board of Charities and Public Welfare recommends certain features which it deems essential in child-caring institutions in the State.

1. The Cottage System.

The ideal plan for children's institutions is the cottage system, which provides everything from kitchen and dining-room to sleeping and play quarters for from 20 to 30 children. Each unit should be as complete in itself as possible, approximating the family home. Since many of the institutions have been erected on the congregate plan, it may be impractical to make immediate changes, but every institution should plan to carry out the cottage system as far as possible in any new building or in the remodeling of old ones.

 2. An Institutional Visitor.

It is important that every institution make a special study of the child before admission, in order to be satisfied that every possible means of keeping a family together has been exhausted, and also to secure all available knowledge concerning the child's family history and environment in order that the most intelligent care and training may be given him.

Every institution should make it a matter of conscience and pride to keep in touch with the children who have been in their care. Annual visits should be made to the homes from which the children come in order to find out whether conditions have sufficiently improved for them to return. It is also wise and profitable to visit them after they have been placed in new homes or returned to their own. It is a great satisfaction and encouragement to learn of those who have made good and who have become useful members of society. On the other hand, the boy or girl who has not succeeded needs help from the institution.

An institutional visitor or field worker trained in social service work would render the above service to an institution. The information that the institutional visitor would obtain through investigation would also make it possible for local committees from churches and fraternal organizations to pass more intelligently on applications for admission.

 3. Baby Cottages as Temporary Homes.

Baby cottages should be used to keep a family of children together or for the temporary care of children when there is hope of restoring the family unit. To take a very young child of normal parentage, place it in a baby cottage and plan to keep it in the institution until it reaches maturity is unwise for the reason that good foster homes can always be provided for such children. The younger a child is the more successfully he can be placed. The best welfare of the child demands the care of an individual mother, and every possible effort should be made to find a mother.

 4. Extension of Age Limit.

One of the most serious problems of child welfare work in the State is what to do with the boy or girl over 12 who is dependent or neglected. Oftentimes a child of this age loses both parents either by death or neglect, and there is no place to send him, and many become delinquent. If the orphanages would extend their age limit and receive such cases it would be a great service to many children in the State.

 5. A Regular Examination of All Children.

Children should receive thorough physical examination at the time of admission to institutions. When practical, newly admitted children should be kept apart from others until known to be free from infectious or contagious diseases.

All children should be examined at least annually during their stay in the institution and before discharge. There should be on file for each a continuous health record, including admission examination, subsequent examinations and records of treatment in cases of defect.

Health record blanks may be secured free from the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare.

 6. A Director of Physical Education.

Play and recreation are now recognized essentials in the development of character. The individual is more completely revealed in play than in any other way. The qualities that are strongest or weakest may be easily demonstrated on the playground. The advancement of physical education as a part of the school program is one of the outstanding features of the educational development of this age. It goes without question that play must be supervised, that the child does not know how to play, and that the best way to advance the play instinct is through organized play.

 7. A Teacher of Home Economics.

A well trained teacher of home economics should be employed for the purpose of giving systematic training in home-making. The work should include work in food, textiles and clothing, household management, laundry work, and should be a regular part of the school curriculum. However, practical application of the classroom work with the activities of the children should be made at all times, and this application should be upon an educational basis rather than a matter of routine.

When a girl leaves the orphanage she will live in a small family group and her training in home economics should fit her for this group. Most of her work at the orphanage is based on the large institutional group which makes it hard for her to know how to plan for a small one. When she has been preparing food and cooking for one hundred people it is difficult for her to know how little is needed for four or six people unless she has had some training and experience in it.

 TABLE I—ADMINISTRATION Showing number of trustees of institutions, number of meetings held, and number of officers in the institutions.

InstitutionNumber TrusteesNumber MeetingsSuperintendentBusiness ManagerTeachersCottage MothersMatronsOfficersAlexander30521   1 Thomasville181111918 11Buncombe County Children's Home5121   1 Baptist Orphanage (colored)1281 1 3 Catholic  1 *5   Children's Home1921 6159Christian511 1231Eliada3121 2 43Falcon9411  21Freewill Baptist531 2 3 Grandfather521 2132Maxwell7121 1 3 Methodist Protestant Children's Home1711 2 21Methodist1811 77 7Mountain7121 1 2 Nazareth1221   11Odd Fellows721 55 3Oxford92111410614Oxford (colored)1111 3 4 Presbyterian Home1621111 108Pythian641   2 St. Ann's621 3 2 Thompson15†121 2235Union County Children's Home3 1   1 Mary Lee Home (colored)‡621   1 Total25115225487466266

* Teachers are also matrons and have entire charge of the home.

† Executive committee composed of eight members meets once a month.

‡ Mary Lee Home for Colored Children was licensed for the first time July 1, 1922, and has no report.

TABLE II—FINANCIAL STATEMENTShowing estimated value of plant, number of acres, number of buildings, total receipts and expenditures during last year, and annual per capita cost of caring for children. Institutions Plant Receipts Expenditures Improvements Estimated value Acres Buildings Church and Lodge Gifts State Endowment Salaries Per Capita Cost Clothing Food Other Expenses Interest on Money Indebtedness New Buildings Cost Alexander Home $ ....... 1 1 $4,668 $2,851 $...... $3,000 $1,688 $173 $1,452 $3,673 $...... $...... $...... 1 $ 600 Thomasville 343,000 450 16 186,372     122,933 49,981 232 14,105 57,488 5,824     3 33,818 Buncombe Co. Children's Home 68,000 10 1         1,980   272 1,131   1,503 25,000 1 35,000 Baptist Orphanage (colored) 65,000 31 3 8,446       2,592 145 89 1,938 7,477   525 1 14,300 Catholic 100,000 60 3   40,000     3,000 180 4,500 18,000 6,000     3 * Children's Home 450,000 200 7 60,000     35,000   240           2 50,000 Christian 100,000 180 2 26,383     30,000 4,000   1,289 2,476 6,397         Eliada 119,000 140 4   22,348               105 3,000 1   Falcon 25,000 25 3   7,500     2,000 125 1,500 5,000   300 6,500 1 2,500 Freewill Baptist 85,000 160 3 11,500 500     1,873 135 35 100 6,000 120 2,000   4,000 Grandfather 30,000 300 8 9,000     5,000 3,360 150           4 † Maxwell 8,000 10 2 3,000 2,550     2,400 160 750 900 1,500         Methodist Prot. Children's Home 150,000 116 1 13,271       3,435 187               Methodist 750,000 100 11 78,000     182,000                   Mountain 12,000 48 3 4,500 2,100     2,600 120 1,125 2,225 650         Nazareth 30,000 120 3 11,605     38,000 1,401 208       66       Odd Fellows Home 250,000 76 7 53,940       8,407 334 4,018 14,737 16,219   11,272   5,218 Oxford (white) 500,000 242 26 119,546   30,000 42,108 45,720 211 3,991 20,138         74,752 Oxford (colored) 90,000 285 14 963 1,473 20,000 2,000 4,650 133 3,640 7,195 9,900 80 2,949 1 2,200 Presbyterian Home 500,000 430 22 133,315     125,192 24,200 279 4,650 11,344 2,625 604     135,993 Pythian Home 65,000 185 8 9,000     4,000 2,100                 St. Ann's 8,000 7 1 900 5,300   900   212             400 Thompson 140,000 70 10 14,500 15,964   23,414 7,623 343 1,224 1,820 9,336 3,149   2 31,132 Union County Children's Home ‡ 40 2   5,000     1,800 140               Total 3,888,000 2,276 161 748,909 105,586 50,000 613,547 174,910 195 42,640 148,165 95,558 5,927 51,246 20 242,388

* No record.

† No report.

‡ Rented.

TABLE III—CHILDREN Showing number cared for and received during year, number of applications, and number dismissed.InstitutionsCapacityNumber Cared ForNumber ReceivedApplicationsDismissalsGraduatedReturned to RelativesPlaced in HomesPositionsCollegeRan AwayDiedCaswellOther DispositionAlexander4034985  4    1*1Thomasville53054267600 30 9 41 4Buncombe County Children's Home507643  1611     4Baptist Orphanage (colored)605112  8   4   Catholic1161152035317       Children's Home15016320  9 7     Christian125852940212      Eliada60533 5   †2    Falcon6061445 21      Freewill Baptist50441625 1       Grandfather55521634 6   31  Maxwell3225815 4  †22   Methodist Protestant Children's Home48501  1       Methodist2502502520011   7    Mountain404683522       Nazareth56496121  2 1 2 Odd Fellows150130 1456   1   Oxford3754315512610221742  ‡3Oxford (colored)**350206 95 12   10   Presbyterian Home**3302602178522     3Pythian5046928   23    St. Ann's28253 21  2    Thompson8594217015 11   2Union County Children's Home50423542 10       Total3,0202,9404311,58147155312821272317

*Married.

†Sent to high school instead of college.

‡Sent to Jackson Training School.

**New buildings nearing completion.

WHAT ONE ORPHANAGE IS DOING FOR ITS BOYS IN THE WAY OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING

TABLE IV—EDUCATION Showing length of school term, number grades taught, volumes in library, number magazines for children taken, number teachers of home economics and physical education.InstitutionsSchool TermNumber Children in School According to GradeTeacher Home EconomicsRecreationVolumes in LibraryMagazines Suitable for ChildrenAverage Number Hours Per DayNumber Month1234567891011Director Physical EducationForms of RecreationAlexander Home*5954103411    nonoPlayground, well equipped503Thomasville4105448465758564422 2834yesnoGames, not properly directed3,00014Buncombe County Children's Home*4½9135321      nonoGames50 Baptist Orphanage (colored)57133556      nonoGames1002Catholic591512151381081051110nonoPlayground apparatus, games, hikes7503Children's Home31028201612161318 943nono 1,20022Christian†6 and 391868851011441 nonoGiant stride, see-saws, gamesfewfewEliada49           nonoPlayground equipped, games6006Falcon*6910884613233   noGames3002Freewill Baptist682794  71    nonoPhysical exercises, games1002Grandfather68599311344   nonoGames2504Maxwell39   46564   nono 3003Methodist Protestant Children's Home3½96757764 62 nonoGames1,1003Methodist310           nopart timeGames2,0006Mountain310568810764   nono 550 Nazareth*5812697632  4 nonoGames, swings30012Odd Fellows Home39958111621111612135yesno   
Table IV—ContinuedInstitutionsSchool TermNumber Children in School According to GradeTeacher Home EconomicsRecreationVolumes in LibraryMagazines Suitable for ChildrenAverage Number Hours Per DayNumber Month1234567891011Director Physical EducationForms of RecreationOxford3102625312733443641312422yesyesGames, exercises1,8007Oxford (colored)583930253335308    nonoGames75 Presbyterian Home69251836303430162121156nono‡Swimming, games1,10021Pythian Home*591234567  4 nono 753St. Ann's510356 5 72    noGames1503Thompson39710139251363  1no§no‡Games, folk dances, swings1,2094Union County Children's Home69           nono   Total4+9+321248268247297278198134911068131 15,059120

*Children attend public schools

†Children above fifth grade attend public schools. Other grades attend school at the orphanage.

‡One is being contemplated.

§Matron of each cottage teaches cooking and sewing to teh girls in the cottage.

