Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/227

 POLITICS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 209

under Superintendent I. V. Baker and Superintendent Austin Lathrop, until he was forced, by ill health, to resign and shortly afterward died.

Isaiah Fuller was appointed at Clinton by Superintendent Pillsbury, and served during Mr. Baker's term and five years under Superintendent Lathrop, when he was removed as a result of an investigation on charges of cruelty toward prisoners.

There are officers today in the prisons of this state that have served thirty years, and during my connection with the prisons there have never been any removals on account of politics or partisanship.

Very few men are adapted to prison work, and every change of prison officials has a detrimental effect on prison discipline. The changes in prison work entailed by the constitution which went into efifect one year ago makes changes in prison management at the present time a very hazardous experi- ment, as the prisons were never in such a critical condition as at the present time. Established industries, which were all wiped out by the new constitu- tion, are being replaced by other industries, and this change would seem to require persons with prison experience.

The following are the only interesting statements from managers of institutions :

"AB":

I resigned because it was evident to me that the spirit of the civil-service law (if not the letter of the law) was seriously violated.

The removal of the steward was the most flagrant act of injustice. One of the board of trustees was quite frank in saying to me that he wanted the spoils and did not wish to conceal his desire.

"CD":

Inasmuch as I am a manager of the state hospital, I think it would be indelicate in me to furnish the information you seek in your communication of the twenty-fourth instant. Therefore I hope you will excuse me in declining to do so.

Mrs. Lowell's judgment is :

It would seem to be the fact, judging from most of the replies received, that usually the state institutions of New York (by which is meant the insti- tutions supported by state appropriations and managed by local, unpaid boards appointed by the governor) have been free to a great degree, and many of them entirely, from political influence, but that it has existed in some few of these institutions in the past, and that it is a growing evil.

In considering the references to the civil-service law in the replies received, it is also necessary to remember the following facts:

I. That under the present civil-service law of the state of New York ("the Black Law") there is no position which is not in reality