ORGANIZATION OF THE NINTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE TO MEET AT WINONA, OCTOBER, 1900. President—Dr. W. W. Folwell, Minneapolis, Minn. Vice Presidents-J. W. Brown, Red Wing; W. C. Sargent, Duluth. Enrolling Secretary-Geo. G. Cowie, St. Paul. Executive Committee Mrs. Condé Hamlin, St. Paul; Jas. F. Jackson, St. Paul; Edward Lees, Winona; Galen A. Merrill, Owatonna; Mrs. F. A. Rising, Winona, and A. C. Rogers, Faribault. THE MINNESOTA PRISON ASSOCIATION. President-Hon. Lucius F. Hubbard, Red Wing. Secretary-F. A. Whittier, St. Paul. Recorder-Miss Grace Johnston, Red Wing. PREFACE. The eighth annual session of the Minnesota State Conference of Charities and Correction was held in Duluth Sept. 4 to 6, inclusive, A. C. Rogers, M. D., superintendent of the School for Feeble-Minded, being president. This was the first time the conference was held so far from the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Under these circumstances the attendance of nearly 100 delegates, who had traveled an average of more than 175 miles, was, gratifying. Among the delegates from other cities were Hastings H. Hart, LL. D., superintendent of the Children's Home and Aid Society of Chicago; Judge Wm. P. Lyon, president of the Wisconsin Board of Control; ex-Gov. Wm. Larrabee, president of the Iowa Board of Control, and his wife; Judge L. G. Kinne and Hon. John Cownie, the other members of the Iowa Board of Control. The program was arranged with reference to the discussion of nearly every paper presented; most discussions were of such interest as to compel the president to close them at the end of the allotted periods. The quality of the papers, the attendance and the interest were sustained until the close of the last session. Most of the papers were necessarily condensed in order to come within the limits of this report.. It was clearly shown that epileptics can be more humanely and ecoDomically cared for in a separate institution, and that their presence in these crowded institutions is satisfactory neither to the inmates for whom the institution was erected nor to the epileptics themselves. Therefore, the conference departed from its usual custom, and appointed a committee to report at the next conference a draft of a law providing for this separate care, ' together with statistical and other reasons for its enactment. This committee consists of Hon. W. W. Folwell, LL. D., of the State Board of Corrections and Charities; Bishop M. N. Gilbert, D. D.; Attorney General W. B. Douglas; T. C. Clark, M. D., and Capt. C. E. Faulkner. Tuesday afternoon the conference was given a ride over Duluth's charming boulevard, which extends for miles along the hillside at an elevation of 650 feet above the level of the lake. The next conference is to be held at Winona, October, 1900, with Hon. W. W. Folwell, LL. D., president, and James F. Jackson, secretary of the executive committee. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Address of Welcome-Rev. A. W. Ryan, D. D. Response-Hon. W. W. Folwell. President's Annual Address-Dr. A. C. Rogers.... Address Give the Man a Chance-Bishop M. N. Gilbert.......... The Restriction of Marriage of Delinquents and Defectives-Hon. W. B. Douglas Discussion Methods of Caring for the Chronic Insane-Dr. Geo. O. Welch..... Page. 5 6 7 14 4 17 20 24 Public Policy in the Care of the Chronic Insane-Hon. C. E. Faulkner........ 27 Chronic Offenders-Herman Oppenheim. Physical Environment as a Factor in Social Elevation-Miss Alice J. Mott. The Need of Separate Care for Epileptics-H. H. Hart, LL. D... 30 38 41 42 45 47 49 56 The Village Community for Epileptics as It Is-Dr. W. P. Spratling..... 56 The Indigent Adult Blind-Prof. J. J. Dow. Results of Work for Dependent Children in Minnesota-Miss Mary Allen 72 Discussion 75 The Elimination of Crime by Child Training—Mrs. H. C. Marshall. 80 85 1 EIGHTH MINNESOTA STATE CONFERENCE OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. BY REV. A. W. RYAN, D. D., DULUTH. Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen of the Conference and of the City: One does feel a little better when, going into a strange place, he is welcomed cordially, with a warm hand-clasp, and that is precisely what we want to extend to those who have come here from around the state and outside of the state, to confer together and to give us their ideas on some topics that are of supreme social interest. We feel that we honor ourselves in honoring you, who are experts and specialists in a particular direction. The most of us, I trust, who are here to-night are interested in charities, some few may be in corrections. In doing our charity work we feel how inconsequential it is; how, unfortunately, many times our efforts prove absolutely futile. It is a comfort to have you come here and present to us what your experience has taught you, to tell us that this matter is a scientific matter to be based on the factors of life. You come here to present these facts to us and to confer with one another thereupon. It stimulates the optimistic feeling in us that this crude and unfortunate humanity of ours, with its defectives and its delinquents-in which classes some of us may be or ought to be ranked—that these classes may be rectified by putting around them the kind of environment that will strengthen the weaknesses of their characters. And anyone who seeks for the amelioration of the condition of mankind is doing the noblest work of man. We welcome you here,-we are proud to do it,to our city with its beautiful setting, with its great future, with its work to do; to this temple, beautiful as it is, and dedicated to the glory of Almighty God and utilized for the betterment of the condition of his creatures; and to our hearts which are always glad to respond to those who are enlisting men in the making better of the condition of their fellows. PRESIDENT ROGERS: I am sure the welcome finds a response in every heart, but in following out the conventional form it falls to the lot of Dr. Folwell of the state university to respond. I take pleasure in presenting Dr. Folwell. Ken I dmpy fox on these statiafire to suggest bow very important. ORHIVANY, the trainere la in which this reference & ocpcerned. And yet the money par df it. di grine, is doing, that is bothing when we come to think of the Catress, of the misery, of the happiness that results from *he misfortunes of these poor people. And y tanks and to lessen this misery and this misfortune is the main object of this conference. Of course, the comomie considerations have their place, and they are considered especially by the officials of the institutions, but the principal object of this conference kad of the queu̸ people who meet here with it from year to year is how O mitigate, bow to reddes, the unhappiness which results from the condition |