TABLE V—PHYSICAL CARE Showing examination of children on entrance, regular annual physical and dental examinations and the provision of necessary individual toilet articles.InstitutionsExaminationsRegularly EmployedToilet ArticlesEntrancePhysical Examinations at Regular IntervalsDental Examinations at Regular IntervalsDoctorDentistGraduate NurseComb and BrushToothbrushTowelWash-ClothAlexanderyesnoyesyesyesnoyesyesyesyesThomasvilleyesnoyesyespart timeyesyesyesyesyesBuncombe Co. Children's HomenononoyesnonoyesyesnoyesBaptist Orphanage (colored)nononono*nonoyesyesnonoCatholicnononoyesnonoyesyesyesyesChildren's Homeyesyesnoyesnopractical nurseyesyesyesyesChristianyesnonoyesyesnonoyesnonoEliadayesnoyesnoyesyesyesyesnoyesFalconnot allnonononononoyesyesyesFreewill Baptistyes yesyesyesnoyesyesyesyesGrandfather   yesyesyesyesyesyesyesMaxwellyes  yesnonoyesyesyesyesMethodist Prot. Children's HomeyesnoyesnoyesnoyesyesyesyesMethodistmentally, yesnonono†nopractical nurseyesyesyesyesMountainyes  yesyesnononoboys onlynoNazarethyesnonoyesyesnoyesyesyesyesOdd Fellowsyesyesyesyesyespractical nurseyesyesyesyesOxfordyesyesyesyesyespractical nurseyesyesyesyesOxford (colored)yes  yesnonoyesyesnoyesPresbyterian HomeyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesPythian Homeyes noyesyesnoyesyesyesyesSt. Ann's   yesyesyesyesyesyesyesThompsonyesnonoyesnonoyesyesyesyesUnion County Children's Homeno  nonononoyesnono

*Colored physicians give their services free and come whenever called.

†Two doctors and two dentists give their services free and take care of all the needs of the children.

 II. CASE WORK DIVISION

Problems dealing with individuals and families constitute the major part of the time of a superintendent of public welfare. For this reason work with the superintendent through visits to their counties, and work with them through correspondence will always be of great importance. Often cases are reported from counties which have no superintendent of public welfare. In such cases the bureau of child welfare makes special investigation when necessary. This work in the counties is of vital importance. It keeps the people of the county in touch with the State Department; it helps the State Department to keep its finger on the pulse of the people and it, as no other phase of public welfare work, can show child problems and point the way to solve them.

Thirty-one counties were visited last year in the interest of case work. Four of the thirty-one wanted aid in initiating new superintendents of public welfare. It is impossible to gauge the amount and quality of assistance given. Frequently a superintendent acts on the suggestions made, but thinking only of his problem he forgets to report even when a second request is made. Nevertheless, a sufficient number does report on the value of the help given to make possible this report. Only six counties out of the entire 100 failed to call on the Bureau of Child Welfare for help in solving family problems.

A total of 215 family records, which involve over 500 children, have been made. These records cover long periods of study, investigation and adjustment. This number does not include the 224 cases investigated for the different orphanages. (These were cases the orphanages could not receive for lack of room.) These investigations involve about 600 children, the majority of whom had to be—and were—provided for by superintendents of public welfare to whom the cases were referred for investigation and adjustment.

In addition there are forty-six cases on file where mother's aid seemed the best solution of the problem. About one-half of these are being provided for by the local agencies. Possibly 180 children are implicated here.

It is impossible to give accurately the number of children, since superintendents frequently say “several,” meaning usually from 3 to 5; a total probable is 1,280.

The inciting cause in the majority of cases is neglect. Delinquency is such a close second that one wonders if they are not identical. “Homelessness” covers the ground for many requests. Immorality in the home, nonsupport on the part of the man, desertion of husband or wife, all furnish many problems. There are frequent records of unmarried mothers with the problem of the unwanted child. Less than half dozen cases of deliberate cruelty to children have been reported, and only one of these was due to drunkenness. Many requests for custodial care of various sorts have been received. Seventeen cases have been investigated for agencies outside the State besides the cases turned over to this department by other State departments.

These figures include only those cases that the superintendents needed help on or that were referred directly to them by the Bureau of Child Welfare from other sources. By far the larger number of requests were for information as to orphanages or special institutions. In the majority of cases the person asking for help had to be told that the orphanages were full, the State Department had no money for local work, and the county officials would have to assume the responsibility for the case unless relatives could be found to receive them.

Of the 1,280 children for whom help has been asked, not more than one-fourth are negroes. This does not give the true state of affairs. The superintendents of public welfare do not report the colored children to the State office except in extreme cases, as they know the futility of doing so. Occasionally the Bureau of Child Welfare has been of assistance in finding a foster home for a negro child or has wired the Colored Orphanage at Oxford to help in an emergency. Until the Training School for Colored Boys become a reality—and one for colored girls is inaugurated—the problem of the delinquent and neglected negro child will not have begun to be solved.

Since there are fourteen counties in the State with no social worker (paid by county taxes) other than the superintendents of schools, and fourteen others where there is only one such worker in addition to the superintendents of schools, referring a case back to the county means losing it or leaving it to become a drag on the community. This condition has shown the necessity for building up intelligent public interest in the solution of social problems. The good heart needs the trained head.

CORRESPONDENCE COURSE

Because of the small salary paid most welfare officers, and the expense of special training, it was felt that some plan must be devised for making social training available to the men and women in the field. To meet this need a Correspondence Course in Family Problems has been prepared by the School of Public Welfare at Chapel Hill and the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare at Raleigh, and will be sent out by the Extension Department of the University.

A correspondence course in social work is pioneer work, but since the University has the machinery, through its extension department, to send out material to serve the superintendent of public welfare who is already in his field with his work around him, the course seems feasible.

The course is divided into three parts:

1. Principles of Social Treatment in the Home. 2. Fundamental Problems in Family Life. 3. The Family and the Community.

The object of the course is to make social work as practical as possible, to reduce scientific theory to workable dimensions, and to illustrate by actual family records what is capable of being done in the rural counties of North Carolina which lack social agencies.

Another outcome of the study of case work is the monthly report on vagrant families.

 TRANSIENT CASES

Realizing the need of some system of keeping up with the numerous families and individuals who drift from county to county and mill to mill, living on charity and increasing immorality, a plan of action was outlined at the Summer Institutes of Public Welfare at Chapel Hill. This plan, a sort of clearing house of information, is known as the State Monthly Report of Transients. Cards giving confidential information on cases that drift through the offices of the superintendent of public welfare each month, are mailed into the Bureau of Child Welfare. At the end of the month the facts on the cards are multigraphed and mailed to the superintendents of public welfare, associated charities, travelers' aids and Red Cross secretaries. The report also contains the names and records of persons soliciting aid for organizations not chartered by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare.

Already three vagrant families have been rounded up, thoroughly investigated, treated medically where needed, put to work, sent to the roads, or broken up as the case demanded.

Among the 1,280 children reported to the State Board were many cripples. Twenty-one have been referred to the Orthopaedic Hospital.

 CRIPPLE CENSUS

Because of the ignorance in regard to the problem of cripples in the State, the Bureau of Child Welfare in conjunction with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, put on a state-wide Cripple Census from October 30th to November 4th. The object of the census was to find the number of cripples, adults and children, in the State who were eligible for treatment, training or both, and to locate the children between the ages of 14 and 16 who, under existing laws, cannot be cared for by the State Orthopaedic Hospital nor the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. Many children can be cured of slight defects while their bones are plastic, which if left will become permanent handicaps. It is hoped by securing this information to be able to place all eligible cripple adults in the way of making a living and to secure treatment and training for children, and to reduce our future crop of professional beggars.

Partial returns show possible eligible adults (white and colored) 658.

Returns show possible eligibles, 14-16 (white) 98, (colored) 22.

Returns show possible eligibles under 14 (white) 428, (colored) 58.

Still another eye-opener in case study is the number of fatherless children.

 MOTHERS' AID

Interest in mothers' aid increased enormously in the last two years. More and more the general public is beginning to mean, as well as say, that a child needs home care. Knowing the limited capacities of our orphanages, superintendents of public welfare are realizing the absolute and pressing need of keeping mothers and children together and of helping fathers find temporary homes for motherless children.

Proof of the intelligent interest in the work is the fact that the North Carolina Orphanage Association passed resolutions at its last two annual meetings endorsing such a bill. The Thomasville Orphanage itself is helping 30 mothers keep their children with them; The Improved Order of Red Men is aiding 150 Mothers' Aid cases. One superintendent of public welfare gets $200 a month from his county commissioners for this work, and additional aid from other organizations. Another superintendent is aiding 35 widows through county, church, and private funds. Numerous other superintendents are doing the work on a similar scale. On Tuesday, December 1st, a number of representatives from various civic and fraternal organizations met in Raleigh and pledged their support toward securing a Mothers' Aid bill.

To make such work effective the appropriation will have to be sufficient to provide not only funds necessary to finance the cases needing help, but also to employ trained, common-sense investigators and supervisors. Neither provision for all cripple children in the State nor Mothers' Aid will solve all our problems. There is still the child who needs temporary care for a variety of reasons.

 DETENTION AND RECEIVING AND TEMPORARY BOARDING HOMES

The last two years has seen a development of interest in regard to the temporary care of dependent and neglected and delinquent children. The growth of institutions for work of this type is a problem worthy of serious consideration. Receiving homes, to use a broad term, are needed, if not in each county, certainly in different sections of the State. Such homes should serve as clearing houses for the children of the county, or section, who must be cared for temporarily. Here the children should stay until each child can have a thorough physical and mental examination. Provision should be made for school work during this period, in case the child must stay some time for treatment or study. From the home he can be sent to the place best suited to him. It may be that he should go to an orphanage, Jackson, Samarcand, Caswell, be returned to relatives or placed in a foster home through the Children's Home Society.

Several counties are starting projects of this sort under different names: Detention Home, Children's Home, etc. Only one county, Durham, has gone at it from a sound, economic, social and financial viewpoint. Durham has made her plans first. Others bought houses in response to emergency demands. The great danger in such a home is that it become a “catch all” rather than a clearing house.

Temporary homes, in which children can be boarded for longer periods, six months and more, as members of selected families, are much needed. This type of work is of great importance in helping fathers solve the problem of caring for motherless children. It is also of great help in cases of sickness among the old members of a family. Children convalescent from the Orthopaedic Hospital often need temporary care before they can again fit into the crude homes from which they were taken. Neglected children of tubercular parents can often be built up in health and made useful citizens by intelligent care in a temporary home—this too without danger of contagion to the household.

 PARENTAL SCHOOLS

Closely related to the receiving home idea is the parental school. Frequent and urgent requests come for schools to which to send boys and girls from 10 to 16. Boys and girls who have outgrown such parental authority as exists, who can find no sane outlet for their vitality in the small town and who are headed for Jackson or Samarcand unless they are taken in hand. It is not fair to a child of this sort to bundle it off to a correctional institution until the parental method has been given a good try out. This is the point at which our orphanages can be of great benefit if they will extend their age limit to 14. If not the orphanages, then the State has a great opportunity for service. In the next few years much could be done for the larger boy or girl who started wrong. Such a school would help decrease materially the lists of unmarried mothers and unnamed infants in our maternity homes.

 FACILITIES WHICH WILL HELP TO CONSERVE NORTH CAROLINA'S BEST CROP HER CHILDREN

1. In every county a clerk of the court elected partly because of his qualifications to serve as judge of the juvenile court.

