The Earnings of Public Welfare Institutions in Relation to the Economies of Administration and Physical, Mental and Social Rehabilitation of the Patients
| Author | Ellen C. Potter |
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300119 |
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
135
THE
EARNINGS
OF
PUBLIC
WELFARE
INSTITUTIONS
is
destined
to
supersede
the
present
inane
methods
of
prison
discipline.
The
physical
defects
of
the
prisoner,
his
mental
vagaries,
will
become
a
nec-
essary
part
of
the
study
of
penal
ex-
perts
and
their
correction
will
be
necessitated
by
the
daily
exigencies
of
the
penal
industrial
system.
To
those
whose
interest
is
in
this
remake
process,
it
needs
to
be
pointed
out
that
it
will
be
some
years
before
the
&dquo;hard-boiled&dquo;
taxpayer
will
support
a
political
regime
which
appropriates
lavishly
for
this
most
necessary
work.
Given
half
a
chance,
however,
the
new
penal
indus-
trial
system
will
meet
the
demand
of
the
taxpayer
that
prisons
be
self-sup-
porting,
while
these
facilities
will
be
added
thereunto
because
they
are
nec-
essary
to
its
growth.
Thus
we
are
contemplating
much
more
than
self-supporting
prisons.
Out
of
the
present
movement
there
will
be
definite
economic
gain.
As
was
pointed
out
in
a
recent
article
in
The
Survey:
To
estimate
the
economic
gain
we
have
but
to
figure
the
saving
from
the
new
meth-
ods
in
purchasing
public
supplies,
the
sav-
ing
in
maintenance
of
the
prisoners
who
will
become
self-supporting,
the
saving
to
the
charitable
institutions
which
will
no
longer
be
called
upon
to
care
for
their
dependents.
What
it
will
mean
to. turn
out
competent
workmen
from
our
prisons,
rather
than
confirmed
criminals,
it is
for
the
insurance
companies,
the
surety
companies
and
the
police
to
estimate.
The
Earnings
of
Public
Welfare
Institutions
in
Relation
to
the
Economies
of
Administration
and
Physical,
Mental
and
Social
Rehabilitation
of
the
Patients
(Exclusive
of
Prisons)
By
ELLEN
C.
POTTER
Secretary
of
Welfare,
Commonwealth
of
Pennsylvania
THE
high
costs
of
government,
as
well
as
the
high
costs
of
private
charity,
have
reached
the
point
at
which
both
the
public
and
private
official,
concerned
with
and
responsible
for
the
administration
of
these
institutions,
is
compelled
to
consider
whether
there
is
need
for
the
ever-expanding
program
in
these
fields
and
whether,
if
it
prove
that
there
must
be
a
continuing
ex-
pansion,
there
are
ways
and
means
of
reducing
the
unit
cost
both
to
the
tax-
payer
and
the
philanthropic
public.
Public
and
private
charity
is
chiefly
concerned
with
the
care
of
the
indigent
(or
dependent)
child
and
adult
from
whatever
cause;
the
physically
sick
whether
acute
or
chronic;
the
mentally
sick
(the
insane);
and
the
feeble-
minded.
The
bill
which
has
to
be
met
to
provide
the
necessary
care’for
these
dependents
is
enormously
increased
by
the
costs
in
the
field
of
delinquency
and
crime,
which
result
in
large
meas-
ure
from
the
unskillful
and
inadequate
handling
of
the
problems
involved
in
poverty,
feeble-mindedness
and
in-
sanity.
Time
has
not
been
sufficient
to
en-
able
us
to
assemble
the
statistics
of
the
costs
of
public
charity
throughout
the
United
States,
nor
has
it
been
possible
even
to
estimate
the
institutional
earnings,
and
therefore
this
discussion
will
be
limited
chiefly
to
known
facts
in
Pennsylvania.
It
is,
however,
worthy
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