WHAT AN INSPECTOR FOUND IN ILLINOIS COUNTIES.

The work of the inspector for the State Charities Commission began April 7, and inspections were completed December 28. In these months every county in Illinois was visited and reports of local conditions have since been prepared.

The inspector's work included the inspection of jails and almshouses, the investigation of the methods of expenditure of outdoor relief, the operation of the Mothers' Pension Law, the Adult Probation Law, the work of the Juvenile Courts and the work of the private relief agencies.

The inspector has attempted to describe in a general way the methods by which the counties have expended approximately $5,000,000 of public funds.

Of this amount, $1,500,000 was expended through overseers' orders for the relief of the poor in their homes. This sum does not include mothers' pensions, pensions to the blind or relief to old soldiers. It does not include the entire cost of administration of the relief.

For the almshouses $1,150,000 was expended. For the mothers' pension $349,200 was used. The blind received $96,900. Old soldiers received through special appropriations $24,650 and were also aided through the general relief funds. For the care of county dependents in institutions, including hospitals, orphanages and homes, the appropriations were $750,000. The appropriations for detention homes were $112,000. The cost of operation of the Cook County Hospital was $746,044 and the hospital nursing fund was $190,000. These expenditures in Cook County amounted to $2,500,000. The inspector has encountered two conditions which have made the work extremely difficult and which have made absolute accuracy of reports impossible. The conditions are:

First, lack of uniformity of methods of county accounting; second, lack of records of both public and private charity officials.

LACK OF UNIFORMITY.

Apparently no two counties in the State have the same method of bookkeeping. Practically, the one item which is the same the State over, with the exception of Cook County, is the date of making the annual appropriations. All counties, except Cook, made their appropriations at the September meeting of the county board. From this point one hundred and one counties in Illinois follow one hundred and one different lines in their methods of accounting for the expenditure of their relief funds.

Seventeen counties are under the commission form of government. All others, with the exception of Cook County, are under township organization. Cook County is managed under a system which combines both county and township organizations.

In the seventeen counties under commission organization, the three county commissioners, with the overseers whom they appoint, act as the relief agents. In the counties under township organization the supervisors act as overseers of the poor in their respective townships, with an appointed Overseer for the larger towns. Cook and Grundy Counties have each a county agent, who is in charge of the relief work of the entire county.

The payment of the appointed and ex officio overseers varies in method and amount. In many of the counties the inspector was unable to learn either the method or the amount. The supervisors are paid small salaries, per diem fees or nothing for their services as overseers. In some counties the payment is made by the townships; in others, by the county. Where paid by the counties the amounts paid are listed as per diem or committee

services. The amounts expended in payment of overseers, therefore, can not be computed.

Eight counties relieve their poor by townships. In these counties practically no estimate of expenditure for relief can be secured from the county records, as the townships do not file with the county clerk the reports of their disbursements.

In general, the counties have made appropriations for the following relief purposes: Outdoor, almshouse, blind, dependent children, mothers' pensions, charitable institutions, salaries of probation officers, salaries of overseers and almshouse superintendents, relief of indigent soldiers, burial and medical attention.

It is in determining what aid shall be given from each of these funds and the methods by which the expenditures shall be accounted for, that the State-wide confusion exists..

Some counties make the almshouse and outdoor relief funds as one appropriation, and account for the expenditures as from one fund. Consequently, even an approximate estimate can not be made unless a classified register is kept, and even in that case orders are often made as for one purpose.

Blind pensions are occasionally paid from the outdoor relief fund. In a few instances the mothers' pensions are paid from this fund. Medical care is sometimes listed separately, sometimes included in the outdoor relief fund, and sometimes in the almshouse column. Dependent children are given a separate appropriation in some counties; in others, they are provided for in the outdoor relief, sometimes in the charitable institution appropriation and by the mothers' pensions. Frequently the bills for their care in institutions are allowed by the committee on general claims and paid from a general fund.

Salaries of county physicians, probation officers, overseers and almshouse superintendents are sometimes listed under their respective heads; sometimes under salaries of county officers; sometimes are paid from the appropriations for outdoor relief, and, in the case of the superintendents, from the almshouse fund.

Burial expenses are sometimes listed separately, sometimes in the outdoor relief expense and sometimes as general expense. Hospital bills are included under outdoor relief, charitable institutions or medical attention.

Repairs for almshouses are sometimes listed separately; sometimes as repairs on county buildings. Coal, heat, light and water are charged to the institutions which use them, and sometimes under the general head of supplies for county buildings.

The clerks in a majority of the counties keep detailed records of the proceedings of the county board. In a few counties the records of the proceedings of the county boards show the following statements: "Report of the committee on county farm, pauper relief, probation officer, etc., read, accepted and ordered placed on file." These reports, if seen by the inspector, must be dragged out of the files, and in a few instances they could not be found.

The annual statement of expenditures for different purposes is left to the discretion of the county clerk. As the quadrennial election for clerks was held last winter and many of the counties changed officers, the question of the annual statements had not been decided in all counties.