2. In cities with a population of 10,000 or more a separate juvenile court with necessary probation officers.

3. Clinical facilities for giving mental and physical examinations to children who come under the supervision of the court.

4. Whole-time superintendents of public welfare in every county, appointed on account of personal qualifications, training and experience.

5. Such adequate assistance as the superintendent of public welfare in the larger counties needs to serve the entire county.

6. A State training school for colored delinquent boys and provision for caring for colored mental defectives.

7. Greatly increased facilities for caring for, training, and segregating the feeble-minded.

8. An adequate parole system for juvenile delinquents and defectives released from State institutions.

9. Some institution to be interested in the problem of the dependent child over twelve years old.

10. Adequate support of child-placing work.

11. Mothers' Aid which will prevent separation of mother and child for reasons of poverty only.

12. Above all for every community to realize that it is much cheaper to FORM boys and girls than it is to REFORM them. This is the duty of the home, the school, the church, the community in general. The juvenile courts and the welfare officers get the failures these institutions are making.

 BUREAU MENTAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE ORGANIZATION AND PERSONNEL

The Bureau of Mental Health and Hygiene came into existence as a result of the general policy of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare to establish, as integral and coöperating units of their department, various bureaus specialized to handle particular aspects of social problems. Many of the nonadjustments and maladjustments of individuals to the social group (family, school and general community) in which they are living are the result of mental inadequacies or peculiarities, therefore the services of a bureau, whose personnel specializes in the study of such inadequacies and peculiarities of mental equipment may be of value, both for the diagnosis of cases of nonadjustment and in the suggestion of methods of readjustment.

The active history of the Bureau dates from the first of September, 1921, when the employment of the present director on a one-third time basis became effective. Since that time the personnel of the Bureau has been increased by employing, from time to time, as special press of work required, beginning with November 1, 1921, Mr. W. D. Glenn, Jr., as assistant psychologist. From January 16, 1922, Miss Margaret Fitzgerald has been serving, on an approximately one-half time basis, as secretary for the bureau.

 ACTIVITIES

In keeping with the plans of the board, it has been the aim of this bureau to extend its services wherever there has been a call. The requests for the assistance of the bureau have, however, been so numerous that, with its small staff it has been unable to take care of all even of the urgent cases. During the period covered by this report—September 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922—the staff of the bureau has held case conferences, conducted mental examinations, suggested disposition of cases, made partial family history studies, and through addresses to public meetings assisted various local agencies in the promotion of a better understanding and handling of mental cases. Various amounts and combinations of such services have been rendered private individuals, a local Red Cross, three different State institutions, five public schools, three private orphanages, the State University School of Public Welfare, and four county superintendents of public welfare. Conferences also have been held with institution and public school officials on the problems of more adequate provision for the future recognition and handling of abnormal and subnormal individuals. In addition, the bureau has made a special study of the mental status of all of the white inmates of seven, and nearly all of an eighth county home.

The date of the first mental examination made by this bureau was October 14, 1921. The total number of cases examined up to and

THE FEEBLEMINDED BREED FEEBLEMINDED WE PAY THE COST

The children of feebleminded parents will be feebleminded. When we allow the feebleminded to have children, we should realize that, in most cases, we will have to pay the cost attending the birth of the children, and of their maintenance throughout their lives.

The above picture was taken at a county home on February 24, 1922. The woman at the right of the group, who has a mental age of only four years and four months came to the home about thirty-five years ago to give birth to the woman on the left, whose mental development never has reached, and never could reach a level higher than that of a child about five and a half years old. Mother and daughter have been cared for at public expense at the county home ever since. Moreover, during this time, the county has stood the expense of the daughter's giving birth to an illegitimate child.

The father of this child was a man whose mentality was so low that he was not able to be of service on the county road gang, to which he had been sentenced. So to be rid of him he was sent to the county home to finish out his term. The child resulted.

The other two women in the group are both feebleminded.

 including June 30, 1922, was 575. Of this number, however, 170 were not studied individually, but as part of a larger group, were given a preliminary group examination for the purpose of ascertaining those needing a special study.

Table I (page 49) gives a summary presentation of the numbers and types of cases studied.

While it is impossible to present here much of the detailed work of the bureau, yet there are certain summaries of the more important studies made that will help to show the scope of the bureau's activities.

Orphanage Studies.—At one of the private orphanages all of the inmates, 315 in number, were divided into groups of about forty or fifty each, and given group intelligence tests. In all those cases in which the subject did markedly poor work on this group test, and in which there were general conduct or school records of the institution suggesting that the individual was not adjusted, individual mental examinations were also given. As a result it was found that forty-three were definitely feeble-minded, while forty-nine more were sufficiently inferior in general intellectual capacity to be considered as border line cases, between normality and feeblemindedness, and to require a very special type of training in order that they might be fitted to succeed within the environment of the institution, or in the larger social group into which they will eventually be discharged. Another forty-one were to be classed as dull, and most certainly would have profited by special attention in the classroom and in the occupational field. At least one case was discovered during the course of the examinations that presented symptoms indicating the initial stages of a psychosis. Had we had a psychopathic hospital, this case should have been placed there for a few weeks or months in order that a more intensive study might have been made, and the possible therapeutic measures employed.

At only one other orphanage were any considerable number of cases studied. Here there were examined only the cases that the superintendent or teachers considered special problems. In all there were twenty-eight such cases. Of these seventeen proved to be definitely feebleminded, while six more were found to be borderline cases.

Section C of Table III (page 51) shows the distribution of the general intelligence levels of the 176 orphanage cases who were given individual mental examinations.

Public School Studies.—Very shortly after the organization of the bureau a request came from Elizabeth City that assistance be given them in the study of a number of their backward pupils. Such a study was made of twenty-two of the cases, representing the greatest problems in the school. Some of the cases presented difficulties only in that they seemed unable to learn, while others, in addition were grave disciplinary problems.

It was found that eleven of the twenty-two cases examined were definitely feebleminded, while eight more were borderline cases. In addition to inherent defects in general intelligence, it was found that, in many cases, the children were unable to get as much out of the school training as their inherent capacity should have enabled them to get, and this because of their physical condition. Besides such physical handicaps as enlarged tonsils, there was an appaling amount of under-nourishment. This latter condition was true, not only in the pupils given mental examinations, but seemed to prevail throughout the primary and grammar grades. Thus, in one third grade in which there were twenty-five children many appeared anemic and underfed. According to the statement of the children themselves, there were three-fifths of them who were not getting milk more than once a week, while six of the children never had it. Eleven of these twenty-five children were receiving no eggs, while at least six more received very little, if any, butter. One of the six was a member of a family of nine which had, for the use of the entire family one “stick” (1/4 lb.) of butter each week. Another belonged to a family of eight, in which the weekly butter supply consisted of three “sticks.” In another third grade room visited on the same day there were thirty-two children. Ten of these never had milk, while eight more seldom had it. Ten never had eggs. Only seven out of the group had butter three times a day, and nine had it very seldom. These figures are no doubt greatly understating the conditions as they actually existed, since the children seemed to feel ashamed to tell about how little food they had. One boy from this room, when questioned privately broke down and cried, partly from shame and partly from his condition of lowered vitality. He had only been having two meals a day. He was one of a family of eight, six children, ranging from six to twenty. The father of this family was working in a cotton mill, making $10.10 a week. The mother, who had previously worked and been able to add from $3 to $4 to the weekly family income, was at that time sick and unable longer to contribute. As a result this family never had milk or eggs, and seldom had butter. During the preceding month there had been no butter. Their diet consisted mainly of boiled cabbage, collards, hominy, beans, and occasional pork plates—that is the solid fat of pork, which is the cheapest meat available. They had coffee every meal, without milk, and part of the time without sugar, this evidently helping to deaden the desire for food. The supervisor of the school stated that she knew definitely of fifteen children in the grades who were given, by their mothers, snuff to dip or tobacco to chew, in order that they might eat less food.

As the result of the report made on individual cases and on the general conditions, and through the fine spirit of coöperation of the Parent-Teachers' Association and Mrs. Annie Lewis, Superintendent of Public Welfare, and the very active interest of Miss Sallie Beasley, Supervisor of Schools, and Superintendent S. L. Sheep, there was established a nourishment kitchen in the public schools. As many as possible of the undernourished children were given milk and crackers both morning and afternoon. There followed a marked improvement in the physical condition of these children, and this in turn, accompanied by the following of suggestions regarding changes in the method of school handling of the individual cases, resulted in a marked improvement both in the school work and in the conduct of a majority of the problem cases.

There appears in Section B of Table III (page 51) a detailed report of the general intelligence level of all of the children examined in the public schools. As indicating how large a part is played by the feebleminded and the backward in increasing the difficulties of the public school teacher and administrator, it is well to note that, of the sixty-eight cases given mental examinations, thirty-one were definitely feebleminded and twenty-eight were sufficiently below normal general intelligence to be classified as borderline cases.

County Home Studies.—A study was made of all of the white inmates of the seven county homes, and of nearly all of the white inmates of an eighth county home. These homes were selected by Mr. Roy Brown, Field Agent of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, as representative of the different sections of the State. In all 126 county home inmates were studied. The detailed results of this study, giving the facts as to the mental status of the inmates, the number who were illegitimate themselves, the number who had had illegitimate offspring and the number of such offspring, and the number of legitimate offspring are shown in Table II. The general intelligence level of each of the sixty-eight feebleminded within the county home group is shown in Section A of Table III. The fact that, out of the 126 cases studied, only five were to be considered mentally normal, while in the case of only fifteen more was there any question of doubt as to their being mentally abnormal is very striking. This is especially true when one takes into consideration that five of those concerning whom there was a question of doubt were children who were too young to be given satisfactory mental examinations. These facts mean that 84 per cent of these people are residents at the county homes because of mental abnormality—either insanity, epilepsy, feeblemindedness (in one case drug addiction), or a combination of these conditions.

While the facts regarding illegitimate and legitimate offspring are incomplete, they are sufficiently striking to warrant attention. Deducting from the total figures the data for the normal and for those cases where it was impossible to determine the mental status, we find that of the 106 mentally abnormal or subnormal individuals twelve were themselves illegitimate offspring; that these 106 had had forty-five illegitimate children and sixty-one legitimate children. Considering the same facts for the women only, of the seventy-one women of abnormal or subnormal mentality, eleven were of illegitimate birth. These seventy-one women had given birth to seventy-six children. Of these seventy-six children, forty were illegitimate births by eighteen of the seventy-one women.

 RECOMMENDATIONS

Caswell Training School.—Our present provision for the care and for the training of the feebleminded is entirely inadequate. The Sixth Biennial Report of the Caswell Training School for Mental Defectives states that there is at that institution available dormitory space for 100 more beds than there are funds to furnish or maintain. Even with provision for this item, the institution is able to house only about 400, and has practically no provision for common or specialized training. There are probably, judging from the work that we have done in various county homes of the State, at least 500 to 600 feebleminded in these county homes. There are considerable numbers of feebleminded in the orphanages and in the public schools of the State, and also many feebleminded living at large in the State without the restraining influences of public schools or of any other organized discipline. While not all cases of feeblemindedness need be sent to special institutions, and while not all who are sent there need remain permanently, yet the great majority of all cases do need the benefit of at least temporary training of a special kind, also very many must remain always at the institution. Many others may be so trained at the institution that they, while remaining permanently under institutional supervision, are fitted to live outside and earn even more than their living. A still smaller group of the higher grade cases, showing no anti-social tendencies, might, if rendered incapable of having children, be allowed to take a position in society without any special supervision. This could be done, both with greater happiness to the members of this group, and with greater benefit to society, than by using institutional methods. The particular method of handling each case of feeblemindedness can only be determined after a serious study of the individual.

