in the membership of a board of managers of a district hospital, an appo tment to fill the vacancy shall be made by the alcalde in whose municipality the hospital is situated. SEC. 59. The department of charities may, in its discretion, whenever it is convinced that the interests of any district hospital would be promoted thereby, discontinue such hospital as a district hospital and assign it to the municipality in which such hospital is situated. The alcalde of such municipality shall thereupon appoint a board of managers for said hospital, and such municipality shall provide such sums as may be necessary for its maintenance and support. Any municipality, upon proof satisfactory to the department that it is able to provide suitable grounds and buildings and to properly equip, maintain, and conduct without aid from the state a hospital for the care of the destitute sick, may, upon the written approval of the department of charities and after the approval of the plans of the buildings for such hospital by said department, establish such hospital. Any municipality which has no municipal hospital and which is located in a judicial district which has no district hospital may send destitute sick persons to the nearest or most accessible municipal hospital which is of sufficient capacity to receive such patients, and collect from the municipality sending them the cost of their support and maintenance so long as they remain in such hospital. Whenever in any municipal hospital there are patients from some other municipality and the quarters occupied by such patients are needed by the municipality conducting the hospital for the care of the patients residing in such municipality, due notice shall be given by the alcalde to the alcalde of the municipality from which the patients not residing in the municipality in which the hospital is situated were received; whereupon the alcalde of the municipality from which such patients were received shall make provision for their removal and treatment elsewhere. Municipalities may make a reasonable and proper allowance for the support and treatment in hospitals wholly or partly under private control of persons accepted by the alcalde as proper public charges. Before accepting any such person as a public charge the alcalde shall satisfy himself by an investigation, the result of which shall be reduced to writing and placed on file in his office, that such person is destitute and that none of the persons legally liable for his support are able to maintain him. ARTICLE V. CONCERNING HOMES FOR THE AGED. SEC. 60. Destitute aged persons shall be provided for by their children or grandchildren, unless such children or grandchildren are unable to provide for their support. Destitute aged persons whose children and grandchildren are unable to provide for their support, and whose support is not voluntarily assumed by some relative or friend or by a private charitable institution at its own expense, may be supported by the municipalities in which such destitute aged persons reside, in any mnicipal or private institution for the care of the aged. No home for the aged shall be established by any municipality except with the written consent of the department of charities and after the approval of the plans for such building by the department. Appropriations from the insular treasury in aid of institutions for the care of aged persons shall be discontinued on December 31, 1900. SEC. 61. Appropriations of municipal funds to institutions wholly or partly under private control for the support of destitute aged persons shall be made in the form of a per capita payment for the maintenance of persons accepted as proper public charges by the alcalde. Before any person shall be so accepted the alcalde shall satisfy himself by an adequate investigation, the result of which shall be reduced to writing and placed on file in his office, that such person is destitute, and that none of the persons legally liable for his support are able to maintain him. The department of charities shall collect statistics each year showing the number of destitute persons supported by municipalities, and if, in its judgment, the number of persons so supported shall increase beyond what is necessary and proper, said department may, with the approval in each instance of the military governor, establish such rules and regulations concerning the acceptance of destitute aged persons as proper public charges by alcaldes as it may deem necessary. ARTICLE VI. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES. SEC. 62. The department of charities shall secure from each state, district, municipal, private, or other charitable institution an annual report. Such report shall include a statement of the income of such institution and the sources from which received, the expenditures and purposes for which the funds were expended, the number of inmates received, from whom received, the number of inmates discharged and the disposition made of them, and such other information as the department may deem desirable. All officers of such institutions shall furnish such statistics on or before the first day of February of each year for the preceding calendar year. Such statistics shall be made out in such form and manner as the department may prescribe. Every official refusing to furnish such information, without satisfactory excuse, shall be subject to a penalty of one hundred (100) dollars. The department may require from any charitable institution such additional reports or information as it may deem desirable. It shall include in its annual report such statistics and other information received through these reports as it may deem advisable. SEC. 63. The term "charitable institution" as used in this decree shall include all hospitals except those under the care of the health authorities, sección de higiene, orphan asylums and institutions for destitute children, juvenile reformatories, homes for the aged, hospitals for the insane, and all other institutions and societies organized for or whose principal business is the support or assistance of persons