This dissertation has been 69- 11,681 microfilmed exactly as received
MORAN, Sr., Robert Earl, 1921- THE HISTORY OF CHILD WELFARE IN LOUISIANA, 1850 - 1960.
The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1968 History, modern Social Work
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THE HISTORY OF CHILD WELFARE IN LOUISIANA, 1850 - I960
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University
By
Robert Earl Moran, Sr., B. S., M. A.
********
The Ohio State University 1968
Approved by
/ / Ba S w . A dviser Department of H is to ry ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to express his grateful appreciation to the librarians of the Louisiana Room of Louisiana State Library and the
Louisiana State University Library, the Department of Archives of the
Louisiana State University Library, and the Howard Memorial Library of Tulane University. Especially does the author thank his adviser,
Dr. Robert H. Bremner whose constant guidance and encouragement helped to bring this work to its completion.
i i VITA
July 24, 1921 Born - Columbus, Ohio
1944 B.S., The Ohio State University
1944-1946 . . Teacher at Palmer Memorial Institute, Sedalia, North Carolina
1947 M.S., The Ohio State University
1948-1959 . Instructor, Allen University, Columbia, South Carolina
1959 Instructor, Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field: History
Studies in Political and Social History of the United States, 1850-1900. Professor Francis P. Weisenburger
Studies in Political and Social History of the United States, 1900-present. Professors Foster Rhea Dulles and Robert H. Bremner
Studies in United States Foreign Relations. Professors Foster Rhea Dulles and Marvin Zahniser
i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... i i
VITA ...... i i i
LIST OF TABLES ...... v i
INTRODUCTION...... 1
PART I . CHILD CARE AND RJBLIC RELIEF IN LOUISIANA
1850-1960
CHAPTER
I. Child Welfare and Public Relief in the Nineteenth Century in the Ante-bellum Period...... 5
Poor relief and Institutional Care of Children in the Ante-bellum Period Child Welfare and Relief 1860-1900
II. Child Welfare Before and During the Long Regime . . . 32
The Founding and E a rly Work o f th e Board o f Charities and Corrections The Slingerland Report The Board, Long, and the Early Depression Years
in. Louisiana and the Depression...... 49
IV, Public Assistance in the Department of Public W elfare, 1935-1955 ...... 64
State-wide Organized Relief Reform, Public Welfare, and National Defense Public Welfare and the Affluent Society
iv V
CHAPTER PAGE
V. Public Welfare and Children's Aid Programs . . . . 82
Mo th e r s 1 Pens ions Aid to Dependent Children under Social Security The Suitable Home Controversy of i960
PART I I . SUBSTITUTE CARE AND TROTECTION OF CHILDREN
IN LOUISIANA
VI. Child Welfare Services...... 111
Adoptions and Foster Home Care Health Services to Children
VII. Care for the Handicapped Child...... 140
The Era of Reform 1830-1860 Care for the Mentally Handicapped Care for the Deaf and the Blind Care for the Crippled Child
VIU. Louisiana and the Child Offender...... 165
Edward Livingston's School of Reform Institutions for the Juvenile Delinquent The Juvenile Delinquent and His Court The Louisiana Youth Commission The Rights of the Delinquent, Neglected, or Abused Child Administration of Public Institutions
IX. Child Labor ...... 202
The New South and the Progressives in Louisiana Legislating for Child Labor 1886-1920 Child Labor in the Twenties National and State Legislation for Child labor during the Depression and After
X. Child Welfare in Louisiana Past, Present, and Future . 245
APPENDIXES ...... 258
BIBLIOGRAPHY 269 LIST OF TABLES
T able Page
1. Private Orphanages in Louisiana, 1916 38
2. ADC Caseloads in Louisiana in January of Each Year . . 94
3. Vital Statistics for Negroes in Louisiana ...... 131
4. Vital Statistics for whites in Louisiana...... 132
5. Vital Statistics for Louisiana...... 133
6. Vital Statistics for the United States...... 134
7. Child Labor in Louisiana in 1930, Ages 10 to 15 . . . 221
8. Number and Proportion of Children Employed in Louisiana, Ages 10-15...... 222
9. Percentage Urban Population in Louisiana...... 239
1 0 . Percentage of Children1 0 - 1 4 Years of Age Not Enrolled in School by Race and Sex, 1940 239
v i INTRODUCTION
Hie maturity and humanity of any society may be measured in part by the completeness with which it provides for needy children and safeguards their rights. Louisiana's progress toward maturation has been slow but continual. This study attempts to recount Louisiana's story, a story of the laws and institutions which the people provided to aid the socially, physically, and mentally handicapped child. It w ill show what the State has done along with philanthropic groups, other public agencies, and the Federal Government to preserve family living and to provide a hopeful future for those children who have no home or who temporarily must live away from home.
3h the nineteenth century, generally speaking, the almshouse or
poor house served those dependent in any way upon the community. It was an orphanage, an insane asylum, a feebleminded, deaf, and blind
institution as well as the place where the aged were consigned to live.
This institution had its basis in the old Elizabethan poor laws which
insisted on local responsibility in the field of public welfare and
restriction of aid to those having legal residence in the county or
town. After the 1830's reformers called for the removal from mixed
almshouses of the orphaned, the deaf, the blind, and the insane. This
step was in recognition of the particular needs of the destitute and
especially the needs of dependent children. While most of the laws regarding poor relief in the East and New
England were based on the English common law, this was not the case in
Louisiana; for Louisiana inherited French civil law and customs. In
France before the Revolution poor relief and charity was the responsi b ility of the Roman Catholic Church and widows and orphans were considered to be her wards. The French Revolution and Napoleon changed a ll of this; for poor relief was taken away from the Church and given to the highly centralized State and administered through local governmental units. There is no evidence except Charity Hospital at
New Orleans that the Napoleonic Code had any influence upon the organization of poor relief in Louisiana.^ Care for the indigent was le ft to the family, Church, and private philanthropy and such institu- 2 tions as almshouses or apprenticeship were never common in the State.
Dr. Wisner refers to the slowness with which the State acted in providing public services for its dependents. She states that reliance
on family relationships as provided by the civil law was, perhaps, the
reason for this slowness.^ Every minor, according to the law, who had
no parents or whose parents were separated, was supposed to be assigned
a tutor; thus in theory there were no children who did not have
guardians.
1Elizabeth Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana (Chicago, 1930), 25. 2 Ibid. . 13. See also Homer Folks, The Care of the Destitute. Neglected, and Delinquent Children (New York, 1902), 81. 3 Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana. 13. Aside from being alow in providing services to its needy,
Louisiana, like other Southern states, was even slower in providing these services to a ll of its citizens. A sound child welfare program, however, must include a ll children and youth. Not until the early part of the twentieth century did the State begin to assume more the responsibility of caring for the dependent. The extent to which
Louisiana provided for its dependent children and thereby its own future well-being will be shown by the kind, quality, and comprehensiveness of its welfare program. PART I
CHILD CARE AND PUBLIC RELIEF IN LOUISIANA
1850 - I960 CHAPTER I
CHILD WELFARE AND PUBLIC RELIEF
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Poor R elief and the Care of Children in the Ante Bellum Period
Throughout the nineteenth century poverty and dependency were regarded as personal evils accredited to gambling, drunkeness, and
individual indolence. Men were not generally regarded as being
victims of an economic and social system over which they had little
or no control. The family, the church, and private philanthropy would
take care of the misfortunate and only the sick, at least in New
Orleans, would be taken care of through public funds. The Louisiana
Code of 1825 stated that children were bound to support their fathers
and mothers and other relatives who were in need.'*'
Edward L iv in g sto n , the p r in c ip a l author o f L o u isia n a 's C iv il
Code, proposed to the Legislature in 1822 that the State appropriate
funds to provide work for the needy unemployed on work relief
projects. He argued that it was cheaper for the State to support a
plan to give the unemployed work than to continue supporting
^Article 229 of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825. 2 able-bodied persons by private charity. Unfortunately his suggestion went unheeded for nearly one hundred years and Louisiana was to continue its policy of earmarking small amounts to the charities of
New Orleans, providing for the needy sick by erecting charity hospitals and giving relief to the unfortunate in times of emergencies, but not accepting outdoor relief as a regular governmental function.
Just as it was the responsibility of parents to care for their children and the children to care for the parent, by law the master was to care fo r the sla v e who was d isa b le d . The Black Code o f 1806 stated that every master was to provide for his sick or aged slaves and to procure for his sick slaves "all kinds of temporal and
spiritual assistance which their situation require." Moreover, the
law required that when an old and disabled slave was offered for sale,
he should be sold with one of his children who would care for him.
The traveler Frederick Law Olmsted states that he read a news account
of an old Negro slave who was found lying dead in the woods. At the
coroner's inquest it was fo u n d that the seventy yearo ld Negro was too
old to work and so "they drove him forth into the woods to die." On
the other hand Olmsted tells of one man who owned but one slave in
New Orleans, an old woman whom he bought purely out of compassion.
This man supported the slave for several years without receiving the 3 smallest amount of work in return for his support. Between these two
2 Charles Havens Hunt, L ife o f Edward L ivin gston (New York, 1864), 2 6 7 . 3 Frederick Law Olmsted, Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (New York, 18 6 1 ), 623, 710. 7 extremes of human callousness and compassion lies the middle ground of which Stampp speaks. According to this historian, statistics show that very few aged "aunties" and "uncles" spent their declining years as pensioners living leisurely and comfortably on their master's wealth. The cost of supporting these few was negligible. Contrary to popular belief, most slaves over sixty, though largely unproductive, did enough work to pay for their own support.**
In 1855 Louisiana passed an act which made it illegal for a slave owner to evade his duty to his aged slave by emancipating him.
The slave might be emancipated, but his master was required to post a
$1000 bond for the slave, a requirement designed to guard against the slave's becoming a public charge should he be emancipated with permission to remain in the State
Along with care for the aged the law stated that the master's responsibility included the sick and the pregnant. When it was discovered that a slave woman was pregnant, she was placed with others like her and assigned only to light duties. Occasionally unprincipled or overzealous overseers would overwork pregnant women, but generally progressive planters took pride in their care of nothers and their infants. When the mothers were able to return to work, they were again assigned to light jobs and permitted to v isit the "nurse house" to
4 Kenneth M. Stampp, The Peculiar Institution: S3a,Yffla .AnJBiq Ante-Bellum South (New York, 1956) , 318.
•Louisiana Acta of 1855. No. 308, Section 72. 8 attend their infants at least three times a day. Olmsted relates that when he visited a certain Louisiana plantation he saw several Negro women en route to the nurser to suckle their children—the overseer's bell having rung to summon them from work for that purpose. The plantation owner explained that he allotted the women two hours at noon to be with their children and one hour prior to the end of the working day.^ The law also stipulated that children under ten years of age were not to be sold separately from their mothers except the child of a slave incarcerated for life. A child bom to a life termer became the property of the State and when he became ten years of age, he was sold for cash, the proceeds going to the free school fund of 7 the State. Very few funds could have been collected from this source for in 1857 only two women were in the penitentiary, with no report of either being pregnant.
While the slave lacked freedom, he did have social security of a sort. Outside of charity hospitals state and local governments made little provisions for the destitute. In 1857 the Legislative Committee on Charitable Institutions considered Charity Hospital at New Orleans, the Insane Asylum at Jackson, and the Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind at Baton Rouge as being the only agencies provided by the
State for those in need. The dependent child was placed in an
6F. L. Olmsted, Journey in the Seaboard Slave States. 657. 7 Louisiana Acts of 1848. No. 4, ex. sess. 9 orphanage located in New Orleans and the vagrant was placed in jail.
The Charity Hospital of New Orleans often served as an almshouse and home for the aged, but there were some local citizens who opposed the principle of a "charity hospital which they felt treated lazy O foreigners at the expense of hard working Americans."
As previously stated, Louisiana prior to 1900 made little attempt to provide public relief for its dependents, including its children.
Until the l 870's the State appropriated small amounts of money to various private agencies, but depended chiefly upon philanthropy and private funds for the maintenance of such institutions. Occasionally, a committee representing the State Legislature visited the various private and public agencies to whom the State gave money, but it had l i t t l e or no power to demand fin a n c ia l rep orts or to t e l l the a g en cies how they should be managed.
One of the first institutions for destitute children in the United
States was established in New Orleans in 1727 by the Ursuline Sisters
under the leadership of Mother Marta Tranchepain de St. Augustin.
Here for n ea rly a century the S is t e r s , d esp ite sca n t means and p u b lic
apathy, ministered to the sick, reared orphans, and educated white,
co lo red , and Indian g i r l s . For some unknown reason the orphanage
attracted the attention of the city fathers in 1824. The city council
received a report which stated that the orphan girls in the asylum
were not treated properly and suggested that the orphans be withdrawn
^Robert C. Reinders, End of An Era (New Orleans, 1964), 91. 10 and placed in another institution. After an investigation the girls were removed from Ursuline Convent to the recently formed Poydras
Asylum under the following conditions: that the mayor pay the directors of Poydras Asylum $1600 for twenty-four girls and that they be taught French and English as well as the tenets of their respective q religions.7
3h I8l6 Julien Poydras, poet, statesman, and philanthropist gave a large lot and house for the purpose of establishing an asylum for orphan girls. When the Legislature in 1817 incorporated the Female
Orphan Society or the Poydras Asylum, it inaugurated the first of a long list of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish institutions caring for orphans and widows and receiving some state aid. In the act of
incorporation the State promised to pay $2000 for the benefit of the agency which opened the same year with fourteen orphans.Ten years later in 1827 it enrolled nearly ninety girls including those from the
old U rsulin e Convent. The Poydras Male Orphan Asylum was a ls o endowed
by Julien Poydras. This institution was established as the result of
an appeal by the Mayor and a group of women to help care for twenty
orphan children brought into port by a plague-stricken immigrant ship.
Another philanthropist, Alexandre Milne, provided for two asylums
in his w ill of 1838. Lengthy and costly litigation slowed up the
^Edwin A. D avis, Ihe S tory o f L ouisiana (New Orleans, i960), 92. Also Albert E. Fossier, New O rleans, th e Glamour P eriod. 1800-181+0 (Natchez, M iss., 1957), 21+7.
10A General Digest of the Acts of the Legislature of. Louisiana Passed from the Year 1804 to 1827, II (New Orleans, 1828), 260. 11 opening of the asylums, and because of this the boy's asylum soon closed after its initial opening. It reopened in 1854 with a $5000 donation from Judah Touro, the Jewish philanthropist.
New Orleans, being a port city, was very susceptible to yellow fever and cholera plagues. Therefore the history of these epidemics
in Louisiana centered around the Crescent City for only a few cases were found in the rural areas of the State. Between 1796 and 1850 New
Orleans experienced some twenty serious outbreaks and a few cases of
y ello w fe v e r every y ear. The 1850's w itn essed a clim ax when the
scourge struck violently, especially in 1853 and 1858, During the
second half of the century the number of cases diminished until they
stopped in 1905*^ After each major epidemic the problems of the
destitute were intensified and new asylums had to be organized for
their care.
One such agency was the Protestant Society for the Relief of
Destitute Orphan Boys which was organized at a meeting held in 1824
in the Presbyterian Church. An act of the Legislature in 1825
incorporated the Society and authorized the State Treasurer to donate
$2000 to the institution in behalf of the State of Louisiana.^ In
spite of difficulties the Protestant Society survived the epidemic
of 1832, During the next two years it received 319 orphans of whom
11 John Duffy, Sword of Pestilence (Baton Rouge, 1966), 7. See also Jo Ann Carrigan, "The Saffron Scourge: A History of the Yellow Fever in Louisiana, 1796-1905." doctoral dissertation (Louisiana State University, 196l), passim.
•^A General Digest. II, 165, 167. 12 forty-eight died, sixty-five were apprenticed, and 119 were reclaimed by friends, leaving eighty-seven in the asylum. Until l84l the contributions from the community sustained the institution, but it was without permanent endowment. When fire destroyed the dormitory, library, and schoolhouse, the orphanage appealed to the public for a id . John McDonough, an e c c e n tr ic but rich o ld b achelor who d ied in
1850 leaving a large amount of money and property for the free schools of Baltimore and New Orleans, donated $100,000 to the Society which enabled it to rebuild. Until 1900 it was supported chiefly by income derived from rentals of its own property.
In 1853, the year of the worst outbreak of the plague, yellow fe v e r took the li v e s o f 8130 men, women, and ch ild r e n . One o f the groups which endeavored to aid in the distress of New Orleans was the
Howard A sso cia tio n , a group of b u sin ess men concerned about the p lig h t of the destitute. With funds contributed by well-wishers throughout the country, the Howards e s ta b lish e d th ree orphan asylum s, one o f which was the Protestant Orphan’s Home. This institution received its first aid from the Howard Association which sent fifty-six orphans of 24l children left to its care, each with a dower of $100, and gave an additional $2000 making $7600 in all. The other 185 children were placed in other asylums established by the Association. The Howards n o t on ly founded new orphanages but a ls o gave money to the old ones and otherwise helped the needy.^
13 A. E . Fossier, New Orleans, the G lamour P eriod . 2 5 2 .
R e p o r t o f th e Howard A sso c ia tio n (New O rleans, 1853), 23, 2?. Also in 1853 the Joint Committee on Charitable Institutions of the Louisiana Legislature visited New Orleans and suggested that appropriations be given to four private institutions there: the
Orphan Boys' Asylum with 118 boys, Poydras Female Orphan Asylum with
12k girls, the Fenele Orphan Asylum with 3^0 girls, and the St. Mary's
Orphan Boys Asylum with 226 boys. The Committee recommended that
$1000 be given Poydras Asylum if it received a financial statement concerning how its ironey was being spent. The Committee suggested withholding funds from a ll such institutions until the State had received some type of report on how they were spending its money. The
Committee's advice went unheeded by both legislators and institutions and whereas the Committee recommended $1000 for Poydras Asylum, the
Legislature actually gave the orphanage $1500.^
The plague, aggravated, to say the least, an appalling situation.
Such homes as the Female Orphan Asylum which normally cared for about forty girls found themselves with as many as three hundred on any one day. One can hardly imagine the inconvenience and suffering experienced by these children. The Joint Committee Report of 1857 stated that the terrible scourge of 1853 had filled to capacity the orphanages of the State and caused an increase in their number. The narrowness of the views of the Committee can be seen in its suggestion that the State foster those institutions which had for their primary object the elevation of the morals and cultivation of the minds of the
15 Report ja£ Joint Committee an Charitable institutions, Documents of the Louisiana Legislature (New Orleans, 1853). 14
orphan children of the State. The number of institutions recommended
for state aid was increased to nine, but no aid was to be given to the
Milne Asylum since it had an endowment. The Coranittee recommended the
establishment of a Board of Visitation whose duty would be to super
vise the institutions of the State "in coirarcn with the immediate
supervisors of the institutions." This particular suggestion was to
go unheeded for nearly fifty years. Other institutions f0r children established before the C ivil War included the Protestant Orphan Home of Baton Rouge founded in 1847 and the Jewish Orphans' Home of New
Orleans founded in 1856.
If the State neglected to provide adequate facilities for white children, it completely ignored the plight of free Negroes. There was no problem of dependent children among the slaves since every child hand had an owner and he could find a "mother" in his quarters.
Children were often separated from their parents through sale although on numerous occasions the slave mother and her children were advertised for sale as a group so that they might remain together. On the other hand the free Negro orphan had no such guaranteed security. like his
Creole counterpart friends and relatives must have taken him in until he could care for himself.