Our present method of leaving the majority of all the feebleminded, irrespective of the grade of their defect, to shift for themselves, or to be partially cared for in county homes, is excessively expensive. These people get no training, and contribute little or nothing to the economic productivity of the State. At the same time these individuals continue to produce feebleminded children. The figures in Table II are evidence of this. The clearest evidence, however, of the economic inefficiency of the county home method of caring for the feebleminded is the case of a feebleminded woman, who has been a resident of a county home for fifty-one years, having given birth while at the county home to ten children. Two of these children have been residents at the same county home since the dates of their births, nineteen and twenty-two years ago, respectively, and one of these has in turn given birth at the county home to two children, and was at the time of our study again pregnant.

In the light of these and other considerations, we recommend:

1. That the capacity of the Caswell Training School be increased, so that the institution may care for at least 1,000 or 1,500 cases.

2. That special types of training be employed, suitable to the various types of cases. This should include sensory and motor training for the lower grade cases, and industrial training—farm work, simple carpentry, basket weaving, rug weaving, plain and fancy sewing, laundry and other domestic service training, printing, etc., for the higher grade cases.

3. That the policy be adopted of establishing farm colonies, in which groups of from ten to twenty suitable cases may be placed, after receiving study and training at the institution. These colonies might be either owned or rented by the State, or be owned by suitably trained individuals, who would be paid by and be under the supervision of the State institution.

4. That not only for the greater happiness of the residents, but also because of its value in their mental development, there be provided increased recreational facilities of types suitable for this class of people.

5. That no residents of the training school shall be discharged from such residence until after having completed a satisfactory period of parole of the minimum length of one year—longer periods of parole in individual cases to be required at the discretion of the staff of the training school.

6. That a trained social service worker be placed in supervision of all paroled cases, and that no cases be paroled, or later discharged from parole, without there first being made a determination of the suitability of the environment into which the patient is to be paroled or discharged; and, further, that there shall be required during the course of the parole periodical reports of the patient to the social worker.

7. That there be followed by the Legislature the suggestion found on page 10 of the Sixth Biennial Report of the Training School, “That section 2, chapter 266, Public Laws of 1915, be repealed, and that the following be inserted therefor:

“That hereafter there shall be received in the Caswell Training School, subject to such rules and regulations as the board of trustees may adopt, feebleminded and mental defective persons of any age, when, in the judgment of the commissioner of public welfare and the board of trustees it is deemed advisable. All applications for admission must be approved by the local county welfare officer and the judge of the juvenile or clerk of the court of the county wherein said applicant resides.”

8. That there also be followed the further suggestion, found on page 9 of the above-mentioned report, that there be a revision of section 1, chapter 281, Public Laws of 1919. But, instead of the wording of the revision suggested in the report of the training school, as follows:

“That the medical staff of any penal or charitable hospital or institution of the State of North Carolina is hereby permitted and instructed to have any surgical operation performed by competent and skillful surgeons upon any inmate of any such penal or charitable hospital or institution when, in their judgment said operation would be for the improvement of the mental, moral, or physical conditions of such inmate of any of the said institutions, and that section 2 be repealed entirely.”

We would suggest that the following wording would accomplish the same end, and would at the same time provide a safeguard, both to the various institutions and to their inmates:

“That the medical staff of any penal institution, charitable hospitals or institutions of the State of North Carolina is hereby permitted and instructed to have any surgical operation performed by competent and skillful surgeons, upon any inmate of any such penal institution, charitable hospital or institution, when in their judgment and that jointly of two other reputable physicians, one of whom is a member of the State Board of Health, or is designated by the secretary of that Board to represent the Board in the specific cases under consideration, said operation would be for the improvement of the mental, moral and physical condition of such inmate of any such said institutions, and that section 2 be repealed entirely.”

 State Hospitals for the Insane.

1. That the medical staff of each hospital be increased to such size that each patient at the hospital may have his case intensively studied, not only at the time of his admission, but throughout his residence at the hospital.

2. That the corps of attendants be increased, so that there shall be, on an average, not more than twelve patients to an attendant. In the Goldsboro State Hospital there were this fall only twenty-seven attendants to 700 female patients. In the case of one ward of sixty-five patients there was but a single attendant.

3. That the capacity of each hospital be sufficiently increased to take care of all patients needing hospital attention.

4. That provision be made at the Raleigh State Hospital for the caring at the farm colony of at least 600 epileptics.

5. That there be a renovation of all poorly lighted and poorly ventilated wards, and that in all cases where there are wooden floors unprotected by covering or varnish, that these conditions be remedied. At one hospital the writer was shown one ward so dark that artificial lights had to be used at all times, and he was told that two or three hours after the old wooden floors had been scrubbed that they would still be damp. This ward was only being used because of the necessity, yet there were over twenty-five patients on it.

6. That each hospital employ a sufficient staff of trained psychiatric social workers to study the suitability of home conditions of patients

CLEAR EVIDENCE OF NEED FOR MORE ADEQUATE PROVISION FOR THE EPILEPTIC

When it is necessary to keep a man with one end of a chain around his ankle, and the other end stapled to the floor, because there is no room for him in the epileptic ward at our State Hospital, should we hesitate to increase our facilities for caring for such cases?

The above picture was taken at a county home on February 24, 1922. The man in the picture had been a resident at this home for about eight years—since he had been found to be uncontrollable at the School for the Blind. He had been chained as above most of the time for several years. After repeated attempts to get him into the State Hospital, room has finally been secured. However, there are very many epileptics throughout the State needing hospital care. At the present time our provision is only for about two hundred.

 before their discharge from the hospital to their homes, and to keep in touch with the patients and their families after the patients' discharge, to the end that the adjustment of the patients to environment and environment to patients may be as adequate as possible.

The Raleigh State Hospital has already made a beginning in this direction. For over a year it has been employing a psychiatric social worker, and has just recently added a second of these workers to its staff.

7. That in each hospital a thorough and systematic use be made in all cases where possible of occupational, recreational and other methods of psychotherapy, in addition to the usual methods of drug therapy. In this connection emphasis is placed on the recommendation that specially trained workers be placed in charge of each of these phases of therapy, and that more caution be used against the common tendency to let the occupation of the patients be viewed in the light of a financial asset to the institution or to the patient, rather than as essentially a matter of therapy.

The Criminal Insane.—At the present time there are being kept at the State Penitentiary a group of individuals called the criminal insane. At that institution there are neither facilities nor staff for the specialized care and treatment of such cases. Moreover, many if not all of these cases are no more dangerous than the patients at the State Hospitals for the Insane. Some of the cases are not insane at all, but merely low grade cases of feeblemindedness.

This bureau suggests:

1. That there be established at one of the State hospitals a special ward for the dangerous criminal insane, and

2. That there be appointed a commission, consisting of one member from the staff of each of the State hospitals for the insane and the director of this bureau, to make a thorough study of the causes of commitment, and the present mental condition of each of the inmates in the department for the criminal insane; and, further, that this commission decide in each case as to whether the case should be committed to one of the three State hospitals for the insane or to Caswell Training School for Mental Defectives, or to the special ward for the criminal insane suggested in the preceding recommendation. That this commission complete its study within six months from the date of its appointment, and that within two months from the date of such completion all cases now in this group shall be removed from the State Penitentiary, and disposed of as provided for by the recommendations of the commission.

 Orphanages.

1. That all orphanages adopt a plan of careful investigation of the mental condition of all applicants for admission, except in the cases of infants where the results of such examinations are less valid, and that those found to be insane, feebleminded or epileptic be not accepted at the orphanages, but be placed in the special institutions provided for these particular types of cases.

2. That since the higher grade types of feeblemindedness are not easily recognized during the earlier years of life, that yearly reëxaminations be held of all orphanage inmates and proper disposition be made of all non-normal cases.

3. That since the presence of a large number of the feebleminded, in with children of normal intelligence, interferes with the development of the normal children in their cottage life, their school life and on the playground, that all of the subnormal children in orphanages either be segregated in special groups within the orphanage, or more preferably be placed in separate special institutions. In either case they should receive the type of vocational school and general conduct training by which they are most capable of profiting.

 TABLE I SUMMARY AND LOCATION OF CASES GIVEN MENTAL EXAMINATIONS SEPTEMBER 1, 1921, TO JUNE 30, 1922

  Cases Totals State Institutions: Stonewall Jackson Training School 4   Caswell Training School 1   State Penitentiary 1   University of North Carolina School of Public Welfare 2   Total — 8 County Homes: Carteret 14   Craven 1   Davidson 16   Durham 22   Nash 16   Randolph 16   Wake 28   Watauga 13   Total 126 — County Superintendents of Public Welfare: Cabarrus 1   Davidson 3   Durham 4   Forsyth 1   Total 9 — Public Schools: Chapel Hill 29   Durham 1   Elizabeth City 22   Raleigh 2   Salisbury 14   Total 68 — Orphanages: Baptist Orphanage, Thomasville 315   Methodist Children's Home, Winston-Salem 28   Methodist Protestant Children's Home, High Point 3   Total 346 — Red Cross, Durham 4   Private cases 4   Miscellaneous 10   Total — 18 Total number mental examinations   575

TABLE II DATA CONCERNING COUNTY HOME INMATES

CountyMalesMental StatusTotalIlleg.Illeg. Ch.Leg. Ch.In.Ep.F. M.Dr.X?N.Carteret10  18  2 332Craven           Davidson411111 2 1  Durham91 6213  3 Nash82 241 4  21Randolph6 3 1 3 11 Wake711 3 2 11 Watauga41 7  2  11 4865668118 6114
CountyFemalesMental StatusTotalIlleg.Illeg. Ch.Leg. Ch.In.Ep.F. M.Dr.X?N.Carteret4   1 3    Craven1   1      Davidson12353  11  1 Durham1324192 7 31 Nash81103 1511  Randolph1031211 5 121Wake212534 12 5  Watauga9 68  7 2   78114237915011241
CountyTotal Males and FemalesMental StatusTotalIlleg.Illeg. Ch.Leg. Ch.In.Ep.F. M.Dr.X?N.Carteret14  181 5 332Craven1   1      Davidson1646141 13 11 Durham2234254110 34 Nash16310271191121Randolph1631512 8 231Wake283637 14 61 Watauga131615  9 211 126174710317268118155
EXPLANATION OF HEADINGS: Illeg.—the number of inmates who were of illegitimate birth; Illeg. Ch.—the number of illegitimate children born to the inmates; Leg. Ch.—the number of legitimate children born to the inmates; In.—insane; Ep.—epileptic; F. M.—feebleminded; Dr.—drug addicts; X—abnormal mental condition, but form of abnormality undetermined; ?—mental condition undetermined; N.—normal mental condition.

 TABLE III—DISTRIBUTION OF INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENTS A. Sixty-eight feeble-minded cases in eight county homes. B. Sixty-eight cases examined in the public schools. C. One hundred and seventy-six orphanage cases given individual examinations.

The intelligence quotient represents numerically the approximate percentage of normality in relation to general intelligence. Thus an individual who has an intelligence quotient of 20, has only about 20 per cent as high a general intelligence as does the average individual. As a general rule, other diagnoses being ruled out, an intelligence quotient of less than 70 or 75 indicates feeble-mindedness.