who are unable to support or care for themselves. SEC. 64. The department shall, through its members, officers, or inspectors duly appointed by it for that purpose, inspect every charitable institution in the island, whether state, district, municipal, private, or otherwise, at least once every six months. A written report of every such inspection shall be filed in the office of the department, and a copy of the whole or of such portions of the reports as the department may deem advisable shall be forwarded to the governing body of the institution inspected. The members, officers, and duly appointed inspectors of such board shall have full access to the grounds, books, and papers of every such institution, and may require from the officers and persons in charge thereof any information which they may deem necessary in order to enable them to make a thorough inspection. No such officer or inspector shall communicate to any person without the knowledge and consent of the department any fact or information obtained pursuant to the provisions of this decree, except as herein provided. On such inspections inquiries shall be made to ascertain: 1. Whether the objects of the institution are being accomplished. 2. Whether the grounds and buildings are in a sanitary condition. 3. Whether the methods of industrial, educational, and moral training are adapted to the needs of the inmates. 4. Whether the methods of government and discipline are humane and efficient; whether the inmates are kindly treated. 5. Whether the qualifications and conduct of its officers and employees are satisfactory. 6. Whether the provisions of law relating to such institutions are fully complied with. 7. Whether proper records are kept concerning the reception, retention, and discharge of inmates. 8. Whether proper records are kept of the receipts of the institution and of its expenditures, and whether the latter are economically and honestly made. 9. Whether proper records are kept of all property bought by, supplied to, or belonging to the institution. 10. Any other matters which the department may deem advisable. SEC. 65. The department may, by a committee of one or more of its members, investigate the affairs and management of any institution subject to its inspection, and the committee appointed to make such investigation shall have power to issue compulsory process for the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, to administer oaths, and to examine persons under oath. SEC. 66. If it shall appear from any inspection or investigation that the inmates of any institution are cruelly, negligently, or improperly treated, or that inadequate provision is made for their sustenance, clothing, shelter, care, treatment, or other condition necessary to their comfort and well-being, said department shall, by written communication, call the attention of the directors, manager, or other governing authority of such institution, to such evils, defects, or abuses. SEC. 67. If such evils, defects, or abuses are not corrected within such period of time as the department may consider to be reasonable, the department shall prepare an order directing the correction of such evils, defects, or abuses, which order, if approved by the military governor, after a reasonable notice to the institution, with a copy of the proposed order and an opportunity for a hearing thereon, shall have the force of a decree. SEC. 68. All appropriations made on and after August 1, 1900, by the State in aid of district, municipal, or private charitable institutions, shall be first considered by the department of charities. All applications from such institutions for aid, either for buildings, repairs, maintenance, clothing, salaries, equipment, or other purposes, shall be made to the department of charities, or, if made to any other official, shall be referred forthwith to that department. On or before the 20th day of each month the department of charities shall submit to the military governor a statement of all applications made to or through that department for aid from the general treasury and of the recommendation of that department in regard to each of such requests. The department will be notified on or before the fifth day of the succeeding month of the action taken by the military governor upon each of such recommendations. SEC. 69. The department of charities shall submit an annual report to the military governor containing a brief statement of the results of its inspections and investigations, a detailed statement concerning the work of the bureau for placing children in families, and other matters directly under the oversight of the department, statistical information in regard to the number of children and adults supported in the various charitable institutions in the island, the receipts and expenditures of such institutions, and such other information as it may deem desirable. SEC. 70. Upon the request of the superintendent of the Training School for Boys, or of the superintendent of the Training School for Girls, the department shall have authority to transfer any inmate from either of such schools to the Reform School for Boys or the Reform School for Girls, according to its sex, if, in its opinion, satisfactory evidence is shown that such child is in need of disciplinary or reformatory treatment, which can not be afforded in the training school. SEC. 71. The department may make such provision for the care and training of blind and of deaf children, and of other physically or mentally defective children, as from time to time may be found to be advisable and for which an appropriation shall have been authorized. SEC. 72. To secure uniformity of method in the administration of public charity, and to prevent duplication of work, all the authorities, powers, and duties in relation to charitable institutions which have been imposed upon or delegated to the department of state and government, under or pursuant to the provisions of the Spanish royal decree of the 27th of April, 1875, as modified by the decree of the 27th of June, 1881, and made applicable to the island of Cuba