The State Board of Control of Reformatory, Charitable and Penal Institutions, established by chapter 202, laws of 1895, consists of five members appointed by the governor, subject to the approval of the senate, for a term of five years. The members first appointed under the act, however, are to hold office for the

Succeeded Richard Guenther. Resigned Jan. 1, '99.

STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY BUILDING, MADISON. (Showing present stage of construction, February, 1899.)

term of one, two, three, four and five years, respectively. The members are required to devote their entire time to the discharge of their duties, and receive a salary of two thousand dollars each, per annum, and all necessary disbursements in the discharge of their duties. They are authorized to elect a secretary, two clerks and a stenographer. All accounts for disbursements and charges and debts contracted by the stewards of the institutions or the board are audited by the board.

Section 7. Said board shall act as commissioners of lunacy, with power to investigate and examine into, with or without expert assistance, the question of the insanity and condition of any person committed or confined in any lunatic asylum or hospital, public or private, or restrained of his liberty by reason of alleged insanity, at any place within this state, and shall take the proper and legal steps for the discharge of any person so committed or restrained, if, in his opinion, such person is not insane, or can be cared for after such discharge without danger to others, and with benefit to such person.

Section 8. Said board shall have power to fully investigate all complaints against any of the institutions above named, or against the official conduct or management thereof; to send for books and papers; summon, compel the attendance of, and swear witnesses; and conduct at any time, thorough investigation into the affairs of any such institution, in such manner as it shall deem best. Any letter, communication or complaint addressed to such Board or any member thereof, by any inmate, employe, or subordinate officer in any of said institutions, shall be forthwith forwarded as addressed, without interference therewith, or the breaking of the seal, or the reading thereof by any officer or employe of such institution.

Section 9. The duties of such board shall be: 1. To maintain and govern the Wisconsin State.Hospital for the Insane, the Northern Hospital for the Insane, the Wisconsin State Prison, the Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys, the Wisconsin Institution for the Education of the Blind, the Wisconsin Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb; the State Public School for dependent or neglected children, the Home for Feeble-Minded, the State Reformatory, and such other charitable, reformatory and penal institutions as may hereafter be established or maintained by the state. 2. To carefully supervise and direct the management and affairs of said institutions, and faithfully and diligently promote the objects for which the same have been established. 3. To preserve and care for the buildings, ground and all property connected with said institutions. 4. To take and hold in trust for the said several institutions any land conveyed or devised, or money or property given or bequeathed, to be applied for any purpose connected therewith, and faithfully to apply the same as directed by the donor, and faithfully to apply all funds, effects and property which may be received for the use of such institutions. 5. To make, on or before October 1, in each year, full and complete inventories and appraisals of all the property of each of said institutions, which inventories and appraisals shall be recorded and shall be so classified as to separately show the amount, kind and value of all real and personal property belonging to such institutions. 6. To make such by-law, rules and regulations, not incompatible with law, as it shall deem convenient or necessary for the government of the said institutions and for its own government, and cause the same to be printed. 7. To visit and carefully inspect each of said institutions as often as once in each month, either by the full board or by some member thereof, and ascertain whether all officers, teachers, servants and employes in such institutions are competent and faithful in the discharge of their duties, and all inmates thereof properly cared for and governed, and all accounts, account books and vouchers properly kept, and all the business affairs thereof properly conducted. 8. To fix the number of subordinate officers, teachers, servants and employes in each of said institutions, and prescribe the duties and compensation of each, and to employ the same upon the nomination of the respective superintendents and wardens. 9. To promptly remove or discharge any officer, teacher, servant or employe in any of said institutions who shall be guilty of any malfeasance or misbehavior in office, or of neglect or improper discharge of duty. 10. To annually appoint for the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane and for the Northern Hospital for the Insane, for each, a superintendent, one assistant physician, a matron, and a steward; and for the Institution for the Education of the Blind, and the Institution for the Education of the

Deaf and Dumb, and the Industrial School for Boys, for each, a superintendent, a steward, and all necessary teachers; for the State Prison, a warden and a steward, who shall be the officers of said institutions, respectively, and whose duties shall be fixed by said board, except as herein otherwise provided. 11. To maintain and govern the school, prescribe the course of study, and provide the necessary apparatus and means of instruction for the Institution for the Education of the Blind, and for the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. 12. To prescribe and collect such charges as it may think just, for tuition, and maintenance of pupils, not entitled to the same free of charge, in the Institution for the Education of the Blind and in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. 13. To fix the period of the academic year, not less than forty weeks, and prescribe the school terms in the Institution for the Education of the Blind, and in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. 14. To confer, in its discretion, upon meritorious pupils, such academic and literary degrees as are usually conferred by similar institutions, and grant diplomas accordingly, in the Institution for the Education of the Blind, and in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb.

WISCONSIN'S INSANE IN INSTITUTIONS.

September 30, 1898, there were 4,572 insane under public care. Of these 328 were in the State hospital, 580 in the Northern hospital and 406 in the Milwaukee hospital for the insane; a total of 1,314 in hospitals. There were 3,236 in the twenty-five county asylums for the chronic insane and 22 in poor houses, making 4,572 confined in asylums, hospitals and poor houses.

COUNTY ASYLUM FINANCES.

For the fiscal year ending September 30, 1898, the net current expenses of the twenty-five county insane asylums were $282,961.01, an average per capita cost per week of $1.60.

BILLS FOR THE CARE OF THE INSANE.

The bills for the year ending September 30, 1898, were $337,473.26, of which the state paid $242,931.27. Of this amount $32,153.46 was for the maintenance of state-at-large patients kept in county asylums at the rate of $3.00 per week. The additional $94,541.99 is a special tax on counties.

AMOUNT RECEIVED BY COUNTIES FOR CARE OF CHRONIC INSANE.