The State Board of Supervision of Wisconsin Charitable, Reformatory and Penal Institutions was established by Chapter 298, of the Laws of 1881, superseding the several local boards of trustees by which these institutions had been governed since their organization. The Board consists of five members, who are appointed by the Governor, subject to the approval of the Senate, for a term of five years. They are required to devote their entire time to their official duties, and receive each a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, and are repaid their actual disbursements made in the discharge of their duties. They also employ a secretary, at a salary not exceeding two thousand dollars per annum. All their salaries and expenses are paid from the appropriations made by the Legislature for the support of the institutions, and are added to and reported as a part of the current expense of their maintenance. The law establishing the Board provides: 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 its 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 seem 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, and the Wisconsin Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb; 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, grounds 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, a steward, and a treasurer; 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, a treasurer, and all necessary teachers; for the State Prison, a warden, a steward and a treasurer, 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 maintenence of pupils, not entitled to the same free of charge, in the Institution for the Education of the Blind nd 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. Section 10. Said board may employ a secretary, who shall be a competent and experienced book-keeper, and such assistant book-keeper or clerk as may be necessary. The secretary shall keep the books, records and accounts of the board, under such rules and regulations as the board may prescribe. He shall keep a clear, distinct and separate book account with all the several departments of the several institutions, including all items purchased or sold on account thereof, and the products thereof, with an estimate of the value of all such products, in such manner as to always show the relative cost and expendi. ture on account of each such department, and the income thereof; and in case the income or profits of any one department shall be made to contribute to the income or support of any other department of any such institution, the same shall be made to appear upon the books of such board. |