The school-attendance requirements outside of Baltimore city are amended. It is now provided that every child "being 7 years of age and under 13 years of age" shall attend school the entire session. Every child 13 or 14 years of age shall attend at least 100 days, beginning not later than November 1, and if such child is not regularly and lawfully employed at home or elsewhere he (or she) shall attend school the entire session. Every child 15 or 16 years of age is subject. to the same provisions as those applying to children 13 or 14, except that a child 15 or 16 who has completed the work of the elementary school is exempt. None of these provisions apply to children whose mental or physical condition renders school attendance inexpedient. Any person having a child under his control who fails to comply with these provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5. The former school-attendance provisions outside of Baltimore city, which were less comprehensive and from which six counties were specifically exempted, applied only to counties where the board of county school commissioners had adopted them and had appointed an attendance officer. On April 1, 1916, the old provisions were in force in nine counties.

1916 C 506 amending A C 1911 v 2 (1911) art 77 and A C 1911 v 3 (1914) art 77; amended sections include ss 43, 73, 75, 131, 153A (now 162), 156; certain sections including ss 12F, 21B, 25M are added. Compare A C 1911 v 3 (1914) art 77 ss 153, 159.

Massachusetts.-Provisions concerning the school census are amended to make the attendance officers responsible for its accuracy and completeness. Private schools are required to report registrations to the city or town superintendent of schools. A definite method for using school census in enforcing compulsory school attendance is prescribed. The school committees' reports to the commissioner of education shall state the number of minors of specified ages as of the 1st day of April instead of the 1st day of September.

1916 C 102 amending R L 1902 C 43 ss 3, 4, both as amended by 1914 C 443. Married women are exempted from the provision requiring all illiterate minors 16 to 21 years of age to attend evening or other school. 1916 C 82 amending 1913 C 467 s 1.

Mississippi.-A special commission is to be appointed to study school laws of other States and other countries and to compile a complete code of school laws to be submitted to the Mississippi Legislature in January, 1918. [The Mississippi laws include no provisions for school census or for compulsory school attendance.]

1916 C 603.

81573°-17

DEFECTIVE, DELINQUENT, AND DEPENDENT
CHILDREN.

CONTRIBUTORY DELINQUENCY, DEPENDENCY, OR NEGLECT.

See also Desertion of minor child, p. 12; Juvenile courts, Maryland, p. 36, and Massachusetts, p. 38; and Juvenile delinquents, Mississippi, p. 41.

Louisiana. Contributory delinquency, dependency, or neglect on the part of parent, guardian, or other person having custody or control of a child under 17 is defined, and it is provided that any person coming under that definition shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. [According to the State constitution, art. 118, the juvenile court, parish of Orleans, and district courts outside of said parish, sitting as juvenile courts, have jurisdiction over "all persons charged with contributing to the neglect or delinquency of children under 17 years of age." This article contains, however, no special definition of contributory neglect, etc., and provides no penalty therefor.]

1916 A 139.

Maryland. The procedure to be followed in case of a parent, guardian, or other person having custody, control, or supervision of a child defined by law as "a minor without proper care or guardianship" is specified, and it is expressly provided that the act shall be liberally construed in favor of the State for the protection of a child not only from neglect on the part of the parents or guardians but "from the effects of the improper conduct or acts of any person which may cause, encourage, or contribute to dependency, neglect, or delinquency of such child, or to the conditions which render it a minor without proper care or guardianship, although such person is in no way related to such child." Jurisdiction is given to circuit courts in counties; in Baltimore city the preliminary hearing at which all persons named in the petition are present [apparently including the minor] is to be before the magistrate for juvenile causes, and this magistrate has concurrent jurisdiction with the criminal court of Baltimore city if the accused waives his right to trial by jury. The court is given wide discretion in dealing with cases of contributory delinquency, etc.; it may place the adult on probation, or impose a fine not exceeding $500, or sentence to imprisonment in house of correction for not exceeding two years, or impose both fine and impris onment. This act shall not prevent proceedings under any other statute which is applicable, and gives the court authority to direct the State's attorney to prosecute under criminal laws.

State-wide provisions earlier than 1916 specifically concerned with adult's contributory delinquency, dependency, or neglect related only

to father's desertion of wife and minor child and to parent's abandonment of child under 3 years of age. Contributory delinquency, dependency, or neglect was previously defined and declared a misdemeanor in certain local juvenile-court laws, and is so declared and defined in the new juvenile-court act, State wide except for Baltimore city [summarized on page 36].

1916 C 674. See A C 1911 v 3 (1914) art 27 ss 75-78. For certain local laws sce 1914 C 171, 367, 701. Compare also 1916 C 326.

DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND.

Kentucky. The name of the Kentucky Institution for Education of the Blind is changed to the Kentucky School for the Blind.

1916 C 84. See St 1915 ss 299-311.

Louisiana.-The State schools for the deaf and dumb and for the blind which were formerly under separate special boards are placed under the control of the State board of education.

1916 A 237. Compare W R L 1904 v 1 p 576 (1898 A 145) as amended by WR L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 201 (1908 A 238 s 1); and W R L 1904 v 1 p 579 (1898 A 166) as amended by W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 202 (1908 A 239 s 1).