by the decree of 14th of January, 1887, commonly known as the beneficencia law, and under the provisions of the civil order issued by the military governor on the 24th of February, 1899, are hereby transferred to and imposed upon the department of public charities created by this decree. ARTICLE VII. AMENDMENT OF CIVIL CODE. SEC. 73. The civil code is hereby amended to read as follows: Article 156 of said code is amended by striking out the second paragraph of said article. ARTICLE VIII. SEC. 74. This decree shall take effect August 1, 1900. J. B. HICKEY, Assistant Adjutant-General. This law was drawn up by Maj. E. St. J. Greble, superintendent of charities and hospitals, with the assistance of Mr. Homer Folks, of the New York State board of charities, who rendered valuable service in the organization of this department. Later on the following supplementary order was issued: HEADQUARTERS DIVISION OF CUBA, The military governor of Cuba directs the publication of the following order: In compliance with the provisions of sections 58 and 72 of order No. 271, dated Headquarters Division of Cuba, Havana, July 7, 1900, the alcaldes of municipalities and other designated authorities will take at once the necessary steps to have the proper juntas de patrones appointed for all asylums, hospitals, and other charitable institutions receiving State or municipal aid in the form of money appropriations. Each junta shall meet as soon as possible after their appointinent, and will then establish rules and regulations for the conduct of its business, the management of the institution, and the powers and duties of its officers and employees. The junta de patrones shall hold regular monthly meetings in the first week of each month and such special meetings as it may determine. At the meeting held in the first week in January, 1901, and in the first week in January of each succeeding year it shall elect from among its number a president, a vice-president, and a secretary, and it shall appoint from among its number a house committee, a finance committee, an auditing committee, and an inspecting committee, which officers and committees shall hold office for one year. Accurate minutes of the proceedings of all meetings shall be kept by the secretary. Each junta de patrones shall elect from among its numbers, at its first regular meeting after appointment, a president, a vice-president, and a secretary, which officers shall hold office until the regular meeting of the junta held in the first week in January, 1901. At this first regular meeting held after its appointment each junta shall appoint from among its members the following committees, who shall serve until the regular meeting of the junta held in the first week in January, 1901: A house committee and an inspecting committee. The duties of the house committee shall be: (a) To recommend to the junta the number of employees and their salaries, and to propose regulations defining the duties of the employees. (b) To observe and report to the junta from time to time the conduct and efficiency of each employee, and whether any changes should be made in the same. (c) To regulate and control the purchase of supplies, subject to the approval of the junta. The duties of the finance committee shall be: (a) To secure, and report to the junta, all information in regard to the property owned by the institution and the revenue which should be received therefrom. (b) To ascertain the actual cost of the maintenance of inmates in the institution and to collect the cost of maintenance from any inmate able to pay the same, or a portion thereof. (c) To secure voluntary contributions to the funds of the institution. (d) To counsel and direct the treasurer in the investment, care, and management of the finances of the institution. All investments must have been submitted to and approved by the junta de patrones. (e) To prescribe for the treasurer such form of accounts and reports as the committee may deem necessary and advisable. (f) To examine all bills and to certify to the junta as to the correctness of all bills and to approve or disapprove the same. The treasurer, although not a member of the junta de patrones, shall be a member of the finance committee. The duties of the auditing committee shall be: To examine treasurer's accounts, together with all securities and investments, within five days prior to the January and July meetings of the junta de patrones, and at such times as the junta may direct, and report to the junta as to the correctness of the same. No member of the auditing committee shall be a member of the finance committee. The duties of the inspecting committee shall be: (a) To inquire whether the rules and regulations established by the junta and all provisions of law relating to the institution are carried into effect. (b) To inspect, through one or more of its members, at least once each week, every department of the buildings of the institution, including the morgue, bathrooms, and toilet rooms; to inquire into the behavior of the employees, nurses, and attendants, and the quality and quantity of food and medicines; to examine as to the cleanliness and order of every department of the institution, and of its grounds; to question the medical director and his assistants whenever the committee may deem it necessary, but not less than once a month, as to the condition and work of the institution, and as to the conduct and efficiency of the nurses and attendants. (c) To keep a book in which they shall enter at the close of each visit a statement of their observations and proceedings, which book shall be laid before the junta at its regular meeting. The junta de patrones shall have power to appoint and remove any employee of the institution, and in case of removal, the cause therefor shall be entered in the minutes of the junta. No member of the junta shall be eligible for the election to any salaried position in the institution. Each junta de patrones shall at its first meeting after its appointment recommend the name of a treasurer, whose salary is to be regulated as are those of the other |