Nevertheless, there was need for an institution for the care of destitute Negro children. Madam Bernard Couvent, a widowed free woman
16 Special Report of the Legislative Committee on Charitable Institutions. Documents, 1857, 3. of color of New Orleans saw this need. She had owned real estate and
several slaves. When she died, she bequeathed some of her property to
promote education among her people. Additional funds were gathered by
other wealthy free Negroes who organized the Societe Catholique pour
l 1Instruction des Orphelins dans 1*Indigence. Funds were tied up in
the courts for a number of years s0 that the school did not officially
open until 18U8. 3h 1852 Armand Lanusse became its first principal and
he had on his staff some of the leading Negro intellectuals of New
Orleans. The Institution Catholique des Orphelins Indigents was not
recommended for state aid until after the Civil War. At that time the
Joint Committee reported that there were about 280 children in the school a ll of whom were descendants of the original free colored population of New Orleans. One half of them paid a monthly fee, the 17 others did not.
In 1855 the legislature placed an impediment in the way of
Negroes who would have liked to organize for benevolent purposes. It passed an act which permitted six persons to incorporate for religious, scientific, literary, or charitable reasons, but specifically excluded H.8 free persons of color from its provisions. Franklin points out that
free Negroes held in high esteem their fraternal and benevolent 19 organizations. Even though these societies were outlawed or forbidden
17 Report of the Committee on Charitable. Institutions. Documents, 1867, 6 . 18 Louisiana Acts of 1855. No. 132. 19 John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom (New York, 1961) , 2 2 3 . 16 in Louisiana, they persisted and as late as i860 they were still being organized in New Orleans.
Child Welfare and Relief 860 i - 1900
Hie benevolent societies had not recovered from the epidemics of
1853 and 1858 when they were beset with the many problems brought on
by the Civil War. Within three weeks after the election of Abraham
Lincoln, agitation of the question of secession became so widespread
in both New Orleans and the rest of the State as to destroy business
confidence and to obstruct the usual channels of trade. ^ Thousands
of laborers in New Orleans were thrown out of work because of the
complete prostration of business activities. Louisiana seceded from
the Union on January 26,86 ll, and joined the Confederacy on March 21.
Many of the unemployed joined the Confederate Army as the result of
economic necessity and left their families to shift for themselves or
to try to live on a soldier's pay. The naval blockade of the
Confederacy which President Lincoln established on April 19 merely
aggravated a bad situation.
In order to care for the indigent families of absent volunteer
soldiers of the Confederate Army, the Free Market was established as a
private effort on the part of citizens and businessmen of New Orleans.
The City Council set aside the new building of the city water works as
a depot for the reception of contributions of food and clothing. A
^See William Mure, A Letter from the British Consul at New Orleans to Foreign Office, dated December 13, 8 i 60, Louisiana Historical Quarterly. XIII (January, 1930) , 33-36. 17 volunteer committee headed by Thomas Hurray made public appeals for aid and sat daily to register the names of those in distress. Those receiving relief were given a ticket to present to the Market for their supplies. On the first day of the Market 723 families received 2i relief. The Market was opened on Tuesday and Friday of each week and by October 1 it had served an average of 1,572 on each of those 22 days. By March, 1862, cash donations amounted to $12,631.50 and donations in food, $4,118.05 including gifts from planters all over the
State. In May Murray was arrested by Major General Benjamin F. Butler 23 and the Free Market fe ll into Federal hands.
The Federal occupation of New Orleans and the surrounding areas was a matter of vital importance to the people of central and north
Louisiana. The city was a social and financial center and contained one fourth of the state's population. With part of the State under
Federal control, Confederate Louisiana was cut off from its most important source of revenue and the ordinary channels of trade and commerce. The capture of this largest of Southern cities was a blow to the pride as well as the purse of the people of Louisiana.
21 Jefferson Davis Bragg, Louisiana in the Confederacy (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1941), 89. See also Elizabeth Joan Doyle, "Civilian Life in Occupied New Orleans, 1862-1865," Unpublished doctoral dissertation (Louisiana State University, 1955), l46.
22Re.uort of the Committee, of the. Free Market o f New Orleans (New O rleans, 1862), passim . 23 Mary Elizabet'' Massey, Refugees in the Confederacy (Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1964), 256. 18
In January, 1862, the Confederate Legislature suspended compulsory payment of state taxes except licenses on trade, professions, and occupations. This moratorium was to last until February 1, 1864,
Needless to say, the State received very little revenue from 1862-1865,
It became necessary to depend on the issuance of treasury notes, sale of bonds, and the sale of public lands for money. The State government, although very busy raising money, soldiers, and material for the
Confederate cause, took time to consider the problems of needy families of soldiers and of refugees fleeing Union troops. All of the Confed erate states, including Louisiana, enacted laws providing assistance for indigent families of soldiers and refugees. In June, 1863, the
State Legislature appropriated $300,000 for the relief of destitute 24 persons who were refugees either within or outside of the State.
When Henry Watkins Allen became governor of Confederate Louisiana on January 25, 1864, he found the State in a desperate condition with everything in chaos. He ordered the gathering of sugar and cotton to be exported to Mexico and exchanged for commodities the State needed such as dry goods, cotton and woolen cards, and machinery. He also established a State Store to sell cheap goods to the public and to take payment in Louisiana depreciated currency. The State Store served two purposes: it drew from circulation a large amount of state notes and supplied citizens with goods at moderate prices. In one year's
24 Massey, Refugees in the Confederacy. 245-249. See also William Frank Zornov, "State Aid for Indigent Soldiers and Their Families in Louisiana, 1861-1865," Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. XXXIX (July, 1956), 375-380. 19
time a single State Store at Shreveport paid into the trea su ry fo r th e
proceeds of its sales, $425,244.61 besides giving to wounded,
destitute soldiers, orphans, widows, goods to the value of $22,159.50.
By accepting Louisiana money at the State Store, its value was restored and Confederate currency almost worthless elsewhere, had purchasing 25 power west of the M ississippi.
In the meantime General Butler and his military governor, Colonel
George F. Shepley, were having difficulty managing the affairs of New
Orleans. General Butler at first desired to leave municipal authority
in the hands of the mayor and his council. Citizens were urged to go about their business as usual; shops and amusement places were kept
open; and public houses and saloons were to be opened under licenses 26 issued by the provost-marshall. New Orleans with a population of
over 150,000, not counting the Federal troops, was in danger of starving
in the spring of 1862; there was just enough food when Butler arrived
in May to last about thirty days and it was being sold at prices only
the rich could afford to pay. The city was threatened not only with
inflation and starvation, but also by an epidemic of yellow fever since
the city fathers did not bother to take the necessary sanitary pre
cautions such as sweeping the streets.
23sarah A. Dorsey, Recollections of Henrv Watkins Allen (New Orleans, 1866), 24l. 26 James Parton, General Butler in New Orleans:__A History of the Administration of the Department of the Gulf in the Year 1862 (New York, 1864), 295. 20
General Butler soon relieved the mayor of his duties and had him arrested. Care for the indigent then became Butler's responsibility.
He combined relief of the poor with a public works program of cleaning the streets, repairing levees and rebuilding wharves. Workers were to be paid a full soldier's ration of about fifty'ounces of food. Tickets for this food were issued only to women whom it was thought would carry the food to their families rather than sell it at inflated prices.
Butler raised funds by assessing those persons and corporations who had aided the Confederacy and those who tried to sabotage the business of the city. By this means he was able to raise $3^1,916.25 for the support of the poor of New Orleans. Benevolent societies of the city were also sustained from funds from this source, Doyle was highly critical of the Army's handling of the fund, asserting that care for the needy became a "political football" and noting that as late as
February, 1865, one asylum's request for aid was turned down because 2 7 members o f i t s board o f d ir e c to r s were sa id to be " d islo y a l." On the other hand, Butler's program in occupied Louisiana not only brought relief to the needy, jobs for the unemployed, and sanitary measures a g a in st p o s sib le ep id em ics, but a ls o a cted as a means o f b u ild in g sentiment for the Union cause.
While the Negro in occupied Louisiana may have benefited from the relief measures of Federal authorities, he retained his status as a slave until 1864 when he was freed by the pro-Union government. Until
2?E. J. Doyle, "Civilian Life in Occupied New Orleans,"163 . 2 1 that time both the Treasury and War Departments through its Bureau of
Free Labor attempted to look after the Negro's welfare. Provost marshals under the direction of Butler's successor, General Nathaniel
P. Banks, established schools for children under twelve years of age while plantation owners were expected to provide for the sick and disabled in the rural areas. S till other refugees obtained aid in 28 s p e c ia l camps a t Baton Rouge and A lg iers near New O rleans.
3h 186k the military government of Shepley was replaced by a
civilian one with Michael Hahn as governor and J. Madison Wells as
Lt. Governor. General Banks ordered a constitutional convention to write a new constitution. The Constitution of l 86h provided among
other things for the abolition of slavery. This government was never
recognized by the United States Congress; for it refused to seat the
representatives from Louisiana until 1868. On June 2, 1865,
Confederate General Kirby Smith surrendered to Federal authorities
and Henry Watkins Allen resigned as governor and fled to Mexico and
J. Madison Wells, who had succeeded Hahn after his election to the
United States Senate, became governor of a ll Louisiana.
A new agency, the controversial Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen,
and Abandoned Lands, took over the relief work of the Army and
Treasury Departments in 1865. Superintendent Thomas W. Conway of the
Bureau of Free Labor continued his work under orders from General
Oliver 0. Howard, the head of the Freedmen's Bureau. Howard ordered
^ B ell I. Wiley, Southern Negroes (New York, 1938) , 214. 22 officers in his Department to act as guardians for a ll Negro minors and prevent their exploitation by either employers or parents. Orphans and minors whose parents consented would be apprenticed to reliable employers. Orphans were to receive comfortable clothing, board, medical treatment when sick, a reasonable amount of schooling, and permission to attend church each Sunday. The terms of any contract made by an employer with a minor would expire when the boys reached age eighteen 29 and girls age fifteen. Those who could not work or were otherwise homeless were placed in asylums.
There were, at first, three orphan asylums in New Orleans which received partial support from the Bureau. Ihe National Freedmen's
R elief Association ran one with the aid of government supplies. Madam
Louise De Monte had charge of nearly seventy Negro girls in a mansion furnished to her by the Freedmen1 s Bureau.30 A third orphanage super- 31 vised by the Bureau was called the Union Asylum. Where possible,
Howard wanted asylums to be placed near hospitals so that one staff 32 could care for both. 3h April, 1866, an orphanage and a home for the aged became parts of the Freedmen's Hospital of New Orleans. These
Freedmen's Bureau. 39th Congress, 1 Session, House Executive Document, No. 70 (Washington, D. C., 1866), 217. 30 "Fullerton Report," New York Times. December 31. 1865. 31 John C. Engelsman, "The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana," Louisiana Historical Quarterly. XXXII (January, 19^9), 17^.
32Reoort of the Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen. and Abondoned Lands. 40th Congress, 2nd Session, House Executive Document H , Pt. 1, No. 1 (Washington, D. C., 1868), 628. 23 asylums functioned until the Medical Division of the Bureau was discontinued in 1869.^
As of February 1, 1865, the Federal Government supported l,4l6 freedmen in Louisiana. Sixty-two of these were colored orphans placed
in asylums. Superintendent Conway also reported that the Government returned 709 slave children to their parents and placed them in their 34 custody. Conflicts between the government authorities and plantation owners immediately arose over the problem of whether the Negro child should work or go to school like some of his white counterparts. This conflict was to last for some years to cone.
The Louisiana Legislature in November, 1865, passed an act providing for the regulation of the labor of freedmen and their children. The act stated that any orphan child would be arrested, taken before a parish recorder who, with the advice of two justices of
the peace and two freeholders, would bind him out until he was twenty- one years of age. The apprentice was to be given food, clothing, and medical care, and brothers and sisters were to be bound together. If the apprentice ran away from his employment, he was to be arrested and 35 returned to his employer.
33 R eport of Ma.ior 0 . 0 , Howard. 40th Congress, 3rd S e ssio n , House Executive Document III, Pt. 1, No. 1 (Washington, D. C., 1868) , 1051. 34 Official Records of Union and Confederate Annies. Ser. 1, XLVUI, p. 704. 35 See Appendix II. 2k
This act obtained national publicity when Senator Wilson of
Massachusetts recited part of it in Congress and later introduced a b ill which would have invalidated it. The Louisiana Act never became law and as Ficklin points out, "it is very probable that it was suppressed on account of the commotion which it created when related 37 by Senator Wilson in Congress." The Legislature at the same time amended the vagrancy law of 1855 where there was no mention of race.^®
Neither one of the above mentioned acts called for the education of the apprenticed child. Therefore it was not the responsibility of the employer to see that his charge was educated. However, since 1863 there had been attempts to establish schools in those areas under
Federal authority. These schools were supported by a tax on property and crops. Each of the thirty-three districts into which the
Freedmen's Bureau had divided the State received the tax collected in that area. The freedmen1s schools in Louisiana were of several types: some were supported partly by northern benevolence; others were under the auspices of local societies and churches; still others were 39 p r iv a te sch o o ls; and some were operated e n tir e ly by the Bureau.
36 The Congressional Globe. 39th Congress, 1st Session, p. 39. 3 7 John R. Ficklin, History of Reconstruction in Louisiana through 1868 (Baltimore, 1910), 139-^0.
38L ou isiana A cts o f 1866, No. 1 2 , ex. sess., 1866, 18.
3^J. C. Engelsman, "The Freedmen1s Bureau in Louisiana," 19^. 25
Even though much relief work for the freedmen was being done by public funds, s till private agencies of New Orleans were being used and established.
The State tax which had been levied earlier by military authority was countermanded in 1865. General Howard said that "the consternation of the freedmen was intense. They begged to be assessed the whole amount of the tax and at last formally petitioned the military 40 commander to th is e f f e c t ." Thus sch o o ls were ab le to continue in spite of great opposition on the part of many Louisiana citizens.
Howard further reported that the colored people of Louisiana paid
$84,000 in taxes during 1866 for the support of public white schools free to white children only. He suggested that the only remedy for 4 l this situation was the power of the ballot. In 1866-67 there were
246 schools for the freedmen with 8,435 pupils. More than half of ko these were supported by the freedmen themselves. By 1870 the educational work of the Bureau began to languish because of the violent opposition of the planters and other citizens. In New Orleans free public schools took care of Negroes, but in the rest of the State and
40 Oliver 0. Howard, Autobiography. II (New York, 1908), 272.
^'htenort of Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. 40th Congress, 2nd Session, House Executive Document, II, Pt. 1, No. 1 (Washington, D. C., 1868) , 683. 42 0. 0. Howard, Autobiography. H , 342. 26
especially in the rural areas, schools for the freedman were practically 43 nonexistent.
The charitable institutions and orphan asylums for both races,
like the schools, were hard pressed for money during and after the war.
No state appropriations were made in 1862 and 1863, but $19,500 had
been set aside in l86l and $49,500 in 1864.^ In a message to the
General Assembly in 1865 Governor J. Madison Wells commended the city
of New Orleans for having borne the heavy burden of maintaining its
charitable institutions and recommended that suitable provision should
be speedily made for the support of those institutions formerly in whole or in part maintained at the expense of the State.^
In a memorial to the Legislature in 1865 the Benevolent
Association of Catholic Ladies of Baton Rouge requested assistance from
the State because "the vicissitudes of the last three years have
diminished the resources of the Association and have increased the U6 number of orphans to be cared for." The Coiunittee on Charitable
Institutions found in its visit to the asylums overcrowded conditions,
buildings in need of repair, rents unpaid, and a ll in need of 47 finances. The State did hear the pleas of these destitute asylums,
43 See Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, Annual Report of State Superintendent of Public Education. 1873. passim. 44 See Louisiana Acts of 1862. 1863. 1864. 4 5 Journal of the Louisiana House, ex. sess., 1865, 14. 46 Ibid., 135. 4 7 I b i d . . 60. 2 7 and in spite of increased opposition to public monies being used for private ends, the State continued to appropriate money for them.
In 1868 the Reconstruction legislature passed an Act which stated that no monies would be given to institutions unless they changed 48 their constitutions to include persons of all races. In spite of this ruling the Legislature continued to appropriate sums in the same manner as b e fo r e . B esid es the o p p o sitio n to g iv in g money to segregated institutions, there were other reasons given for not granting state money to private agencies. This opposition had existed before the War and continued to exist until 1879. Some objected on the grounds that most of the money went to institutions in New Orleans and little to other parts of the State; others stated that the money was unaccounted for since there was no stipulation that the agencies had to report to the Legislature. S till others claimed that the State should not 49 support profit raking agencies. 7 One Senator opposed g iv in g money to private charitable associations because he believed that "the State should take charge of a ll the unfortunate within its boundaries and not entrust this work to particular sect which are hampered in their charities by their religious proclivities."^ Another Senator claimed
that an appropriation was made in 1869 for an institution which did not 51 exist, thus suggesting that the mcney was not always used properly.
48 Louisiana Acts of 1868. 217. 49 Baton Rouge Gazette and Comet. February 25, i 860.
^Debates of Senate of Louisiana, ex. sess., 1870 , 847.
5lIbid. . 847. 28
In spite of this experience the proviso to appropriate no monies for charitable institutions until they had been examined and the appropriation approved by a Joint Comnittee of the General Assembly 52 was la id on the ta b le . The le g is la t u r e gave the la r g e s t number o f
institutions the largest amount of money in 1871 when forty-seven 53 institutions received the sum of $135,300. Even though the Senate eliminated all items for charitable societies in the 1874 budget, it 5JL4. approved $14,000 for ten agencies in I876. Two years later a Senate
sub-Committee on Charitable Institutions visited and made recommenda
tions for public agencies as the Asylum for the Blind, the Asylum for
the Deaf and Dumb at Baton Rouge, and the Insane Asylum at Jackson.
The opposition to the State use of monies for the relief of poor and needy in private institutions reached its climax with the election
of conservative Francis T. Nicholls as governor and the coming to power of the Redeemers. Nicholls impressed upon the State Legislature
the urgent need for a new constitution. In response to this plea, a
constitutional convention was called and convened on July 23, 1879.
The convention gave the S ta te a new c o n s titu tio n which s ta te d among
other things that no state funds would be given to private charitable
or benevolent institutions. Thus by law the asylums could no longer
receive state aid.^ S till as late as 1884 private institutions
52I b id .. 348. 53 See Appendix H I. 54 Louisiana Acts. 1876, 64.
^LaujsjareConstitut ion,,of 1879. Article 51. 29 continued to present petitions to the Legislature requesting state support. The memorial of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent's
Infant and Orphan Asylum stated that they had to maintain 200 helpless orphans and twenty destitute women. Their yearly expenses amounted to no less than $20,000 for which they had to depend upon charity.*^
The Sisters were appealing to the State for help, help which it could not legally give.
The Committee on Public and Charitable Institutions of the 1870
Louisiana House of Representatives refused to recommend a b ill for the relief of the poor to the Legislature because it would "encourage laziness and make the State of Louisiana a receptacle for the poor of 57 other states." In the meantime the 1874 Legislature authorized the
parish of Natchitoches "to establish a poorhouse to be devoted to the
gratuitous assistance of a ll sick, poor, and destitute persons and 58 paupers." Natchitoches has the distinction of being the oldest
pernanent settlement in Louisiana. Its chief industry is agriculture.
It also has the distinction of having a statue erected by the city
"in grateful recognition of the arduous and faithful services of the
Good Darkeys of Louisiana." It is difficult to find out why this
predominantly rural parish should have desired a poorhouse. The 1910
census listed five almshouses in Louisiana, none of which were located
in Natchitoches.
^Journal of the House. 1884, 344.
^Louisiana House Journal. 1870, 226.
