If I was to criticize the program or the work of the convention, it would be due to the fact that it has been confined mostly to the larger cities. We have heard a good deal about New York, Albany and cities of the first and second class, but very little about the villages and the rural districts and the cities of the third class. Of course, the general statutes apply to all magistrates, but conditions are considerably different, I take it, in small cities and villages and in the rural communities.

I think that magistrates in the smaller places can and ought to do in great measure, preventive work. An ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. We know practically everybody in our communities. We know the conditions and we know those who are getting a wrong start. In the city of Geneva there is a very excellent woman, superintendent of what we call the Social Service League. She receives a salary which is contributed by the business men of the city and devotes her whole time to the work. Only the other day there were two young girls, one seventeen and the other nineteen, who came to me with their troubles. Their mother had died last summer; their father had practically abandoned them; they didn't have decent clothing to wear; and I, after counselling with them, turned them over to this superintendent of the Social League and she is looking after them.

Another instance. Only a few weeks ago, there was a young girl sixteen or seventeen years of age, right on the verge of destruction. This superintendent became interested in this young girl. Today she is in a training school for girls at Elmira and writes delightful letters back, so glad that she received help. This same lady has settled up two or three domestic troubles that would have otherwise come in my court, and when I came away she was working on a bastardy case for me.

I speak of this particularly to the magistrates who represent smaller communities and my suggestion is if you haven't anyone who is paid or devoting their time, get hold of some good woman or some good man to help you keep an eye out for the boys and girls whose surroundings, whose environments and circumstances are such as to lead them astray, and by that means you will get them started right and save themselves a lot of trouble and you a lot of work, possibly, as otherwise they will come before your

courts.

I was intensely interested in the discussion of the relationship of the magistrate to the police department. Every morning I have a little quiet conversation with our chief, and find out who has been brought in during the day or night, their circumstances and what the facts are as far as possible. That is simply emphasizing the point made by Judge McAdoo this morning that there ought to be coordination and working together, a feeling of respect and confidence and courtesy between the magistrate and the police department.

During the twenty days I have been a magistrate, almost every morning one or two old offenders, what we might call "old rounders," unfortunate old fellows who are so diseased with alcohol that they cannot help getting drunk and getting into the gutter, come before me. On one occasion I asked the chief for the record of one man. He was in jail ten days in October and ten days in December; he had had eight or ten different sentences in all. What is the use? It seems almost like committing a man. for having a disease. It is adhorrent to me to commit those old unfortunate fellows who have become so addicted. The larger cities are providing for this class of inebriates. Here in New York you have a farm and are building a home to take care of these cases. I understand Rochester is doing the same thing, but in our rural districts we have no relief. What are we going to do with them? We cannot put them on probation. You send them to jail or to the penitentiary and they come back mentally and physically weaker than when they went and therefore in a worse condition than they were in. They are not so strong to resist the temptation and desire to get drunk. The particular point I would like to make is this: That we should, if possible, have a committee appointed at the close of this session or by the present presiding officer or the future presiding officer, one or more members of whom are from the rural districts, to see if we cannot figure out some way by which we can give those unfortunate people a chance to receive some medical treatment or to be placed on a farm or something done with them by which they can be benefited, instead of making them worse by sentencing them. You cannot fine them. because they have nothing to pay their fines with. We ought to have some arrangement, possibly sending them to our local hospitals. It is possible that arrangements might be made by which

they could be sent to the county farm. We have a beautiful farm of 212 acres; the people there are not able to work; we have to hire help to work that farm and it is possible some plan might be worked out by which some of these older people might be put on these county farms. We have a physician who visits there and he could treat them there. Then when they come away they will be strontger mentally and physically and in every way better able to resist the disease and temptation.