Even in those counties which have always made annual statements, the same differences of method of accounting make comparisons of expenditures impossible.

With the cooperation of the county clerks, a uniform system of accounting might in time be secured. The county clerks and other officials are interested in the comparison of expenditures for different purposes, and this interest, if sufficiently strong, will eventually bring about a uniform system of bookkeeping.

THE LACK OF RECORDS.

Section twenty-nine of the Illinois Pauper Law says: "The overseers of the poor in each town in counties under township organization, whether

the poor are supported by townships or otherwise, and of each precinct in counties not under township organization, shall keep an accurate account, showing the name of every person relieved or supported in their town or precinct; the place of his birth; the manner in which he is relieved or supported, whether wholly or in part at the expense of the county or the town; the amount of aid furnished; whether the dependency was on account of idiocy, lunacy, intemperance or other cause, stating the cause. And on or before the first meeting of the county board in September of each year file a copy of such account with the county clerk of their county."

Section thirty-two of the same act says: "If any overseer of the poor, county agent or keeper of the poorhouse shall fail or neglect to make such a report at the time required by this Act, he shall, for each offense, forfeit the sum of $25, to be recovered in the name of the county in any court of competent jurisdiction."

The provisions of this law are ignored wholly or in part in all but two counties of the State. The overseers' records vary from the simple statement, "John Smith, supervisor for Blank Township, expended one hundred dollars for the care of the poor in his township," to a detailed history of each case with all the data required by law.

The methods of recording claims for poor relief in the reports of the proceedings of the county board vary from the mere statement of the amounts expended to a list of merchants from whom goods were ordered, names of persons aided, names of supervisors ordering relief, and amount and character of goods furnished. In several counties the supervisor's 0. K. on a bill is accepted without an itemized list of articles furnished. The hit-or-miss system of giving verbal orders to merchants prevails, with a few exceptions, throughout the State.

The lack of overseers' records prevents the State Charities Commission from securing reliable information concerning the conditions in the different counties. Cause of pauperism, which is essential information in a charity organization's survey, is seldom reported. Social histories are almost unknown.

In the records of the Juvenile Court officers and the adult probation officers there is no uniformity and, unfortunately, in many counties the only records are the orders in the judges' dockets.

The inspector has secured several complete records of juvenile and adult probation officers. The very excellent work accomplished by many of these officers can not be published on account of the failure to keep records.

Cook, Vermilion, Wabash and McLean Counties show good records of children cared for under the provisions of the Mothers' Pension Law. These records show the school work of the children as well as the earnings of the mothers. In nearly all counties the mothers' pension records consist of the orders of the docket with the names and ages of children and amounts allowed.

The Mothers' Pension Law has received so much attention throughout the State, and the county officials have manifested so much interest in its operation, that a great deal of information can be secured concerning the results of the law. But the information is given verbally and not by records of the histories of the cases.

In the investigation of the work of private relief agencies the inspector has secured detailed reports of the work of the larger organizations and incomplete reports of the work of the smaller societies.

THE JAILS OF ILLINOIS.

The first survey of jails in Illinois was made in 1870 by the State Board of Charities. As a result of this survey the General Assembly in 1874 passed the jail law which is now on the statutes.

Under the provisions of the jail law of 1827, debtors could not be held in the same room with criminals; persons not under conviction for felonious crimes were allowed to buy spirituous liquors; prisoners serving sentences

of six months or more for felonious crimes were to be fed on inferior food and were not allowed the privilege of buying spirituous liquors; the Circuit Court was authorized to inspect the jail and see that the prisoners were humanely treated.

Twenty years later a new jail law was passed which required the sheriff to provide his prisoners with clean bedding for the comfortable lodging of all prisoners and to keep his jail clean and in such order that the health of the prisoners should not be endangered.

The survey of the State Board of Charities in 1870 showed that the jails of Illinois were little better than vile dungeons for the incarceration of wild beasts. The provisions of the laws in regard to cleanliness and humane treatment and the health of the prisoners had been almost completely ignored. The jail law of 1874 required more sanitary facilities. It provided for cleanliness, certain toilet equipment, and, most important of all, for the separation of different classes of prisoners.

SEC. 16. The keeper of the jail shall furnish each prisoner daily with as much clean water as may be necessary for food and drink and personal cleanliness, and serve him three times a day with wholesome food, well cooked and in sufficient quantity.

SEC. 18 forbids spirituous liquors except by physicians' orders.

SEC. 20. The jailer shall keep the jail in as cleanly and healthful a condition as may be, and shall cause the whole interior thereof to be thoroughly whitewashed with lime at least once every three months and the walls and floors of each room, while any person is confined therein, to be so whitewashed once in each month, between the first day of May and the first day of November.

SEC. 21. Every room occupied by a prisoner shall, except when the same is furnished with closets cleansed by running water, be furnished with a suitable bucket with a cover made to shut tight, for the necessary accommodation of such prisoner, and such bucket when used shall be emptied daily and constantly kept in good order.

