dren. It appoints the warden of the prison and the superintendent of the reformatory. It also appoints the general matron and the steward of such institutions as have stewards. Each institution is governed by the superintendent or chief officer. The welfare of the institution is under his care. He makes his own appointments of subordinates, which in some instances have to be confirmed by the board. He is responsible to the board for the management of his institution. He is given almost unlimited power. He makes all the rules of the institution which govern the help and is given absolute power to enforce them. We find that this system works excellently. The superintendent not only appoints his subordinates, but he can discharge at any time. He cannot shift the responsibility for poor help upon any one.

Another function of this board is the purchasing of supplies for the State institutions. Practically all the supplies are purchased on competitive bids. We think that there is no method and no system that can operate better or more advantageously to the State than the purchase of all supplies upon competitive bids. We have under our care ten institutions. All the supplies are purchased for all the institutions at the same time. For instance, we make our meat contract quarterly. After the contract is made each institution orders the meat as it needs it. Each institution has the specification for the meats. If any meat received on the contract is not up to the specification, the steward of the institution has the power to reject it. The world is our market and we attempt to buy the best article at the lowest possible price. In contracting for any kind of improvements, buildings or repairs, the contracts are always awarded upon competitive bids.

The Wisconsin Legislature of 1907 constituted this board the Parole Board for the Wisconsin State Prison. The board has charge of the prison and has the power, with the approval of the Governor, to parole any convict who has served one-half of his full sentence period. It does not apply to prisoners who are convicted of capital offenses.

This board has also the power to transfer from one State institution to another. We can transfer from the Industrial School for Boys to the State Reformatory and from the State Reformatory to the State Prison. Suppose we have at the Industrial School for Boys a large, incorrigible boy whose continued presence in that institution is detrimental to the other inmates. Upon recommendation of the superintendent of the Industrial School we can transfer him to the Reformatory. We also have power to transfer from the Reformatory to the State Prison. We have power to transfer from the Prison to the Reformatory. All of these transfers require executive approval. We believe that the power given us in the matter of transfers from one institution to another is a good thing for all of these institutions.

This board is clothed with the power to consent to the adoption of children placed out in homes from the State Public School. We are also made the guardian of all wards of the State Public School.

This board is empowered to settle all disputes between counties where disputes arise as to the charges for any person who is insane or feeble-minded. In these cases this board acts as a court, takes the testimony and determines what county is chargeable with the maintenance of the patient. The decision of the board may be appealed from, the same as an appeal is taken from any other court.

All estimates for appropriations for the various institutions are made by this board. We determine the amounts which shall be asked and none of the superintendents or other chief officers are permitted to go before legislative committees, excepting in support of our recommendations. When such estimates are being made, this board considers separately the needs of each institution. Therefore, there is no wrangling and no favoritism is shown.

If a new institution is to be built, the question of the location is vested in this board. It is not left to politicians nor to some one who has a place he wants to be rid of.

I do not desire to go further into details, but you can readily see that the duties of this board cover a large field. I want to call your attention to a few of the benefits of this system. Some have already been referred to.

One of the particular advantages is this. We are visiting institutions practically all the time. We go from one institution to another. We have continually before us a comparison of the conditions that surround the different institutions. Suppose we visit the Reformatory one day and in a day or two go to the Prison. We can at a glance tell which institution is the cleaner, which is the better disciplined. If any institution is deteriorating, that can be readily determined and it will not be long before it is brought right in line with the rest in cleanliness, sanitary conditions, etc. I think you will agree with me that this is advantageous.

It is a good deal less expensive to have one board than to have seventeen boards. It is easier under the one board system to be properly represented in such a meeting as this. It is vastly more economical. There are in this convention four members of our board. At nearly every convention of this kind you will find Wisconsin represented. It does not matter whether prisons or dependent children are being discussed, this board is interested and will be here endeavoring to learn the most modern methods. It simplifies matters a great deal. We are not obliged to distribute the knowledge among seventeen boards.