HON. PETER CANTLINE, RECORDER, NEWBURGH: I think if the judges in the rural communities will make use of the opportunities about them they will be able to overcome a great many of what seem to be serious difficulties at the outset of their terms. I found in my city that I was confronted with what I thought were almost insurmountable obstacles in the way of not having a proper detention home and proper probation officers and not having this or that which would be necessary to the proper administration of the law by a criminal magistrate. I found we did have opportunities that had been overlooked from time to time. I found we had a children's home; I found we had a home for the aged people supported by the city; a large city hospital; we have churches; we have several charitable organizations; I found we had public spirited citizens who would cooperate. So we organized what we call a club of officials who were dealing with social cases, like the health officer and the matrons of the different homes which I have spoken of. When we have a case of a child and have no place to send it pending trial, we call upon some of these officials to cooperate and they look after the case. I found in the case of an habitual drunkard who has gone the limit and has become diseased, that we had a hospital which would be willing to cooperate if called upon and provided they understood the situation. Before that, there was a territory which could not be crossed, but after this organization was perfected and we sat around a little table once a month at which we had an informal dinner and discussed our problems, we found that they interwove and that by exchanging ideas we could work them out.

The small community cannot provide temporary detention homes for the boy or girl where you have'nt more than half a dozen

or perhaps a dozen cases a year. You cannot educate the public into believing that it is necessary to spend thousands of dollars where there are only ten or twelve cases involved in the course of the year. You can only reach a certain few in any community through the press or speaking or writing or discussion, and they are in the minority, and the people get the notion that you are squandering their money. Neither can you have the public provide this official or that official which the larger city can provide, but you can, if you use those officials that you have, teach them what you want and what you expect of them, and by cooperating with them you can have almost what the larger cities have.

Last year we had a convention of these officials and each one talked about his problems. We had a large attendance and I found we had the cooperation not only of officials, but of business men, manufacturers and employers. Very often they call up and say, "Is there anything I can do for you in the way of putting this boy in a position," or, "Is there a girl that needs care and proteetion." They are cooperating and doing away with a great many problems at the outset. Therefore I think if the magistrates in the smaller cities will begin a campaign of education like Judge Shove did and bring to the people the practical questions which come up and teach the people the needs and that it isn't a lot of money or a new institution or a new official that you want but their cooperation and the use of the institutions in the way that they should be used (because sometimes officials think they own the institutions and they will not let down the bars a bit), then you will get what you want.

PRESIDENT APPELL: Before relinquishing my duties as the presiding officer of this Association, I would call to your attention particularly the very good and efficient work of Mr. Chute and his assistants throughout the year. They have placed themselves at the disposal of your officers and committees and have rendered, particularly in the last month or so, magnificent service. I am sure that it is the sense of us all that they deserve a real vote of thanks.

I want to also offer my thanks and that of the conference to Chief Magistrate McAdoo and his clerks who have so kindly assisted us during the past few days.

SECRRTAEY'S ERPORT

SECRETARY CHUTE: I will make only a brief oral report as secretary, covering the work of the Association during the past year. The Association has done more active work during the past year, between conferences, than it ever has before. Two of the committees have been very active, their work already having been reported upon. The secretary's office has endeavored to cooperate with these committees and the officers so that the work of the Association might be kept alive as much as possible between conferences. For the Committee on Training Schools, under the chairmanship of Judge Wilkin, we sent out a circular letter to every magistrate in the State and to various State institutions and departments. Working with the Committee on Constitutional Convention, we published the brief Judge Noonan prepared and sent that out to all the magistrates of the State and to all the members of the Constitutional Convention, to all the district attorneys, to newspapers and others. After the committee met with the Executive Committee in Albany, letters were addressed to the chairmen of the Constitutional Convention committees who had amendments in charge, introduced or endorsed by the Committee on Constitutional Convention of this Association. Reports were sent from time to time to the member of the committee and to the officers of the Association.

The usual work was done in preparation for this conference in cooperation with Judge Appell, who told you of his splendid trip through the State to stir up interest and to make this convention the best attended and most successful that we have ever had since the Association was started in 1909. I have received a great many letters of regret, as replies to letters sent out by President Appell and myself, personal letters to many magistrates, as well as the circular letter which went out to every magistrate in the State.

We have published the proceedings of the last meeting and will be glad to publish the proceedings of this meeting in the next report of the State Probation Commission.