CONCERNING A MINOR REFORM IN INDIANA.
THE legislature of Indiana, at its session of 1899, enacted a law which went through both houses quietly, arousing no oppo- sition, and yet it is one which may bring about consequences of great moment to the state. Its title was "An Act to Regulate the Administration of the Relief of Poor Persons, and Prescribing Cer- tain Duties of the Overseers of the Poor." 1 Its purpose was to bring the administration of poor relief in every township of the state into line with the most recent conceptions of the science of charity.
The act referred to was the last of a series of acts, and of an agitation for a reform which had been carried on patiently and quietly for ten years. It began with the first year's work of the Board of State Charities in 1889. The secretary of that board, desiring to collect statistics on the subject of outdoor relief, sent a circular to the trustees of the 1,107 townships, asking for a report upon their distribution of relief for the past year. Less than one hundred and fifty answers were received, and not more than one-fourth of these showed any intelligent appreciation of what was requested. The secretary proceeded to collect the information needed, as well as he could, from the county auditors. In most cases it was only by personal requests at the auditors' offices in the various county seats that correct and complete statistics could be had, and often not even then.
The information collected the first year was meager ; it gave nothing but the gross sums charged up by the trustees from the county funds for the relief of the poor during the year. It was also possible in most cases to obtain the separate cost of medical outdoor relief, since in most counties, at that time, the board of commissioners made a contract with a physician for each town- ship to furnish medical attendance and medicines to the poor of the township, for a fixed sum per annum.
1 In the state of Indiana each township has one trustee who is ex officio the over- seer of the poor in and for his township.
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