58Louisiana Acts of 1824. No. 152. In spite of the recommendation of the Legislative Committee, the
new Constitution of 1879 provided that the General Assembly make it
obligatory upon each parish to support a ll infirm, sick and disabled
paupers residing within its lim its, except within towns and cities
who were responsible for their own needy . ^ Governor Louis Wiltz in
his message to the General Assembly of 1880 urged that the afflicted
poor of the parishes be provided for according to Article 163 of the
C o n stitu tio n .^ 0 On March 23, 1880, the Governor was ab le to sig n the
first Poor Law in the history of Louisiana. This law was worded
similar to Article 163 of the Ccnstitution and was the first public assistance law which applied to the State as a whole. Yet in carrying
out the provisions of the State Constitution the Legislature placed
the entire financial responsibility for aiding the needy upon the
local police jury since the State paid none of the cost.
At the end of the century Louisiana had at least twenty or more
private institutions for children with 1,682 dependents compared with
M ississippi which had three institutions and 156 children and Texas which had four institutions with 4?3 children.^ This number for
Louisiana did not include those found in almshouses located in Lake
Charles, Plaquemine, Tallulah, Alexandria, and New Orleans. Neither
did it include those children found in the Blind School, the School
59 Louisiana Constitution of 1879. Article 163. 60 Louisiana House Journal. January, 1880, 13.
Corner Folks, The Care of Destitute. Neglected, and Delinquent Children, 196. 31 for the Deaf and Dumb or the Insane Asylum. Ihe overwhelmingly majority of Louisiana's dependent children were to be found in private institutions to which the State contributed nothing; for only the state asylums and the charity hospitals could receive public funds. In 1903 there were 149 adult paupers and thirteen children in the almshouses of Louisiana. Other indigents had to shift for themselves for
Louisiana as in five other states (Arkansas, Maryland, North Dakota,
South Carolina, South Dakota, and the D istrict of Columbia) had no 62 provision for outdoor relief on a state-wide basis.
62 Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and C o rrectio n s. 1909. ^9 7. CHAPTER I I
CHILD WELFARE BEFORE AND DURING THE LONG REGIME
Founding and Early Work of the Board of Charities and
Corrections
Louisiana, not only did not have a program of state-wide outdoor relief, but also had no institution responsible for knowing how a ll of its dependents were being cared for. At the meetings of the National
Conference of Charities and Corrections, discussions of the need for and the results that might be expected from state supervision of welfare agencies began during the nineties. At a special meeting of the National Conference in New Orleans on March 4-7, 1897, the general secretary, H. H, Hart called for a state board of charities to
"oversee the charities of the state,The Secretary felt that this board would promote the wise founding and safe administration of public charities, correct and prevent abuses, check extravagances, promote 2 economy, and rebuke niggardliness. Speaking to the Conference on the subject, "Education of Orphans," Rabbi I. L. Leucht, longtime member of the Board of Jewish Children's Home, stated: "Neither the state nor
^New Orleans Daily Picayune. March 6, 1897. 2 I b id .
32 33 the city has a charity board, nor is there any official delegated by 3 lav to superintend our eleemosynary institutions."
It vas also during the l890's that the Democratic Party of
Louisiana met the challenge of the Populists who had called for some measure of recognition for tenant and small farmers. While Populist leaders took over in many parts of the South, they were unable to do so in Louisiana. So that "the revolt within the Southern Democratic
Party that took place almost everywhere else," says Liebling, "was 4 delayed in Louisiana until the emergence of Huey Long." Nevertheless when the Constitution was rewritten in I898, it provided for some agrarian reforms and complete disfranchisement of the Negro, both of which satisfied the Populists for a while. It also included a provision for a State Board of Charities and Corrections. The social conscious Sidney H. March of New Orleans led the fight for a board of charities in the 1898 constitutional convention. But it was not until 1904 that the Legislature passed an enabling act creating such a board. This state agency was entrusted with the supervision of all State, municipal, and parochial institutions of a penal or charitable character and had visitorial powers over a ll private orphan asylums, hospitals, and charitable institutions.^
3 Ib id . . March 7. 1897. 4 A. J. Liebling, The Earl of Louisiana (London, 1962), 113.
^The Louisiana Constitution. 1898. Art. 295. See also Louisiana Acts. 1904, No. 176. 34
This act had the support of such organizations as the Prison
Reform Association of Louisiana, the Board of Prisons and Asylums of
New Orleans, the Charity Organization Society and the Louisiana
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. It was opposed by the large institutions which had their own boards and felt no need for more supervision, by many parish officials who, perhaps, did not want their crude and uncivilized methods of caring for prisoners criticized and exposed by outside inspectors, and by many legislators who argued that the State could not afford to pay the expenses of such a body.^
The b ill finally passed once its sponsorers conceded that the Board would serve without pay. The governor became president of the board, and Michel Keymann, superintendent of the Jewish children's House and a prominent member of the Charity Organization Society, was named
vice-president. The Charity Organization Society had been active in
trying to coordinate a ll of the charity organizations in New Orleans so as to reduce duplication, protect the community from imposters, and
to see that all deserving cases of destitution were properly 7 relieved. The basic philosophy of the society was now being carried
out on the state level with its secretary and later president as the
leader and spokesman of the new Board of Charities and Corrections.
S . S. Shields, Prison Reforms Its Principles and Purposes What I t Has A ccom plished. The Work Yet To Be Done (New O rleans, 1905), 19. 7 The Charity Organization Society of New Orleans. Third. Annual Report (New Orleans, 1899), 9. 35
Another organization, the Prison Reform Association, had since
1886 worked for reform in Louisiana's penal institutions. It called
for the modernization of city and parish jails and houses of
detention, better care for the pauper insane, the separation of boys from the older and hardened criminals in jails, the abolition of the
ill-managed boys' reformatories, and the transfer of cases of
misdemeanor and vagrancy to the Waifs' Home of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Association sponsored and fought for a state reformatory for boys and for the b ill providing for Q a juvenile court. The Association also appropriated funds enabling
the Board of Charities to rake its first report to the legislature
in 1905.
Lack of funds continued to plague the Board throughout its
lifetim e. Without funds it could not have a staff, nor even a
secretary to carry on its day to day functions. It had under its
immediate supervision the State Penitentiary at Baton Rouge, a ll
parish prisons, the House of Detention at New Orleans, the convict
farms at Angola, Hope, Oakely, and M onticello, the convict camps
engaged in levee construction, hospitals such as the Charity Hospitals
of New Orleans and Shreveport, Hotel Dieu, Touro Infirmary, Eye, Ear,
Nose and Throat Hospital, and the Home for Incurables, all of New
Orleans; Insane asylums at Pineville and Jackson and the Louisiana
Retreat; seven old folks' homes and almhouses; the asylum for the Deaf
8F. S. Shields, Prison Reform. 20. 36 and Dumb, and institution for the Blind; the reformatories of the
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelly to Children, the
State reform school at Monroe, House of Good Shepherd and Colored
Industrial Home at New Orleans; the New Orleans Convalescent Home and the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, and eighteen orphanages.
The Board of Charities and Corrections noted in its 1907 report that Louisiana and Virginia were the only Southern states that had no provision for Negro deaf mutes. It recommended that the State make such provisions for its colored citizens. It also recommended that the Legislature enact those laws presented to it by the Louisiana
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children relating to juvenile courts. The Board also noted that the Colored Branch of the
Waif's Home did not have properly trained Negro personnel. It feared that this lack of trained personnel would continue to handicap the effectiveness of the institution and would nullify any influence on the youth that such an institution might have, if it were properly staffed and managed.
To function the Board needed a paid secretary, but without funds it could not even carry out its limited duties in an efficient or effective manner. Without funds the Board was unable to make any reports from 1910 until 1918. But in 1916 W. H. Slingerland, a
special agent of the Department of Child Helping of the Russell Sage
Foundation made a critical study of the child welfare work in
Louisiana and published his findings in a booklet entitled: A 37
Constructive Program of Organized Child Welfare Work_for .New. Orleans.
£nd Louisiana.
The S lin g er la n d R eport
Working on the assumption that organized child welfare work includes both preventive and remedial measures, Slingerland saw the need for housing reform. Bad houses which were poorly screened against germ bearing flies and rrosquitoes were, in part, the cause of the high death rate in New Orleans. Imperfect sanitation along with inadequate drainage and sewerage disposal were also areas where both city and state needed much improvement. Germ-ladened milk was responsible for the death rate among infants in New Orleans being twice that of the United States as a whole.
No adequate medical and psychological examinations were available to school children. Especially was there need for the psychological examination of the retarded and the exceptional child and their segregation from the regular classes into special schools. Slingerland noticed the unusual number of institutions for the care of dependent children found in New Orleans. There were twenty-six institutions caring for 2600 children throughout the State, twenty-one of these were found in New Orleans. In that city the Board of Prisons and Asylums had authority over only those which received alimony from the city.
S t i l l th ese same in s t it u t io n s a ls o came under the su p e rv isio n o f the
State Board of Charities and Corrections; but as Slingerland pointed 38
TABLE I
FRIVATE ORFHANAGES IN LOUISIANA, 19l6*
Location and Number of C apacity Average number A ffiliation Institutions of Children E nrolled
New Orleans Ronfin C atholic 10 1,370 1,214 Non-Catholic 11 838 689
Baton Rouge Protestants Orphan Home 1 25 20 S t . Joseph's Orphan Home 1 55 50
Lake Charles Louisiana Bapt. Orphanage 1 125 66
Ruston 1 100 100
Shreveport Genevieve Orphanage 1 100 40
*W. H. Slingerland, A Constructive Program of Organized Child Welfare Work for New Orleans and Louisiana (New York, 1916), 15. 39 out, this Board in 1916 had been allowed to lapse into "innocuous desuetude."
Slingerland recommended that the environment of the state and city institutions be improved; for he felt that the old idea of anything being good enough for an orphan was outmoded. The buildings of these institutions both inside and out needed refurbishing. Doors and windows needed screening as protection against flies and hordes of mosquitoes for which south Louisiana is noted. As a part of this total improvement Slingerland recommended that a ll children be given a medical examination before entering an institution and once there, be given better medical attention and more healthful foods. Further, the sheltered institutional life of the child rendered him unequipped for competition in ordinary life. Existing practices needed to be changed in order that the child could develop initiative, individuality, independence, and self-reliance, qualities that he needed to withstand the vicissitudes of everyday living.
But Slingerland was cognizant of the fact that desired reforms would not come unless trained social workers replaced retired ministers, school teachers, and nurses as custodians of child welfare agencies.
They would not only be better qualified to recognize the needs of each individual child, but would be willing to keep adequate records which would show the type of medical treatment, results of psychological testing, behavior patterns and a ll other information needed to help the social worker understand and guide the child's mental, psychological, and physical development. 40
L ouisiana was among the very few s ta t e s which d id n ot have a well-organized and equipped state-wide child placing agency devoted
to securing families for neecfy children. Perhaps the explanation is
that New Orleans had so many orphanages which desired to perpetuate
themselves that they did not insist upon foster home care for their
charges. Nevertheless, Slingerland suggested that a child placement
bureau was a much needed agency to enhance the child welfare work of
th e S ta te .
For perhaps the same reason given above there was no assistance
given to indigent mothers of the State. Even on the national level it was the leaders of the charity organization movement that opposed 9 mothers* p en sio n s. The movement fo r mothers' pensions rec eiv ed i t s
inspiration from the report of ^the first White House Conference on
Child Welfare in 1909 which stated that no home should be broken up
because of poverty. By 1913 seventeen states had passed laws pro
viding for dependent mothers.^ Louisiana was not one of those
seventeen and Slingerland suggested that such aid be given to
indigent mothers to enable them to provide for their children without
separation or maintenance in an institution.
Slingerland realized that the juvenile court was a modern
institution which had not as yet come into its own in Louisiana. New
^Frank J. Bruno, Trends in Social Work 1874-1956 (New York, 1957). 181. 10 Ibid.. 181. ^1
Orleans was said to be the only city in the State where the court was doing fairly well. But even here there was need for a separate building for the court and an adequate detention home to replace the
Waif's Home of the LSPCC and the House of the Good Shepherd, a Roman
Catholic home for delinquent girls. In 1911 the State had opened a reform school for boys at Monroe; but there was s till no such institution for white girls or Negroes except the private ones in New
O rlean s.
Although there was no state institution for the feebleminded,
Louisiana did assist the Milne Asylum for Destitute Girls which cared for feebleminded girls of child-bearing age. Louisiana had no institution for epileptics or for its crippled children. And lastly
Slingerland*s report recommended the codification of a ll laws pertain ing to children. All of these suggestions needed to be carried out in order to improve the child welfare services in the State and the 11 city of New Orleans.
The Board in the 1920's
The State's agency to carry out the recommendations of the
Slingerland Report did not function until it was given some money.
The new Constitution of 19^1 and the enabling act of that same year
provided the Board of Charities and Corrections with a paid secretary
iaw. H. Slingerland, A Constructive Program of Organized Child Welfare Work for New Orleans and Louisiana (New York, 1916), passim. and payments for travel. The powers of the Board remained the same: supervision of all State, parochial, and municipal institutions of a penal or charitable character. It had visitorial powers over all private orphan asylums, hospitals, and other charitable institutions, but possessed neither administrative nor executive powers over them.
In the meantime the Juvenile Courts placed additional responsibility on the Board for collecting reports from the clerks of the various
Courts in the State showing the number, character, and disposition of 12 cases brought before the courts. The Court might also call upon the Board to report about the conditions in institutions where children were placed.
The problems of the delinquent child, especially the delinquent girl, continued to disturb the Board as well as the courts. In its
1923 report the Board disclosed that it was a sad commentary on the
State's social progress when judges of juvenile courts, probation
officers, and social workers repeatedly stated that girls often come
before them who should be removed from the environment of the home,
but who could not be placed because of lack of an institution to
which to send them. Such girls were usually sent home and in too
many cases several weeks later they were returned to the court as sex
delinquents and were committed to the reformatory at New Orleans with
the more hardened inmates. The Board also referred to the Parish
12 Biennial Report of the Louisiana State Board ofl_.Charities._and Corrections. 1930-31 and 1932-33. 4. 43
prisons as breeding places for crime. Here were brought persons not yet tried or convicted, minor offenders, and first offenders who were
in constant contact with hardened criminals. As a result, the parish 13 prison became the most excellent school for crime in the country. *
In 1927 the Board with the aid of the school of Social Work of
Tulane University made a survey of five parishes in order to establish
the extent of dependency, delinquency, and neglect existing among the whites of these coimunities. The Board found, in general, what the
Slingerland Report had found; present needs in child welfare were many
and imperative. There were few facilities outside of New Orleans.
The S ta te had no means a t i t s d isp o sa l o f safegu ard in g the in te r e s ts
of children placed in institutions; neither did it have an effective
mouthers' pension law so that dependent children would not have to be
placed in institutions. The Board still found children in parish
jails and in one instance the entire family was there. It deplored
the fact that the parishes did not provide facilities for the care of
problem children.
Nevertheless the State was making some progress. The prosperity
of the 1920's made it possible for private philanthropy to give more
and better support to child welfare agencies. Public health facilities
were now reaching rural areas as a result of state and federal funds.
The State was making some provision for the institutional care of the
^Biennial Report of the Board of Charities. 1922-1923, 9. 44 feebleminded and the first unit of the State Industrial Home for Girls was nearing completion.
The Board recognized one of its chief weaknesses when in its
1927 report it suggested that provision should be made for the establishment of a Department of Child Welfare under its direction.
This department would supervise the work of a ll agencies and institutions dealing with children and make such additional provisions for child care as the situation might require. A suitable appropriation should be made at the next meeting of the Legislature as a first step in enabling the State to safeguard the interests of children in need of special care.
The Board, Long, and the Depression Years
If there was anyone who might have carried out the suggestions and recommendations of the Board of Charities, it should have been
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. Long was born in 1893 in Winn Parish, a parish
that had voted Populist in the 1890's. He was the son of a poor subsistence farmer who experienced hardship and privation but was
determined to rise above the commonplace. In 1914 Long enrolled at
Tulane University and completed a three year law program in one. In
1918 he ran for political office and in spite of handicaps won a seat
on the Railway Commission, later called the Public Service Commission.
Here in Populist tradition he became embroiled in clashes with the
mighty Standard O il Company, the telephone company, and the r a ilr o a d s . 45
His victories over big business and the railroads assured him state wide notoriety and laid the foundation for his future political success. He lost his first bid for the governorship in 1924. Between
1924 and 1928, however, Long continued to fight to bring big business under state control and to make business more responsive to public needs. By 1928 he was ready again to try for the office of governor.
During the campaign he promised free textbooks to school children, better roads and free bridges, better schools, and increased state aid to the poor and indigent. In the primary election Long carried only
43.9 per cent of the popular vote. When his two opponents withdrew,
Long was nominated the democratic candidate for governor and subsequently elected. Thus began an era in Louisiana politics which some feel has lasted until the present.
Governor Long endeavored to fu lfill many of his campaign promises. One of these was that of supplying free textbooks to a ll school children. The Constitution of the State prevented any state donation to private or sectarian schools. Long's law provided that
the books be furnished to the children instead of the schools, thereby enabling the State to provide all children attending public or private
schools the textbooks required.
Long requested that the Legislature enact a law providing care for epileptics. In December, 1928, an act was passed stating that
the State Colony and Training School for the feebleminded should
provide for epileptics and for persons suffering similar afflictions. U6
By 1932 this already overcrowded institution had seventy-five epileptic patients. He described the school for the blind as being conducted in an old building -which had been abandoned as unfit for use as a public schoolhouse in the 1890's. The patients in the two mental hospitals were held in cells or locked in beds at night and chained to hoes and plows to work in the day.^ The Charity Hospital, he discovered, had been forced to place some of its patients on the bare floor.
These d eplorab le co n d itio n s le d lon g to recommend an in crea se in appropriations for these institutions, but by the time the Legislature got around to considering his recommendation in the spring of 1930, the Great Depression had come bringing with it a decrease in funds for all charitable institutions.^"’ Long even effected a five per cent payroll deduction from a ll public employees to finance relief in a ll parishes. Relief costs continued to mount and when salaries were cut, the five per cent deduction ceased. The State then issued a $750,000 16 bond issue whose funds for relief lasted about four months.
Also during 1930, Long was elected to the U. S. Senate although he did not take his seat until January, 1932. He supported the
candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt for president, but after his
1/+Huey P. Long, Every Man A King (New Orleans, 1933). 108.
^New Orleans Times-Picavune. April 26, 1930.
^Mary Raymond, "Early Influences on Public Welfare," Louisiana. Welfare (October, 1956), 3. 47 election Long became one of the chief critics of Roosevelt's program.
The friends and followers of the Governor remember him best for his public improvements and legislative changes that lifted some of the burdens of existence from the shoulders of the common man. On the other hand, his detractors question his benevolence and devotion to the poor. Long claimed to be soaking the rich, but actually he was soaking every consumer rich or poor, and then giving a rebate in the form of roads, bridges, and schools. As Governor, Long and his
Legislature did not pass any unemployment compensation laws or adopt th e Federal C hild Labor Amendment, n e ith e r did they provide funds fo r mothers' pensions.
Long may be further evaluated by his willingness or failure to act on the recommendations nede by his own Board of Charities. In
1930 there were eighteen institutions in the city of New Orleans for dependent children and only eleven for the rest of the State. The latter, however, was an increase over the past twenty years. Despite this increase the Board felt that rural children, especially those without parents, were being neglected; for they lived under conditions that would not be tolerated in large towns.
The Board also reminded the Legislature and Long that the State
institutions caring for youth were not separating the delinquents from the dependent children. In addition, Negro delinquents were s till a problem. The Board suggested that state facilities be made 48 available for Negroes just as facilities were available for whites.