SEC. 22. The keeper of the jail shall see that strict attention is paid to the personal cleanliness of all prisoners confined in the jail.

SEC. 23 provides that any sheriff or jailer who shall fail to provide for or refuse to comply with the foregoing sections shall be fined not exceeding $100.

SEC. 11. Debtors and witnesses shall not be confined in the same room with persons committed for crimes; male and female prisoners shall not be kept in the same room; minors shall be kept separate from notorious offenders and those convicted of a felony or other infamous crime; and persons charged with or convicted of an offense not infamous, from those charged with or convicted of infamous crimes.

Although we find jail legislation, we do not find jail law enforcement. In method of operation our jails conform fairly well to the provisions of the law of 1827.

The investigations of the State Board of Charities record slow improvement in conditions. The evolution of the Illinois jail has been slow, and frequently retrogressive.

The provisions for sanitary improvements and for separation of different classes of prisoners have been ignored, not only in the operation of the jails but in the construction of the new ones.

"A jail from which no man can escape" has been the ideal and in conforming to this standard the jails of Illinois have been built as dungeons for wild animals.

This ideal has had its development from our inhumane attitude that the person behind the bars loses all right to decent treatment, that he becomes immediately a wild animal and must be treated as such. He has not been convicted of a crime; he is held only because he has not the means to furnish bail. But these facts are not considered. He is a ferocious beast and he must be caged as one. Consequently, the jail which holds him securely is the ideal jail. Cleanliness, health, physical and moral contagion count for little. Strength of walls is everything. And profit from the food of the animals is an inevitable result.

It is this attitude that has made our jails and our jail system a disgrace to the humanity and civilization of the State. It has made our jails not a

factor in the prevention of crime, but a powerful factor in the promotion of crime and degeneracy.

The jails of Illinois, if operated under the provisions of the law and not as dungeons for wild beasts, would not be the plague centers that they are to-day. They would be clean and well ventilated; men would not be exposed constantly to physical and moral contagion, and they would not leave the jails with a contempt and hatred for the law that would lead them to even greater crimes.

Not one-fifth of the county jails of Illinois conform to the provisions of the State law. Many of them are operated with more violations of the law than have been committed by all the prisoners at present confined in them.

There are three kinds of architecture in our Illinois jails: The basement jail, the stone-block jail, and the iron-cage jail.

The basement jails are several feet under ground. Air and light can not enter; rats, vermin and sewage seepage do. The walls and floors are wet, frequently with sewage seepage.

The stone-block jail is a block of stone or brick built in the center of a large room. In its sides are small, dark caves, so small and dark that they appear as black shadows against the block's surface. These caves are the cells in which the men live.

The iron-cage jail is a barred room built in a larger room. The iron cage contains cells of bars or solid iron. These are the so-called more modern jails and some of them are light and well ventilated. When the cage is built in line with the windows of the room and the windows are opposite the barred open spaces, there may be light and air.

There is a fourth type of jail which is almost unknown in Illinois. This is the jail in which each cell has an outside window and each prisoner has his own cell. The west cell house and the women's department of the Chicago Bridewell are of this type. The plans for a few of the new jails are of this kind, but none of the county jails now in use have adopted them.

The furnishings of the jails depend upon the generosity of the county board and the insistence of the sheriff. The beds are usually steel wall cots and canvas hammocks with blankets for coverings. A few of the jails have good mattresses, sheets and pillowcases.

The toilet facilities may be shower baths and modern plumbing; they may be a few tin cans and a metal laundry tub, in which twenty men wash their bodies and their clothes.

The jails of Illinois may be divided into three geographical sections: The jails of southern Illinois, the jails of central and northern Illinois, and the jails of Chicago.

In the southern counties we find fewer toilet facilities. Here we find the metal laundry tub with all its horrors. This tub is the only bathing convenience provided. In it men wash their bodies and their clothes. Sick men and healthy men bathe in it. Sometimes twenty men must use this one tub. The water must be carried to it; for there are no water and sewage pipes in the jail. The bath water must be heated on the jail stove. The common towel may be in use, or three or four or more men may share one towel. The towels are washed-if washed at all-by the men. They do not receive the germicidal benefits of sunshine and steam.

The buckets are sometimes substantial ones with tightly fitting covers. Sometimes they are battered tin pails which have seen service elsewhere. Sometimes they are tin vegetable cans.

The methods of sewage disposal can sometimes be recognized half a block away.

In southern Illinois we find, however, a few conspicuously good jails with light, air and modern toilet facilities.

In central and northern Illinois we find slightly improved toilet and sanitary facilities, and when least expected, a jail which is unfit for a human being to enter. We find a few unusually well-planned and well-operated jails. In Chicago we find the worst jails in the State. There are forty-five precinct station jails, the jail in the detective bureau, the Cook County jail and the Bridewell jails.

Of the forty-six city jails of Chicago, only about a dozen are fit for any use whatever. Nineteen are underground. Through eleven run open sewers.