I. THE ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

The first industrial school for girls in Illinois was the "Illinois Industrial School for Girls," which was founded on January 9, 1877, by the Industrial School Association-an outgrowth of the Woman's State Centennial Association of this state. The school was located at South Evanston, and was opened on November 1, 1877, in a building used as a soldiers' home, with five acres of land surrounding it. On October 1, 1879, the school was reorganized under the above-named act, and a new charter obtained. The school is a state institution, receiving girls from any part of the state, and having the whole state represented on its board of officers. It is nonsectarian, all churches contributing to its support.

The ordinary English branches and domestic arts are taught the girls. The school is managed by a board of trustees, elected by the association, and they appoint the superintendent, who has immediate charge of the school.

In 1882 the constitutionality of the act of 1879 was called in question, but the supreme court decided in favor of the Industrial School. The decision said:

The power conferred under the act in question upon the county court is but of the same character of jurisdiction exercised by the court of chancery over the persons and property of infants, having foundation in the prerogative of the crown, flowing from its general power and duty, as parens patriae, to protect those who have no other lawful protection. That juris diction extends to the care and person of the infant so far as is necessary for his protection and education, and upon this ground that court interferes with the ordinary rights of parents to the care and custody of their children; and whenever it is shown that they are grossly unfit to take care of their children, the court may interfere and deprive them of their custody and appoint a suitable person or guardian to take care of them and superintend their education. This is nothing more than what the Industrial Schools Act does.

The court thus practically set aside the decision in the case of the Chicago Reform School, and in the later opinion held that it is the duty of the state to care for dependent and destitute. children. It also held that the Industrial School for Girls was not a prison, but a school, and the commitment of a child thercto is not imprisonment. There is no more restraint of liberty in this

school than in any well-regulated educational institution—no more restraint than is necessary to the proper education of the children committed to it.

After this decision in its favor, the Industrial School for Girls prospered. For years the placing of children in homes was only partially satisfactory. In one year (1891), we are told in the annual report, "nine-tenths of the children taken out of the school were returned after trial.” This state of affairs was due to several causes, chiefly to the lack of thorough investigation of the homes to which the girls were sent and to proper supervision. A visiting agent was finally employed, and better results were soon apparent.

In 1894 the state board of charities, which had the right of supervision over such institutions, made a report to the governor, in which it was alleged (1) that the location of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls was undesirable; (2) that the discipline was unnecessarily severe; (3) that the industrial training was inadequate, being unsystematic; (4) that the accounts were not satisfactorily kept; (5) that the girls were retained in the school too long -on an average three years; and (6) that the girls placed in homes were not properly looked after. The county commissioners of Cook county, during the fall of 1895, also preferred serious charges against the school, and a somewhat acrimonious controversy ensued. Finally the governor (Altgeld) discharged all the girls (105), but they refused to leave, and the scene at the school, when their discharge was announced, was both amusing and pathetic. The charges of cruelty on the part of the management were not sustained, but it can hardly be doubted that a more desirable location for such a school might be found. There should be more land connected with the school, so that gardening, poultry-raising, and dairy work, etc., might be more effectually taught the girls. The school should also be built on "the cottage plan;" and the trustees fully recognize the advantages of this plan over the old congregate system, but for various reasons they have not removed the school from its original site, nor remodeled it, although they have greatly improved the building and grounds.

Since its organization in 1877 the Illinois Industrial School for Girls has received 1,791 girls, and discharged 1,428. These girls have been cared for at a total cost of $359,911.54, of which the counties paid $193,680.71. The per-capita cost has been $241. It is claimed by the school authorities that 80 per cent. of the girls discharged remain either with their relatives or with the friends to whose care they have been committed. According to this estimate, the school has saved from dependency, and possibly from crime, about 1,100 of the 1,428 girls discharged; but even if this estimate is somewhat exaggerated, we must consider the work of the school a success, however much its organization and methods might be improved.