It felt that because of inadequate facilities, many Negro offenders were brought into court, charged, and given sentences not commensurate with the offense since facilities for lengthy incarceration of youth ful Negroes were unavailable. The State had provided the laws necessary for the creation of an industrial school for Negro youth, but did not appropriate the funds for buildings.
With the exception of giving textbooks to school children Long, as governor, did very little for the dependent children of Louisiana.
His tenure as governor was replete with legislation, but very short on financing programs for the benefit of the children of the State. CHAPTER I U
LOUISIANA AND IHE DEPRESSION
In 1932 New Orleans s till ranked at the bottom of the lis t of
thirty-one metropolitan areas in the amount it spent for public relief.
It was the only city making no provisions whatever for family welfare, except for the blind, and the only city without aid to needy mothers.^
It is of special interest that New Orleans, unlike such Southern
cities as Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, and Charleston, provided no 2 public relief for Negro indigents. Furthermore, New Orleans allotted
$36,608 to fourteen institutions caring for 1,5*6. white children, but 3 nothing for the care of destitute Negro children.
Little material is available on the administration of the old
pauper law by the parishes. Dr. Wisner tells of the method followed
in one parish: A person in need of relief went to a prominent
citizen in his community or to his ward representative and asked him
to draw up a petition for him testifying that he was a "pauper" and
that he was "worthy and deserving." The petition was then presented
^Glenn Steele, "Family Welfare," U. S. Department of labor, Children's Bureau, No. 209, 1932, *+. 2 Evelyn Campbell Beven, Citv Subsidies to Private Charitable Agencies in New Orleans: The History and Present Status 1824-1933, (New Orleans, 19*6), 1.
3JDa4d., 9. 49 50 to the police jury at its next meeting and from such evidence relief
■was granted or refused. If the applicant was a widow or a blind person, such assistance was called a pension rather than pauper relief.
Snfill grants from $3.00 to $7.00 were often given to the fortunate ones whose applications the police jury was willing to approve.
During the early years of the depression, no new agencies were created to assist in relief; for the problem was left to the parishes as stated by law. In 1931 fifty-three parishes, excluding Orleans, sp en t $ ll 4 ,6 l 6 in home r e l i e f . From January, 1933, to June, 193^-,
Federal funds contributed 98.5 per cent of the total public funds for relief in Louisiana, including direct relief to unemployables.^ In
193^+ when the Federal Government placed the burden of caring for the
unemployables upon local government fifty-tw o parishes spent $121,626 administered as a general pauper fund.^ No individual records were
kept and no uniform method of administering the funds was used. In
some parishes the policy jury subsidized a private agency and
delegated to it the responsibility of administering home relief. The
pauper fund was also used for burials, medicines, and transportation
to New Orleans or Shreveport where the chronically ill persons might
remain indefinitely.
Elizabeth Wisner, "Trends in Social Welfare in Louisiana," Proceedings of Annual Louisiana Conference of Social Welfare (New O rlean s, May, 1937), 15.
5Mnnth1v Report of FERA. July, 19318.
^E. Wisner, "Trends in Social Welfare in Louisiana," 15. What l i t t l e the p arish es seemed to have done came a fte r the beginning of the Great Depression of 1929 which many Americans, including social workers, thought was just a temporary recession with consequences that could best be met by private agencies. For years leaders in the field of social work had said that poverty or economic insecurity of the individual was largely a condition of personal maladjustment best served by the casework method, preferably exercised by private agencies. Governmental relief for individuals in their homes was considered detrimental to the maintenance of an individualistic society. But as Lurie points out, many social workers must have felt uncomfortable during 1931 to find their ancestral beliefs repeated by President Hoover and other governmental and industrial leaders as justification for thwarting emergency public measures for the relief of the unemployed."'7 Hoover was to say in
1931 that "the basis of successful relief in national distress is to m o b ilize and organ ize the i n f i n i t e number o f a g en cies o f s e lf - h e lp in the community. That has been the American way of reliefing distress among our cwn people, and the country is successfully meeting its O problem in the American way today."0 The Association of Public
Welfare O fficials, Family Welfare Association, and the Association of
Community Chests—a ll advised in 1931 th a t lo c a l agen cies -which were
"'Harry L. Lurie, "The Drift to Public Relief," Proceedings of .the J a.t ional.GooffiESnBB.. ttC-gQC.jal WQEkaca(New York, 1931), 212.
^William S. Myers and Walter H. Newton, The Hoover Administration (New York, 1936), 63. 52 already established be used to administer relief to the unemployed whether these agencies were private or public. It was considered
unwise to create new agencies in the emergency, provided those in 9 existence could be sufficiently expanded and strengthened.
In 1932 the Congressional Emergency R elief and Construction Act enabled the states to borrow money through the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation to assist them in the problem of economic distress and
unemployment. Shortly after the passage of this act Governor Cscar
K. Allen signed a proclamation creating a state-wide Unemployment
R elief Committee to help with the problems concomitant with the depression. This committee represented Louisiana's in itial attempt
to administer a state program of assistance to the needy.
Prior to this the parishes alone were responsible for a ll public assistance programs. The already existing Board of Charities and
Corrections was in no position to administer a state program of
relief, thus making it necessary to establish a new temporary agency
to handle what was thought to be a temporary problem. The Unemployment
Relief Committee consisted of fifteen citizens, mostly businessmen,
who had the authority over plans, policies, personnel, and the
distribution of funds. In August, 1932, Louisiana became one of the
first states in the South to receive from Hoover's Reconstruction
Finance Corporation a federal loan for unemployment relief.
^Josephine C. Brown, Public R elief. 1929-1936 (New York, 19^0), 86. 53
Essentially this money provided work relief to over 76,000 families who earned about $13.32 per month through work done in building and repairing roads, bridges, drainage canals, and eradicating mosquitoes.10
Anticipating further federal legislation under the New Deal, the
Governor reorganized his relief committee and replaced it as of May 1,
1933. with the smaller Emergency R elief Administration of the State of
Louisiana. This committee, unlike the first one which was dominated by businessmen and politicians, consisted of the director of social work of Tulane University, the superintendent of public schools, a member o f the Family S e rv ice S o c ie ty Board, a member o f th e Community
Chest Board, one representative of the State administration, and two representatives of business.^" While this may have been a better committee from a social service point-of-view, there were still no
Negroes, representatives of labor, or representatives of the poor on the committee.
On October 30 Governor Allen issued an additional proclamation providing for the continuance of ERA but with the stipulation that an executive director be appointed by the Federal Emergency R elief
Administration'with the concurrence of the Governor. An essential requirement for receiving Federal aid was a state authority to insure its distribution to all localities in the state needing it. Aubrey
10Month1v Report of FERA (March, 1936), 8.
1JT>. Von Stern Wilson, Public Social Security in Louisiana (Monroe, Louisiana, 19^3)» 25-27. 54
Williams, assistant FERA administrator of the southern district, named
Harry J. Early, a former Community Chest executive of Birmingham,
Alabatifi, as State Administrator. The new director preferred the administrative plan of the Federal Administrator, Harry Hopkins, who functioned without a board; so after January 1, 1934, the Emergency
Relief Commission no longer existed. This action on the part of the
State Director has been criticized on the ground that the lack of a state board for both ERA and the public welfare agencies created a gap between the communities and the central authority and tended to develop isolated parish units, such as the one in New Orleans, rather than coordinated and correlated agencies functioning under one state program."1"2
According to FERA rules none of its funds were to go to private agencies or to relieve conditions where provisions had already been made under existing laws. Under this program the Federal Government advanced funds to Louisiana without expecting relief grants from the
State; for a survey had shown that Louisiana was financially unable 13 to provide a share of the necessary funds. From January, 1933. to
December, 1935, Federal funds contributed 9^.9 per cent of the total of $51,495,793 for emergency relief in the State while local funds
12 L illie H. Nairne, "A Study of the Administration of Relief to the Unemployed in Louisiana with Special References to a Future Public Welfare Program, 11 Unpublished master's thesis (Tulane University, 1935), 140. 13 Morning Advocate. October 11, 1933. 55 supplied $1,629,469 or 3.1 per cent, and the State gave less than 14 one-tenth of one per cent or $1,697.
On July 6 , 1934, Aubrey Williams sent the following telegram to
Governor Allen:
FERA is aware of what Louisiana and other states are doing for the insane, feebleminded, sick, and the incurables. These are the normal burdens of the state. Care of the blind, mothers’ aid and the infirm, sick, and disabled are also normal state responsibilities. After August 1 we w ill lim it our funds to relief of those whose need is due to unemployment.^
The State Administrator advised Governor Allen to request the
Legislature to enact measures to provide for the State’s unemploy ables which he classified into four categories: mothers' aid cases,
the aged and infirm, the handicapped, and chronic dependents.
On July 9. 1934, Early sent a notice to a ll police juries
informing them that on July 31 local emergency relief administrators would release from their rolls a ll unemployables and that this group
should be advised to look to local governmental units for help. He
also urged police jurors to push the passage of proposed state laws
providing revenue for the care of the unem ployablesNevertheless,
the State failed to take immediate action by passing public welfare
appropriations or adopting a welfare department as recommended by
Federal authorities. Thus on July 31 over 15,000 individuals who had
M onthly Report of FERA. December, 1935, 102.
^State-Times. July 6, 1934.
^ State-Times. July 10, 1934. 56 been cared for through Federal funds were expunged from the State
relief rolls.17
During the summer the State Legislature in extra session enacted several b ills intended to produce revenue or enable the parishes to
pass ordinances for imposing taxes for the relief of the indigent and
unemployed. This permissive legislation did not encourage police
juries and city councils to take action. Much of the legislation was
regarded as "spite" measures to punish the enemies of the Long regime.
For instance, one state law fixed the salary of the Sheriff of
Orleans Parish and specified that a ll fees and fines collected by his
office above the needs of office administration were to go to aid the
unemployables. Parishes and municipalities could levy license taxes
on places of amusement, newspaper advertisements, and gasoline and 18 motor fuels, the proceeds to go for the unemployables. In the
winter of 193^ the third extra session of the Legislature passed an
annual franchise tax on corporations for the privilege of carrying on
business within the State.
By law Louisiana had had mothers' pensions since 1920. In 1928
the State Legislature passed another law allocating $300 yearly to 19 the needy blind. Four years later an additional law authorized
police juries to aid deformed or crippled persons over fifty years of
17Ibid., July 31, 193^.
^Louisiana Acts of 1934. Nos. l6, 17, 18, 21.
^Louisiana Acts of 1928. No. 101. 57 age who were in "destitute and necessitous circumstances."20 The unemployables of 193^ 'who had to look to the local government for aid were amply supported by State law, but not by adequate funds.
Consequently, they were worse off that summer than they had been previously'.
With the discontinuance of Federal emergency relief for the unemployables in 193^, nearly 1500 fam ilies in New Orleans faced complete destitution. The city accepted the responsibility for its dependents by creating a Department of Public Welfare. It appropriated $15,000 for the emergency and with the assistance of
FEEIA, gathered together a staff and opened the first public assistance office in the State. During 1935 the number of applicants doubled.
To meet the rising cost of aid to the aged, disabled, and the widowed, the Commission Council levied an amusement tax and a one cent tax on gasoline. In December, 1935, an additional one cent tax was temporarily placed on gasoline until the meeting of the State Legisla ture in 1936 and the creation of a State Department of Public Welfare six months later.
On January 4, 1935, President Roosevelt declared: "The Federal
Government must and shall quit this business of relief .... (In the past) Those unable for one reason or another to maintain themselves independently were cared for by local efforts . . . It is my thought
20 Louisiana Acts of 193.2. No. 52. 58
21 that in the future they must be cared for as they were before.'1 In
October, 1935* speaking to a Charleston audience, Roosevelt reiterated what he had said earlier:
There is only one legitimate excuse for unwillingness to work and that is bad health or advanced age. It is the duty of private charity and of State and local government agencies to take care of those who for these sound reasons are unable to work, and as I have said, it is the duty of the Federal Government to assist in this type of relief o n ly when p riv a te lo c a l means come to the end o f th e ir t e t h e r .22
That same fa ll during a community relief drive one Baton Rougean stated exactly what his New Deal President had said a month before:
Federal relief is all right in an emergency, but it is not proper as a permanent thing, it is a cancerous economic condition. The burden of the program goes back to the citizens, nevertheless, in the form of one sort of tax or another.
We shall feel a definite responsibility in caring for the needy in the coimunity. That is the only way we can have permanent prosperity. Every community has its charity cases—persons who cannot provide themselves with the necessities of life. $
Contemporaneous with these state activities were those of
Senator Long in Washington. Long, who had supported the candidacy
of Franklin D. Roosevelt for president, had become one of the chief
critics of Roosevelt's New Deal. The Senator, who had advocated the redistribution of the wealth for many years, launched a national
2lS. I. Rosenman, ed., The Public Papers and Addresses of franklin R. ffoss.qvelt , XV (New York, 1942) , 20.
22s . I. Rosenman, The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. R o o se v e lt. 428. 23 State-Times. November 12, 1935* 59 p olitical organization in January, 193^. whose slogan was "Share Our
Wealth." There were several versions of his program but in general he proposed to liquidate personal fortunes above a certain amount, to give every family enough money to purchase a home, an automobile, and a radio; to give every person over sixty years of age a pension, and
the boys of proven ability a college education. In addition he advocated a national minimum wage and a shortened work week, cash payments to veterans, and a balanced farm and public works program.
Huey's program met with little success in the U. S. Senate, but the
Senator did claim more than 27,000 clubs and his staff said it had a mailing lis t of 7*500,000 persons throughout the United States.
The Senator's feud with FDR's program grew relentlessly. He worked to obtain personal control of federal unemployment and work relief funds allocated to Louisiana so that no political, business, or
unemployed opponent of his machine could benefit by Federal funds.
His L e g isla tu r e created a new agency, the S ta te Bond and Tax Board,
so that no town, city, or other subdivision could incur a debt 24 without its approval. Another law set up state supervision over any and a ll expenditures of funds or credits obtained from the Federal
Government by parishes and cities. Violators could be fined $500 and
six months in jail. One of Long's opponents said; "These bills are 2 5 harmless. All they do is declare war on the United States."
24 Louisiana Acts of 1935. ex. sess., No. 6. 2 5 Harnett Kane, Louisiana Hayride. 127. 60
The Federal Government was quick to accept the declaration; for on April 17, 1935, the Secretary of Interior, Harold Ickes, attacked
Long's Share-the-W ealth program, la b e lle d Long the "Emperor o f
Louisiana," and threatened to cancel a ll PWA funds for that State. 26 Long flashed a reply back saying Ickes could "go slap darm to hell."
Two days later Ickes announced that he had caused new public works allotments for Louisiana totaling $648,000 to be stricken from the lis t of FtfA loans and grants. He also remarked that the "trouble with
Senator Long is that he is suffering from halitosis of the intellect.
At the rate the Emperor is going, h e'll soon have to consider a share
the unemployment movement in L ou isian a. '
Ickes's diary recounts that on July l6, 1935. three representatives of the Senator, including President Smith of Louisiana
State University, came to see him about possible Louisiana projects.
He told them: "we would not be disposed to do anything for them in
the way of projects so long as there remained on the statute books law which made it necessary to take into consideration any state body other
than the one applying for the project." Long's three representatives
went on to te ll how badly the projects were needed and how much the
people needed the work. Ickes told them that they were committing
lese-ne.ieste since Senator Long had assured the country that Louisiana
^ The. New York Times. April 17, 1935. 27 Ibid. , April 19, 1935. 6 l was economically stable and did not need any help from the Federal
Government.
In the meantime Hopkins made known that the Federal government
would ignore the adoption by Louisiana Legislature of a b ill making it
illegal for anyone except State officials to administer relief in
Louisiana) and would continue the Federal administration of a ll relief
in the State beginning with the appointment of Frank Peterman, an
anti-Long man, as relief administrator. Under the Emergency Act of
1933 Hopkins had the right to assume control of the administration in
any state wherein his judgment more effective and efficient
cooperation between state and federal authorities might be secured in
carrying out the purpose of the act. With this action the relief
administration became entirely federal whereas before it had been
operated on the dual concurrence of the state and federal governments.
On April 8, 1935, Early turned over his office to Peterman, a former
state senator from Rapides Parish, Hopkins directed Peterman to
assume immediate control over relief activities of the State and to
take such steps as might be necessary to assure that relief would be 29 given to the needy unemployed persons in the State,
S till carrying on his feud against the Roosevelt Administration,
Huey filibustered for several days in August, 1935, against an
appropriation b ill for the newly created Social Security Board. In
28 Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diary of. I (New York, 1953), *K)0.
2^Times Picayune. April 8, 1935. 62
September, a month after the filibuster, Governor Allen called a special session of the legislature which enacted another law to block Federal spending in Louisiana, The act made it an offense for any person to perform in the name of the Federal Government, a function which the Federal Constitution did not authorize.^® Kane 31 says th a t th is was s t a t e s ' r ig h ts w ith a vengeance. Long returned to Baton Rouge to see to it that the legislature did its job. While there on September 8 he was shot by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss who had been outraged by Long's treatment of his father-in-law. Senator long died two days later.
At the same time Peterman continued to grant federal aid independent of any state agency until the beginning of the pro-Long
Leche administration. On March 15, 1936, Peterman resigned and
James H. Crutcher became acting administrator of WPA and FERA. Later
Early was renamed State Administrator and he announced that the various parish welfare units would be placed under State ERA and the federal service workers assigned to the various offices would be taken over by the State. As State Administrator, Early was able to grant relief through the New Orleans Department of Public Welfare and the Sixty- three other parish welfare units, thus providing work relief and direct assistance on a state-wide basis.
^ Louisiana Acts, ex. sess., 1935, Nos. 21, 28.
B arn ett Kane, Louisiana Havride (New York, 19^1), 133. 63
FERA was officially liquidated on December 31. 1935. The years 1935 and 1936 were marked by a shift from a general relief administration involving both work and direct relief in which
Federal, state, and local governments participated to a division of responsibility according to categories of need, whereby the Federal
Government undertook to provide for the employable unemployed through
WPA and to assist the states with their responsibility for the unemployables by making grants-in-aid for the aged, blind, and widows through Social Security, Therefore Early's tenure of office in 1935 merely represented one of transition from the administration of emer gency relief to the establishment of a permanent public welfare department for the State. CHAPTER IV
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE
1935 - 1955
State-wide Organized R elief
Unlike Arkansas, Idaho, M ississippi, Nevada, and Utah, Louisiana did have a state department concerned with welfare. The State Board of Charities and Corrections had existed since 1909; but its powers and facilities were limited and inadequate for the relief problems of the Great Depression. Carleton found twenty-eight boards, commissions, and persons engaged in some phase of public welfare in the State.^ He, along with others, recommended their abolition and the creation of a
State Department of Public Welfare which would take over the duties of all of these state agencies.
After the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935i the state and national system of giving assistance was changed from an emergency measure to a permanent program of providing grants to states for welfare purposes. In the 1935 gubernatorial campaign Richard W. Leche, the candidate of the Long faction, pledged to the people of Louisiana the immediate establishment of a State Welfare Bureau to set up old
^R. L. Carleton, Reorganization and Consolidation of State Administration in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, La., 1937), 243-247. See also Appendix V for the list of agencies.
64 65 age pensions throughout the State; for Louisiana gave no financial aid
to the aged. Leche promised that the State would match dollar for
dollar with the Federal Government to give the old people of the State 2 the largest pensions allowed under Federal law. After Leche*s
election the Legislature repealed the anti-federal laws passed by the
Long dominated General Assembly of 1935. and a program of 100 per cent
cooperation with the government at Washington brought the adoption of
most of the social security measures.
