priety, be asked to take charge of the inmates of our almshouse, and of our penal and reformatory institutions.

But, after all that can be said in favor of this scheme, the difference in cost is not so great as would seem at the outset. In comparing the expenditures of our institution with the charges of a State hospital, it must be remembered that our expenses include the cost of clothing, and many comforts, conveniences, excursions, and amusements not furnished by the State hospitals, and which experience proves to have a marked beneficial effect upon the physical and mental condition of the patients.

It must also be remembered that the cost of supporting Boston patients in a Boston institution will be very materially reduced if the hospital can have the advantages of a good farm from which to draw all its supplies of milk, vegetables, and fruit, instead of being obliged to purchase them as at present. The success of an insane hospital is not to be estimated by the cheapness with which its patients are supported, but by the advantages afforded for the relief and cure of its unfortunate inmates. In this connection, the question naturally arises, Will the State build such a hospital as has been proposed for the benefit of Boston? It would seem that no more convincing reply to this question can be made than that found on the 44th page of the Annual Report of the Board of State Charities, for the year 1870. It recognizes the fact that a strong pressure may be made for the erection of a fourth hospital, and indicates the intention of the Board to oppose such a scheme. It is there expressly and emphatically declared to be the governing policy of the Commonwealth to administer her hospitals primarily and principally for the accommodation of State paupers, and discourage any proposition for the erection of a new State hospital.

The Board of Directors have laid before you such information as they possess, to aid in the proper disposal of this subject, which has for so long a period claimed the attention of

successive City Councils. They have done it in a spirit of sympathy for this helpless and deserving class.

Humanity, liberality, and public spirit alike demand of us what we believe to be the right of the insane to receive, and the duty of the city to provide.

HOME FOR THE POOR.

One of the great needs of our city is an improved and commodious Home for the Poor. The necessity for such an institution is imperative, and has long been realized by the Board of Directors.

The question of providing a separate building for the poor has been often discussed in the annual reports of the Board. The increased demand for more room in the main building for the House of Industry was never more apparent than at present, the number of inmates of that institution being 631 on the 31st of August, 1871, against 405 on the 1st of September, 1870, —an increase of fifty-six per cent. It should also be borne in mind that the number of inmates in the winter months is always in excess of that at the present season of the year.

Appreciating the lack of proper accommodation in this direction, and convinced of the necessity of erecting a new building for the poor, the City Council of 1869 authorized the Directors to procure plans and estimates for a new building. An eligible site on Deer Island was selected for this purpose, and about one year ago the plans were submitted to the City Council, received the approval of that body, and the sum of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ($225,000) was appropriated for the erection of the building upon Deer Island, in the immediate vicinity of the school for pauper children. Orders appropriating this sum, and authorizing the erection of the building were passed by the Board of Aldermen, but in the closing session of the Common

Council of the last municipal year, by an accidental omission, which was not discovered until too late for correction, the order authorizing the erection of the building was not incorporated, and thus no power was given to make the contracts for building.

The plans having been approved, and the necessary appropriation made by the City Government of 1870, the Directors await only the authority to proceed with the work.

The plans submitted embody the latest improvements suggested by long experience in the management of institutions of this character. They contemplate a distinct classification of the inmates, providing three separate wards for each sex, with all the conveniences requisite to the comfort of the recipients of the city's charity. Special provision has been made to prevent a separation of aged or infirm married couples, who, through sickness or misfortune, seek a home within its walls. It is intended that the building shall combine all that the wisdom of experience can suggest for the economical care of the poor. To attain this result at the least possible expense, all attempt at ornamentation has been avoided, and the building will be very plain in its exterior finish, yet of a substantial and creditable character. Accommodations for five hundred inmates, exclusive of children, have been provided, and by the erection of wings for diningrooms and dormitories contemplated in the plans adopted (the extent of the site being sufficient for the purpose) the building can be made to accommodate one thousand persons. The plan has received the commendation of men of long experience in the care of the poor, and is believed to be a model of its kind.

The Directors were influenced, in the selection of the site at Deer Island, by considerations of the highest regard for the welfare of the poor and for the best interests of the community. In the erection of the building for pauper children, the City Council provided for a separation of the children

from the unfavorable influences of many adult paupers, and indicated an intention to locate the Home for the Poor on the Island. Should the institution be removed to the Highlands, a separate building for these children will be an imperative necessity. It should be as complete in all its accommodations and details as that now occupied at the Island, and which was erected at a cost of forty thousand dollars, under the most favorable circumstances, assisted by a large amount of prison labor. The site at Deer Island affords facilities for an economical management of the institution presented by no other in this vicinity. In erecting the Home for the Poor at this place, a large amount will be saved each year in the item of salaries alone. It is proposed that the Superintendent, Chaplain, Physician, Clerk, Engineer, and Farmer, of the institutions already there established, shall each perform his respective duties in this new institution. The additional employés required will consist of a limited number of matrons and assistants, whose salaries will be small in the aggregate. All supplies will be transported as at present, without additional expense, and the institution will be spared many annoyances from without incident to an inland location.

The records of the office of the Board prove beyond a doubt that no hardship or stigma attaches to the name of the Island, for of the many hundreds sent annually to the State almshouses, a large percentage express a decided preference to enter the almshouse at the Island, many even choosing to lead a vagabond life, and be sentenced to the House of Industry, rather than to receive the charity of the Commonwealth in an inland almshouse. For economy in construction, superintendence, and maintenance, or for the comfort, health, and happiness of its inmates, no location in the vicinity of Boston presents greater facilities.

In relation to the proposed alterations of the Roxbury Almshouse, the Directors are convinced that the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars, recommended by the Committee

on Public Institutions, is entirely inadequate for the purpose of making it a suitable building for a Home for the Poor. The conveniences procured would be very limited in extent, and insufficient for the constantly increasing population of the city. The building is old, low-studded, inconvenient, and in many respects unworthy the high reputation for benevolence toward the unfortunate which our city has ever maintained.

A public institution of this character ought not to be located in the centre of a steadily increasing population. In a few years at most the entire tract upon which it is proposed to establish this institution will be demanded for building purposes, while the number of inmates increasing in proportion with the population will require additional accommodation. It is simply impossible that this location will meet the requirements of an institution "for the poor during the next hundred years," when the radical changes in the last ten years, even, prove conclusively that the wisdom of our most experienced and discerning men has entirely miscalculated the growth of the city and the march of improvement. School-houses then erected in some of our most populous districts have proved to be useless. The increased demands for property for business purposes have compelled many of our former residents to retire to the newly acquired territory or to the suburban towns. When we consider the astonishing increase of value in comparatively retired sections of our city, we hazard nothing in predicting that the proposed location in Boston Highlands, instead of answering this purpose for one hundred years, will hardly suffice for ten.

Duly appreciating the feelings of the remonstrants in favor of separating the poor from the criminal classes, the Directors feel that they have met the want in providing a separate building entirely disconnected from the other institutions.

The Board have observed with pleasure that an enlightened public opinion is beginning to look upon the victim of intemperance as unfortunate rather than criminal, as he is regarded