Only nine of the seventy-five who tried the written examination received the necessary percentage to entitle them to enter the oral portion. These nine candidates were called before the examining committee and were subjected to an examination on personality. Further questions also were asked regarding their habits and training, and regarding the special duties required of probation officers in the juvenile and morning courts. Finally they were made to discuss how they would deal with the problems involved in certain hypothetical cases.

APPENDIX F.

CONFERENCES OF PROBATION OFFICERS.

Conference in Rochester.

A conference of probation officers from the western part of the State was held in Rochester under the auspices of the State Probation Commission on the afternoon of October 21st with an attendance of about forty probation workers from Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Elmira, Auburn, Geneva, Canandaigua and Batavia. It was the first conference of the kind ever held in the State, and the attendance, interest and helpfulness of the meeting demonstrated the need and value of such gatherings. No papers were read, but each person present related experiences or contributed to the discussion, which dealt principally with methods of investigating and supervising cases. Hon. John H. Chadsey, judge of the Rochester police and juvenile courts, gave an interesting talk on the development and benefits of the probation system in that city.

In the evening a member of the State Probation Commission tendered a dinner in the Rochester Hotel to those attending the conference. Supreme Court Justice Arthur E. Sutherland, one of the first magistrates to use probation in New York State, made a brief address.

Those present at the conference or dinner, exclusive of the representatives of the Commission, were the following: Supreme Court Justice Arthur E. Sutherland, Police Justice John H. Chadsey, Edward F. Kelly, paid probation officer, Buffalo morning courts; Lloyd L. Cheney, paid chief probation officer, and Dr. John W. Plant, Jay M. Strong, Capt. John Merkin and Mrs. Merkin, volunteer probation officers, Syracuse police court; Miss Anna B. Pratt, volunteer probation officer, Elmira recorder's court; Capt.

Harry R. Robertson, volunteer probation officer, Supreme Court in Cayuga County; Frederick D. Whitwell and Acey W. Sutherland, volunteer probation officers, Ontario county court; Rev. Paul Hayne, volunteer probation officer, Genesee county court; Alfred J. Masters, paid probation officer, Monroe county court and Rochester police court; Mrs. William W. Armstrong, paid probation officer, Rochester police court; William A. Killip, Mrs. Joseph T. Alling, Mrs. Lewis Bigelow, Richard Redfern, Mrs. Richard Redfern, Rebecca Rosenberg, Rev. Jacob Staub, Mrs. A. A. Davis, Rev. John F. Gefell, Rev. J. Emil Gefell, Rev. F. S. Rowland, Rev. Paul M. Strayer, Rev. Thomas F. Connors and Rev. George W. Eckl, volunteer probation officers, Rochester juvenile court; Hon. George A. Carnahan, Mrs. Max Lansberg, Mrs. William C. Morey, Mrs. E. M. Ford, Mrs. Lucius E. Hogle, Mrs. D. E. Murphy, Rev. Dr. Edward F. Hanna and Rev. H. H. Stebbins, of the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; Mr. Hogan, assistant district attorney, Monroe county; and Mrs. Alfred J. Masters, Mr. D. E. Murphy and S. B. Moulthrop, of Rochester.

The president of the Commission presided and presented as the first topic for consideration the need and best means of investigating the cases of defendants before the judgment of the court is pronounced. Some probation officers present stated that they were not accustomed to investigating cases, but it was significant that those who make preliminary investigations consider them as indispensable for the attainment of the best results. The causes of delinquency or criminality vary with the individual, and in order to adapt the treatment to the peculiar requirements of each probationer the character and circumstances of each one must be carefully studied. It was pointed out that in making inquiries, and particularly from employers, probation officers should exercise caution lest the defendants become unnecessarily disgraced, and possibly may lose their employment. Special emphasis was placed on the desirability of having the investigations of juvenile cases include a thorough physical examination, for often a boy's truancy or delinquency is due to mal-nutrition, poor teeth, adenoids, imperfect eyesight or other physical defects which are remedial. Dr. John W. Plant, a Syracuse volunteer probation

officer, called attention to the desirability of inspiring in boys a desire to have a sound, strong body, in order to stimulate their self-respect and ambition.. He said that the effect on a boy's character of inducing him to form the habit of correcting bodily weaknesses and defects is often more valuable than even the gains to health.

Mr. Masters, the salaried probation officer in the Monroe county and the Rochester police courts, Mr. Cheney, the chief probation officer in the Syracuse police court, Mr. Kelly, the paid officer in the Buffalo morning courts, and several volunteers, described certain varieties of probationary conditions, somewhat out of the ordinary, which at times are imposed in their respective courts. It has become a practice in the courts named to release persons on probation with the understanding that while on probation they provide for the support of their families, make restitution for damages or pay fines. The payments are required to be made in instalments, which vary in amount according to the circumstances of each probationer. Cases were cited where the instalments in paying fines or restitution have been as small as five, ten and twenty-five cents per week. These probation officers also use the pledge system in intoxication cases, when suitable. The probation officers said that they never compel a defendant to take a pledge against his wishes. Mr. Masters and Mr. Cheney each estimated that about three-quarters of the probationers who take the pledge observe its conditions.

Mr. Killip, superintendent of the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the most active volunteer probation officer in the juvenile court of that city, stated that all children arrested are taken to the Society's shelter pending arraignment or trial, instead of being kept in police lock-ups. Several Rochester probation officers described their methods of dealing with juvenile probationers.

Various other aspects of probation work were discussed, such as how long to keep probationers under supervision, the desirability of having probation officers report regularly to the court on the progress and condition of each probationer under their care, the use of blank forms, the danger of giving charitable relief to probationers, the co-operation of probation officers with

school teachers, clergymen, settlement workers, etc., the locating and rearresting of probationers who have absconded, how to induce parents to properly look after their children, the relative value of requiring probationers to visit the probation officer and of having the probation officer visit the probationer's home and neighborhood, the discharging of probationers, the relation of probation officers to the State Probation Commission, etc.

Conference in Elmira.

An informal meeting of the probation officers in attendance at the State Conference of Charities and Correction was held on the evening of November 18th in the Women's Federation Building, Elmira, on the invitation of the State Probation Commission. The meeting was not planned until that evening. Those who met with the Commission were the following: Hon. Benjamin J. Shove, police justice and juvenile court judge of Syracuse; probation officers Mrs. W. W. Armstrong, of the Rochester police court; Mr. Alfred J. Master, of the Rochester police and the Monroe county courts; Miss Anne V. Roome, of the Brooklyn magistrates' court; Miss Gertrude Grasse, of the Brooklyn juvenile court; Mr. John R. Howard, Jr., of the Buffalo juvenile court; Dr. John W. Plant and Jay M. Strong, of the Syracuse juvenile court; Mr. Martin McDonough, parole agent of Elmira Reformatory and the State Industrial School for Boys, and Rev. Michael J. Krieg, of Industry, parole agent of the State Industrial School for Boys.

The discussion, which was entirely informal, dealt with the after-care of probationers through the agency of "big brothers," the advisibility of probation officers acting as parole officers for children released from institutions, and the use of the summons and civil procedure in juvenile cases.

Miss Grasse described the work of the Brooklyn Juvenile Probation Association, whose representatives supervise children who are discharged from probation by the Brooklyn juvenile court and also those paroled from institutions. This after-care of juvenile probationers is felt desirable owing to the fact that on account of the small number of probation officers in the Brooklyn