Leche carried out his promise and the State Legislature passed
the Welfare Organization Act of 1936. This Act was to be amended many
times in the process of perfecting it. In general, however, the act
provided for a State Department of Public Welfare consisting of a
State Board and a Commissioner, The State Board consisted of five
members appointed by the governor and it selected the Commissioner who
was the executive and administrative officer of the Department and
secretary to the Board. The Department gave assistance to the aged,
dependent children, needy blind, and other unemployables; operated a
child welfare program; acted as the referral agency for the Works
Progress Administration; selected youths for enrollment in the
Civilian Conservation Corps; certified applicants for the National
Youth Administration; and handled distribution of surplus commodities
supplied by the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation. The
Department helped each parish set up a welfare department and as the
The American Progress. February, 1936. 66 agent of the Federal Government helped parishes meet Federal
standards.
In order to finance this welfare program Leche recommended and
got a two per cent "luxury" tax on certain non-essential goods. When
this tax failed to bring in adequate funds the "luxury" tax became a
one per cent sales tax. Thus by 1938 the public welfare program of
the State was secured by the Public Welfare Revenue Act (the sales
tax) , a gasoline tax, and Federal grants-in-aid.
The Welfare Act of 1936 did not abolish the old Board of
Charities and Corrections established in 1904 and by Article VI of
the 1921 Constitution. In November, 1938, the voters repealed the
constitutional provision for the Board and in a subsequent act
transferred the duties of the Board to the Department of Public
Welfare and the Board of Institutions. In addition to this the
Legislature in 1940 made possible the repeal of the maternity pensions
acts and the Children's Aid Board which had never been created.
Another action of the Leche Administration was the closing of
the records of the Welfare Department to public scrutiny. The Long
factions had been accused by the opposition of using welfare rolls
to build and strengthen their own political machines. The Public
Records Act of 1938 was one way of frustrating the opposition.
According to this act, a ll records and applications of both the state
and parish departments were confidential and would be opened only to
duly authorized officers of the State or the United States in
connection with their official duties. 67
When Governor Leche promished during the 1936 campaign to establish a state department of public welfare, he emphasized that it would provide old age pensions for the needy aged throughout the State.
Both Huey Long and Francis Townsend had stressed the importance of aid to the aged in their programs. This appeal to the old came as a result of the fact that the proportion of older people had increased in the general population. For instance, in i860 o n ly 2 .7 per cent of the population was sixty-five or over; by 19^ this figure had risen to
6.3 per cent. In Louisiana 2 .9 per cent of the population was sixty- five or over in 1890; by 19*K) the ratio had risen to ^.1 per cent.
Although the ratio of aged persons in Louisiana was less than that for the nation as a whole, the trend was the same. In the forty-year period from 1890 to 1930 the number o f aged persons in the S ta te increased about twice as fast as the general population. The statistics further show that this increased percentage of aged persons was alm ost e n t ir e ly among the w hite p op u lation . Although the number of aged Negroes gradually increased between 1920 to 1930 from 21,801 to 2^,018, the percentage of those over sixty-five remained the same, 3.1* while the white ratio increased from 3.^ to 3*8 per cent.
This increase in aged persons started a political drive for pensions for the aged, of which the Townsend Plan and the old age provisions of the Share the Wealth movement were the most vigorous.
Old age assistance came to Louisiana with the Social Security Act and the state law which provided that any person of sixty-five or older who was in need and had resided in the State five of the last 68 nine years continuously, had resided in the parish where he applied, and did not have sufficient income to provide a reasonable subsistence,,
was not an innate of a public institution, and had not made an assign
ment of property for the purpose of qualifying for assistance at any
time within the past five years, might be eligible for this type of aid.
The A ct a ls o imposed fa m ily r e s p o n s ib ility upon r e la t iv e s capable o f
taking care of their needy aged. The State reserve the right to
collect the amount granted to an old age pension recipient from his
relatives if it was later discovered that they were capable of caring
for him. 3h July, 1936, there were 9.^12 recipients of old age
assistance with an average monthly grant of $10.5^; but by August,
1938, the number had increased to 26,522 with about the same average
monthly grant.
Besides old age assistance (CAA), the Welfare Actqf 1936
provided for aid to dependent children (ADC) and aid to the needy
blind (ANB) both of which w ill be discussed in subsequent chapters.
Another form of public welfare was categorized as Others' Assistance
which was financed entirely from state funds until 1950. It provided
for the disabled who were not cared for by OAA, ANB, or ADC.
Leche's administration existed in the shadow of Huey Long's
policies, but the Governor's public policy orientation was basically
favorable to business. Leche opposed a b ill to create a commission to
draft an improved workmen's compensation law, he vetoed a maximum
hours b ill for women, he pushed an anti-sitdown strike b ill, and he 69
3 gave new business a ten year tax exemption. By 1939 frequent inquiries by newspapers and Federal authorities into the affairs of state government officials resulted in uncovering one of the biggest political scandals in Louisiana's history. Leche resigned and
Lieutenant Governor Earl K. Long, Huey's brother, acted as governor until the time for new elections. Leche was indicted with a host of others and a ll were given proportionate jail sentences.
The scandals of 19^0 which involved the Governor and the
President of Louisiana State University reached into the Department of Welfare. A. R. Johnson, the first Commissioner of the Department, officially resigned on June 3. 19^*0. A few weeks later he was
indicted by a Federal grand jury on charges of violation of federal law prohibiting solicitation of political funds from employees paid
in fu ll or in part by government funds. He was charged with nine
counts of indirect solicitation by means of subscription to The 4 Progress, the organ of the Long-Leche administration. The reform
Legislature of Governor Sam Jones straightway passed an act
prohibiting political activity by officers and employees of the
Department of Public Welfare. S till this act did not stop the heads
of departments from deducting money from the wages of State employees
for campaign purposes, a practice which became an issue in several
gubernatorial campaigns.
3 Allan P. Sindler, Huey. Long's Louisiana:__S.tpte Politics 1920-1952 (Baltimore, 1956), 122, 130. 4 Baton Rouge State-Times. June 29, 19^0. 70
Reform, Public Welfare, and National Defense
Sam Jones, who came to power in 19*W on a reform platform and a promise of honesty in government, represented the anti-Long conservative faction in Louisiana politics. Sindler says that Jones was no "do-nothing, illiberal governor" for during his administration the state budget was increased and twenty-eight per cent of it was allocated to education, and seventeen per cent to charities and welfare. Old age pensions were increased to $21.00 although Jones had promised $30.00; homestead exemptions were pegged at $2000 and automobile licenses were reduced.'* The Governor also instituted civ il service reform and attempted reorganization of the bureaucracy.
This reform administration was actively engaged in assisting the national war effort. The Federal Government had suggested that the states adopt legislation authorizing the state department of welfare to provide assistance necessitated by war emergencies. An act of the Legislature authorized the Department of Public Welfare to begin two new services: Civilian War Assistance and Federal Ehemy
Alien Assistance. The Department administered Federal funds for the relief of civilians whose needs resulted from enemy attack or
threatened enemy action. Civilian War Assistance specifically
covered those cases needing aid resulting from direct attack by the
enemy, death, disability, internment or other enemy action affecting
the person supporting a family as a civilian worker outside the
^Sindler, Huey Long’s Louisiana. 178, 179. 71
United States or from injury or death of a person supporting a family as a result of his duties as a volunteer defense worker in the Civil
Air Patrol, aircraft warning services, or other war caused situations such as evacuation or repatriation.
The Ehemy Alien Assistance programs, financed by the Federal
Government, was aimed at preventing undue hardship and suffering of families of persons interned in prison camps. The U. S. Department of Justice and the Immigration and Naturalization Service usually referred such cases to the Welfare Department.
The Department was also asked by the local Selective Service
Boards to make investigations regarding the responsibility for dependents of individual registrants. Of 3,440 requests during one period, 3,403 were completed and the information sent to the Selective 6 Service Board. Later Congress passed an act giving family allowances to dependents of men serving in the armed forces. This action caused the number of investigations to decrease. Parish offices were then called upon to explain to dependents of men in service the provisions of the Congressional act and to assist them in making applications for family allowances.
Another way in which the Department aided the war effort was through the medical survey program. Selective Service officials asked the Department to furnish to armed forces induction stations medical,
social, and educational histories of inductees. By June, 1944,
^Seventh Annual Report of the Department of Public Welfare (June, 1944) , 42. 72 medical workers, who had access to both Selective Service and Welfare
Department files, had processed over 5.000 records at the request of various Selective Service Boards.
Public Welfare and the Affluent Society
During the war years it was politics as usual in Louisiana. The singing and recording artist Jinnie H. Davis won the gubernatorial race in 1944 on a platform of good government and no increase in
taxes while his chief opponent of the Long faction called for the return to the "wholesome, liberal government of the late Huey P. Long."
For the next four years the pendulum of political reaction would
continue to swing away from Longism. The scandals revealed in 1940 disgusted the people and they wanted reform, but not an abandonment of
welfare services. Even under the conservative administration of Janes
the assistance caseload rose steadily until it reached a peak of
85,000 at the time of Pearl Harbor. From then on it declined partly
because of war prosperity until it reached a low of 58,000 in 1945.
But after V-E day the number of applications began to rise again, so
that at the end of Davis’s four year term the caseload had increased
to 109,577, almost double that of the previous four years while the
amount spent for public assistance increased from $15,800,000 to
$2 2 ,|90 0, 000.
'^Public welfare, especially old age assistance, was again a
>aign issue in 1947. Sam Jones running for a second term stood on
his record of having almost doubled the amount of 0AA from $11.00 73 to $21.00 during his administration. The other chief contender was
Huey's brother, Earl K. Long, who pledged to pay $50.00 a rxjnth to a ll needy persons over sixty. After eight years of so-called conservative rule the voters returned the Long faction to power, a faction which was not going to let civil service stop them from enjoying the spoils of victory. All powers of the State Civil Service Commission were conferred on the Governor, but a merit system was provided for a ll state agencies such as the Department of Public Welfare which received federal aid; thus the relief program was not to be jeopardized by partisan politics.
Also in 19^8 the Legislature repealed the family responsibility section of the 0AA law; redefined minimum need for each recipient as $50.00 or $90.00 per married couple; and enacted a two per cent sale tax dedicated to public welfare. These changes increased the number o f persons who could q u a lify and provided more funds than needed even for the ever-expanding welfare rolls. In December, 19^8,
OAA caseload rose to 111,398 or 108.8 per cent over December, 19^7, load of 53,339.7
The Public Welfare Department in its publication Louisiana
Welfare asked the question, "Why so much public assistance?" The article attempted to answer by pointing out that compared to the national per capital income of $1323, Louisiana's per capital income of $892 was one of the ten lowest in the nation. The low per capita
7 PAR Reports onJfelfara. No. 3, January, 195^, 3. 74 income was due in part to the State's predominantly agricultural economy. Because agricultural workers were not covered by Old Age and
Survivors insurance they depended on OAA. Another reason was the increase in the number of persons over sixty-five in the State. The first impetus came during the governor's race of 1947 when the promise of more adequate grants to the needy, particularly the aged, became a prominent issue in that campaign. By the end of 1949 more money, the repealing of the law on relative responsibility, the liberalization of such policies as the amount and value of resources of recipients including cash or cash equivalents, insurance, property in addition to home owned and lived in by recipients, and the raising of maximum g grants, a ll contributed to increased rolls.
The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate had another answer to the
Welfare Department's question. It editorialized that welfare workers and law enforcement officers had failed to try to persuade or force
"ungrateful children and neglectful parents" to assume their proper responsibility toward aged parents or helpless children. Children in
comfortable circumstances, according to this newspaper, hastened to unload on the state what they considered to be the burden of providing for their parents, and "unnatural parents" abandoned their children to 9 the s t a t e .
g S. R. Carter, "Why So Much Public Assistance?" Louisiana W elfare. IX (O ctober, 19 4 9 ), 16 -1 7 , 24. 9 Morning Advocate. December 17, 1950. 75
On the other hand, another observer felt that Long's fifty dollar pension, in a state with masses of poor farming, fishing, clerking, and laboring families at the base of the economic pyramid, was unquestionably the most liberal single legislative payment in the Deep
South. It had relieved somewhat the old age hardships of many thousands including Negroes. In spite of high taxes, says this observer, the Long machine, inefficiently and wastefully, gave the average poor citizen a better break than the rival "reform and good government" administrations of Jones and Davis whose chief objectives had been low taxes and minimum social welfare programs. The Long machine represented Southern Populism in its last flowering with the virtues and many of the failures of populism in practice.^"®
During Long's tenure of office other changes were made in the public assistance program of the Welfare Department. The Other
Assistance program financed entirely by state funds was discontinued in 1951 and replaced by two new categories, D isability and General
Assistance. DA was to care for those persons in need between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five who were totally incapacitated. General
Assistance was for those who were temporarily or partially disabled, who did not meet the permanent and total disability requirement, but who could not care for themselves financially because of their
incapacity. In October, 1950, the Department approved 18,811 cases in
the DA category, 8,240 cases in the GA category, and spent $557,959
Irving Ferman, "Louisiana Side-Show," New Republic. CXXVI (January, 21, 1952), 13-1^. 76 and $231,360 from both state and federal funds in each respective category.11
In spite of the affluence of Americans and Louisianans during the 1950's there existed "another Louisiana" of nearly 200,000, one out of every fifteen, whom prosperity had eluded. The campaign of
1951 revolved around what some considered to be the oppressive burden of state taxes. None of the ten candidates for governor spoke for or against opening welfare rolls to the public; but this seemed to have been an unstated issue in the campaign. Robert F. Kennon, the leading aspirant of one anti-Long faction, charged that "the old age rolls had a number of people on them who don't deserve to be while
Some real needy people—widow women with children and the lik e—go 12 without." Thus the candidate was suggesting, along with others calling for opening the rolls, that fraud might exist on the welfare rolls closed to public scrutiny. Moreover, the anti-Long Times-
Picayune in an editorial entitled "Welfare Secrecy" took a stand for a llo w in g the names o f th ose on w elfa re to be exposed to pu blic view; for the taxpayer had a right to know how over $100,000,000 was being expended. Others argued that the open rolls would save the taxpayers millions of dollars by shaving off chiselers, swindlers, and the general run of the m ill parasites.
11Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare Annual Report. 1950-51, 1-7. 12 New Orleans Times-Picayune. December 10, 1951. 77
On the other hand, social workers argued that needy persons might be subject to malicious gossip or held up to public scorn if their names were posted. Consequently, the Louisiana Conference of Social
Workers in its 1952 annual meeting voted a resounding NO to opening 13 welfare rolls to public inspection.
By July, 1952, Governor Kennon had signed a b ill which provided that a list of welfare recipients be available for public inspection, showing names, category, and amounts received with the exception of foster care children and those placed for adoption.* The rolls were to be opened on January 1, 1953- Prior to that time, of 168,000 welfare recipients 2,683 persons left the rolls in October, 1952; most of them through death, migration to another state, or change in
economic circumstances neking them ineligible. To avoid publicity fifty-eight left the rolls in October, ten in August, and eleven in
September. Of the seventy-nine who asked to be removed, sixty-three 14 were OAA recipients, eleven ADC, and five DA.
Six months after the opening of the rolls less than 100 taxpayers
bothered to take a look; some parishes had no callers. Others witnessed a brief flurry of inspectors when the veil of secrecy was
first lifted, but curiosity soon waned into apathy.^ Opening the
13 Baton Rouge Moming-Advocate. April 6, 1952, and State-Times. April 7, 1952. 14 State-Times. November 25, 1952.
♦The Jermer Amendment o f 1951 perm itted s ta te s to make p u b lic names on its welfare rolls. Until 1951 the welfare rolls were confidential under federal law.
^State-Times. July 4, 1953. 78 rolls had little or no effect on the welfare program, for it neither caused abuse to recipients nor brought about great savings to the
S ta te .
Many legislators were s till disturbed about the large number on
welfare. So on June 2, 1952, the General Assembly asked the Public
Affairs Research Council (PAR), a private independent agency, to make
a fu ll impartial, independent study and survey of welfare needs,
operations, and administration in Louisiana at PAR'S own expense.
Two years later this agency issued its findings in a series of
pamphlets entitled PAR Reports on Welfare.
PAR found that in 1953 public welfare cost the taxpayers of
Louisiana $110,000,000, twenty-nine per cent of a ll state expenditures.
More than eight per cent of the people in the state were receiving
public assistance, the highest rate in the nation and more than
double the national average of three per cent. Every parish in
Louisiana had more than twice the national rate of OAA recipients, and
the State ranked third in the nation in ADC with a recipient rate of
fifty-five out of every thousand which was alncst double the national
rate of thirty per thousand. Louisiana was fortieth in per capita
income, yet in mid-1953 she paid higher average OAA grants than did
twenty-five other states.^ Maximum old age grants of $1080 for a
couple were higher in Louisiana for 19^+9 than the income of 236,000
^See also U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Social Security Bulletin. 1953. passim. 7 9 families of one or more persons reporting earnings of $1000 a year or l e s s .
PAR suggested that the State re-adopt a relative responsibility law for its public assistance program as an immediate step to cut welfare rolls. But it realized that the long range problem of dependency had to be attacked in many ways: illiteracy combatted, thus raising the educational level of the State; industrial activity stimulated so as to increase the economic opportunity for all
Louisiana citizens; and health conditions improved. All of this could be achieved through the arousal and enlightenment of the taxpayer to the plight of his dependent fellow citizen.
Between 1951 and 1957. the number of old age dependents steadily declined across the nation, reaching an a ll time low for the decade in 1957* But unlike the rest of the nation, the number in Louisiana steadily increased. When Long was reelected governor in 1956, his opponents pointed out that every time he assumed office the number of indigent aged, blind, and sick soared. By 1957, one year after
Long's return to office, old age assistance had reached an a ll time high for the decade. Furthermore, the average national payment a month was $59.19 as opposed to Louisiana's average of $63.00 a 17 month.
As an answer to the critics of Louisiana's welfare program, the
Department entitled its twentieth annual report, Spotlight on Causes.
^Stan Opotowsky, The Longs of Louisiana (New York, i960) , l6 l. See also State-Times. October 24, 1952. 80
The report attempted to answer the question: Why in these prosperous times must so treny depend upon their fellow citizens for support?
First, the report pointed out that the largest number of welfare recipients were the 125,000 over sixty-five who had little or no savings or other means of support. The second largest group was the
66,395 children representing 21,7^1 fam ilies who received ADC because they were deprived of parental support and were without sufficient income or resources to meet their needs. The poverty of welfare recipients was due to the extremely low incomes many of the aged had received all of their lives, their limited education, lack of work skills and patterns of living which had existed for generations. All of these had created attitudes and ways of living which could not be changed overnight.
In general, as Michael Harrington points out, the welfare state has been most responsive to the strong and the organized who could use pressure on lawmakers to meet their demands.^ The poorest and weakest had few voices to speak in their behalf in the halls of state and national assemblies. Persistent low wages in unskilled occupations or work as farm laborers remained into old age and became the basis for a structure of misery and loneliness. Thus in a midst of plenty
lSHilda C. Sims and Ludwig Guckenheimer, "Twenty Years of Public Welfare in Louisiana," Louisiana Welfare. XVI (October, 1956), 5 -2 4 . 19 Michael Harrington, The Other America; Poverty in the United S ta te s (New York, 1962) , 106. 81
Louisiana like the rest of America found its poor caught in a vicious circle of poverty and its relief rolls continuing to mount. CHAPTER V
PUBLIC WELFARE AND CHILDREN'S AID FROGRAMS
Mothers' Pensions
Perhaps one of the most controversial of the welfare programs has been that of public aid to children. As previously stated, the movement for mothers' pensions received its first inspiration from the White House Conference on Child Welfare of 1909. In the National
Conference of Charities and Corrections of 1912 arguments were heard for and against this form of public assistance. The arguments opposed to mothers' pensions centered around the fam iliar criticisns of public outdoor relief: that it was degrading to the recipient, that it would not be handled well by the state, and that widows given the pensions would begin to think of it as a right. Other opponents have claimed that aid to mothers fostered illegitimacy and encouraged them not to seek support from erring fathers.
