AN ACT To regulate the State charitable institutions and the State Reform School, and to improve their organization and increase their efficiency. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the state institutions hereinafter named, are hereby recognized and continued, and that they shall hereafter be known and designated by their respective titles, as expressed in this section, namely: CHARITABLE. The Illinols Central Hospital for the Insane, at Jacksonville. The Illinois Southern Hospital for the Insane, at Anna. The Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, at Jacksonville. The Illinois Institution for the Education of the Blind, at Jacksonville. The Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children. The Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at Normal. The Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, at Chicago. CORRECTIONAL. The Illinois State Reform School, at Pontiac. 2. The trustees of each of the said state institutions shall be a body corporate and politic, for certain purposes, namely: To receive, hold, use and convey or disburse moneys and other property, real and personal, in the name of said corporations, but in trust and for the use and by the authority of the state of Illinois, and to control, manage and direct the several trusts committed to them respectively, including the organization, government and discipline of all officers, employes and other inmates of said institutions, with power to make contracts, to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to have and to use a common seal and to alter the same at pleasure, and to exercise all other powers usually belonging and incident to such corporations and necessary for the successful discharge of the obligations devolving by law upon said boards of trust: Provided, that they shall not have power to bind the state by any contract beyond the amount of the appropriations which may at the time have been made for the purposes expressed in the contract, nor to sell or convey any part of the real estate belonging to their respective institutions without the consent of the legislature, except that they may release any mortgage or convey any real estate which may be held by them as security for any money or upon any trust the terms of which authorize such conveyance: And, provided, further, that the general assembly shall have power, at any time, to amend, alter, revoke or annul the grant of corporate powers herein. contained or heretofore expressed in any and all charters previously granted to any of said institutions. § 3. The object of the hospitals for the insane shall be to receive and care for all insane or distracted persons residing in the state of Illinois, who may be committed to their care in accordance with law, and to furnish all needed medical treatment, seclusion, rest, restraint, attendance, amusement, occupation and support which may tend to restore their health and recover them from insanity, or to alleviate their suffering: Provided, that the trustees shall have power to discharge patients and to refuse additional applications for admission to the hospitals under their care, whenever, in their judgment, the interests of the insane demand such discharge or refusal, and that in the admission and retention of patients, curable and recent cases shall have the preference over cases of long standing, and that violent, dangerous or otherwise troublesome cases shall have the preference over those of an opposite description. § 4. The object of the institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb, and of the asylum for feeble-minded, shall be to promote the intellectual, moral and physical culture of the classes of persons indicated in their titles, respectively, and to fit them, as far as possible, for earning their own livelihood and for future usefulness in society. 5. The object of the soldiers' orphans' home shall be to provide. a home for the nurture and intellectual, moral and physical culture of all indigent children below the age of fourteen years, whose fathers served in the armies of the Union during the late rebellion, and have died or been disabled by reason of wounds or disease received therein, or have since died: Provided, that in special cases of peculiar inability of a pupil to support himself or herself, the trustees may retain such pupil, although above the age of fourteen years, and until such pupil has reached the age of sixteen, beyond which no pupil shall be retained. § 6. The object of the charitable eye and ear infirmary shall be to provide gratuitous board and medical and surgical treatment for all indigent residents of Illinois, who are afflicted with diseases of the eye or ear. 7. The management of each of the state charitable institutions and of the state reform school shall be vested in a board of three trustees, to be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, and to be divided into three classes, and one class appointed every two years, to serve for six years from the first of March in each year bearing an odd number, as follows: Upon the taking effect of this act three trustees shall be appointed for each charitable institution and for the state reform school, of whom onethird shall serve until the first of March, A. D. 1877, one-third shall serve until the first of March, 1879, and one-third shall serve until the first of March, 1881, as may be determined by lot; and their successors, respectively, shall serve for six years each, and in every case a trustee shall hold his office until his successor is appointed and qualified: Provided, that not more than one trustee for the same institution shall be appointed from or reside in any one county, and that no person shall be appointed or serve as trustee of more than one institution at one and the same time: And provided further, that no superintendent or employe of any of said institutions shall be trustee thereof. 8. The governor shall have power to remove any trustee for inefficiency or other good and sufficient cause, and every vacancy occurring from death, removal, or otherwise, shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner as prescribed in the seventh section of this act; but if the senate be not in sesssion when such vacancy occurs the governor shall fill such vacancy, subject, however, to the approval of the senate at its next regular session. § 9. Every person appointed as trustee of any state institution shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe the oath prescribed in the twenty-fifth section of the fifth article of the constitution of the state of Illinois, which oath shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state. 10. Each of the boards of trust appointed in accordance with the provisions of this act shall have charge of the general interests of the institution committed to its care, and shall have the power to appoint such officers and other agents, not herein otherwise provided for, as may be needed for the successful management thereof, to define their duties, to fix their compensation, to remove and discharge them whenever in their judgment the welfare of the institution demands, and to make all necessary by-laws, rules and regulations for the government of the institution and its inmates: Provided, that no person shall be appointed superintendent of either of the hospitals for the insane, nor of the institution for the education of feeble-minded children, who is not an educated and competent physician. § 11. The trustees shall receive no compensation for their services; but the actual expenses of each of them, while engaged in the performance of the duties of his office, shall be audited by the board and paid out of the funds of the institution. $ 12. The principal executive officer of each of the state charitable institutions shall be officially known and designated as the superintendent of said institution. He shall be the financial agent of the trustees, and shall have charge of the premises, property and inmates, subject to their direction. He shall, with the consent of the trustees, appoint