USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 16
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As another advanced step, the State of Massachusetts opened the Boston Psychopathic Hospital in June, 1912. To Dr. Elmer Ernest Southard, its first superintendent, science owes much. Patients are accepted at this hospital for observation and later either returned to their homes or sent to state or city institutions. There is also an out-patient department for less acute cases. This was the first hospital of its kind in America.
In 1906 the Boston Juvenile Court was opened to serve the intown area of the city. Up to this time children had been tried in the adult court by officials who were not specialists in the difficulties of children.
As a further development in the field of criminology, a great advance was made when the so-called Briggs Law, chapter 415, Acts of 1912, obliged the courts to have criminals mentally examined. This law cannot but have a marked effect on the results of prison treatment.
Now the broadening of the scope of social work and the deepening of its objectives brought clearly to the front the need of trained workers. To Dr. Jeffrey R. Brackett is due the credit of directing the first full-time School of Social Work in the world. The first students were enrolled in 1904 under the joint auspices of Simmons College and Harvard University. Both men and women have received their training there. In 1916 the school was taken over entirely by Simmons College. Its graduates occupy important positions throughout the country.
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At this point, a résumé of the development of our ageneies is of interest as a gauge of the extent to which progressive motives have been incorporated into their action and as evidence of what ean be expected in the future. No attempt has been made to make this account inelusive. A reference to the Directory of Social Agencies (1930) will give information as to the purpose and organization of the agencies now in existence. This statement aims primarily to present the new lines of approach to individual, social and eivie needs and to make note of new emphases that have influenced the procedure of social agencies sinee 1SS0.
Broadly, the field of social work ean be divided into the work of the publie departments and that of the private agencies. The welfare departments of the City of Boston are: The Publie Welfare Department, the Institutions Depart- ment, with its three divisions, and the Penal Institutions Department. These, together with the courts, Probation Department, Police Department, Board of Health and Licensing Board, form the protective network of the city. Each will be treated in turn.
Also, the developments in our library service, in our publie schools, and in our recreation program furthered by the City of Boston should be considered, but these are deseribed in separate articles in this volume.
PUBLIC AGENCIES
Overseers of the Public Welfare .- The Overseers of the Publie Welfare have, sinee 1690, when the old town of Boston first eleeted a Board of Over- seers of the Poor, held a eentral position in the administration of relief. It was in 1921 that the Massachusetts Legislature enaeted a law (chapter 146 of the Aets of 1921) which changed the name from "Overseers of the Poor" to "Overseers of the Publie Welfare." The present Board consists of twelve unpaid members who are appointed by the Mayor for terms of three years.
Upon the Board falls the duty of administering all the laws pertaining to the relief of the poor in their own homes. Those that are looked after for a period of time in institutions come under the eare of the Institutions Depart- ment of the eity. Besides aiding persons who are in need, under the system of out-door relief, the Board of Publie Welfare administers the Temporary Home for Women and Children on Chardon street and the Wayfarers' Lodge on Hawkins street.
Further, the Overseers grant aid under the provisions of the Mothers' Aid Law (chapter 18, General Laws), which was placed on the statute books of Massachusetts in 1913. The first law of the kind was passed by Missouri in 1911. The controversy over the legislation was intense. The conservatives elaimed that the publie treasury would be muleted. Just the contrary has, however, been the ease. The passage of the Mothers' Aid Law, together with the legislation for old age assistance passed in 1930, to become operative in 1931 and to be administered by the Overseers, both mark a decided change of attitude on the part of the average eitizen, namely, faith in the public depart- ment and a convietion that the worthy poor should not stand eondeinned under the stigma of pauper relief. Both of the laws just mentioned are meant to assist those who are the vietims of circumstance. In the ease of mothers'
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aid as well as in the case of old age assistance, the state will pay one-third of the sums granted, while the city will be responsible for the remaining two-thirds.
