Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/223

 POLITICS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 205

in this state, although I think better results would be obtained if the county prisons were controlled by the state under a board of prison commissioners.

RHODE ISLAND.

There are thirty-eight cities and towns in Rhode Island. In the cities the office of overseer of the poor is distinct from any care of institutions ; in the towns the overseer is generally superintendent of the poor-farm also. The present incumbents have held office from one year to twenty-four years ; twenty-three having served more than three years. The longer terms are about equally divided between those elected by the people and those chosen by councils. The long term seems to mean the continuance of one party in control and that the party to which the overseer belongs. Fifteen overseers had retained their office after a change in political administration and thirteen had not. The office is not much sought in country places.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The correspondent from New Hampshire speaks of this changes in county officers, superintendents of poor farms, and others whose " reten- tion in the employ of the county institution depends upon their political influence with the county commissioners." In respect to the state board of charities he incidentally reveals a weak point in the system of appointments : " The board has been continually changing in its make-up, so that at this day we are just beginning to get 'the hang of the schoolhouse,' and hope soon to accomplish the end for which the board was created."

MASSACHUSETTS.

Our correspondent believes that political (partisan) considerations do not affect the appointments in the case of superintendents of hospitals for the insane and their subordinates; that city and town relief officers and superintendents of almshouses are selected for fit- ness; that wardens of the state penitentiary have sometimes been chosen on partisan grounds, but that the present incumbent is retained because he is satisfactory ; that the reformatories for men, women, and youth are relatively free from partisan influence, and their superin- tendents, chaplains, and physicians are chosen on the ground of merit. Subordinate officers in the penitentiary and men's reformatory are under civil-service rules. Political interference seems to have touched the management of the houses of correction in Suffolk county, but the direct masters are retained through political changes. The trustees