Intelligence QuotientsBelow 252730333435373839414243464750515253545556A825611121323221 12 11B      1   1    11  22C                22612Totals825611221333221144645
Intelligence Quotients575859606162636465666768697071727374757677787980818283A   2    2                  B11112122 2136352236 3131 2 C23112432610546102855367649363Totals342445548126712137107896107710383
Intelligence Quotients8485868788899091929395969799100102UnclassifiedTotalA                1968B 1  11       1  2685363161121121112 176Total546327112112121221312

 BUREAU OF EDUCATION AND PROMOTION

It is the function of the Bureau of Education and Promotion to keep the people of North Carolina informed as fully as possible of the work of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare and to promote more thorough education in social science and public welfare for county superintendents and other social workers in the State who may be deficient in technical training for meeting their manifold problems.

The first division of the Bureau's activity, that is, general publicity, is secured by means of news stories sent out to the press of the State; by the monthly publication of the Board's news letter, The Public Welfare Progress; by the printing of special bulletins from time to time; by exhibits at the State Fair and by talks throughout the State by members of the staff of the board.

Promotion of supplementary training for social workers has been accomplished for the last three years by Institutes of Public Welfare held for two weeks each summer at Chapel Hill under the auspices of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare in conjunction with the School of Public Welfare at the University of North Carolina. These institutes have been directed by Commissioner Kate Burr Johnson and Dr. Howard W. Odum, head of the school.

The purposes of the institutes have been:

To bring together in helpful conference and fellowship as many workers in the field of public welfare and social work as may be practicable.

To study and discuss common problems and programs of public welfare.

To raise standards of work and to stabilize public welfare processes in North Carolina.

To give momentum to the North Carolina plan of public welfare in its effort to increase human adequacy and to make democracy effective in the unequal places.

To provide special days of discussion for officials and workers in institutional aspects of public welfare, prisons, hospitals, training schools, children's homes and the others.

To contribute something to the whole field of public welfare and social progress and education.

All three of these summer institutes have been marked successes, the one held in July, 1922, being the best of the three. All have been well attended and the discussions and lectures have been calculated to help the welfare worker greatly in the solution of his many problems. Distinguished and nationally-known authorities have spoken at these institutes, among whom were (in 1921) Dr. C. C. Carstens, Director of the Child Welfare League in America; Miss Georgia Ralph, of the New York School of Social Work; Miss Grace Reeder, of the National Child Welfare League; (in 1922) Dr. Hastings H. Hart, President of the American Prison Association; and Miss Grace Abbott, head of the Children's Bureau at Washington. These were reinforced by a number of other prominent speakers from North Carolina and other parts of the South who discussed various problems of public welfare. The Summer Institutes of Public Welfare have now become an established and valuable feature of the work of the board.

The State Board of Charities and Public Welfare issues a monthly news letter, The Public Welfare Progress, which has a large and growing mailing list. News of the board and its activities is also sent, whenever the occasion arises, to all the daily papers in North Carolina, and sometimes also to the weeklies. Striking phases of the work of the board are published occasionally in pamphlet form for distribution. The exhibit of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare at the 1922 State Fair attracted wide attention. Its most prominent feature was a group of striking posters depicting the costly, criminal and disorderly history of a feebleminded family in North Carolina which had been investigated by the board. Other posters dealt with Mothers' Aid, Cripple Census and needed reforms in the State prison system.

It is of great importance for the progress of public welfare work in North Carolina that the people of the State be made acquainted with the far-reaching significance of the activities of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, and that county superintendents of public welfare should be able to receive in their own State necessary supplementary training for their work. This is what the Bureau of Promotion and Education is trying to accomplish.

 BUREAU OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPERVISION PUBLIC POOR RELIEF

This report is intended as a brief preliminary summary of a study of public poor relief in the State which has been in progress during the summer just passed. Early in the spring a comprehensive questionnaire was prepared and sent to the county superintendents of public welfare of the various counties. These local officials, except in rare instances, and these where the work of the superintendent of public welfare has been placed upon the superintendent of schools, have given their hearty coöperation, without which the survey could not have been completed. The survey has been under the direction of Mr. Roy M. Brown. Dr. Harry W. Crane, head of the Bureau of Mental Hygiene and Health, has made a study of the mental condition of the inmates of a representative group of county homes. The School of Public Welfare of the State University is tabulating the mass of facts gathered. This tabulation is not yet complete. A more extensive report will be issued later.

The following counties have failed to return questionnaires: Bladen, Chatham, Greene, Jones, Martin, Pamlico, and Polk. Northampton made no report.

I. COUNTY HOMES

Ninety-two of the one hundred counties of the State maintain county homes for the aged and infirm. Four counties (Bladen, Dare, Pender, and Tyrrell) have homes that are not occupied. One other county (Clay) has recently purchased a farm to be used for this purpose. Burke, Caldwell, Guilford, Halifax, Randolph, Watauga, and Wayne have completed within the last year, or have now in process of construction, new county homes. Johnston, Nash and Vance contemplate building in the near future.

COUNTY HOME FARMS

Practically all of the county homes in the State have considerable farms, or at least areas of land attached. As a rule these farms are poorly equipped with farm machinery and live stock and poorly farmed. Not infrequently the keeper of the home is given what he produces as part of his remuneration for keeping the home. His financial condition is usually such that he cannot furnish the equipment necessary for the efficient cultivation of the land entrusted to him. He therefore proceeds to cultivate a small portion of the land after the inefficient and, to the land itself, ruinous methods of the unsupervised tenant farmer. Only occasionally do we find a county home farm that shows evidence of intelligent management. County homes in the State own approximately 16,000 acres of land. Of this approximately 5,000 acres are reported in cultivation. Eleven thousand acres are idle; 6,000 acres are yielding in crops of all kinds, including vegetables, fruits, live stock, milk, butter, eggs, and meats, a gross income of less than fifteen dollars per acre.

COUNTY HOMES BREEDING PLACES FOR THE FEEBLEMINDED

The above picture is of a feebleminded woman who has been a continuous resident at a county home since January 6, 1918. Yet on September 9, 1921, she gave birth to a child whose features suggest a negro father. In connection with this county home is operated a workhouse to which prisoners of both races are sent. It is practically impossible under such conditions, and in fact under conditions generally prevailing under our present county home system, to adequately segregate the feebleminded.

 One of the richest and most populous counties in the State (Mecklenburg), with a county home farm of 525 acres, valued with equipment at $52,800, reports farm products for last year worth $4,095, or $7.80 per acre. Two-thirds of the land was idle. For a tabulation for all the counties see Table 1, page 68.

 COUNTY HOME BUILDINGS

County homes in North Carolina include every type and condition of building from wretched shacks to creditable plants, such as the Iredell County Home, the Wake County Hospital, and the more modern new county home in Guilford. A number of counties have the cottage system. The typical institution of this class consists of a group of two-room wooden buildings. A few homes built on this plan have brick cottages. The tendency is away from this type of institution. The newer homes consist of one building or of a group of connected buildings, usually of brick. Thirty counties each have buildings valued at $15,000 or more. Eleven of these each have buildings worth $40,000 or more. Some of the better buildings, however, were poorly planned. Few of them, in fact, show evidences of having been planned by one who had any definite conception of the problems presented by the county home. There is rarely adequate provision for the segregation of the sexes. There is not always complete segregation of the races. Nine counties report hospitals or infirmary wards for the care of the sick. Two of these, however, are not equipped; one is not ordinarily used, and another is now being used as living quarters for inmates. We have yet to see such a ward adequately equipped. The following twelve county homes report complete modern conveniences for all inmates—hot and cold running water, adequate bathing facilities, steam heat, electric lights, and sewerage, including separate toilets for the different races and sexes: Buncombe, Cabarrus, Forsyth, Granville, Guilford, Iredell, Moore, Pitt, Richmond, Rockingham, Wake, and Wilson. The following counties report that they do not have sewerage or sanitary privies of any type: Alamance, Alleghany, Ashe, Beaufort, Burke, Caldwell, Camden, Caswell, Chowan, Currituck, Davidson, Davie, Duplin, Johnston, McDowell, Montgomery, Nash, Orange, Pasquotank, Person, Rutherford, Scotland, and Vance. Of these Davidson reports that the condition is to be remedied, and Nash put in a type of privy that proved a failure. Yadkin provides only one privy for both races and sexes. Montgomery and Washington provide no privy of any kind for negroes.

The furnishings in general are of the crudest sort. A cheap bed—usually a double bed—a chair, sometimes a table—these are the typical furnishings of a room in a county home. Such luxuries as closets, bureaus, or mirrors in the rooms of the inmates are unknown in many county homes. To supply water for drinking there is often a bucket with a common dipper.

 SUPERVISION

Supervision of our county homes is generally of a lower type than the equipment. It has not yet become the general custom in North Carolina to pay salaries that will attract the type of men needed for the difficult task of operating a county home. Thirty-seven counties pay the superintendent of the county home less than $100 per month. Nineteen counties pay $600 or less per year. In addition to his salary it should be borne in mind, of course, that the superintendent usually gets a house to live in and board for himself and his family. Twelve counties pay so much per month per inmate. Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Brunswick, Caldwell, Caswell, Currituck, Gates, Hyde, Lincoln, Madison, Moore, Pasquotank, Randolph, Rutherford, Sampson, Stokes, Washington, Watauga, and Wayne sell the keeping of the county home to the lowest responsible bidder. Of these counties Alexander, Lincoln, Moore, Stokes, and Watauga have substantial brick buildings, and Lincoln's home is well kept in spite of the unprogressive method of selecting the keeper. As might be expected, therefore, it is not unusual to find a superintendent who belongs to a class only slightly superior to the majority of the inmates. He is rarely in the class with the other officials of the county. He is not the type of man who could be elected register of deeds or clerk of the court. There are a few exceptions, but they are exceptions. Moreover the superintendent in most counties is expected to operate a farm. Often he and his family, and those of the inmates who happen to be able to do a little work, must do all the work on the farm. He has little time to devote to the home itself.

Nineteen counties have paid matrons, usually the wife of the superintendent. One county pays its matron $900 a year; three pay $600; two pay $420; and thirteen pay less than $400. More often the wife of the superintendent serves as matron without pay in her own name. Not infrequently she does the cooking, looks after the inmates and the housework, and cares for several small children of her own.

Two instances in counties in widely separated sections of the State illustrate the type of superintendent and matron that is quite frequently found. In a county in which the tumble-down shacks called the county home are a disgrace, the single occupant, an old half-crazy negro man, was telling the visitor about the fat meat that he had to eat. The keeper flew into a rage and hotly protested that he did not buy fat meat, but “good shoulder meat.” Two representatives of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare were visiting another county home. The superintendent was away. His wife was working in the cotton field. After a while she came in. She was barefooted. Her baby was nursing as she walked along, and her dress was thrown open from the neck to the waist. Her mother, her mother's sister, and her father's brother are inmates of the home. She is matron without salary.

There is very little supervision as a rule over the superintendent. A representative of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare was visiting a county home a few weeks ago. It was his first visit. Some other gentlemen were also visiting the institution that day for the first time. They were the members of the board of county commissioners of the county. The wife of the superintendent who had been matron of the institution for five years did not know at sight the members of her board. It is in fact rather difficult for county commissioners who meet one or two days in the month to give much personal attention to the county home. Few of the counties have yet learned to take full advantage of the law that makes the county superintendent of public welfare the executive officer of the board of county commissioners in the administration of poor relief.