The Board of Public Welfare works in close co-operation with private societies. In fact, the integration of public and private effort in family-helping work is distinctive of the Boston systeni. This close contact has been strong since 1869, when the city erected the "Charity Building," in which were housed the Overseers and private agencies, including the Boston Provident Association, one of the oldest relief organizations in the community, which, it is interesting to record, sent a memorial to the City Council setting forth the advantages of such a building under the date of October 8, 1857.
By 1923 the building erected in 1869 had become outgrown. It was replaced in 1926 by a structure on the same site, at the corner of Chardon and Hawkins streets. At the present time this building provides office space for the Board of Public Welfare, the Boston Provident Association, the Family Welfare Society, the Industrial Aid Society, the German Aid Society, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the Co-operative Workrooms, where sewing is given as temporary aid to women until other work can be found.
The duties of the Board of Public Welfare are performed by the staff at the central office and by a corps of visitors who call at the homes of those who are receiving aid and are thereby able to study individuals in their home environment. With the growth of the conviction that the giving of relief must be supplemented by personal encouragement and consultation, it has become more and more imperative that the agents be persons with a high degree of discretion and of great sympathy. The present staff is experienced, able.
The money expended by the Overseers is derived from two sources, - from taxation and from the income of trust funds which the Board holds as a corpo- ration, the first investments of which were made upwards of a century ago. The total amount of the trust funds administered by the department in 1928 was $1,032,895.SS. The net cost of the department, in spite of the most careful expenditure on the part of the staff, has risen steadily. To the uninitiated this would seem startling. The increased cost can be explained, however, by several factors,- the readjustment after the close of the World War in 1918, with the inflation which followed when the value of the dollar dropped to approximately sixty cents; the acute unemployment situation of the last few years; the added number of cases referred by private societies whose resources have been strained; additions to the staff; merited increases in salary, and, most important, inore adequate relief, based, nevertheless, on minimum scien- tific budgets. This last factor should be emphasized because, whereas as mnuch care is taken now as ever not to permit public aid to be looked upon as a right and permanent, the present method assures assistance of a kind that will build up powers of self-help. The inadequate sums granted before the budget system went into effect in 1916 barely kept body and soul together. No resiliency was created in the individual and the strain of just keeping going on such meager allotments broke family power rather than stimulated it.
As to the Temporary Home for Women and Children and the Wayfarers' Lodge - the Temporary Home was placed in charge of the Board of Overseers
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by a city ordinance in 1864. Since then hundreds of women and children have found shelter there until they are placed elsewhere by either the state or city departments or by private societies, or until they find work or are put in touch with relatives or friends by agents of the Board. Runaway boys or girls and lost or abandoned children are cared for at the Home until the proper authorities take them in charge. The present modern building was erected in 1925 directly back of the Charity Building and is connected with it.
Boston was among the first cities in the country to establish a municipal lodging house to care for tramps and homeless men, and probably the first to apply a work test. The wood yard and Wayfarers' Lodge were established in 1879 by the Overseers. Formerly tramps and homeless men were taken in at police stations. Those who are housed at the Lodge are expected to work in return for food and a clean bed. Moreover, the Overseers require that able- bodied men who apply to the department for relief must work in the wood yard as part payment for the aid given their families, but more particularly in order that the Board can discover those applicants who are not willing to labor for the support of those who are dependent on them.
In 1SS1 an additional duty was assigned to the Overseers, namely, the collection of bills for the City Hospital due from cities and towns whose inhabit- ants had been patients in the institution.
Further, under chapter 538, Acts of 1909, the Overseers were authorized to issue licenses to collect funds on the public streets and, under chapter 101, section 33, General Laws, to issue licenses to sell buttons or other small articles.
The development of the Boston Board of Public Welfare reflects an ever- growing sense of public responsibility for the care of those in need. Its work stands as a barometer of general conditions. Its efficiency is noted throughout America.