Another thing this board does is to fix the salary of all employes of the State institutions. Here we have a uniformity that cannot be obtained where there are so many boards. It is impossible for seventeen boards to arrive at uniform rules for discipline, salaries, etc. This board is familiar with the efficiency or inefficiency of the employes of the institutions. We have men such as plumbers and steam fitters employed in our institutions, and whenever a piece of work is completed in one institution they are transferred to another where there is similar work to be done. At all our institutions, excepting the Sanatorium and the Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, we have large farms. We have a man employed as farmer at each of these institutions. We have made it a rule that our farmers each winter attend the short course of the Agricultural School attached to the State University. The farmer bears his own expenses in attending the school, but he receives his salary at the institution while in attendance. In all our institutions bakers are employed. If a bakers' convention is held in any part of the State, our bakers are sent there. If a physicians' association meets anywhere in the State, our institution physicians are authorized to attend. If there is a wardens' meeting held anywhere we insist that the warden shall go. This uniformity makes things simpler and easier.

It is perhaps not a part of the system, but it is true that in Wisconsin we have erased the word "politics" when it comes to the question of managing the State institutions. No State, no matter how good it is, can succeed in making its State institutions what they should be unless politics are eliminated from their management. When the chief executive of the State decides who shall be wardens or deputy wardens or what their salaries shall be, or how many clerks or other employes shall be appointed, that system is wrong. Unless these matters are left entirely with the governing board, as it is in Wisconsin, the institutions can not be economically managed, nor the greatest efficiency obtained. When there is an appointment to be made at any of our institutions, the question of the politics of the applicants is never inquired into. The only question is that of fitness. When a vacancy occurs in an institution we quietly go about it to see who is the best man for that place and when we find him we induce him to accept the position if he will. I dare say that is the only proper method of conducting a State institution.

I might mention other benefits to be derived from a centralized system, but I have already taken considerable time and will not inflict you with a longer discussion. I thank you for your attention.

DISCUSSION.

Rev. D. J. Starr, Ohio-How long has this system been in use in Wisconsin?

Mr. Grotophorst-Nearly twenty years.

Rev. S. J. Barrows, New York-Are the county jails under your board?

Mr. Grotophorst-The only supervision we have is that we must inspect them once a year. If we find upon inspection that there is anything wrong, in sanitary conditions or otherwise, we send a copy of the report of inspection to the officers of the county. If any jail is found to be not a proper place for the confinement of prisoners, the law gives this board the right to condemn it and if the improvements suggested by the board, either in repairing the jail or in building a new jail, are not complied with in one year, we have the right to close it up.

Dr. Barrows-Are there any other county institutions under your control?

Mr. Grotophorst-In Wisconsin we have a county asylum system for the care of the chronic insane. We have State hospitals for the treatment of acute insane. Patients are kept in the hospitals for some time, usually about two years. If in that period a patient does not show any improvement it is evidence to the superintendent and to the board that he cannot be cured by further treatment in the hospital. He is then transferred to a county asylum. We have thirty-two county asylums. This board is guardian of the person of all the insane of the State. It has power to transfer from the hospitals for the insane to a county asylum, or from a county asylum to a hospital for the insane, or from one county asylum to another. About seventy-five per cent. of the insane of the State are cared for in county asylums. As I have said, we also have power to transfer boys from the Reformatory to the State Prison, but that is done only when the board is advised that some boy has been convicted of a felony the second time or that he has become incorrigible and that his continued presence in the Reformatory is detrimental to the other inmates.

Question-Upon what grounds could that be justified?

Mr. Grotophorst-It is justified upon the ground that this board has a better knowledge of the peculiarities of the persons sent to the institutions. I think that every superintendent of a reformatory will agree with me that such power should be vested in the board that controls the reformatory. It very frequently happens that a judge has made a mistake; that he has sent some man to the reformatory who should have been sent to the prison, or some youthful person sent to the prison who should have gone to the reformatory.