Annual Report

By article VIII. of the Constitution of the State of New York, adopted in 1894, the State Board of Charities, created in 1867, became a constitutional body January 1, 1895. Such Constitution provides that the Board shall visit and inspect all institutions, whether State, county, municipal, incorporated or not incorporated, which are of a charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory character, including institutions for epileptics and idiots, and all reformatories (save those in which adult males, convicted of felony, shall be confined), and excepting institutions for the care and treatment of the insane, and for the detention of adults charged with or convicted of crime, or detained as witnesses and debtors.

The Constitution also provides that the members of the Board shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and all existing laws relating to institutions above mentioned, and to their supervision and inspection, in so far as such laws are not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution, shall remain in force, and that the Legislature may confer upon the Board any additional powers. It further provides that while payments by counties, cities, towns and villages to charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory institutions, wholly or partly under private control, for care, support and maintenance, may be authorized but shall not be required by the Legislature, no such payments shall be made for any such inmate of such institution who is not received and retained therein pursuant to rules established by the State Board of Charities.

The Commissioners comprising the Board are twelve in number, and are appointed for the term of eight years, one from each judicial district of the State, one additional member from the county of Kings, and three additional members from the county of New York. The Commissioners are required to reside in the districts from which they are respectively appointed, and no Commissioner can act as such while a trustee, director or other administrative officer of any of the institutions subject to the visitation and inspection of the Board.

The principal duties of the Board are to visit, inspect and maintain a general supervision of all institutions, societies or associations which are of a charitable, eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory character, whether State or municipal, incorporated or not incorporated, made subject to its jurisdiction by the Constitution and the statutes. Other duties are to frame rules for the reception and retention of inmates and to approve or disapprove the organization and incorporation of all institutions which are or shall be subject to the supervision and inspection of the Board.

The chief officers of the Board are a President and a Vice-President, elected annually from its members.

Each Commissioner receives as compensation ten dollars for each day's attendance at meetings of the Board or any of its committees, not to exceed $500 in a year to any commissioner, and is also paid his expenses while engaged, and his outlay for any aid or assistance rendered, in the performance of his duties. The Board is required to report to the Legislature annually. The seal of the office is the Arms of the State surrounded by the inscription, "State of New York - The State Board of Charities."

From the Legislative Manual of 1904.

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Annual Report, Volume 2;Volume 37