The Institutions Department .- The Institutions Department looks after three classes of dependents, namely, destitute children, chronic sick and iinpoverished adults. The department is administered by a commissioner appointed by the Mayor.
In 1857 the Institutions Department of that day was organized under twelve unpaid commissioners much as is the Board of Public Welfare at the present time. In 1885 the Board was reduced to nine unpaid members. Then in 1889 three paid commissioners replaced the unpaid board and the following institutions were under their charge: (1) Penal and Reformatory, embracing the House of Correction, House of Industry, House of Reformation and Truant School; (2) the almshouses, namely, Long Island for Men, Rainsford Island for Women, the Almshouse at Charlestown for both men and women, and the Marcella Street Home for pauper and neglected children; (3) the Boston Lunatic Asylum, with its outlying ward for the chronic insane, in the Dorchester district. This outlying ward was Austin Farm, which was opened in 1887 under the name of "Retreat for the Insane." Many of these institutions are no longer in existence.
There were also in charge of the commissioners twenty children from the House of Reformation placed out in country homes, and four hundred and three pauper and neglected children placed out from the Marcella Street Home.
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The divided responsibility of the three commissioners proved unsatis- factory, so a single commissioner was finally appointed.
On August 25, 1920, Mayor Andrew J. Peters approved an ordinance passed by the City Council, which put into force chapter 222 of the Special Acts of 1919, authorizing the consolidation of the Boston Infirmary, Children's Institutions and Penal Institutions Departments, as well as the Institutions Registration Department, under a single head. The consolidation of the Penal Institutions Department with the others did not work well, however, so in 1925 the Penal -Division was again separated into a Penal Institutions Department.
The care of the institutional type of dependent has always proved a problem in administrative organization because of the varied treatment necessary to look properly after the diverse types for which an institutions department is responsible. In the records of the city a series of trials and errors is recorded. Fortunately, in recent years, the problem has lessened in complexity because of certain developments. The insane are now cared for by the state, at Austin Farm for women, and Pierce Farin for men. Through the discriminations made possible by modern psychological tests there has come a more careful classification of the inmates within these institutions.
Child Welfare Division .-- In 1888 boarding homes for the children who were under the guidance of the city came into general use. Today there are 1,160 children under the care of the Child Welfare Division of the Institutions Department. Of these 1,160 children, 1,022 are placed in 582 foster homes - in homes of their own religion and nationality where possible - and 138 are in eighteen institutions for special care and training. Boston was a pioneer in adopting the policy of boarding out its wards in private homes.
Fifty years ago the city still cared for its delinquent children at Deer Island. In 1826 it had established the House of Reformation at South Boston for juvenile offenders, being the second city in the United States to make separate provisions for them. In 1858 the Reformatory was moved from South Boston to Deer Island and in 1860 girls were separated from boys. In 1895 the House of Reformation was removed from Deer Island to Rainsford Island and in 1906 the name was changed to the Suffolk School for Boys. This school was dis- continued in 1920. Since then delinquent boys have been sent to the Lyman Schools for Boys at Westborough or the Shirley School for Boys at Shirley, both state institutions. The girls go to the State Industrial School for Girls at Lancaster.
Truants were sent to the House of Reformation at Deer Island until 1895, when the Parental School at West Roxbury was opened. In 1914 Mayor James M. Curley closed this school and the responsibility for truants was transferred to the Disciplinary Day School established under the auspices of the Boston School Committee. Those who do not profit by the advantages of the Day School are cominitted to the Middlesex County Training School. When state institutions are used, the city pays the cost of care to the state.
Long Island Hospital .- The Long Island Hospital Division is respon- sible for the Boston Almshouse and Hospital, which were established on Long Island in 1887. There is a separate building set aside for the children, who are under the direct supervision of a physician and registered nurse specially trained
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in the care of children. A teacher appointed by the School Committee super- vises the training of the children. The visiting staff includes many prominent physicians, who give freely of their services. The city transports the staff, inmates and visitors in municipal steamers. This is inconvenient, however, and it is hoped that some day a new hospital for the treatment of chronic diseases will be established on the mainland.
