immediate preservation of public peace and this act shall take effect from and after its passage and approval. Approved March 15, 1910. CHAPTER 54. PRIMARY ELECTIONS-NOMINATING PETITIONS-REPEAL. House Bill No. 107. AN ACT repealing sections 14, 15 and 16 of article 2, chapter 31 of the Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1907-08, the same being sections 3281, 3282, and 3283 of the Compiled Laws of Oklahoma, 1909, relating to primary elections. Be It Enacted By the People of the State of Oklahoma: Section 1. Sections 14, 15 and 16, of article 2, chapter 31, of the Session Laws of Oklahoma, 1907-08, the same being sections 3281, 3282, and 3283 of the Compiled Laws of Oklahoma, 1909, relating to primary elections, are hereby repealed. Approved March 16, 1910. CHAPTER 55. ESTABLISHING STATE HOME FOR DEPENDENT CHILDREN. House Bill No. 27. AN ACT establishing a state home at Pryor Creek and naming it; providing for a board of control, fixing the compensation of its members and defining their duties; providing for the admission of inmates and placing them in families; approving the transfer of property of the Whitaker Orphan Home, and transferring same, with inmates and funds, to the Oklahoma State Home; legalizing the acts of the superintendent and board of trustees of the Whitaker Orphan Home; repealing all laws in conflict herewith and declaring an emergency. Be It Enacted By the People of the State of Oklahoma. Section 1. There is hereby established near the town of Pryor Creek, in this state, and maintained by the state, an institution which shall be known as the "Oklahoma State Home," and it shall be a home for white children of sound mind and body under sixteen years of age who are dependent on the public for support. Provided, that the board of control of said home shall have authority to admit. in their discretion, any child dependent or neglected regardless of its physical condition. Board of control. Section 2. The general supervision and government of said home shall be vested in a board of control, to consist of three members, who shall be appointed by the Governor; the members of which board shall hold their office for the respective term of, one for two, one for three, one for four years, from and after the passage and approval of this act, and until their successors shall be appointed and qualified; said respective terms of office to be designated in their respective appointments; and thereafter there shall be one member of said board appointed every year for a term of four years commencing the second Wednesday in March, 1912, and one appointed for a term of four years each year thereafter, by the Governor, whose term of office shall continue for four years, or until their successors shall be appointed and qualified. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in said board by death, resignation, removal from the state, or otherwise, the Governor shall fill the same by appointment for the remainder of the unexpired term, and the appointee shall hold only for the unexpired term of the person whose place he is appointed to fill. The members of said board of control shall constitute a body corporate, under the name and seal of the "Board of Control of Oklahoma State Home," with the right of suing and being sued, and of making and using a common seal and of altering it at pleasure. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business lawful to be done by the said board. Said board of control shall have the power of taking and holding by purchase, gift, donation, devise or bequest, real or personal estate applied to the use of the home. Said board before it enters upon the duties of its office shall each take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office and file the same in the office of the Secretary of State. Officers of board-duties—superintendent. Section 3. Said board shall elect from its own number at its regular annual meeting in March, each year, a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, who shall hold their offices until their successors shall be elected and qualified. Such officers may hold their places during the pleasure of said board. It shall be the duty of the secretary of said board to render quarterly to the State Auditor, accounts current of all cash transactions, and all moneys received, with the proper verified vouchers. All claims and vouchers for the purchase of supplies, or other indebtedness of the home, shall be approved by the board and signed by the president of the board of control. Said board shall establish a system of government for said home, including all necessary regulations for the management and good order thereof, including the support, mental, moral and physical training of the children; for placing them in family homes, and for their supervision in such homes while they remain the wards of said board. The said board shall appoint a competent person who shall have a practical knowledge of the best methods of providing for dependent and neglected children as superintendent, who shall hold his office during its pleasure, and he shall appoint a matron or cottage managers; and such other officers and employees as the board shall prescribe; who shall severally hold their offices during the pleasure of said superintendent, and said board shall prescribe their duties and fix their salaries. The board of control shall meet regularly, at the home on the first Wednesday in each month, and at such other time and places as it shall deem advisable, to transact all necessary business. What children admitted-guardianship. Section 4. This home shall be a temporary home for dependent and neglected children, where they shall be retained only until they can be placed in family homes; provided, that in the discretion of the board the child may be retained in said home as long as its best interests may require. There shall be received into said home those children who have been declared to be dependent on the public for support, as provided by law, and they shall be retained therein until they are eighteen years of age, or they may be declared self-supporting and be released by order of said board after sixteen years of age, unless they shall before that age be sent out as herein provided. The said board shall be appointed guardian as provided by law, of the person and estate of all children admitted to said home, which guardianship shall continue during the minority of such children unless sooner discharged by the proper court. Putting children in homes contract required. Section 5. The said board is authorized, and it shall be the duty of said board of control, to use special diligence in placing the children admitted to said home in suitable family homes, which shall be approved as herein provided, on written contracts to remain until they reach their majority, or in the discretion of said board. Such contracts shall provide for the education of the children in the public schools where they reside at least six months in each year; for teacNng them some useful occupation: for kind and proper treatment as members of the families where placed, and for the payment during each year of the contract, to said board, for the use and benefit of said children, such sum of money as shall be named in the contract. Provided, however, that in the discretion of said board, in the case of children not on indenture and over sixteen years of age, such contract may provide only for wages to be paid to the child or to said board for the benefit of the child and for kind and proper treatment. Every contract shall contain a clause reserving the right to said board to cancel or modify the same whenever it may deem that the interests of the child require, and may also contain a clause authorizing the person taking the child to cancel the same at any time, within sixty days from the date of the contract, on returning the child to the home free of expense to said home. All moneys earned by said child or received from an indenture shall be turned over to said child when, for any reason the guardianship of the board shall cease. Dependence of child terminating-what children not admitted. Section 6. Whenever any ward of said board who is not indentured has become self-supporting, the said board, may, at its discretion, so declare the fact by resolution, and thereupon said guardianship shall cease and the child shall thereafter be entitled to its own earnings. Whenever one or both of the parents of any ward of said board, who is not indentured, have become able to support the child and educate it, the child may by resolution adopted by said board be restored to its parents, in which case the suitableness of the home shall be certified in the manner herein provided for placing children on indenture, and thereupon the guardianship of said board shall cease. The said board is authorized to return to the counties from which they were sent the following classes of children: First. Those who by reason of vicious habits or incorrigi bility cannot be placed or retained in family homes. Second. Those who, in the opinion of said board, based on the certificate of the physician of said home, are of unsound mind or body, or who have some serious physical disability which prevents their being placed in family homes or learning trades. Whenever any child shall be ordered by said board to be returned to its county as herein provided, the guardianship of said board shall cease, and the child shall thereupon again become a charge of the county from which it was sent; and the superintendent of said home, in returning any child to its county, shall report in writing to the county commissioners of the proper county, the action of said board, and the reasons therefor. State agent duties offenses. Section 7. The said board is authorized to employ some competent person who shall be known as the state agent of the Oklahoma State Home, and who shall act in that capacity during the pleasure of the board. His duties as such agent shall be prescribed by said board, and shall include visiting at such times as said board shall direct the children in families on indenture, and reporting to said board the condition of such children, and any failure to comply with the terms of the indenture contracts. It shall also be the duty of said agent to find suitable homes for the children of said home, and to enter into contracts in writing, when so authorized by said board on behalf of said board, with the persons taking such children. The bills for salary and necessary traveling expenses of said agent shall be first sworn to by said agent and examined and allowed by said board. The state |