The board of commissioners of two counties, Mecklenburg and Wake, have enacted and had printed rules for the government of their respective county homes. Those of Mecklenburg are very interesting. They are twelve in number. Some of the rules are as follows:

“Second Rule: None of the inmates will be allowed to leave the institution without the permission of the superintendent or matron, and any inmate violating this rule shall be confined in a cell not to exceed one week for the first offense, and each additional offense the punishment to be doubled.”

“Twelfth Rule: Any inmate that takes, conceals or disposes of in any manner anything that belongs to the Mecklenburg County Home, shall be punished by confinement in the cells for thirty days, and for each additional offense the punishment shall be doubled.”

Twenty-six of the inmates of this home, including three children under sixteen years old, are reported feebleminded. Eleven are insane. There has been no careful physical examination to determine to what extent they are otherwise diseased. If one of these feebleminded inmates wanders away from the institution he may be confined in a cell for one week. If he wanders off a second time he may be confined for two weeks. For the third offense he may spend four weeks in a cell, and so on. If one of the inmates steals from the institution, the county commissioners have assumed the power of delegating to the keeper of the county home the authority of sentencing such inmate to thirty days imprisonment for the first offense, sixty days for the second offense, one hundred and twenty days for the third offense, and so on. This rule may be applied without regard to the value of the object taken, concealed, or disposed of. There is apparently nothing to prevent its being applied by an ignorant superintendent in the case of an insane inmate who has a mania for hoarding things. Inmates are reported punished by the superintendent or his helper who is an inmate of the home.

The Iredell County Home, which is one of the best in the State, has two “dungeons”—dark rooms—for the punishment of inmates. It is reported that they are seldom used.

A few of the counties maintain a workhouse in connection with the county home. In fact, it is quite common for Superior Court judges and others to treat every county home as a part of the State's penal system, and to use it as a dumping ground for cases that they do not know how to handle otherwise. The classes that are most often thus disposed of are women, including prostitutes, and youthful offenders.

 THE INMATES

We have in round numbers 1,500 people in county homes in the State. Of these the county superintendents of public welfare estimate that more than 500 are feebleminded. They report 130 feebleminded women of child-bearing age. The investigations of Dr. Crane indicate a much larger percentage of feeblemindedness. Of one hundred and twenty-six white inmates, in eight county homes scattered through the State from Carteret to Watauga, sixty-eight were feebleminded, seventeen insane, two epileptic, one a drug addict, eighteen were distinctly below normal, due either to congenital feeblemindedness, senile deterioration, or paralytic dementia, fifteen for one reason or another could not be adequately tested, five were classified as normal. (For a detailed discussion of this study see under Bureau of Mental Hygiene and Health.) These figures indicate that eighty-five per cent of the inmates of the county homes are mentally abnormal.

Of the total number of inmates, more than four hundred are reported sick. Paralysis, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and cancer are among the more serious ailments.

The 1,500 inmates of county homes, as has been suggested, are distributed among ninety-two institutions. In many of these institutions the number of inmates is very small. Seven of the ninety counties reporting do not maintain county homes. They are Bladen, which has a home not occupied; Clay, which has recently purchased a farm for a home; Dare, which has a home not occupied; Graham; Hoke, Jones, and Tyrrell, which also has a home not occupied. Pender and Currituck report each one person in the county home. Seven other counties have fewer than five. Twenty-four have from five to ten each. Seventy-two have fewer than twenty-five; and only five have over forty.

Not only is the number of inmates in the larger number of county homes very small, but the ratio of indoor paupers in the State is decreasing. In 1900 the ratio for the State was 76 per 100,000 population, and the modal ratio by counties, that is, the ratio which occurs in the largest number of counties, was between 90 and 100. In 1910 the ratio for the State as a whole rose to 96 per 100,000, but the modal ratio by counties fell to between 80 and 90. In 1920 the ratio for the State was 60, and the modal ratio by counties between 60 and 70. In other words, in the typical county in the State there were fewer paupers in proportion to the population in the county home in 1920 than there were ten years before, and fewer ten years ago than twenty years ago.

These figures do not necessarily prove that there are not enough destitute in the several counties to warrant the maintenance of a well equipped and efficiently managed county home in every county. There may be many people in need of the care of such an institution who are now being neglected. No doubt as the State's plan of public welfare develops, with a trained superintendent in every county, many needy cases will be discovered; but it is probable that a larger number will be found who by wise social work may be made self-supporting. In other words, as our plan of public welfare develops the ratio of paupers should continue to decrease.

In view of these facts—of the inadequate equipment of most county homes, of the type of management, of the lack of adequate and intelligent help within the institution, and of the general lack of supervision—it is to be expected that conditions will not be good. Often the inmates care for their own rooms, apparently without supervision. Sometimes, in the same institution, one room will be clean and well kept while the adjoining room is horribly filthy. In some of the homes there is no central dining room. Meals are served in the rooms of the inmates. There is often no hurry about cleaning up after the meal. The remains of the coarse and meager meal are a feast for the flies.

That the type of institution, or the type of superintendent, or both, are poorly fitted for the care of the feebleminded who, as has already been pointed out, form a considerable part of the county home population, is indicated by the following facts and incidents:

About three years ago a feebleminded youth of nineteen, and a feebleminded woman of seventy, inmates of the Forsyth County Home, strayed down to the office of the register of deeds, procured a marriage license, looked up a Methodist preacher, were married, went—presumably on foot—for a short bridal tour, and then returned to the county home, where they have been living happily ever since. Luckily they were not both nineteen.

In Davidson County a man was sentenced to the county chain-gang. He proved to be so feebleminded that he could not be used on the roads, so he was transferred for the remainder of his sentence to the county home. There he formed an attachment for a feebleminded woman thirty years old, herself born in the county home. A child was born as the result. Fortunately it died.

In Watauga County a few years ago, near Blowing Rock, an old feebleminded man and a feebleminded girl were found living together without the formality of a marriage ceremony. The good people of the community arose in indignation and sent the offenders to jail. A few weeks later they came up for trial before the Superior Court. The Judge threw up his hands and said, “I don't know what to do with this case.” Some one suggested that they be allowed to get married. A lawyer passed the hat and collected the money to buy the license. A justice of the peace was called from the crowd in the courtroom. The pair were married. Within the next few years three children were born. The old man died. The woman and two of her children were taken to the county home. She has since given birth to two other children in the county home, and she is still a young woman. She has a mental age of about six years.

A generation ago there came to the Nash County Home a woman and her daughter, a young girl. This feebleminded girl grew up in the county home. She is now an old woman. She has given birth in the county home to ten children, one of whom is colored. Some time—at the suggestion of the superintendent of the home, one version of the story goes—she married a misshapen, feebleminded inmate of the institution. He thinks he is the father of two of her ten children. Two of the ten children died in infancy. Six were placed. Two are in the county home. One of these, a young woman about twenty-four years old, is the mother of four children, including twins only a few months old. In fairness to the county home, it should be stated that she was out of that institution for a few weeks about the time of the conception of the twins.

Forty years ago a girl in Montgomery County was so paralyzed at the birth of her first illegitimate child that she has never walked since. Soon after the occurrence she was taken to the county home. Ten years later she gave birth to a second child by a man who lived near the county home. She has since married successively two inmates of the county home. Both are dead. The father of her second child has for a number of years been an inmate of the home. Six years ago he married a feebleminded woman thirty-five years old, also an inmate of the home.

The following story was told a few weeks ago by the keeper of the Scotland County Home. Within the last year there was among the inmates of the home a negro man forty-five years old, who was being treated by the county physician for syphilis. He began paying attention to a negro woman, also an inmate. The keeper heard it rumored that they were to marry. He did not discourage it, as the man seemed to be getting better, and the keeper thought he might make a good tenant on the farm. Illicit sex relations between the couple were discovered. The man left, but returned in a few days, when he was told by the keeper that he must leave, and that the woman must also go as soon as she was able. The man left, but returned in a day or so with a buggy and took the woman.

Durham County maintains a combination county home and workhouse. Both men and women are sent to the workhouse. A few months ago a low-grade feebleminded white girl, an inmate of the county home proper, gave birth to a child, evidently of negro parentage. The only explanation is the presence of negro prisoners.

In Burke County a few months ago an imbecile negro girl, who was herself born in the county home, gave birth to a child by a white father.

Some of these, of course, are striking cases of their type, but the type is by no means rare in county homes in North Carolina. In fact as one goes into the history of the various county homes for a few years back, it seems that the county home is fortunate that has not had its scandal in connection with a feebleminded inmate.

Another phase of the problem of feeblemindedness in which the county home is not only failing to function efficiently, but has sinned most grievously against society, is in the disposition of the children of subnormal mothers. It has been the custom to give these children to practically any one who would take them. Of the ten children of the old woman in the Nash County Home, two died in infancy, two are still at the home, and six have been placed, some of them fairly well, but at least two of them shamefully. These particular children were placed several years ago, but the practice, common all over the State, has continued to the present day. Twenty-two children under sixteen years of age, who were born in county homes, are included in the county home population. Ten other children were born in county homes in 1921. Of this total of thirty-two, twenty-seven are illegitimate.

The county home is also failing in its attempt to care for the sick. A very few counties employ a practical nurse. None have trained nurses. Usually the wife of the superintendent gives such attention to the sick as she can with her other work. Sometimes she does not know how to care for them; sometimes she may not be as much interested as she should be. The county physician in many instances does not make regular visits to the county home. He is called in in case of what appears to the superintendent serious illness. In one of the best managed county homes in the State there is a small room well stocked with drugs which the superintendent himself doses out to his wards when they are ailing.

In a certain county home in the State in one room of a two-room cottage lies an old man with cancer of the stomach. There is no matron in this institution and no nurse. The superintendent looks after the 400-acre farm belonging to the county home, and a farm of his own. He is at the home but little except at night. In the meantime the old man lies there without attention. When a Red Cross nurse visited the home with the idea of instructing some of the inmates in looking after the others, she found no one able to work, with intelligence enough to follow instructions. And the old man continues to lie there without attention. The odor that comes from the room is such that it is difficult to approach within a radius of twenty yards from the door.

 FOOD

There is usually, we believe, an honest effort to furnish to inmates of county homes a sufficient amount of such food as the wife of the superintendent knows how to prepare or has been accustomed to herself. This does not mean that inmates of all county homes are properly fed. In almost every case the superintendent reports that he raises plenty of vegetables, but often a look at the county home garden is proof that he does not appreciate the meaning of plenty of vegetables. The average county home farm produces no meat except hog meat, and an occasional chicken for rare occasions, and the average county home table knows no other kind. “Wouldn't it be possible for us to have just a bit of red meat once in a while?” begged an intelligent negro girl in an advanced stage of tuberculosis of the chairman of the board of commissioners in a certain county a few weeks ago. This county home farm contains 175 acres. The county has no live stock on this land. No provision has been made by the county to insure a supply of milk or of eggs. There is not an adequate supply of either. This is a typical county home.