Registration Division .- The Registration Division of the Institutions Department is the admitting agency for dependent and defective persons to city and in some cases to state institutions.
The developments in the Institutions Department of the city show perhaps more than does any other department how much the attitude of the public has changed toward the destitute. Time was when institutions were bleak; when children marched in lock-step file, dressed in drab uniforms. All that is gradu- ally changing - for the children it has changed. Boston is aiming through its Child Welfare Division to secure for its wards a normal child life, realizing that nothing is of greater importance to a city than its children; that not only are they entitled to protection but that the money expended for them is one of the best investments in building a stable, helpful citizenship.
Penal Institutions Department .- Not only has there been a marked change in caring for the dependent poor, but - in the last fifty years - the offender against the law has centered the attention of all who are interested in human welfare. The Penal Institutions Department was created in 1897 and continued as such until 1920, when it was merged with the Institutions Department of the city. It was, however, as we have seen, separated from that department in 1925. The Penal Institutions Department has charge of the Suffolk County House of Correction at Deer Island, which was known as the House of Industry prior to 1895. The House of Correction cares for prisoners from all the courts of Suffolk County who are under sentences the maximum length of which ranges from two to two and a half years. No women prisoners have been sentenced to Deer Island since February 10, 1920. All women arrested in the City Proper are taken to the House of Detention located in the Court House, Somerset street, where they are looked after by a matron. The court either frees these women or sentences thein to institutions for treatment and guidance, or to the state reformatory at Sherborn, where their expenses are paid by the city.
Whereas the classification of prisoners at the House of Correction is not so complete as it is hoped it will be in the future, long-term men have been sepa- rated from short-term men and drug addicts are now kept by themselves and are given special medical treatment. Most important among the improvements are the school which is maintained, the entertainments which are given and the emphasis put upon out-of-door exercise. Religious services for Catholics, Protestants and those of Jewish faith are held. These socialized features are in marked contrast to the old prison regime. The sick are transferred to the Infirmary at Long Island.
Police Department .- Fundamental in the matter of public morals stand three divisions of the city governinent, namely, the Police Department, the Licensing Board and the Licensing Division attached to the Mayor's office, with functions which are different from those of the Licensing Board.
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In 1878, there existed a Board of Police Commissioners, three in number, who were appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. In 1885, an act of the Massachusetts Legislature established a Board of Police, still three in number, but they were appointed by the Governor instead of by the Mayor, and confirmed by the executive council of the state. Another change was made in 1906, when by chapter 291 of the acts of that year, the administration of the Police Department was put under a single cominissioner. Said commissioner is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Governor's Council, to serve for five years.
Licensing Board .- This same act provided for the appointment by the Governor of a Licensing Board of three members that should represent the two major political parties. The duties assigned to the Licensing Board were the granting of licenses for the sale of intoxicating liquors, as well as for inn- holders, comnon victuallers, picnic groves, skating rinks, intelligence offices, billiard tables and bowling alleys. Since the passage of the Eighteenth Amend- ment in 1922, the duties of the Licensing Board have been greatly lessened.
Licensing Division, Mayor's Office .- Since the powers assigned to the Licensing Board did not meet all the needs of the city in the way of granting licenses, the Licensing Division of the Mayor's office was established in 1904. The chief of this division is appointed by the Mayor. Licenses are granted upon the payment of a fee for theaters, moving picture houses, concerts, base- ball parks, dance halls and circuses - in short, for public amusements and exhibitions of every description to which admission is obtained upon payment of money.
