I. President's Address. A GLANCE AT THE PAST, A LOOK AT THE PRESENT, A VISION OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. BY TIMOTHY NICHOLSON. At a recent sanitary conference in Manchester, England, a learned professor said: "Progress comes as the result of an ideal. Reformers see the mountain top before them a distant reality; and, though they may not attain the summit, their striving carries them some distance upward, and their successors may realize the ideal which they only saw distantly. The universal reign of peace, the prosperity of every fellow-countryman, are likewise ideals. Each man, in his own immediate circle can translate, in a measure, his ideal into the practical; and, as this is done, the world becomes that much better and nearer the ultimate goal of good." "One soweth, and another reapeth." "Others have labored, and ye are entered into their labors." So spake the divine Teacher to his disciples as he sat by Jacob's well. So has it ever been in the physical, mental, and spiritual world; and in no other way can there be permanent growth and progress. As we are reaping what others faithfully sowed, so must we sow bountifully and labor wisely for the next generation. While it is better to press on toward the goal than to dwell too much upon past achievements, a backward glance at what has already been accomplished should increase our faith and courage, and stimulate to greater exertion in the future to improve humanity. A poet has said: We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; We should count time by heart-throbs, when they beat For God, for man, for duty. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. Life's but a means unto an end, that end Beginning, mean, and end to all things,- God. Young, in "Night Thoughts," exclaims: Oh, what a miracle to man is man! How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorbed : Though sullied and dishonored, still divine. Like other national associations, the National Conference of Charities and Correction has no fixed place for its annual meetings; and, with a single exception, no two consecutive annual meetings have been held in the same city. In 1874, nine states, namely, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Kansas, had created by law state boards of charities to inspect the various state and county institutions, investigate abuses, and report to the governor and legislature of their respective states, making such suggestions and recommendations for the improvement of these institutions as their wisdom and experience dictated. Naturally, the members of the various state boards were desirous of a better acquaintance with one another, feeling that it would be to their mutual profit and encouragement to meet and discuss the questions in which they had a common interest. For this purpose the boards of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, met in Chicago in 1871. I do not know whether the papers and discussions of this meeting were published. Upon an invitation from the Massachusetts Board of State Charities extended to all these boards to meet in New York City, delegates from the boards of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Wisconsin, met in that city May 20, 1874. This was the first national conference of this body, held as a sectional meeting of the American Social Science Association. From twenty to fifty persons attended. Letters were read from the boards of Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Kansas. The first subject considered was the duty of the states toward their insane poor, many of whom were then confined in jails and almshouses. The second topic considered was the laws of pauper settlement and the best mode of administering poor-law relief. The condition of the insane, especially of the criminal insane, was also considered. The report of the committee on these subjects, signed by eleven persons, three of whom were women, fills twenty pages, and the discussion, led by the late Dr. John Hall, five pages. During the first session a committee of three was appointed to propose a plan for the uniformity of statistics and a better co-operation among the boards of charities throughout the United States. F. B. Sanborn, who is now present, and who has attended nearly all the annual meetings since, was a member of that committee. The report of this committee is remarkably full, and the forms for collecting statistics very complete. The volume of the Proceedings of that first Conference contained only forty-eight pages. In contrast, the twenty-fifth, or silver, Conference, held in the same city in 1898, contained 544 pages. The next Conference was held in 1875, in this delightful city of Detroit, in the council chamber of the city hall. The Conference was called to order by Hon. F. B. Sanborn. Hon. John J. Bagley, governor of the state, was called to the chair; and Dr. Hoyt, of New York, and Charles M. Crosswell, of Michigan, were appointed Secretaries. Governor Bagley's address on the "Public Institutions and Recent Legislation in Michigan" was worthy of the man and of the occasion. His description of the state institutions the insane hospital at Kalamazoo, the asylum for the deaf, dumb, and blind at Flint, the penitentiary at Jackson, the intermediate prison at Ionia, the house of correction in Detroit, and last and greatest the State Public School at Coldwater, the most beneficent and the grandest work the state has ever done - clearly demonstrated that even then Michigan was abreast of any of the older states, and in some respects even in advance of them; and it still maintains that position. Six state boards were represented in this Conference: Massachusetts, by F. B. Sanborn and Dr. Nathan Allen; New York, by William P. Letchworth, Dr. Charles S. Hoyt, and Dr. Edward C. Mann; Pennsylvania, by Dr. Luther; Wisconsin, by H. H. Giles, A. C. Parkinson, Dr. W. W. Read, and Andrew E. Elmore; Illinois, by Dr. F. H. Wines; Michigan, by C. L. Walker, Charles M. Crosswell, Henry W. Lord, Z. R. Brockway, and Uzziel Putnam. Of these last I am informed only Z. R. Brockway survives. Z. R. Brockway had for several years been superintendent of the Detroit house of correction; and he was recognized as authority, in theory and practice, of prison management. Eight years previous, in 1868, he wrote a paper for the Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the New York Prison Association, in which he boldly asserted that time sentences for criminals were wrong in principle, and that reformatory sentences should be substituted in their place, and that persons whose moral depravity makes them a public offence should be committed to proper organized institutions until they are cured. Again, at the first meeting of the National Prison Association in Cincinnati, in 1870, he read a paper, famous in the annals of American prison history, on the proper organization of a state prison system, in which he presented the theories as to the nature and needs of the criminal, which he subsequently had the privilege of successfully applying in the Elmira Reformatory for twenty-five years, from 1876 to 1901. As he attended the first meeting of the National Prison Association in Cincinnati, in 1870, he was also at the last, held in Kansas City in November, 1901, at which he read an admirable paper upon "The Prevention of Crime." We had hoped he would be able to attend this Conference. As in New York, the Conference was held in connection with the general meeting of the American Social Science Association, as were the Conferences of 1876-7-8. Several members of that Association not officially connected with public charities attended the Conference, and contributed important papers and participated in the various discussions. In addition to reports from the state boards concerning the condition of the work in their respective states, the subject of insanity and public charity, reformatories and young delinquents, medical charities, immigration, etc., were ably treated during the four sessions of the Conference by Dr. Allen, Miss Mary Carpenter, of England, and others. The admirable paper of Miss Carpenter upon "Neglected and Criminal Children of the United States "attracted much attention, and after the discussion of the paper the following resolutions offered by W. P. Letchworth and F. B. Sanborn were unanimously adopted: |