labor, should be under the constant supervision, day and night, of competent attendants."

Of idiots in county infirmaries, from their knowledge of their condi tion, from careful investigation, the report continues: "The Board are of the opinion that no human enterprise in which the State could engage, would meet with more prompt or sure reward, or heartier approval, than which would provide for the relief and comfort of the entire idiotic portion of society in our State."

The report of the New York State Board of Public Charities, for 1868, thus speaks of the New York State Asylum for Idiots: "The Institution is among the noblest of our State Charities, annually receiving from the lowest depths of degradation a large class of unfortunate dependants, and elevating their moral and intellectual beings to a condition fitting them for association with friends, and rendering their presence in society endurable. The success of the Institution has become assured, and its usefulness should be enhanced by the confidence and support of the State."

AN ACT

INCORPORATING THE ILLINOIS INSTITUTION FOR THE EDUCATION OF
FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That for the care, support, education and training of idiotic and imbecile children and youth, a corporation is hereby created, to be known by the name of the "Illinois Institution for the Education of Feeble-Minded Children," and to have perpetual succession, with power to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to receive by any legal mode of transfer or conveyance, and have, hold and use property of every description, and to sell and convey the same; also to have and use a common seal, with power to change the same; also, to adopt by-laws, rules and regulations for the government of its members, officers, agents, employees and inmates: Provided, that such by-laws shall not be contrary to the Constitution of the State of Illinois, or of the United States.

§ 2. The object of said corporation shall be to promote, by all proper and feasible means, the intellectual, moral and physical culture of that unfortunate portion of the community who have been born, or by disease have become idiotic, imbecile or feeble-minded, and by a judicious and well adapted course of instruction, and training and management, to ameliorate their condition, and to develop as much as possible their intellectual faculties; to reclaim them from their hopeless condition, and fit them, as far as possible, for future usefulness in society.

§ 3. The number of trustees shall not exceed three, and not more than one member shall be appointed from any one county. Said trustees shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate; shall serve without compensation; their term of service shall be six years respectively, except in case of the first board, one of whom shall be appointed for two years, one for four years, and one for six years. from the passage of this act, and until their successors are appointed and qualified, and at the expiration of their respective terms of office the vacancies shall be filled for the full term. Should any vacancy

occur by death, resignation or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled. by the Governor by an appointment for the unexpired term of the trus tee whose place was thus vacated.

§ 4. The said trustees shall each be paid his traveling and personal expenses while in the service of the Institution. The said expenses shall be paid out of funds appropriated to said Institution only, as follows: The Auditor of Public Accounts shall issue his warrant upon the Treasurer in favor of each of such trustees for the amount of his actual expenses in his attendance upon said board of trustees, upon the filing in the office of the said Auditor of the voucher of the said trustees, setting forth in detail the amount and nature of each and every such expense, and the Auditor shall charge the amount of the said warrant to the fund appropriated to the said Institution.

§ 5. No member of said board shall be employed or appointed in or to any office or place under the authority of the board of which he is a member; nor shall any member of said. board be directly or indirectly interested in any contract to be made by said board for any purpose whatever.

§ 6. The said trustees shall have charge of the general interests of the Institution, and shall appoint a Superintendent, who shall be a physician, and fix the amount of his salary, who, with the consent of said board, shall employ all necessary assistants, teachers and other employees. The trustees shall make such by-laws for the government of the Institution as shall be necessary for the successful attainment of the objects of the corporation. The said trustees, or a majority of them, when convened, shall constitute a board, and shall have power to appoint a President, a Treasurer and a Secretary (the President to be selected. from their own number, and the Superintendent to serve, ex-officio, as Secretary) and to prescribe their duties and fix their terms of service. They shall require the Treasurer, from time to time, to give bonds to the People of the State of Illinois for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office; they shall determine the salaries of such other officers and assistants as may be necessary to the able and economical administration of the affairs of the Institution.

7. The Superintendent shall exercise entire official control over all subordinate officers and assistants in this Institution, and shall have entire direction of the duties of the same, and be responsible for their fidelity.

8. Pupils or children placed in the Institution by parents and guardians, or other persons having rightful control, shall be required to conform to the rules and regulations of the Institution, as far as they may have ability.

§ 9. The board shall make annual reports to the Governor of the State, on or before the fifteenth of December, showing the number of

Vol. II-7

applications received, the number of pupils under instruction, the number of pupils admitted, and the number of pupils discharged, during the year; also the progress and results of the system of instruction pursued at the Institution, and such general facts as may be instrumental in giving the people of the State of Illinois all information proper to be laid before them, together with a detailed financial statement of all moneys received and how they have been expended.

§ 10. The said trustees shall meet quarterly, when they shall examine and audit all the accounts of the Institution and make requisition on the Auditor of Public Accounts of the State of Illinois for funds required for use during the succeeding quarter, from funds which have been ap propriated by the General Assembly for the use of the Institution: Provided, that the first quarterly installment of any such appropriation shall be paid in advance, but no further warrants shall be drawn for any succeeding installment until the Superintendent of said Institution shall have filed with the Auditor satisfactory vouchers, approved by the board of trustees, showing in detail each and every expenditure made out of the preceding installment.

§ 11. In all cases where the parents of the pupils sent to the Institution for the Education of Feeble-minded Children, are too poor to furnish them with good and sufficient clothing and expenses for transportation from and to their homes, or where said pupils are without parents, and are unable to furnish themselves with such clothing and expenses for transportation, in all cases of pauper children who are idiotic or feeble-minded, the parents, guardians, or next friend of any such children, or any officer of the county or township in which such children may reside, may make application to the county court or board of supervisors of the county, and upon a decision by such county court, or board of supervisors, that such child or children are paupers and proper subjects for the care of this Institution, an order shall be passed to that effect, and the judge of the county court of the county from which they are sent shall certify the same to the Superintendent, who shall procure such necessary clothing and transportation, and charge the same to said county, and present the account to the Auditor of Public Accounts, who thereupon shall draw upon the county treasurer for the amount so charged to the county; and the said county shall annually assess and collect by tax the amount necessary to pay said order or orders; and if said county shall fail so to do, the circuit court in said county shall, on application therefor, compel the same by mandamus.

§ 12. The board of directors of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb shall transfer all the property now in their possession, which has been purchased or erected for and is now in use by the Illinois Institution for the Education of Feeble-minded Children: also all funds unexpended from appropriations made by the General Assembly for said Institution for Feeble-minded Children, to the board

of trustees of the Illinois Institution for the Education of Feeble-minded Children, who are hereby authorized to receive all such property and funds, and who shall succeed to all the rights and powers of the directors of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, so far as they extend to the Illinois Institution for the Education of Feeble-minded Children.

§ 13. The Auditor of Public Accounts is hereby authorized and required to draw his warrants on the Treasurer of State for all sums which may be appropriated or are undrawn or unexpended, which have been appropriated for the use of said Institution, by the General Assembly, upon orders of the board of trustees of the Illinois Institution for the Education of Feeble-minded Children, when signed by the President and attested by the Secretary of said board with the seal of the Institution.

§ 14. This act shall take effect and be in force on the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.

APPROVED April 6, 1871.