In addition, permits are granted for public meetings, band concerts, military reviews, fireworks displays, public affairs on Boston Common and on other public grounds, and for the sale of newspapers on Boston Common. The division also certifies peddlers to sell wares in county, city or state. Also, since the Massachusetts law prohibits the appearance of children under the age of fourteen at any commercial amusement, the division is responsible for issuing permits when children under fourteen appear in non-commercial enter- tainments.
Now the chief of the Licensing Division of the Mayor's Office is delegated by the Mayor to review all theatrical performances, motion pictures, dances and other licensed amusements, and, if occasion demands, according to chapter 348 of the Special Acts of 1915, the Mayor, the Police Commissioner, and the Chief Justice of the Municipal Court may, by majority vote, revoke or suspend any license.
Licensing of Newsboys .- In passing, it should be said that in accordance with state law the School Committee of Boston appoints a supervisor of licensed minors, who patrols the streets to see that boys under twelve or girls under eighteen are not selling papers. Boys between twelve and fourteen may sell outside of school hours between six a. m. and eight p. m. Those between fourteen and sixteen may sell between five a. m. and nine p. m. All boys under sixteen must obtain a license and a badge. The latter must be worn at all times when a boy is selling, and must not be sold, loaned or given away. Boys found violating the laws are warned and told to report to the Newsboys' Trial Board with their parents.
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The Newsboys' Trial Board, an unique feature of the Boston system, handles the violation cases. This Board was established in 1910 by the School Committee. It meets one evening a week during the school ycar. Its members are the supervisor of licensed minors, who acts as the prosecuting attorney, one of the attendance officers, who presides as the adult judge, and three newsboy judges. The newsboy judges are clected by the newsboys who attend the public schools and it is they who choose the clerk of the Trial Board. The newsboy judges and the clerk receive a compensation of seventy-five cents for each meeting of the Trial Board.
Juvenile Court .- Passing on to the courts, the most notable develop- ments have been the Juvenile Court and the Domestic Relations Session of the Municipal Court. The Boston Juvenile Court, established in 1906, although not the oldest in the country, is one of the best known. Contrary to general opinion, its jurisdiction does not extend over the entire city but is confined to the North End, South End, West End, Back Bay - which is the City Proper. There have been but three judges, Harvey H. Baker, 1906 to the time of his death in 1915, Frederick P. Cabot, 1915 to January 6, 1932, and John Forbes Perkins, the present judge. Frank Leveroni and Philip Rubenstein are special justices. This court is greatly assisted in the disposition of children's cases by the Judge Baker Foundation.
The Judge Baker Foundation was started in 1917 as a memorial to the first judge of the Juvenile Court. Ever since this Foundation was added to the assets of Boston, it has given invaluable advice to the court in personality and behavior problems. It has had the distinguished expert, Dr. William Healy, as its director since the beginning, whose very able assistant has been Dr. Augusta F. Bronner.
In connection with the Juvenile Court it is important to note that its plan for the temporary detention of juvenile offenders differs from that of many cities. Instead of sending children to a house of detention, an arrange- ment has been made whereby, if for some reason they are not permitted to remain in their own homes, the Children's Aid Association of Boston places them in foster homes, pending the decision of the court. This method is an important step in advance over the time when children were detained in police stations and jails, and is thought by specialists in delinquency to be superior to the detention housc.
Domestic Relations Session of the Municipal Court .- Now, in nine cases out of ten, the difficulties of children rest back on conditions of disin- tegrated home life. Moreover, from the point of view of the home itself, it is essential that every effort be made to combat family desertion and to stem the rising tide of divorce. For these reasons the Domestic Relations Session of the Municipal Court is central in importance. Section 1 of chapter 273, General Laws, proclaims desertion a misdemeanor, and since 1882 it has been possible to inaugurate extradition proceedings against a descrting husband. Morcover, the Public Welfare Department of Boston will not give aid unless a wife swears out a warrant for her husband's arrest, if he has deserted her, and the Mothers' Aid Law does not become operative in cases of desertion unless it has evidence that the father has been away a year.
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