Arguments for mothers' aid dealt chiefly on the idea that the state had a duty to families in need which could only be met by providing an adequate and reliable income to insure the maintenance of the home. Others contended that child labor laws reduced the potential income from children, therefore additional aid was needed.
On the other hand, the economy minded argued that home care through
82 mothers' pensions would be cheaper than institutional care.1
Nevertheless by 1920 at least twenty-six states were giving some type
of public assistance in the form of mothers' pensions.
In Louisiana, as in many other states, the League of Women Voters led the fight for public assistance to widows with children and mothers whose husbands were incapacitated. Prior to 1928 efforts to secure adequate and functioning mothers' pension law in Louisiana were associated with one person, Mrs. Lydia W ickliff Holmes, who for many
years headed the Louisiana League of Women Voters. Mrs. Holmes stated
publicly in 1914 that she was going to fight for two things in the way
of public welfare: mothers' pensions and nitrate of silver for the 2 eyes of newborn babies. For the next ten years she fought untiringly
for legislation and funds to provide mothers with dependent children
with pensions.
In July, 1917, State Senator Stafford introduced a resolution in
the Legislature requesting that a committee be appointed to investigate
laws prevailing in other states concerning pensions for widows and
minor children. He argued that such a law would relieve taxpayers of
a burden because children could be supported at home at less expense
than in asylums. He further stated that children reared in asylums
were not capable of being heads of families and often failed as
•^Proceedings. 1912, 468-498.
Dinwiddie, "A History of Mothers' Pensions in Louisiana, 11 unpublished Master's thesis, Tulane University, 1935, 25. 84
3 parents. A committee was formed to make the investigations and the
next year it brought in a bill which failed to pass.
During 1919 and 1920 both proponents and opponents were actively
concerned about the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution. This being a topic of greater public
interest, the newspapers and therefore the public, to some extent,
overlooked the efforts to secure mothers' pensions. After the passage
of the Amendment the League was able to give fu ll time to the passage
of a b ill with adequate pension funds. It had the backing of most of
the charity organizations in New Orleans and throughout the State such
as the Charity Organization Society, the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children, the Board of Commissioners of Prisons and Asylums,
and Judge Andrew H. Wilson of the Juvenile Court, the agency which in
many states administered such funds.
The 1920 Legislature finally passed Act 209 which provided
mothers' pensions to be administered by the juvenile courts and stated
that each parish "shall make appropriations therefor." The Act
required a mother seeking aid to file an application in the court
stating that her husband was dead, permanently incapacitated for work,
or imprisoned. In order to receive aid the applicant had to be a
mother of a child under sixteen years of age and must have resided for
one year in the parish in which the application was made. The law
also required that the applicant be investigated by three residents of
3 New Orleans Times-Picayune. July 12, 1917. 8 5 her local ward, including a police juror or probation officer of the
court who visited the residency of the applicant and inquired into
all of the facts. The investigation was put into writing with the
recoinmendations of the commission and returned to the court. The
final decision as to whether the mother was to be granted aid was to
be made by the judge of the court in which the application was filed.
The judge had to determine further whether it was best for the child
to remain at home with the mother, whether the mother was physically,
mentally, and morally fit to care for a child, and whether cash relief
was a necessity.
If the application was favorably received, the judge could then
irfike an order to pay the mother not more than $15.00 per month for one
child and 10.00 $ for all other children under sixteen up to50.00 $ p er
month. When the child became sixteen, relief for him ceased unless
he was ill or incapacitated for work, in which case the mother could
receive funds for his care until he was eighteen years of age. No
funds were appropriated to carry out this Act; nevertheless, it was
the first step in a long struggle for aid to mothers with dependent
c h ild re n .
Supporters of this aid continued to fight for both State and
parish appropriations. In June, 1921, the Charity Organization
Society of New Orleans, which was just about to close down for lack of
funds, handled among its many cases fifteen widows entitled to aid
from the city under the mothers1 pension law. The Society stated that
it would try to help sim ilar cases until appropriations were made under the provisions of the law. During July and August, 1921, New
Orleans made available $5000 to be administered by the Juvenile
Court for assistance to mothers and their children. After this money was expended, proponents asked the city commissioners to set aside additional funds to continue the program. The commissioners refused until such time that they might receive help from the State. No
Negro women received pensions although the law itself contained no ra c ia lly d is c rim inatory pr ovis ions. ^
Since the constitutionality of the pension law was questioned by certain legal advisors of New Orleans, a provision for mothers' pensions was inserted in the new constitution of 1921. Article XVIII authorized mothers' pensions as determined by the Legislature. Three years later the Legislature considered a b ill to carry Article XVHI into effect, but final action upon the measure was indefinitely postponed. In the meantime, proponents and opponents continued to argue their case before the public.
Speaking in behalf of such aid, Judge Wilson of the Juvenile
Court which administered the New Orleans' pension fund said: "Putting the orphan asylum out of business is the chief function of mother's pension laws .... Our institutions here have given splendid and valuable service, but if we had had an adequate mothers' pension ten
4 Times-Picayune. June6 ,l 1921.
^Dinwiddie, "A History of Mothers' Pensions," 5^. »• 6 years ago, there would now be no need for them. On the other hand, opponents of this aid to mothers and children such as Mrs. R. G.
Pleasant, wife of a former governor of the State, and Miss JeanGordon, both leaders in the Women's Conservative League, referred to mothers' pensions as demoralizing and socialistic and leading "to the destruc- 7 tion of home, society, and government." The opposition also used the
Negro question as a powerful weapon in defeating necessary legislation.
The people of Louisiana were advised that Negro women would have children just to receive the pension. Miss Gordon, allegedly, in order to antagonize Catholics advocated teaching birth control to the poor 8 and sterilizing the feebleminded. In 1923 when gubernatorial candidate Huey Long was asked about his attitude toward aid to mothers with dependent children, he replied evasively: "I have always fought for the protection of the working girl and all other legislation to g aid the indigent."
Despite repeated failures the advocates of aid to mothers continued to fight for a workable bill. Miss Eva Smill of the Family
Service Society, formerly the Charity Organization Society, the private agency which had carried much of the burden which the State refused to carry, was able to interest the American Legion in sponsoring
New Orleans Times-Picayune. June1 9 , 1 9 2 1 . 7 Quoted by Dinwiddie, "A History of Mothers' Pensions," 57. 8 Times-Picavune. April23, 1930. Q Dinwiddie, "A H isto ry o f Mothers' Pensions," 66. 88 a state-wide committee endorsing mothers' pensions. In 1928 the efforts of these supporters resulted in amendments to the1920 b i l l , since this b ill was still in effect, which changed the word shall to may, causing the granting of aid to be permissive by local authorities
rather than mandatory. Another act in 1930 stated that funds were to be administered by the Children's Aid Board and Parish Boards of
Trustees rather than the juvenile courts or district courts. Both
State and parishes were to furnish the needed funds.
It was regrettable that the mothers' pension law remained
practically a dead letter, functioning only during the early depression
years on a very inadequate basis. In 1929 nine parishes spent $19,400
f o r th i s purpose.In 1934 eighty families in the State received
about $9,312 for the year. However, by 1935 through limited taxation
on the part of New Orleans and some of the other parishes $206,843 was
spent on 1,485 cases throughout the State. S till there was no state
wide program for mothers' pensions until the following year when the
legislature provided ADC under a Social Security act.
Aid to Dependent Children under Social Security
The Aid to Dependent Children or as presently called the Aid to
Families of Dependent Children program differed from its predecessor,
mothers' pensions, in several ways: first,-ADC was a state-wide
program administered by the State; second, it was financed by both the
10Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana. 31. 8 9
State and Federal Governments; and third, both Negroes and whites participated in the program. Loula Dunn, Director of the American
Public Welfare Association said: "The Aid to Dependent Children
program is one of the great Social achievements of our time. It is
the means of enabling many families to remain together during times of
stress and for protecting their children from the hazards of want and
separation. It also calls attention to some of our most troublesome
social problems, and reminds us that much remains to be done in our
efforts to alleviate them.Of c o u rs e , th e re a re many who d i f f e r
with Miss Dunn, for they are to this day spending time and money in an
attempt to curtail this program, time and money that might be spent in
calling attention to the social problems which make this form of public
assistance necessary.
Title IV of the 1935 Social Security Act which vested in the
Social Security Board the administration of federal grants to states,
inaugurated assistance to dependent children on a uniform basis. In
compliance with this national law Louisiana began its program with
legislation of 1936 and 1938. In general, the law required that a
child who received this aid be in need because of the loss of parental
support or care, by death, absence from the home or serious or physical
illness of a parent. Continued absence from the home could be due to
desertion, separation, or confinement in an institution.
"^Kathryn D. Goodwin, Peter Kasius, Justine Fix;el, and Kermit T. Wilt e, ADC: Problem and Promise (Chicago, I960), Preface. 90
The absent parent was expected to support his child; therefore, no application could be approved by the Department until the mother of the child had exhausted all legal remedies compelling support by the absent father. Assistance was given only to children under sixteen years of age, or under eighteen if they regularly attended school, who had lived in the State for at least one year preceding the application. The parish department of public welfare determined the eligibility of its applicants by making an investigation including a visit to the home. If the applicant was eligible, the parish department granted such aid as it considered necessary to support the child in a manner compatible with decency and good health.
In 1937 there were 6,920 receipients of ADC grants with 20,192 children, two-thirds of whom were white and one-third Negro. The average family received20.18 $ per month or $7*18 per child.
The years following the passage of the Public Welfare Act of 1936
produced attempts to solidify a welfare program. Working with the
Federal Bureau of Public Assistance and the State Legislature, the
Department of Public Welfare aimed at extending coverage and identifying and overcoming impediments to sound adm inistration. Subsequent amendments to the original act of1936 attempted to accomplish these aims. The decades of the forties and fifties saw the welfare program
in general and ADC in particular attacked nation-wide, especially in
the rural South. These attacks, precipitated partly by inflation and
the soaring costs of expanded welfare coverage, were diverse, often
blatant, sometimes subtle. At the same time graduation of orphans and 91 widows to OASDI meant that Negro children had become increasingly
prominent on welfare rolls. One critic claimed that Negro women were
able but unwilling to work. In answer to this criticism the Department
quoted its requirement that mothers receiving assistance register with
the Louisiana State Employment Service and accept work if their
children could be cared for adequately; otherwise assistance was
denied. During previous harvest seasons the Department had encouraged
welfare clients to accept part-time or temporary employment and
suspended grants to those families which could entirely support them
selves during harvest seasons. However, grants were to be immediately
resumed after such employment terminated.
In some instances assistance was continued where earnings were
inadequate. Thirty-two parishes reported that 575 persons on relief
obtained temporary work during the fall harvest months of 19^3. One
Negro widow with four children, ages one to eight, was employed as a
rice thresher for $1.75 a day. She was able to make enough money to
buy a set of dentures, but little else. A 1950 study made by the
Department showed that ten per cent of white and twenty-five per cent
of Negro mothers worked fu ll or part-time.
Another critic, a police juror, told the director of the Caddo
Parish Department of Public Welfare that Negro women who worked for
him in the country had migrated to the city in order to be placed on
relief rolls. He suggested that these women be sent back to the 12 country to work on the farms. But the State Department in its 1950
l2The Shreveport Times. September 1^ , 19^5. 9 2 study found no indication of families moving to urban areas for the purpose of seeking assistance. While the State Department’s findings may be true, it is commonly known that over the past twenty-five years more than four million Negroes have left the rural South and have moved to southern or northern urban communities. In many instances these unskilled, illiterate people have found it necessary to apply for relief in order to survive in an alien environment. Both
Southerners and Northerners have reacted to this migration. Southerners resent the loss of cheap farm labor and Northerners fear social and economic change: higher taxes to support the dependent and lowered 11± property values.
S till other critics contended that absent fathers were not being forced to support their children and that some mothers refused support from their husbands, preferring the regularity and exclusive control of assistance grants to the irregularity of the husband's support.
Between 19^0 and 1950 the existence of responsible relatives was not an eligibility factor in ADC. In 1950 Louisiana revived its 1902 old
Non-support Law which stated that it was the duty of parents to support their minor children, nede desertion a misdemeanor, and incorporated this law as a requirement for eligibility for ADC assistance. Now under the law the applicant went to the appropriate court official and filed non-support charges against the father. Only if the court did not accept the charge and if it felt that all legal
14 / Kenneth B. Clark, Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power (New York, 1967), *»8. 93 remedies had been exhausted, was the mother eligible for welfare assistance. Prior to the passage of this law only four per cent of absent fathers were contributing to their families. In 1951 the percentage was increased to twenty-one per cent. In 1952 the law authorized the courts to place absent fathers, where found, on probation under the supervision of probation officers of the welfare department. The very next year over 565 offenders in twenty-two parishes were under supervision of the Division of Probation and
P a ro le .
The races differed sharply with regard to reasons for deprivation of father's support. More than two-thirds of the Negro families, but only one-third of the white families, were deprived of father's support because of their continued absence from the home. One-half of the white and one-fifth of Negro families were on relief because the father was incapacitated while 15.3 per cent of the white and10.8 per cent of the Negro families were dependent because of the death of the father.
The high percentage of Negro families deprived of fathers'
support leads one to the main criticism of the ADC program: ADC
fosters illegitim acy. According to a report from the Bureau of Public
Assistance after World War II, the Negro population of the United
States increased at a greater rate than the white. The divorce and
illegitimacy rates rose to all-time peaks. War casualties added to
the number of half-orphans and orphans. The proportion of Negro adults
who in 19^7 were reported as married but living apart from their spouses 94
TABLE 2
ADC CASELOADS IN LOUISIANA IN JANUARY OF EACH YEAR
Year Families Children
1938 8,124 23,536
1940 12,158 3 ^,351
1942 15,634 47,895
1944 10,562 26,961
1946 9,051 23,310
1948 13,441 34,875
1950 29,676 76,316
1952 21,833 59,021
1954 17,933 50,583
1956 19,138 57,149
1958 23,586 72,833
I960 24,396 77,439
1962 16,955 73,510
1964 23,017 75,841
1966 24,342 81,394
1968 28,000 •• 9 5 was about three times the proportion of white adults. The illegitim acy rate for Negro women was nine times the rate of white women in 19^0 and 19^7 although the seven year increase in the rate 15 was proportionally higher for white than nonwhite. ^ For the nation as a whole the white illegitimacy rate rose fifty-five percent while the Negro rate rose about forty per cent. The increase in the case of whites was from 2.0 per cent to 3 .1 per cent of all births and for
Negroes from l 6 .8 per cent to 23.6 per cent. Ginsburg and Lewis point out that there has been a tendency for the Negro illegitimacy rate to be higher in northern urban centers than the estimated percentage for the entire country including the South.
Cn the other hand, PAP. found that there had been no relative increase in the number of illegitim ate births as compared with total birth rate in Louisiana since 1920. In 195^ the illegitimacy ratio stood at 82.6 per thousand for Louisiana which ranked fourteenth in the nation. Nevertheless the percentage of ADC cases due to abandonment by a parent, usually the father, rose sharply from26.0 per cent in
October, 19^2 to a high of 59.6 per cent in August, 1952 and stood at
55-1 per cent in November, 1953. The decrease after 1952 was partially due to the enforcement of the non-support law. Despite these figures seventy-five percent of the children receiving public aid were
15 Elizabeth Ailing and Agnes Leisy, Characteristics of Families Receiving ADC.. June. 1948. Public Assistance Report Nc. 17 (Washington, D. C., 1950), 2.
^Hylan Lewis, "The Changing Negro Family," The Nation's Children. Eli Ginsberg, ed. (New York, I960), 127. 96 legitim ate and 7*5 per cent of those classified as illegitim ate were born to parents living in stable non-legal unions. If, as in many states, these unions were recognized as common law marriages, 82.5 per cent of the children on ADC rolls would be classified as being legitim ate. According to the Department of Welfare, only17,013 of the 100,000 illegitim ate children under 18 years of age in Louisiana were receiving ADC assistance. If, as is sometimes claimed, ADC caused and fostered illegitim acy, the Department asked where can the 17 blame be placed for the 83,000 not on public relief?
In 1937 Negroes made up less than thirty per cent of the ADC caseload in the United States and a little more than thirty per cent in Louisiana. By 1959 Negroes represented only forty per cent in the national ADC caseload, but 72.1 per cent in louisiana. This over representation of Negro families on ADC rolls has had its political impact on louisiana, other Southern states, and northern communities with large Negro concentrations. The political reaction to the problem of illegitimacy and especially Negro illegitimacy on relief rolls in I960 was to jeopardize momentarily the ADC program in
Louisiana with the threat of the withdrawal of Federal relief funds from the State.
1720th Annual Report of the Department of Public. Vie If are. 1956- JSZ. 18, 19. 97
The Suitable Home Controversy of i960
Two investigations in1956 and 1957 and the political campaign of 1959 preceded the ADC Crisis of I960. In the first investigation the Joint Committee of the Police Jury Association and the
Department of Public Welfare studied the problem of illegitim acy and prepared recommendations to the 1958 annual meeting of the Police
Jury Association. After the investigation the Joint Committee made the following suggestions. First, the Committee requested that the
Department of Welfare revise its policies and procedures designed to strengthen family life. It recommended that the State Legislature set up adequate procedures for proving paternity in cases of illegitim ate children, that the courts and the district attorney enforce criminal neglect of family laws, and that the police juries throughout the
State develop wholesome recreational facilities for such families.
Second, the Joint Committee suggested that it encourage the Department of Public Welfare to facilitate the development of maternity homes.
The second investigation preceding the960 i ADC c r i s i s was conducted by a special Joint Committee of the legislature which several meetings in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Shreveport, and Nonroe from December, 1956, to June, 1957. The Committee's principle
purpose was to study and investigate the problem of illegitim acy in
the State and to recommend legislation that would be "consistent with
the best interests and welfare of these unfortunate children." The
meetings were well attended by members of the legislature, court 98 officials, school officials, ministers, parish welfare board members, police jurors, sheriffs, district attorneys, and other interested persons. Some of these public-minded individuals were asked to express their opinions and convictions about public assistance to
illegitim ate children. Some expressions were as follows:
. . . the wages of sin is death and I thought that applied to sinners .... It seems like the wages of sin is death but it is death to the taxpayers.
I wonder if it would not be advisable for the second offense if she is to continue receiving assistance that she must consent to have an operation making it impossible for her to go on having other children like t h a t .
In the dependent children category isn't it a fact you have a group of married people that are so trifling and sorry that they desert their children?-*-®
Prior to the hearing at Monroe on February 5» 1957» a local newspaper published the alleged number of illegitim ate children that had been bom at the Monroe Charity Hospital the previous year. The newspaper also stated that soon after the birth of these children ninety-eight per cent were supported by public assistance grants.
The Department of Public Welfare, disturbed by this report, made a
study and found that the parish office had records on only ninety-four
of these children; forty-four had received public assistance. Of
these forty-four children thirty-nine were legitimate and only
fourteen illegitim ate. Furthermore, of the total number bom at the
hospital, 445 or seventy-four per cent were legitimate and156 o r 2 5 .9
n ft 0. C. S ills, "Public Expresses Opinions and Convictions About Aid to Dependent Children as a Guide to Legislative Committee," Louisiana Welfare (April, 1958) , 11, 12, 13. 99 per cent were illegitim ate. This report, perhaps, came too late to have any influence on those who spoke before the committee. But the newspaper account does show to what length the opposition would go to help defeat this type of public assistance.