 RECORDS

Section 1337 Consolidated Statutes reads: “The keeper or superintendent in charge of each county home in North Carolina, or the board of county commissioners in each county where there is no county home, shall keep a record book showing the following: Name, age, sex, and race of each inmate; date of entrance or discharge; mental and physical condition; cause of admission; family relation and condition; date of death if in the home; cost of supplies and per capita expense per month; amount of crops and value, and such other information as may be required by the board of county commissioners or the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare; and give a full and accurate report to the county commissioners and to the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. Such report to be filed annually on or before the first Monday of December of each year.”

No county in the State is keeping this record. Most of the county homes have some sort of record of the inmates, usually giving the name, the date of admission, and of discharge or death. A few counties have somewhat fuller records. Some have no records. No county, we believe, keeps a per capita cost account record, or a record of the amount and value of crops. Figures as to crops and crop values given in this report are mainly estimates by the superintendent. In cases where the superintendent was changed at the end of last year and in some others it has been impossible to get any sort of figures. In making statements as to the cost of county homes, county officials commonly ignore the value of farm products used in the county home. In an audit recently made for Orange County by a State auditor the products of the county home farm do not appear.

 PER CAPITA COST

There is no possible way of arriving at an accurate per capita cost of county homes because, as has already been stated, adequate records are not kept. To the net amount paid from the county treasury has been added the value of the products of the farm used in the institution as estimated by the superintendent of the home. Where the total value of the products of the farm are less than the interest at 5 per cent on the total value of the plant, the excess has been added. No other allowance has been made for depreciation of buildings or farm machinery. There may be cases where the per capita cost is placed too high. More often, we believe, the error will be in the opposite direction. In every case the figures, as a whole, have been submitted to the chairman of the board of county commissioners of the county in question. The cost per inmate per month for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1921, varied from $2.43 to $89.38. In twelve counties it was less than $15. In eighteen counties it was between $15 and $23; in eighteen, between $23 and $30; in twelve, between $30 and $40; in two, between $40 and $50; in six, between $50 and $60; and in four over $60. For the other counties it has been impossible to obtain figures. The per capita cost per month of the State Hospital for the Insane at Raleigh for the same period was $23.30. In forty-two county homes the per capita cost was greater than the per capita cost at Dix Hill.

Measured by any decent standard of social efficiency the county home in a majority of the counties of the State is a failure. From the very nature of the problem it cannot be a success. The number of paupers in county homes in most counties is so small that it is not economical to maintain them in well-kept county homes. The ratio of paupers in county homes is decreasing. The class of inmates is such as to require a type of institution widely different from the present county home, and a type of supervision vastly superior to the present type. The average county does not feel able to maintain an institution of the type needed. Few boards of county commissioners would dare attempt to maintain the type of home suggested in this report—a home that provides for the proper segregation of races and of sexes; for the segregation of the various types of infectious diseases; and for adequate facilities for the care and treatment of the sick. In such a home there would be a superintendent who in general ability and intelligence would be the equal of the best of the courthouse officials. There would be a matron paid for her whole time. There would be one or more practical nurses. There would be a cook and such other helpers as might be necessary. There would be thorough medical supervision by the county physician. This we believe is the minimum. Three-fourths of the counties do not have enough paupers to warrant the maintenance of such a home. More than half of the remaining fourth think they cannot afford it.

In this case, as usual, it is easier to state the problem than to find the solution. The State should, and probably eventually will, develop its facilities for caring for the feebleminded, so as to relieve the counties of this burden, especially in the case of children and younger adults, including all subnormal women of child-bearing age. The time is not far distant, it may be, when the State will make provision for the care of the indigent sick who may be relieved by medical or surgical hospital treatment. The hospitals for the insane are being enlarged, and the county homes must be relieved of the violently insane and of all others who may profit by hospital treatment. There will still remain the aged and the infirm. Decreasing the numbers makes the solution of the problem by county units rather more than less difficult.

Several students of the question in other states of the South where conditions are similar to ours, as well as in our own State, have come to the conclusion reached in this study; namely, that the average rural county has too small a number of paupers in the county home to make the maintenance of a home of the proper type economical. Notable among such students is Rev. G. Croft Williams, formerly secretary of the Board of Public Welfare of South Carolina, and now professor of sociology in the University of South Carolina. Mr. Williams suggests a district hospital-home, an institution combining the ideas of the hospital and the home, and serving a number of counties. Some such institution it seems to us is practically the only solution. The idea is not new in North Carolina. In 1915 Mr. J. J. Laughinghouse, of Pitt County, secured the passage of a law providing for such a district composed of eleven counties in the northeastern part of the State—Beaufort, Chowan, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Martin, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Pitt, Tyrrell, and Washington. This law provides that these counties shall jointly build and operate an institution to be known as “Community Home Number One for the Aged and Infirm.” This home has not been built.

There are objections to such a plan. The most frequently urged are the following: First, the district home would take some of the inmates a considerable distance from their homes, so that their friends could not easily visit them. Second, it would be a step toward further centralization of governmental powers, and away from local self-government. Third, the district home would cost more.

The first objection seems, until it is studied rather carefully, more formidable than it really is. Except in rather rare cases the visits of friends may be dismissed, because such visits are rare enough to be negligible. These simple people, especially if they be old, often do feel a shock at being removed from the immediate neighborhood of their old homes; but in most cases, after the journey is taken, it probably would make little difference whether the new home were twenty or a hundred miles away.

The second objection, translated into plain, every-day language, means that some fellow in the county may lose a job, or that a county office may lose some of its prestige. We need to learn that government is a business enterprise undertaken by a whole people. For the sake of convenience, economy, and efficiency, we have various units ranging from the school district to the whole state. Certain enterprises may be undertaken by the school district. Others may be more economically and efficiently done by the county. Others, such as the employment of a solicitor for the Superior Court, may require a group of counties. Still others need to be backed by the resources of the whole state. The government of the state, or of any one of the larger subdivisions of the state, may be just as much government by the people as the government of the county.

The district home would cost more. This objection is hard to answer because we have little data upon which to base an intelligent discussion. It probably would cost some counties more—it certainly would, because they are not caring for their poor under present conditions. It would cost a number of counties less than they are now spending.

Let us take the district proposed by Mr. Laughinghouse. If we add Camden, Currituck, and Hyde, the other three counties in the First Congressional District, we have a territory with a county home population, taking the average per month for last year, of 89. There are now 77. To care for 80 or 90 people the counties in the district are attempting to maintain twelve institutions. Two others are standing idle. The cost per month per inmate, last year, varied from $14 in Pasquotank to $89 in Pitt. The average for the district was $38.65 per capita per month as compared with $23.30 for the State Hospital for the insane at Raleigh. Only one county fell materially below the cost of the State Hospital. Eight went considerably above. Two more than doubled it, and one cost almost four times as much. For one county (Martin) we have been unable to obtain any figures.

The counties of this district have invested in county homes a total of $157,627. Of this amount $71,867 is the total value of buildings. This leaves $85,760 as the total value of farms and farm equipment. The total cost of maintenance for eleven county homes in the district for the year ending November 30, 1921, was $37,011.57.

Suppose these counties should decide to build one institution. They have property on which they should be able to realize at least $100,000 for the central plant. There would have to be some readjustment as to the proportions of the maintenance fund raised by the various counties, but with the total they could meet the following budget:

Superintendent $ 2,500.00 Matron 1,500.00 Two practical nurses 2,500.00 Physician's services 1,500.00 Board, etc., at $20 per month per inmate 21,360.00 Miscellaneous 1,000.00 Surplus 6,651.57 Total $37,011.57 Present expenditure for maintenance of eleven county homes $37,011.57

In selecting a congressional district we do not intend to suggest that the congressional district furnishes the best unit for the district hospital home. The almshouse district should be geographically more compact. We mean merely to suggest that a small number of district homes of a creditable type may be operated at about the same cost as the present large number of county homes.

 II. OUTDOOR RELIEF

In addition to those supported in the county home, all except a very few of the counties give aid to a number of persons on the outside. Of the counties reporting, Craven, Hertford, Macon, Swain, Warren, and Washington, have no outdoor poor aided by public funds. In the other counties the average number per month who were given aid for the year 1921 varied from two in Tyrrell to 240 in Robeson, and the total amount spent from $109 in Lenoir to $11,250 in Robeson. The amount given is usually very small, varying from one to ten dollars per month. In a very few instances a larger amount is given. The most common amount is two or three dollars a month. Not infrequently the amount is as low as one dollar per month. Outdoor relief has been administered in the loosest sort of manner. Persons have been placed upon the list without adequate investigation and money has been paid out to “agents” without adequate safeguards as to whether it reached the ones for whom it was intended. A number of boards of county commissioners have now adopted the policy of giving no aid until an investigation has been made by the county superintendent of public welfare. In the same way a beginning has been made of checking up the old lists. In one county within six months from the appointment of a superintendent of public welfare, twenty-five were dropped from the outdoor pauper roll as a result of her investigations. Under the direction of trained and sensible superintendents of public welfare, outside aid may become the most valuable form of public poor relief—a means of helping people to help themselves.

A table is appended showing for the various counties the number of outside poor on the day of the report in the summer of 1922, the total expenditure for this form of relief for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1921, the largest amount per month paid to one individual (“High”), the smallest amount paid (“Low”), and the most common amount paid (“Mode”).

[Photograph of a woman and child]

This girl, with a slight amount of negro blood, about thirty-two years of age, but with a mental age of five years and six months, came to a county home March 19, 1920, to give birth to this child, whose father was a white. It is probable that both mother and child will be expenses to the county home for many years to come. Unless we change our present law, which does not permit our institution for the feebleminded to care for women after they have reached the age of thirty, and at the same time make provision for the care of larger numbers of this class, we are in danger of having women of this type bring into the world many more children for us to support.