II. THE CHICAGO INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

This school grew out of the desire of Roman Catholics for an institution to which dependent children of Catholic parents might be committed. It was incorporated on November 1, 1885, under the act of 1872 concerning corporations, and about the same time availed itself of the provisions of the law of 1879 regulating industrial schools. The children were at first taken care of at the House of the Good Shepherd and St. Josephs' Orphan Asylum in Chicago, but the supreme court decided that this was not a compliance with the Industrial Schools Act, and that the school must be housed in separate buildings, and organized for the exclusive purpose of carrying out the provisions of the law. Accordingly a fine building on Forty-ninth street and Prairie avenue was secured, and the Sisters of the Good Shepherd were placed in charge of the school. The children are well taken care of, but it is obvious that the objection made by the state board of charities to the location of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls is applicable to the Chicago school. Owing to its location in the heart of the city on a small lot, there is no opportunity for gardening, poultry-raising, or dairy work, instruction in which would be very desirable, especially if these girls are to be placed in country homes. At first the girls placed out were sent to the pastor of the parish in which they were to live, and he secured homes for them, but this arrangement proving

unsatisfactory, a visitor was employed to investigate the homes and supervise the treatment of the child so placed. In the report for 1899 it is said: "A careful account has been kept of those children placed in families, and, as the homes were carefully investigated before the children were given out, returns have rarely been made. Both the people adopting the child, and the child herself, have been made happy." And again it is said; Believing that the only way of knowing exactly how the children are cared for in these homes is by regularly visiting them, we have employed this method, and the results are very satisfactory." Between 1891 and 1900 the school received 1,837 girls, and returned to their parents or placed out 1,636. The total cost of caring for these girls, exclusive of buildings and grounds, was $144,417.37, of which $95,356.87 was paid by the counties. This is a per-capita cost of $88.28, but this does not include the provisions and other articles which are annually donated by friends of the school.

III. THE ILLINOIS MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL FARM.

Under an act of 1883 providing for the establishment and maintenance of a training school for dependent boys, the "Illinois Industrial Training School for Boys" was organized in 1887, and subsequently became "The Illinois Manual Training School Farm." Under the law, a petition by any reputable citizen of the county may be presented to the county court, asking that the case of an alleged dependent boy be investigated, and if the facts are found to be as alleged, the boy must be committed to a training school, and may be kept there until he is seventeen years of age. The case is tried before a jury of six; the parents or guardians are duly notified of the proceedings about to be instituted; the county from which the boy is committed is required to pay $10 a month toward his education and maintenance while in the school; the boy may be placed or bound out, or adopted by responsible parties, and the school is required to look after him and see that he is properly treated.

The Illinois Manual Training School was located, first, at Norwood Park, eleven miles northwest of Chicago, but was soon

removed to Glenwood, twenty-three miles south of Chicago, and located on a fine tract of land of 300 acres, donated by one of the directors (Mr. George) for this purpose. Money was raised, largely through the efforts of the Woman's Club of Chicago, for buildings, and a number of cozy brick cottages (costing $7,000 each) were erected from time to time. These cottages number eight at present, and are ranged around a semi-circle, with a large administration building in the center. In 1900 a fine manual

training building, costing $50,000-the donation of a friendwas erected and well equipped. The location, arrangement, and material equipment of this school are among the best in the state. Instruction is given in the ordinary branches of an English education, and drawing, clay-modeling, carpentry, farming, cooking, laundry work, and other practical arts are taught the boys. Every boy is required to be in school half a day and to work half a day. Between 1887 and 1900 the school received 2,961 boys and placed in families 2,688, leaving in the school on May 1, 1900, 273 boys.

These boys have been taken care of at a total cost of $327,425.21, of which the counties contributed $176,531.30. The percapita cost has, therefore, been $129.17. The superintendent claims that 90 per cent. of the boys do well after leaving the school, but if only 75 per cent. become respectable and useful citizens, the work of the school must be considered a success.

IV. ST. MARY'S TRAINING SCHOOL FOR BOYS.

Another school for boys organized under the act of 1883 is "St. Mary's Training School" at Feehanville, near Des Plaines, Cook county, about eighteen miles northwest of Chicago, on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. This is a Roman Catholic institution, and is in charge of the Christian Brothers. Unfortunately, it was burned down in 1899, and all records were destroyed, so that a complete account of its history and work is not possible. This is the largest school for dependent boys in Illinois, and is situated on a fine tract of 900 acres of land. It was founded under a charter taken out by Archbishop Feehan of Chicago in 1883. Its forerunner was the Orphan Asylum of Chi