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Topic No. 1 "ORGANIZATION"

SURVEY BY O.H. BURRITT, Principal
Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind, Overbrook, Pa.

A SURVEY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND FOR THE TEN -- YEAR PERIOD, 1907-1917

TOPIC No. 1.

Organization (including, legislative authority, appropriation, personnel of board, central office staff, with qualifications, salaries, etc., division of labor, relations to each other and to the Board), outlined with a view to securing your advice as to scope of work of a Commission for the Blind; favorable details of organization, definitions of blindness, etc., further legislation, etc.

LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

An examination of the law creating the Commission and the amendments thereto indicates that the Act creating it was wisely drawn, in that it allows large latitude of action to the Commission. With but one or two exceptions, the activities of the Commission are permissive, not mandatory.

First. The Commission is authorized (Section 2) "to prepare and maintain a register of the blind in Massachusetts, which shall describe their condition, cause of blindness, and capacity for education and industrial training."

Data as to the numbers registered in accordance with this provision of the Act are not immediately available for each of the ten years of the Commission's existence. They are, however, available in published form for the past five years; i.e., for the fiscal years ending with November 30, 1911, to 1915, inclusive. These figures show that the Commission has maintained an average registration annually of over 1,500 blind persons, of whom an average of about 525 per annum have been registered for the first time. The record for the last year of the period is 1,872 registered, 561 of them for the first time.

Second. It is provided by Section 3 that "the Commission shall act as a bureau of information and industrial aid, the object of which shall be to aid the blind in finding employment and to develop home industries for them. For this purpose the Commission may furnish materials and tools to any blind person, and may assist such blind persons as are engaged in home industries in marketing their products."

The sixth annual report states that "the agents of the Commission have had a close acquaintance with more than 3,500 of the 6,000 persons technically blind who are or who have been registered with the Commission. To do this they have made at least 20,000 visits in almost every city and town of the Commonwealth...." As there has been material increase in the appropriation, this work has probably not decreased in amount. Through these visits and the many calls for information at its office, the Commission seems to be fulfilling its function "as a bureau of information."

How is the Commission fulfilling its duty of aiding the blind in finding employment and of developing home industries for them? The summary of its activities for the year ending November 30, 1915, shows that either by the provision of training, regular or temporary employment, shop industry or canvassing, aid has been afforded to 226 individuals, and that home industry has been fostered by loans, equipment, use of canvasser, use of salesroom, etc., in the case of 148 other blind persons. That with all the effort put forth in the fostering of home industries there has resulted the meager return to the workers of less than $1,600, speaks forcefully of the difficulties that are encountered in efforts to develop home industries. On the other hand, that the 113 employees in the Commission's shops and the thirteen blind or partially blind employees on the staff were paid approximately $43,500 is the strongest argument for the extension of these opportunities until the State has met the used of every blind person who has the mentality and the physical stamina to profit by them.

Third. By the provisions of Section 4 of the Act, the Commission is authorized "to establish, equip, and maintain one or more schools for industrial training and workshops for the employment of blind persons, to pay to employees suitable wages, and may devise means for the sale and distribution of the products of such schools and workshops." Under the power conferred upon it, the Commission "has established workshops," is apparently paying suitable wages, and has devised means for the sale and distribution of the products. The writer understands that training is provided in many instances for those who afterward become wage earners in the shops.

Fourth. The provisions of Sections 5 and 6, making it possible for the Commission to provide for the temporary support of an individual under raining, whether within or without the State, are liberal and apparently adequate. The number thus provided for is restricted somewhat by the funds available for the purpose, but more by the prospects of subsequent remunerative employment.

Fifth. Ample authority, too, has apparently been granted to the Commission by Section 7, in the matter of the appointment of the necessary officers and agents. The number and their compensation are restricted by that portion of the appropriation that may justly be considered available for this phase of the Commission's activities.