TABLE I—County Home Farms

  Number of Acres Number of Acres in Cultivation Per cent in Cultivation Value of Farm Value of Farm Products Value of Products Per Acre Remarks Alamance 75 50 66⅔ $12,975 $1,591 $21.33   Alexander 100 30 30 5,500 600 6.00   Alleghany 50 5 10 3,100 200 4.00   Anson 214 100 50 16,485 3,015 14.09   Ashe 140 75 54 13,075 1,902 13.58   Avery 58 25 43 3,875 245 4.22   Beaufort 16 12 75 4,300 500 31.25   Bertie 264 130 49 26,075 9,705 36.75   Bladen               Brunswick 100 13 13 5,325 675 6.75   Buncombe 360 75 19 33,845 3,000 8.33   Burke 176 30 11 4,000 655 3.72   Cabarrus 133 75 56 16,200 3,950 29.70   Caldwell 130 30 23 5,925 1,882 14.47   Camden 160     1,500       Carteret 11⅔ 11⅔ 100 1,540 1,220 104.57   Caswell 230 100 43 8,400 1,500 6.52   Catawba 212 75 35 12,400 4,455 21.00   Chatham 615 40           Cherokee 60 15 25 4,500 200 3.33   Chowan 140 7 5 1,500 225 1.61   Clay 140     10,000     Recently purchased. Cleveland 325 100 31 33,500 6,275 19.31   Columbus 120 40 33⅓ 12,900 1,865 15.54   Craven 25 3 12 7,800 675 27.00   Cumberland               Currituck 60 25 42 2,000     Superintendent changed. No record of crops. Dare 3     400     Home not occupied. County gets $60 rent for farm Davidson 120 50 42 13,100 2,208 18.40   Davie 160 30 19 5,500 585 3.66   Duplin 70 20 29 5,665 555 7.93   Durham 267.4 150 57 18,770     No record of farm products. Edgecombe 465 70 15 27,800 6,478 13.93   Forsyth 268 150 56 161,051 9,363 34.94 Farm cultivated mainly by boys' reformatory. Franklin 408 75 18 22,050 5,160 12.65   Gaston 118 50 42 11,750 4,162 35.27   Gates 80 30 37½ 2,300 1,070 13.38   Graham             No county home. Granville 150 75 50 22,500 2,268 15.12   Greene               Guilford 200 50 25 31,200     Superintendent changed. No record of crops. Halifax 400 60 15 12,635 980 2.45   Harnett 60 50 83⅓ 6,100 3,000 50.00   Haywood 135 75 56 27,200 3,349 24.81   Henderson 100 30 30 5,000     No figures on farm products. Hertford 60 25 42 6,500 1,145 19.08   Hoke             No county home. Hyde 16 15 94 1,660 100 6.25   Iredell 240 175 73 39,000 9,341 30.59   Jackson 103 60 58 15,825 2,072 20.11   Johnston 240 50 21   2,530 10.54  
TABLE I—Continued   Number of Acres Number of Acres in Cultivation Per cent in Cultivation Value of Farm Value of Farm Products Value of Products Per Acre Remarks Jones       $..... $..... $..... No county home. Lee 149.5 60 40 15,000 2,860 12.45   Lenoir 45 42 93 4,150     Superintendent changed. No record of farm products. Lincoln 60 25 42 6,500 777 12.95   McDowell 600 150 25 8,675     No figures on farm products. Macon 111 25 23 2,675 404 3.64   Madison 30 3 10 2,200 200 6.67   Martin             No report. Mecklenburg 525 175 33⅓ 52,800 4,095 7.80   Mitchell 55 20 36 3,000 1,488 27.05   Montgomery 110 8 7 4,300 1,500 13.64   Moore   35   5,500 2,565   Total number acres not given. Nash 412 165 40 39,862 9,565 20.79   New Hanover 400 100 25   4,482 11.80   Northampton             No report. Onslow             No county home. Orange 300 50 16⅔ 8,845 1,000 3.33   Pamlico             No report. Pasquotank 2 1.5 75 2,500 525 262.50   Pender 200     10,000 225 11.25   Perquimans 156 35 22 10,000     No figures on farm products. Person 299.5 50 16   2,111 7.05   Pitt 181 60 33 45,750 5,635 31.13   Polk 77     5,775     All woodland. Randolph 170 50 29 10,600 1,000 5.82   Richmond 33 16 50 3,075 800 24.24   Robeson 18 10 56 4,050     Superintendent changed. No record of farm products. Rockingham 447 60 13 24,420 4,087 9.15   Rowan 119 50 41 8,100 2,060 17.31   Rutherford 590 75 13 29,500 2,035 3.45   Sampson 160 75 47 30,529 4,620 28.87   Scotland 200 100 50 15,000 4,011 20.05   Stanly 150 60 40 12,500 1,960 13.06   Stokes 200 30 15 10,000     No figures on farm products. Surry 500 75 15 18,650 2,703 5.40   Swain 200 40 20 11,700 600 3.00   Transylvania 97 52 54 12,118 1,200 12.37   Tyrrell 5 5 100 2,100     Home not in operation. County received $50.00 rent, 1921. Union 218 40 18 12,600 4,029 18.48   Vance 250 75 30 11,450 2,508 10.03   Wake 100 35 35 21,000       Warren 180 35 19 2,500 2,958 16.44   Washington 80 1   1,500 100 1.25   Watauga 95 65 68 4,450 1,000 10.52   Wayne 350 200 57 41,800 2,489 7.11   Wilkes 152 85 56 32,700 3,890 25.59   Wilson 25 13 49 5,350 1,786 71.42   Yadkin 300 32 11 6,500 1,000 3.33   Yancey 32 10 34 1,200 560 17.50  

TABLE II—COUNTY HOMES—VALUE OF PLANT

  Total Value of Plant Value of Buildings Remarks Alamance $16,975 $ 400   Alexander 20,500 15,000   Alleghany 3,600 500   Anson 32,285 15,000   Ashe 15,575 2,500   Avery 4,850 1,000   Beaufort 14,300 10,000   Bertie 32,075 6,000   Bladen 6,000 1,000   Brunswick 10,325 5,000   Buncombe 91,845 60,000   Burke 5,500 1,500 Contract let for new buildings. Cabarrus 16,200   Figures incomplete. Caldwell 8,845 2,500 New home in process of construction. Camden 2,500 1,000   Carteret 9,000 5,000   Caswell 10,400 2,000   Catawba 17,900 5,000   Chatham     New home just completed. Cherokee 9,250 4,750   Chowan 4,500 3,000   Clay 10,000   Farm recently purchased. Cleveland 51,500 18,000   Columbus 20,900 8,000   Craven 14,000 6,000   Cumberland 40,380 36,000   Currituck 4,000 2,000   Dare 1,200 800 Home not operated. Davidson 38,100 25,000   Davie 15,500 10,000   Duplin 10,665 5,000   Durham 49,470 30,000 Durham runs a work house in connection with County Home. Both are included in Edgecombe 36,800 8,500   Forsyth 197,300 36,250 Boys' reformatory included in total value. Franklin 27,050 5,000   Gaston 21,750 10,000   Gates 3,800 1,500   Graham     No County hone. Granville 45,500 23,000   Greene 5,000   Figures incomplete. Guilford 157,200 126,000 New home completed within last year. Halifax 16,230 3,200 New home being built. Harnett 8,100 2,000   Haywood 43,200 16,000   Henderson     No report. Hertford 10,500 5,000   Hoke     No county home. Hyde 4,760 3,000   Iredell 124,000 85,000   Jackson 19,475 3,650   Johnston 16,650 1,500 New home to be built. Jones     No county home. Lee 55,000 40,000   Lenoir 11,000 3,500   Lincoln 36,500 30,000   McDowell      
TABLE II—Continued   Total Value of Plant Value of Buildings Remarks Macon $ 3,675 $ 1,000   Madison 13,000 10,800   Martin     No report. Mecklenburg 98,250 51,700   Mitchell 5,000 2,000   Montgomery 29,300 25,000   Moore 20,500 15,000   Nash 55,200 15,000   New Hanover 47,365   New Hanover combines the county home, workhouse and juvenile detention home Northampton     No report. Onslow     No county home. Orange 12,845 4,000   Pamlico 1,000     Pasquotank 9,417 6,417   Pender 10,000 2,000 Home not operated. Perquimans 15,000 5,000   Person 20,000   No figures for buildings. Pitt 73,650 27,900   Polk 14,710 8,935   Randolph 40,450 29,850 New home completed within present year. Richmond 38,075 35,000   Robeson 10,050 6,000   Rockingham 66,420 41,000   Rowan 16,100 8,000   Rutherford 35,500 7,500   Sampson 34,454 2,925   Scotland 19,500 4,500   Stanly 87,500 75,000   Stokes 40,000 30,000   Surry 30,900 12,250   Swain 14,400 2,700   Transylvania 17,418 5,300   Tyrrell 2,350 250 Home not operated. Union 53,400 40,800   Vance 14,440 3,000 Contract let for new home. Wake 120,300 100,000   Warren 8,500 6,000   Washington 5,650 3,000   Watauga 24,250 20,000 New home first occupied this year. Wayne 46,300 4,500 New home being built. Wilkes 59,200 25,000   Wilson 66,350 61,000   Yadkin 8,000 1,500   Yancey 2,200 1,000  

TABLE III—COUNTY HOME POPULATION

  Males Females Total Children Under 16 Total Conjugal Condition Normal Feeble-minded Married Couples Widowed Male Female White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro Alamance 3 4 8 1 16           1   2 2 3 1 Alexander 6 1 7   14           1       2   Alleghany 2   3   5                   1   Anson 6 4 7 2 19   1     1     1 2 4 1 Ashe 5 1 6   12     2   2     2   2   Avery 3   3   6               1   1   Beaufort 2 3 4 1 10               2 1 2 1 Bertie 5 3 6 6 20   1     1     1 1 1 4 Bladen                                 Brunswick 2   2   4 1       1       1     Buncombe 10 4 15 5 34 2   2 1 5 3 2   3 2 2 Burke 8 1 8 1 18     5   5 1 1 1 1     Cabarrus 14 13 21 3 51   1 1   2 1   5   6   Caldwell 5   8   13               1   3   Camden   1     1                       Carteret 10   5   15 2   1   3     2   1   Caswell 2   3   5     1   1           2 Catawba 7 1 13 1 22               2 1 5   Chatham                                 Cherokee 1   4   5     1   1     2   1   Chowan 1 1 3 1 6                       Clay                                 Cleveland 2 2 12 4 20   1     1     1 1 3 1 Columbus 4   2 2 8     1   1             Craven   2 1 5 8                   1   Cumberland 6   11 1 18                   2   Currituck     1   1                      
Table III—Continued   Males Females Total Children Under 16 Total Conjugal Condition Normal Feeble-minded Married Couples Widowed Male Female White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro Dare                                 Davidson 4 3 11 2 20           1   1 1 1 1 Davie 2   6   8                   2   Duplin 4   8   12 4       4     2       Durham 10 11 13 3 37       1 1 1   3 3 3   Edgecombe 5 11 8 7 31           2 2   2 2 3 Forsyth 14 16 20 8 58           1   4   4   Franklin 4 4 5 3 16               3 1 4 2 Gaston 13 8 16 2 39 3       3     2 1 6 1 Gates 1 1 1 1 4               1   1   Graham                                 Granville 8 10 5 7 30                       Greene                                 Guilford 17 8 15 7 47           1   5 2 5 4 Halifax 4 7 6 9 26   1     1   1 2 2 3   Harnett     1 1 2                       Haywood 12   16   28     4   4 1   4   3   Henderson 3   2   5 1       1             Hertford 1 3 3 2 9 1       1           1 Hoke                                 Hyde 1 2     3                       Iredell 10 6 13 7 36               4 2 3 5 Jackson 3   2   5               3   2   Johnston 5 4 9   18           1   2 2 3   Jones                                 Lee 5 8 6 2 21               1   1 2 Lenoir 3 1 4 1 9               2 1 1 1 Lincoln 3 2 7 3 15           1   2   2   McDowell 2 1 4   7 1       1 1   1       Macon 3   6   9                   2   Madison 7   10   17           1   2   5   Martin                                 Mecklenburg 18 15 20 15 68                       Mitchell 3   2   5 2       2         1   Montgomery 7   5 4 16           1   1   1 1 Moore 6 1 7 4 18           2   1 1 1 1 Nash 8 4 8 5 25       1 1 1   3 1 3 1 New Hanover 5 5 13 9 32 1     1   1   2   10  
Table III—Continued   Males Females Total Children Under 16 Total Conjugal Condition Normal Feeble-minded Married Couples Widowed Male Female White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro White Negro Northampton                                 Onslow                                 Orange 4   5   9               2   2   Pamlico                                 Pasquotank 3 4 6 2 15       1 1     1 1 3 2 Pender                                 Perquimans 2 2 2 4 10                   2 2 Person 1 4 3 3 11 1     1     1 1 1     Pitt 5 1 3 1 10               2 1 1   Polk                                 Randolph 6 1 9 3 19 1       1 1   1       Richmond 5 10 2 5 22             2   7   1 Robeson* 1 3 5 1 12                 2 2   Rockingham 10 5 15 2 32 1