The governor is authorized to appoint a nonsalaried commission of five residents of the State to consider the advisability of establishing an institution for the care and training of colored deaf, dumb, and blind persons. If commission recommends establishment of institution, its report shall include details as to location, cost, and working plans.

1916 A 72.

Massachusetts. Provision is made for the interchange of information concerning needy blind persons between the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and the State board of charity, and the city and town overseers of the poor throughout the State. The former provision requiring the bureau of statistics to report to the commission all blind persons found in the decennial census is retained. Further, the law now authorizes the commission to keep a register, not only of blind persons, as formerly, but of persons who have seriously defective sight, and to take measures, in cooperation with other authorities, for the prevention of blindness and for the education and vocational guidance of persons having defective sight.

1916 C 160 amending 1906 C 385 s 2 and adding s 2A to same chapter. See also 1907 C 173 and compare 1916 Resolves C 75.

The commission on economy and efficiency is directed to investigate the advisability of providing pensions for needy blind and to report to the legislature in January, 1917.

1916 Resolves C 139. Compare 1906 C 385 s 6.

New Jersey. The commission for ameliorating the condition of the blind is authorized to make inquiries concerning the causes of blindness, to learn what proportion of the causes of blindness are preventable, and to cooperate with the State board of health and other officials in adopting and enforcing preventive measures. Formerly the commission had power only to report and recommend methods of preventing blindness.

1916 C 22 amending C S 1910 v 2 (Deaf-mutes, Blind, and Feeble-minded) ss 41-43 p 1903 as amended by 1911 C 82.

The commission for ameliorating the condition of the blind is authorized to lend State money to provide capital and tools for blind persons who wish to earn a living by any form of business or productive activity.

1916 C 17.

A former act appropriating a specified per capita sum for the care and instruction of certain dependents, including blind persons, in institutions is amended to include the provision that blind babies and young children too frail or backward to enter institutions for the blind shall have necessary hospital care, and the per capita allowance for these children is fixed at $450 instead of $300.

1916 C 134 amending C S 1910 v 2 (Deaf-mutes, Blind, and Feeble-minded) s 1 p 1896 as amended by 1915 C 297.

DEPENDENT CHILDREN.

See also Juvenile courts, pp. 35 to 40; Juvenile delinquents, Mississippi, p. 41 ; Mothers' pensions, pp. 51 to 52; and Miscellaneous provisions affecting defective, delinquent, and dependent children, pp. 52 to 53.

Mississippi.-The board of supervisors [of each county] is authorized to commit dependent children to any orphan asylum in the State or to any organization in the State caring for dependent children, and to appropriate from the county funds not more than $100 to pay the expenses of placing a child. The law also retains the provision authorizing the board to bind out poor children, which was formerly the only method of handling such cases. The board of supervisors has power to change the commitment of any child, and also, as formerly, to revoke articles of apprenticeship. The law now requires that every master of apprentices to whom a child has been bound out and every asylum or organization to which a child has been committed shall report annually to the board concerning the welfare of each child. The age above which healthy children may not remain at a poorhouse is reduced from 10 to 7.

1916 C 227 amending Code 1906 ss 3582, 3584-3586.

New York. The administration of county charities and corrections in Westchester County is reorganized and provision is made for

a department of child welfare, with a director whose duties shall be prescribed by the county commissioner of charities (an office created by this act) and the county board of supervisors.

1916 C 242. See C L 1909 (Poor) C 42 art 2, 3, 4 (especially ss 5, 6, 146), 5; Code of Criminal Procedure s 910; C L 1909 (State Charities) C 55 s 450; 1911 C 843.

The law permitting the county board of supervisors to abolish or revive the distinction between town and county poor is amended by a provision specifying that such action may be taken for persons over 16 years of age only or for persons 16 years and under only, or for all persons. Formerly in abolishing or reviving the distinction between town and county poor no difference in the treatment of the two age. groups was permitted.

1916 C 379 amending C L 1909 (Poor) C 42 s 138.

Virginia. The former provisions requiring maternity hospitals and persons receiving or boarding children to obtain licenses issued by the local boards of health on the recommendation of the State board of charities and corrections are extended to include persons receiving children under 17 years of age, instead of only those under 5 years as formerly.

1916 C 436 amending 1912 C 43.

JUVENILE COURTS.

See also Juvenile delinquents, pp. 40 to 43.

District of Columbia.-Congress provides that no judgment of conviction against any child which is of record in the Juvenile Court of the District of Columbia shall operate as a disqualification for civil life.

39 Stat L C 92 p 56 (Act of Apr 27, 1916).

Georgia. Provisions for court procedure in juvenile cases (children under 16) are extended to cover the entire State. The juvenilecourt law, passed in 1915, applied formerly only to counties having a population of 60,000 or more [Federal census of 1910, Chatham and Fulton Counties]. The law now provides that in all other counties the judge of the superior court shall designate an existing court of record to act as a juvenile court, and that in counties having a population of between 35,000 and 60,000 [Federal census of 1910: Bibb, Floyd, Laurens, Muscogee, Richmond Counties], upon recommendation of two successive grand juries, he shall appoint a special judge, "whereupon it shall be considered that a special juvenile court has been established in said county." All provisions of the act of 1915 concerning authority, procedure, probation officers, and detention are to apply in every county whether the court be designated or special. The new law, however, amends