all subordinate officers and employes, and assign them their respective duties, and may at any time discharge them from service. He shall see that all officers, agents and employes of the institution faithfully discharge their duties, and shall be held directly responsible to the trustees for the economy, efficiency and success of the internal management. In all institutions which furnish board to the inmates, the superintendent shall reside in the institution. § 13. The trustees of each of the state institutions shall appoint one of their own number to be president of the board and shall appoint some person not a member of the board to be treasurer of the institution, They shall also appoint such person as they may select to be their secretary. § 14. The treasurer and superintendent, before entering upon the duties of their office, shall each give bond payable to the people of the state of Illinois, in such amount and with such sureties, not less than two, as shall be approved by the trustees and by the governor, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of their office, which bond shall be filed in the office of the state commissioners of public charities, at Springfield. § 15. The books and papers of the treasurer shall be open at all times to the inspection of any of the trustees of his institution, officers of state, members of the general assembly, or state commissioners of public charities. $ 16. The treasurer shall receive and be custodian of all moneys due or belonging to the institution, whether derived from the state treasury or from other sources, and the superintendent, or any other officer into whose hands any money rightfully belonging to the institution may chance to come, shall pay over all such moneys in full to the treasurer, at least once in every month. The treasurer shall not pay out any of the funds of the institution, except on proper vouchers, namely, on the order of the board of trustees by such agent as the board may appoint, and the original orders upon which said funds are paid out shall be returned from time to time to the trustees, to be filed in the office of the institution and there permanently preserved, and the president of the board shall give his receipt to the treasurer for said orders when returned, showing in detail their numbers and amounts, which receipt shall be a final clearance of the treasurer from all further responsibility for said money so paid. The treasurer shall keep an itemized account in a substantially bound book, showing under appropriate heads, all the receipts and disbursements, in detail, with the date when and the parties from or to whom the same were received or paid, and also the current number of the order of the trustees upon which each cash payment is made, 17. The trustees shall hold regular stated meetings of the board, at the institution, at least as often as once in every three months, at such times as they may appoint, and called meetings at the request of any one of their number. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum to do business. At each regular meeting they shall inspect the institution under their charge, and they, or any one of them, may visit and inspect the same at any time. § 18. At each stated meeting of the board, the treasurer shall make a full report of all moneys received and paid out by him, accompanying the same with a copy of his itemized account, which account shall be verified by affidavit, and make settlement with the trustees. The superintendent shall present to the trustees an itemized statement of the kind, quality and cost of all articles purchased for the institution during the interval since the last regular meeting of the board, and a classified summary of expenses incurred, with which the report of the treasurer shall be compared. The trustees having examined said reports and accounts of the superintendent and treasurer, and the balance in the treasurer's hand, together with the amount of outstanding unpaid liabilities, shall endorse their approval thereon and transmit the same, with duplicate vouchers accompanying, to the state commissioners of public charities at Springfield, to be filed in their office for inspection at any time by the governor and by the members of the general assembly. And no installment of any appropriation heretofore or hereafter made by the general assembly shall be due or payable to any of the state institutions until the state commissioners of public charities shall have certified to the governor the accuracy of the said statements and accompanying vouchers, which certificates shall be approved by the governor, and delivered to the auditor of public accounts. $ 19. All appropriations for the ordinary expenses of a state institution shall be due and payable from the state treasury quarterly, in advance, unless otherwise specified in the act making said appropriations. But no appropriation, ordinary or special, nor any installment thereof, shall be paid to or for the benefit of any institution, by the treasurer of state, except upon the warrant of the auditor of public accounts, nor shall the auditor draw his warrant therefor except upon the order of the board of trustees signed by the president and attested by the secretary, with the corporate seal of the institution, accompanied by the certificate of the commissioners of public charities, approved by the governor, as specified in the eighteenth section of this act. § 20. No portion of any special appropriation for the erection of any building or for the doing of any work, or for any purpose other than ordinary expenses, shall be drawn from the state treasury in advance of the work done or materials furnished, and then only upon proper estimates thereof, approved by the trustees, which estimates shall be filed in the office of the commissioners of public charities; and no portion of any appropriation for any purpose shall be drawn from the state treasury before it shall be required for the purpose for which it is made; and no appropriation which is or may be made for one purpose shall be drawn or used for any other purpose; and if at any time hereafter the sum appropriated by the general assembly for any specified purpose shall be found insufficient to complete and accomplish the purpose for which said appropriation is made, then no part of said sum so appropriated shall be expended or drawn from the state treasury, nor any liability on the part of the state be created on account of said appropriation. § 21. All moneys which have been heretotore, or which may be hereafter appropriated to any state institution for any purpose, other than for ordinary expenses, and which remain in the hands of the trustees of such institution, and are not required for the uses for which they were appropriated, shall be paid into the state treasury immediately on the taking effect of this act. § 22. No trustee, treasurer, superintendent or other officer or agent appointed by virtue and under the provisions of this act, shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract or other agreement for building, repairing, funishing or supplying said institutions. Any violation of this section shall subject the offender, on conviction, to be punished by a fine of not more than double the amount of said contract or agreement, or by imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than one nor more than three years. § 23. In the matter of the purchase of supplies for an institution, the trustees shall cause such purchase to be made wherever the best grade of articles of suitable quantity can be bought at the lowest price, and so far as practicable, in large rather than in small quantities, and they shall, if in their judgment it can be done to advantage, advertise for proposals for staple supplies, such as meat, flour, sugar, coffee, tea, fuel, and other staple articles, and make contracts for the furnishing of the same in bulk or in quantities as may be needed for use: Provided, that the trustees shall have power, by themselves or by their financial agent, to terminate and annul such contract when |