The Joint Legislative Committee made its report to the
Legislature on June 5. 1958. The report stated that the Committee had considered three possible solutions to the problem of illegitimacy: sterilization, removal of the children from the mother, and imposition of more effective sanctions to cepe with the problem of the absent father. The Committee discarded sterilization as a solution for it felt that sterilization was "intrinsically evil, immoral and violative of all concepts of Christianity." When the Committee investigated the cost of removing the child from its mother, it found that institutional care cost 95.00$ a month per child, foster home care cost about $50.00 plus clothing while ADC for one child and mother cost only $64.00 and part of that was paid by the Federal Government.
The Committee discovered another significant fact in its investigation: there was always ample opportunity for white women to release their children for adoption but practically no opportunity for Negro women since colored families had little desire to adopt a child.
After questioning many people including doctors, ministers, and psychiatrists on the problem of the unwed mother, the Committee thought
it had discovered at least four causes of illegitimacy: inadequate environment, improper or poor education, perfunctory early parental
guidance, and mental health deficiency. Because mother care was 100 cheaper, the Committee recommended that the child stay in the home and receive some "vestiges of mother care" rather than go to a foster home. At that time the amount of assistance ran from $64.00 for a mother and one child to a maximum of $l40.00 for a mother and five or more children. The Committee then concluded that illegitim acy cannot be profitable for the reason that the scale was so low as to provide hardly a bare subsistence level of living.
Finally the Committee recommended the passage of two bills. The first gave all judgments of alimony in favor of the mother and her minor children preference and priority over other judgment creditors to whom the father might be indebted, So that the welfare of the child would come before his father's creditors. This b ill passed, but the second did not. It would have given authority to the Department of
Welfare, after an illegitim ate child had been certified for assistance,
to i n s t i t u t e in i t s own name p a te r n ity pro ceed in g s fo r th e purpose o f establishing fatherhood. It was hoped that this legislation would have legitimated an otherwise illegitim ate child, established responsi
bility for care by the father, and reduced in some degree the number
of applicants for this type of assistance.
The recommendations and sober opinions expressed by the two
committees were to be lost and completely ignored by the campaign
oratory of the fall of 1959* By that time Federal Judge J. Skelly
Wright had ordered the Orleans Parish School Board to submit a plan
for the admission of Negroes to its all white schools by March, I960.
To many Southerners integration of the schools meant bastardization 101 and mongrelization of the -white race, and to them the high illegitim acy rate sustained by welfare payments among Negroes merely proved that they were immoral and promiscuous in their behavior.
Thus both segregation and welfare became the top issues of the
1959 gubernatorial campaign. The three leading candidates, out of slate of eleven, were Mayor delesseps ("Chep") Morrison of New
Orleans, the progressive conservative; State Senator William Rainach, the ardent segregationalist; and former governor and hill-billy singer Jimmie H. Davis, the conservative. All of the candidates promised to keep the schools segregated. On the problem of welfare and ADC Morrison said he would take steps to get rid of the
"illegitimacy racket" and to lim it parents of illegitim ate children to a maximum of $50.00 per month. The savings from this would be put into a cost of living adjustment for the OAA program. Rainach said he would support legislation similar to a M ississippi law which stipulated that parents of more than one illegitim ate child were automaticallycu t off welfare rolls as unfit parents. Ex-Governor
Davis objected to "unwed wonen using our charity hospitals as baby hatcheries" in order to receive additional doles from the welfare program . 19
Earlier in 1959 the Governor of louisiana, Earl K. long, had been accused of being insane. He first went to a Texas sanitarium, then a New Orleans private hospital, and finally to the Southeast louisiana State Hospital at Mandeville. Against the advice of his
19 Morning Advocate. November 2, 1959. 102 doctors Long left these institutions and later attempted to run for
Governor to succeed himself. Unable to maneuver this extra-legal feat, he ran for Lieutenant Governor on a ticket with James A. Noe who had served as Lt. Governor under Leche. One advertisement publicizing the
Noe-Long ticket said that Louisiana had had less racial trouble than any other state in the South under the long administration. Yet, the
Noe and Long ticket stood 100$ for segregation and the continuance of every southern principle and custom. But it would not foster or incite racial or religious unrest. 20
The second prinary was a battle between Davis and Morrison.
"Uncle Earl" lost his bid to maneuver somehow to succeed himself.
Davis went on to win the second primary and the general election.in spite of the fact that he had run second to Morrison in the first primary. Morrison had received the so-called Negro bloc vote in the first primary, and this proved to be fatal to him, as for any southern white politician.
Speaking to the State Legislature 0n May16 , I960, Governor Davis s a id :
Another phase of our welfare program that could stand review is the existing policy regarding public assistance to unwed mothers who have proved by their past conduct that they engage in the business of illegitimacy in the same way that a cattle man raises beef.
The basic social unit of our civilization is the family. Anything that weakens this concept attacks the basic foundation of our entire society. Those who continue to bring illegitim ate children into this world are
2o A. J. Liebling, The Earl of Louisiana (London, 1962) 176, . 103
risking a mockery of the institution of marriage. They should not be rewarded nor should they have the implied endorsement of our state in this sordid business.
I hope this body w ill consider seriously the legislation we are offering to stop this practice. We must have some provision in our laws to reward those who have worked and have led moral and upright lives. We cannot keep f ith with these people by subsidizing illegitim acy.
The legislature went to work immediately and passed what one observer
called a "discrimination package." One law made a common law marriage a crime, while another made conceiving and giving birth to two or 22 mere illegitimate children a crime. A third bill which failed to pass the House would have prohibited charity hospitals from giving 23 prenatal or delivery care to mothers of illegitimate children. This
package also included a series of laws which attempted to keep the schools segregated. But the most important of all these laws passed by the legislature in 960 i was the one which stated that in no
instance would assistance be given to any person who was living with his mother if the mother had had an illegitim ate child after a check
had been received from the Welfare Department unless and until proof
satisfactory to the parish board of welfare had been presented showing
that the mother had ceased illic it relationships and was maintaining 24 a suitable home for her children, Louisiana joined six other states:
2l 0fficial Journal of the House ofRepresentatives. (May 16, i 960) , 55. 22 Louisiana Acts of i960. No. 73 and No. 75.
^ Official Journal of the House (i960) , 17^. 2h Louisiana Acts of I960. No. 306 and No. 251. Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, M ississippi, Texas, and Virginia which for some time had made assistance available only to children who were living with parents in a suitable home. On July8 the Attorney-
General* s office ruled that this new legislation pertaining to unwed mothers should be applied retroactively. Later that month the
Attorney-General, Jack Gremillion, said, "I never made any ruling, I never issued an opinion on whether the law was to be retroactive." He also stated before a House Committee that he had explained the b ill and stated as its purpose "to straighten out free love, to reduce the 25 illegitimacy rate, and to stop what had gotten to be a racket." The racket was mothers' continuing to have illegitim ate children so that the wTelfare department would support them and they would not have to work. But regardless of the Attorney-General's intent, the Department of Public Welfare believed the lav; was retroactive and acted accordingly.
Almost immediately the Department notified 5991 ADC recipients, in c lu d in g22,501 children, that their cases would be closed on
August 1, i960, on the basis of the suitable home policy. Despite large-scale formal and informal exclusion of Negro and illegitim ate
children in prior years in the South and elsewhere, it was not until
Louisiana implemented its new suitable home policy and simultaneously
rejected about 6000 mothers and 22,500 children that national and
international attention was directed toth e discriminatory impact of
2^State-Times. July29 , i 960. 105 this type of provision; for among those affected by this new policy,
Negroes represented over ninety per cent.
In New Orleans alone 5,000 children were cut off from their source of existence. When it became evident that no agency in the city was prepared to deal with this crisis, the Urban league of
Greater New Orleans felt impelled to act. The Urban league's initial act was to call together responsible leaders in the Negro churches. A sub-committee of ministers, along with the executive director of the league, J. Harvey Kerns, was appointed to confer with
Mayor deLesseps Morrison in an effort to obtain an emergency appropriation from the city to help relieve the situation. Mayor
Morrison expressed his concern, but informed the committee that there were no city funds available for such a crisis. Notwithstanding, he made available $^K)00 to the New Orleans Department of Welfare for the purpose of providing aid. The Urban League went on to enlist the support of the entire community as well as the National Urban League of New York City. On September 6, the National Urban League, as an aid to the New Orleans Community Committee's efforts, launched a nation-wide appeal, the "Feed the Babies Project." Responding to this appeal, funds, food and clothing were sent to New Orleans in increasing amounts. Ancng the first respondents was a group of fifteen women of the Newcastle-on-Tynes, England city council who started a movement to bring the neglected children of New Orleans to
J. Harvey Kerns, ed., "The M obilization of Community Resources to Aid 5000 Children Deprived of ADC Benefits in New Orleans, L o u is ia n a ," (Mimeo) , (New O rlean s, 960 i ) , 2. 106
Great Britain. They also started a drive to send food, clothing, and 27 money to the children. On September 13 a twenty-three pound shipment of baby food for the children of New Orleans arrived by air.
Other contributions came from other parts of England, -Ireland,
Canada, twenty-one states of the United States, and the D istrict of
Columbia. Through a ll of these efforts nearly $33,000 plus food and clothing were raised for the project.
In the meantime the National Urban League requested Arthur
Flemming, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to take some action in the crisis since the Federal Government appropriated seventy-five per cent of the funds. Flemming promised an "investigation and quick action." When the investigation did not materialize, the
National. Urban league requested Flemming to meet with a committee of
Urban League officials. Flemming complied and met with several Urban league leaders who rrede an appeal for intervention in Louisiana by the
Social Security Commissioner. A few days later a group of U. S,
investigators was sent to Louisiana to make an on-the-spot assessment 2R of the facts in the controversy.
On November 2, I960, the Commissioner of Social Security, W. L.
K itchell, called a hearing in Washington to determine whether further
federal grants could be made to the State for the operation of its ADC
^ State-Times. September 13, I960.
28See U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, "Review of Practice under the Suitability of Home Policy in Aid to Dependent Children in Louisiana," June-October, I960, 2-127. 107 program. At subsequent hearings, the Child Welfare League of America appeared as amicus curiae, the National Urban League and the
American Civil Liberties Union presented memoranda, and the Family
Service Association of America submitted a brief. At the hearings these organizations questioned the constitutionality of the Louisiana law as a denial of equal protection of the law (by setting up unreasonable classifications) and as a denial of due process (by 29 failure to provide full investigation and fair hearings) . None of the agencies wanted to appear to condone sin, but all agreed that the Social Security Act intended to provide aid for needy persons not to police morality.
Later Commissioner M itchell stated that unless Louisiana complied with the Federal regulation that opportunity for a fair hearing be provided for those whose claim for ADC had been withheld, Federal subsidy might be withheld. He further stated that the State had a free choice to comply or not to comply.-'® The State Department of
Public Welfare responding to the statement of the Commissioner on
November 23, assured him that a written notice of the right to appeal and to a hearing was being sent to all cases suspended, pending action by the parish welfare board to determine suitability of the home.-^1
^"Suitable Home Requirements," Social Service Review. XXXV (June, 1961), 205.
^ Kearns, "The M obilization of Community Resources,"6.
3lAnmigLL R em rt.of the. Department of .Public W elfare. 1960- 61. 9. 108
The Department also assured the Commissioner that its staff would review parish board decisions which resulted in closing cases.
The change in policy on the part of the Department of Welfare resulted in many families being reinstated. Of the 6,281 cases that had been closed prior to December 31. I960, 1,472 had not reapplied;
2,873 had reapplied and had been approved; 1,481 had been rejected; 32 and 475 applications were pending. Some applicants became eligible because they married, others improved their behavior, and still
others were already maintaining suitable homes.
On January 17, 196l, Commissioner M itchell sent a letter to all
state agencies administering public assistance programs in which he
s a id :
A state plan for ADC may not impose an eligibility condition that would deny assistance with respect to needy children on the basis that home conditions are unsuitable while the child continues to live in the home. Assistance w ill therefore be continued during the time efforts are bein g made to improve th e home o r to make arrangem ents fo r the child elsewhere.33
This regulation was to have become effective on July 1, 19ol, but was
extended to September 1, 1962, thus making it possible for louisiana
to continue its ADC program beyond the196 O-61 fiscal year. A 1961
amendment to the Social Security Act extended matching funds in ADC
programs for the cost of maintaining a child in foster care if the
court had ordered his removal because of the unsuitability of the home
■^2I b i d . , 6.
•^"Suitable Home Requirements," State Letter No. 452, 2l4. 109 and if the child had received ADC funds the month of the court proceedings.
Despite social -workers'' years of experience in dealing with families in actual practice "suitability" of the home and "fitness" of parents are still indefinable terms. But these terms have been used most effectively in excluding a disproportionate share of Negro children. As Bell points out, "illegitimacy is partially a function of poverty. Negro illegitimacy ratios are high, and they w ill continue to be high so long as Negroes are predominately poor, have less cause to worry about inheritance rights, less marital stability, are systematically isolated in rural and urban slums away from the mainstream of American community life and values, and are typically excluded from the opportunity structure.
The last word has yet to be spoken on the problem of welfare and the illegitim ate child. There are now several court cases pending concerning the child of the unwed mother and the welfare program.
^ V in ifr e d Bell, Aid to Dependent Children (New York,1965), PART I I
SUBSTITUTE CARE AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN LOUISIANA
110 CHAPTER V I
CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
Adoptions and Foster Home Care
In the simple rural communities of early nineteenth century
Louisiana children, whose natural home failed, were usually taken in by relatives or neighbors. If the child had no one who was willing to take care of him, local officials apprenticed him to Someone who was supposed to provide the necessities of life and teach him a trade.
Although the civil code defined apprentices as "these who engage to serve some person for the purpose of learning some art, trade or profession," Dr. Wisner does not feel that the using of apprentices was common except in so far as orphan asylums used the apprenticeship as a means of placing children for care and support outside the institution.'*" Such might have been what happened to six children of the Baton Rouge Female Orphan Association who were placed with friends as stated in the 1857 report of the orphanage.
The Civil Code also provided that a judge appoint a tutor for minors, including foundlings or abandoned children, who had no parents.
The tutor was supposed to look after the child's person as well as his estate. Theoretically, then, every child had someone who looked after
■*"E. Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana. 13.
I l l 112 his best interest. In the case of the foundling who had been reared
in an orphanage, he could not be claimed by his parents unless they
proved that their child had been taken from them by force, fraud, or
accident. Moreover, no parent could claim such a child without first
obtaining his tutorship and then giving security in a sum of money
sufficient for the reimbursement of the expense which the child had
incurred. Thus the orphanage was protected from parents who might
wish to reclaim a child after they had failed to support him during
his early years and who might not wish to pay the institution for its
ex p en se.
Those dependent children who were not institutionalized or
apprenticed could be adopted by special legislative enactment; for the
civil code of 1808 abolished all previous adoption laws of louisiana
territory. It was not until the Constitution of 1864 that the
legislature was given the right to enact general laws regulating
adoption. For example, in 1855 Louisiana Act No. 81 stated:
. . . th a t E lie P., Bourg and A delina D an tin , h is w ife , o f the parish of Lafourche, he and they are hereby authorized to adopt, by notarial act, to be executed before any Notary Public, in said parish, Marie Louisiane Dantin, legitimate child of Leufroid Dantin and his wife, Theotile Dantin, now deceased; the said Marie louisiane Dantin, when adopted, to be authorized to take the name Marie Louisiane Bourg, and to have a ll the rights and privileges as the adopted child as though she was the lawful issue of the said Elie R. Bourg and Adelina Dantin aforesaid; provided, however, that the adoption herein allowed shall not interfere with the rights of forced h e i r s .
I n I865 the first general adoption law gave the D istrict Court of New
Orleans exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of adoption. This law 113 was amended in 1868 to give parish courts exclusive jurisdiction over adoptions and to require the consent of the minor's surviving parent.
Any person in 1870 could adopt another as his child except those illegitim ate children whom the law prohibited his acknowledging. For example, a child bom through an adulterous or incestuous union could not be adopted. Two years later any person over twenty-one years of age could adopt any person under twenty-one by a notarial act with no judicial proceedings necessary. It was not until 192^+ that another adoption law was passed allowing charitable institutions to consent to the adoption of a minor under twenty-one years of age who had been abandoned to the institution by a surviving parent.
The adoption law of 1932 supplanted all previous laws, restating their important sections but adding a provision prohibiting the adoption of a person of different racial blood. In addition, the law stated that the State Board of Charities and Corrections would make an investigation of applicants for adoptions and submit its findings to the court. There the judge would approve or reject the application.
Jurisdiction of children over seventeen years of age was granted to
the D istrict Courts and of those under seventeen to the Juvenile
Courts. The provision in the law granting juvenile courts jurisdiction was declared unconstitutional. As a result of this decision, a
constitutional amendment conferred authority of those under seventeen
years of age upon the juvenile courts and the remaining provisions of
the law stood. 114
In the meantime there grew up in Louisiana and the rest of the nation additional ways of taking care of dependent children other than in institutions and by adoptions. In 1853 Charles Loring Brace helped to organize the New York Children's Aid Society, one of the first child placing organizations in the United States. Brace popularized the idea of home care, especially on farms, as opposed to institutional care for dependent children. In 1884 the National Children's Home
Society, a child placing agency located in Illinois, began operation.
By 1923 the movement had spread to thirty-six states.
While Louisiana was not one of the states listed as having a
member of the National Children's Home Society, the State did have
two such child placing agencies: the Louisiana Children's Home
Society of Jennings and the louisiana Child Finding and Home Society of New Orleans. In 1924 the State Superintendent of the Louisiana
Child Finding and Home Society said that in seven and one-half years of the organization's existence he had handled over 1500 children."
However, prior to this time the louisiana Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children withdrew several children from the Child
Finding Society Home on the grounds that the institution lacked proper 3 facilities. During 1922 the Child Finding Society was investigated
by the Board of Charities and Corrections at the request of the
2 Times-Picayune. June 25, 1924. 3 Times-Picayune. December 13, 1921. 115
Governor. The State Board made the investigation and placed it into the hands of the Attorney-General for such action as he deemed proper. im
The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children had been founded in 1892 in New Orleans under the leadership of Rev.
Alfred S. Clay, pastor of the Dryades St. M. E. Church. For several years Rev. Clay through his Sunday afternoon lectures tried to show the plight of the poor and especially the plight of destitute children.
One lecture was described as being replete with facts showing the suffering of young children in factories and its appeal pointed to the need f o r reform.The chief aim of the Society was to prevent
cruelty to children and to assist in bringing to justice and securing the conviction of all persons guilty or party to such cruelty; and generally to do all things to promote the mental and physical welfare and advancement of minors, and to take such steps as may be necessary for their protection and to promote humane sentiments among a l l c la s s e s .
The Society provided clothing for some, hospital care for others, placed s till others in private homes or asylums, restored those illegally detained to their parents, and brought to the attention of the authorities cases of brutality and neglect. During the first four years of the Society's existence it cared for in one way or another
8879 children. The Society was non-sectarian and recognized no
h Annual Report of the Board of Charities and Corrections, 1923, 1*K
%ew Orleans Daily Picayune. February 1892 15, .
^Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Annual Reports. 1892-9**. 116 distinction between sex or color. In 1892 it purchased property for a Waif's Home where children were given temporary shelter and protection. During that same year a law enacted in 1870 pertaining to the detention of children considered to be vagrants was amended to
include the Society as one of the places where such an offender might be committed. Between 1905 and 1908 the Society fought valiantly for the passage of a state juvenile court law. The Society continues its work to this day as the Children's Bureau of New Orleans. The name was changed because its center of emphasis changed to prosecuting and investigating cases of neglect rather than cruelty.
For nearly twenty-five years earnest discussion was waged in the
National Conference of Charities and Corrections between the advocates of institutional care and those of placing out. Gradually the tide turned in favor of placing out. Rabbi Leucht, speaking at a special meeting of the National Conference in New Orleans in 1897, called for the placing of orphans in middle class homes where they could come in
daily contact with real life. The next year Thomas K. Mulry, president
of the St. Vincent de Paul Society of New York, called for foster care
for children with no relatives when conditions allowed and under
proper direction and for institutional care of certain others such as
truants and the unruly. In his opinion the child whose parents were
temporarily incapacitated might be better off in an institution where
in a few years he could rejoin his family.^ Social workers today agree
^Proceedings. 1898, 362. 117 with Mulry; for they believe that both institutional and home care are important in a child welfare program, the type of care being fitted to the peculiar needs of the child.*
The recognized agency for the improvement of placing-out work in the United States is the Child Welfare league of America organized in
1921 under the leadership of Dr. Christian Carl Carsten. Its member ship includes children's aid societies, children's home societies, societies for the prevention of cruelty to children, state and county public agencies for the care of children, and institutions which place children in family homes. Presently the Children's Bureau of New
Orleans, the Louisiana State Department of Welfare, and the Children's
Service Bureau of Shreveport are members of the Child Welfare League.
By 1923 home societies throughout the United States had rede very little use of the boarding out system for foster home care of children.
Most children were placed in free homes usually with the expectation that the child would remain as a member of the house. A large proportion of these children were legally adopted by their foster parents and another large group became permanent members of the foster home, but without legal adoption.* In 1932 one hundred thirty-nine children were maintained under foster care in Hew Orleans. The
Association of Catholic Charities, established in 192^ as a clearing
*Jean Chamley, The Art of Child Placement (Minneapolis, 1955) , 78.
♦Hastings H. Hart, "The Development of Child Placing in the United States," Foster Home Care for Dependent Children. Children's Bureau Publication No. 136 (Washington, D. C., 1923) * 6. 118 house for Catholic children's institutions, had placed 100 in free hones and thirty children in boarding homes. The Children's Bureau
often found it necessary to remove children from their homes and place
them in foster homes. During 1932 the Bureau placed nine of its
charges in foster homes. It also received $1600 from the city of New
Orleans and spent $8,702 for foster care including both cost of board
and supervision.® Other child placing agencies in the city at that
time included the Jewish Children's Home which placed Jewish children
in areas outside of Louisiana, the Jewish Federation of New Orleans,
the Children's Home of the Protestant Episcopal Church which administered to Episcopalians first and then to others both white and
N egro.
Prior to 1936 child welfare services could be found only in New
Orleans. There were few if any services for Negroes or rural
children in the rest of the State. Many children and youth under
eighteen years of age were placed in the parish jail for vagrancy or
disorderly conduct instead of being referred to the custody of some
agency as required by law. Time and time again the Board of Charities
called the attention of the public to the fact that even state
institutions for juvenile delinquents were caring for both delinquents
and dependents. The Permanent Committee to Carry on Child Welfare,
the follow-up group of the White House Conference of 1930, also opposed
the committing of dependent children to institutions for delinquents.
0 E. C. Beven, City Subsidies to Private Charitable Agencies in New Orleans, 10. 119
The child welfare services of the Board of Charities continued until 1938. During that year the executive secretary of the Board acted as the field worker for the adoption of children and investigated
112 petitions. However, on July 20 this part of his work was taken over by the Department of Public Welfare and its Bureau of Child
Welfare. Act No. ^28 vested the responsibility of investigating all adoptions in the Department. A petition for adoption, according to
the law, would be presented to the juvenile court of the parish where
the adoptive child or parent lived. The Commissioner of Public Welfare was required to submit a report to the court of jurisdiction and
maintain supervision of the proposed adoptive home until the final
d e c re e .
According to another act the Department v;as to administer and
supervise public child welfare activities relating to children who
were dependent, neglected, or delinquent. It was also to establish,
extend and strengthen services for such children in the parish and
district departments; and to license and supervise public and private
agencies caring for children. All of this legislation came after it
was revealed that abuses were prevalent in the State. Cne Neiv Orleans
midwife sold two children for $35.00, this being just one of the many
cases discovered in the State that brought about the passage of these
la w s.
Critics of the adoption law felt that it would effectually prevent
persons from other states from adopting a child in cr from Louisiana.
They also felt that conditions imposed by lav? upon prospective adoptive 120 parents were such that no self-respecting person would submit to the invasion of the "sacred precincts" of their home by professional Q social workers.
For lack of trained personnel much of the work of the Bureau of
Child Welfare could not be adequately carried out in rural areas.
At first there were only nineteen parishes having the services of a child welfare worker. Nevertheless, an in-service training program sponsored by the Department helped to make up for the dearth of trained workers in its parish bureaus. Nearly ten years later the Department found that the number of workers prepared to give such essential services as foster home finding, supervision of children in foster care, adoption placements, or skilled casework services to children in their own homes, was s till woefully inadequate.^®
During World War H the Federal Government through the Lanham
Act made funds available for the establishment of day care programs in defense centers and in communities engaged in the war effort. In 1943 the New Orleans City Department of War Emergency Children's Service was established to provide child care centers for children from two to
fourteen years of age whose mothers were engaged in war industries.
One half of the cost of operating this program was paid from Federal
funds, the other half came from city funds and fees paid by parents.
Thirteen centers were opened in publi'c school buildings--eleven for
^Times Picayune. February 18, 1939*
10Annual Report of the Xonlsiana Departmentol Public Welfare, 1945-46. 16. 121 whites and two for Negroes. In Shreveport three centers were opened:
two for whites and one for Negroes. In Baton Rouge the parish school
board obtained the funds which provided two centers for school-age
children and four nurseries, three white and one for Negroes. While
the white nurseries were nearly filled to capacity, the Negro ones
were entirely filled and had a long waiting lis t.^ The city of New
Orleans spent $458 per child for about 700 children during 1945 in its nurseries. The Federal government provided $182,678 67.8 or p e r c e n t
of the funds; collections from parents amounted to $56,801 or 21.1 per
cent of the total and the rest of the money,29,992 $ or 11.1 per cent 12 of the total was contributed by the city. At the end of the war
Lanham funds were withdrawn and these special centers supported by
Federal monies were closed.
Prior to the beginning of the War the Department had been
authorized to license and supervise all parish, municipal, and private
agencies, caring for children. With the help and advice of the
Children's Division of the Mew Orleans Council of Social Agencies, the
Children's Divisions of the Shreveport Council of Social Agencies, and
the State Child W'elfare Advisory Committee the Department prepared a
handbook on Standards for Children in Foster Care, later revised as
Minimum Requirements for Child Caring Institutions. The Department
did not get around to issuing its first licenses until 1942 when the
^ Trm-is-iana Conference of Social W elfare. Conference Comments (September, 1943) , 3-6.
12Times Picayune. July 21, 1945. See also State-Times. August 3 0 , 1946. following agencies providing care for children in Louisiana became eligible: the Children's Service Bureau of Shreveport which included the Genevieve Children's Home and the Linwood Hall 1'or G irls, Waldo
Burton Memorial Home, the oldest orphanage in New Orleans, the
Protestant Orphans Home, the Evangelical Lutheran Bethlehem Orphans
Asylum, the Memorial Mercy Home H ospital, the Isabella Hume Community
Center Day Nursery, the New Orleans Day Nursery, and the Sophie Gumbel
Home, a ll of New Orleans; Protestant Orphan Home of Baton Rouge; St.
Mary's Orphanage of Lafayette; and the Sager-Brown Orphanage of Baldwin for Negro boys and girls.
This group represented a cross section of children's agencies in the State: Catholic and Protestant, white and Negro, custodial institutions and child placing programs, day nurseries, and institutions for the handicapped. All of these agencies were found to maintain standards that compared favorably to the standards of the Department of Public Welfare.
A 19^2 act of the Legislature authorized unmarried mothers to surrender their children to institutions or social agencies approved by the State Department and to place them for adoption. Children adopted through unlicensed agencies might be in an insecure position and the adoption might be later challenged and declared void. Thus a licensed institution facilitated the adoption process, prevented unscrupulous persons from selling infants into virtual slavery, and at the same time protected the rights of the child. 123
In 19^8 the Department of Public Welfare was given the legal right to contract with private individuals to hold their homes open to care for children needing foster care. This provisionmade i t possible for the Department to subsidize homes where foster parents agreed to hold their homes open, day or night, for emergency care and care for the sick. Subsidizedbomes existed before 19^8 in Lake
Charles where Federal funds were available and in New Orleans where the city paid the bill. The new legislation made it possible to establish subsidized homes anywhere in the State especially in rural areas where such care was often lacking.
Alan Keith-Lucas made a study for the Welfare Department that same year (19^-8) and found that 793 or twenty-six per cent of all children in Louisiana under institutional care were in boarding homes and 238 or 7.8 per cent were in adoptive hemes prior to adoption.
None of the adoptions had been Negroes. The Department found, as its predecessor the Board of Charities had found, that adoptive homes were urgently needed for Negro dependent children. In general, throughout the nation seventy per cent of white dependent babies were adopted while only five per cent of Negro babies found adoptive homes. Most of these children were born out of wedlock to Negro mothers who were less likely to receive assistance from social welfare agencies or care in maternity homes. With the chronic shortage of Negro adoptive homes, most Negro unmarried mothers had little choice but to keep their babies. These mothers needed services in the home, a service often unavailable to them. In Louisiana there were (and are) no 1 2 4 maternity hospitals for Negroes and outside of the parish departments of welfare few services to those who need them most.
The Child Welfare Bureau of the Department of Public Welfare did provide a lim ited amount of home service designed to maintain and strengthen family life. Before 1963 this service was only available in Orleans Parish, but in 1964 it was expanded to the adjacent parishes of Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines. The Bureau realizes that this type of service needs to be established in all parts of the State.
But as Dr. Mullinnix of Louisiana State University has pointed out, the Bureau has been unable to provide much to parents and children in their homes although parent counseling was within the professional competency of the Bureau's staff. This is due in part to the fact that child placing has in recent years absorbed most of the resources IB of the Bureau. J
The Bureau's work, however, is supplemented oy the work of the
Family Service Society of New Orleans which offers lim ited professional casework and group work services to fam ilies. These services include marriage counseling, parent guidance service to improve parent-child relationships and educational and planning services for families with handicapped children or adults. In 1966 the Family Service Society served 2,225 families, 33.5 per cent of which were Negro. Another agency, previously mentioned, the Children's Bureau, offered assistance and counseling to unwed mothers who did not enter maternity hospitals
■^K. E. Mull inn ix, A Study of the Problem Handicapped Children in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1962) , 37. 125
Shd foster care for and adoption of their infants if they are released; pre-adoption and post-adoption counseling for adopting parents; case work treatment of emotionally troubled children along with counseling their parents; and daytime homemaker services for children involved in family crises.
Where such services were available, rrainly in New Orleans, Baton
Rouge, and Shreveport, they were often not used especially by Negro unmarried women. Problems of transportation, care of other children, reluctance to take the time, a desire to conceal pregnancy particularly from school or welfare personnel, failure to recognize the fact of pregnancy and fear of examinations were all possible reasons why family services have not been readily used by many individuals who need them.*
When the .Federal Government stopped the Lanham funds, public support for day care centers ceased and the centers were closed. By
196^ the Department of Public Welfare had again started public support of day care centers. Payment was made to children on an individual
basis in licensed private day care centers or foster day care homes
for five days a week, since the State could not pay the agencies
directly. The Department has licensed Rll day care centers in the
State, but ran only three, one in Natchitoches, another in Amite, and
the third in Desire Housing Project of New Orleans. During 1965
financial aid for day care service was provided1,123 to c h ild re n
throughout the State.
♦Rose Bernstein, "Gaps in Service to Unmarried Mothers," Children. X (kferch-April, 1963). ^9* 126
Health Services to Children
Child welfare services could be found not only in the Department
of Public Welfare but also in the much older State Board of Health,
the public agency interested in promoting and protecting the health
of all Louisiana citizens. As early as 1818 and 1821 Louisiana
attempted to create an agency to enforce qierantine regulations against
epidemics of yellow fever, cholera, smallpox, and other contagious
diseases. These efforts failed because of ignorance of the causes of
these diseases and the strong desire of many businessmen to suppress
rumors of epidemics which would hurt business. Consequently the city and state were left exposed to ever-increasing epidemics throughout
the first half cf the nineteenth century. The importance of vital
statistics as a measure of public health was recognized in 1811 when
the territorial government suggested that all parish officials record
the births and deaths of white persons and free people of color and
required the parish of Orleans to maintain such records. With few
amendments the law of 1811 remained the basis for recording vital
statistics until 1918 when the New Orleans office became a part of the
State Board of Health.
I n 1855 the Legislature passed an act creatinga board of health
consisting of three members elected by the New Orleans Council and
six appointed by the Governor.1'5 The Board’s chief duty was to make
and enforce quarantine regulations and restrictions on vessels entering
^ Louisiana Acts of 185.5. No. 336. 127 the M ississippi River. The 1898 Constitution called for a separate state board as well as parish and municipal ones. In 1918 the State
Board began recording vital statistics, a function carried out for over 100 years by the city of New Orleans. The Constitution of 1921 broadened the Board's power to include both land and water quarantine, control of water supplies, waste disposal within the State, and matters of local sanitation which could not be regulated by local boards. The Board was to regulate and control the administration of the pure food and drug practices in the state, and make and enforce the sanitary code.
The Constitution was amended in 1926 to allow each parish to have a health unit. Cn January 1, 1926, there were only eleven full-tim e health units in operation throughout the State. The flood of March,
1927, in which five million acres in more than twenty-six parishes were inundated and275,000 persons were driven from their homes pointed up the need for health services and trained health personnel in every parish. Within six months after the flood eighteen additional parishes put health programs into operation. In order to encourage new programs the State in 1928 appropriated for the first time $224,000 for the establishing of parish health units. Nearly half of this money came from the Rockefeller Foundation and the United States Public Health
Service.^ By 1932 there were thirty-one full-time health units serving
^Biennial Report of the Louisiana State Board. o£ fl.ea.llh (New O rleans, 1 9 2 9 ), 35» 128 sixty-seven per cent of the rural population and operating mainly on local funds.
In 1910 Dr. Oscar Dowling, who was to be president of the State
Board of Health for eighteen years until ousted by Huey Long, recommended a child hygiene division within the State Board of Health.
At that time Miss Agnes Morris served as an instructor in school and home hygiene. Her work was confined largely to the instruction of school children in the essentials of personal hygiene and of mothers
in the care of infants. Her work was carried on mostly through the
Monthly Bulletin which was used in schools as a text for morning exercises. It included information relating to common communicable diseases, particularly the methods of transmission and means of prevention, facts pertaining to the hygiene of daily life, and health
do's and don'ts. By 1915 Miss Morris's office was called the Bureau of Child Hygiene although it had no special staff except Miss Morris; nevertheless it has the distinction of being the first established anywhere in the United S tates.^
With no staff and meager funds Miss Morris was able to do very
little except carry out a program of educational hygiene. She
published the Monthly Bulletin, distributed good health cards, dental
examination cards, eye charts, height and weight cards and school
inspection blanks. Other educational work included exhibits at the
State and parish fairs and the showing of a few health movies. Her
^A rthur P. Miles, An Introduction to Public Welfare (Boston, 1949), 206. 129 office distributed silver nitrate solution to hospitals, doctors, and
midwives. In cooperation with other divisions of the State Board
Miss Morris encouraged the registration of every birth, better control
of the milk supply as the most essential effort to reduce infant
mortality. She also tried to help standardize midwife services, to
promote medical supervision of the schools, to control contagious
diseases among children, to promote dental clinics for children, and
pre-natal instruction for women. All of this could be accomplished
if the Legislature of 1922 would accept financial aid through the
Federal Maternity and Infancy Act, called also the Sheppard-Towner Act,
for the establishment of a state-wide work for maternal and infant
c a r e .
In 1921 Congress passed the Sheppard-Towner Act the chief
objective of which was to aid the states in establishing maternal and
child health services in rural districts by offering grants-in-aid to
states whose provisions for such services met the' specifications set
up by the United States Children's Bureau. Objections to the bill
came from those who felt that it was an unwarranted trespassing by the
Federal Government on the responsibilities and duties of the states
and that the bill was an entering wedge for state medicine.
One year after the passage of the b ill forty-two states accepted
its provisions by passing legislation in conformity to its demands.
By 192^+ Louisiana, along with eight other states, had not cooperated
with this Federal program in spite of the fact that all but one of its
Congressional delegations had voted for it. The best single index of 130 a community's general health is reputed to be its infant mortality
rate. Slingerland had pointed out in his report that New Orleans with a population of 350,000 had the highest death rate of any city its
size. The rate in Buffalo was 15.6, in Baltimore, 19.9, and Memphis,
20.1 while in New Orleans it was 22.5. Infant mortality for the City was 200 per thousand compared to 150 per thousand in the United States as a whole.^
In Louisiana the forces which supported mother's pensions fought
in behalf of the State's accepting the provisions of the Sheppard-
Towner Act. The opponents of mother's pensions also opposed the
Federal act for maternal and child care. They argued that the bill would infringe upon states' rights, commit the Federal Government to
the invasion of the home and thus violate constitutional guarantees.17
By 1924 they had an ally in President Calvin Coolidge who opposed a ll
Federal subsidies to the states for their drain on the national
treasury and who thought that the broadening of this field would be a 18 detriment to both the Federal Government and the states. The
proponents under the leadership of Mrs. Holmes lobbied in behalf of
the Sheppard-Towner Act in the Louisiana Legislature and carried with
them the endorsement of virtually every woman's organization in the 19 S ta te .
^For additional statistics see the accompanying tables. 17 New Orleans Times-Picayune. August 1, 1923.
~^New York Times. February 10, 1924.
^Times-Picavune. August 1, 1923. 131
TABLE 3
VITAL STATISTICS FOR NEGROES IN LOUISIANA3
1930 1940 1950 i 960
Number of births 16,774 21,097 31,107 35,177
B ir th R ate 21. 4b 24.7 3 3 .1 3 3 .7
Number of deaths 12,146 11,808 10,112 11,426
D eath R ate 15 .5 1 3 .8 10.8 1 0 .9
S till births 1,289 1,145 1,022 861
Rate of still births 76.8 54.3 3 2 .9 2 4 .5
Infant mortality 1,733 1,788 1 ,462 1 ,635
R ate 103.3 84.8 47.0 4 6 .5
Maternal M ortality 206 158 49 27
R ate 12.3 7 .5 1 .6 0 .8
Taken from the Statistical Report of the Division of Public Health S tatistics. Louisiana Department of Health, 1950, 1963. ■L Rate per 1000. 132
TABLE 4
VITAL STATISTICS FOR WHITES IN LOUISIANA
1930 1940 1950 I 960
Number of births 26,114 29,876 45,624 54,949
B irth R ate 1 9 .8 1 9 .7 2 6 .4 2 4 .8
Number of deaths 12,697 13,887 14,094 18,202
D eath R ate 1 1 .8 9 .2 8 .2 8 .2
S till births 2,294 793 729 623
R ate 3 8 .5 2 6 .5 16.0 11.3
Infant mortality 1,623 1 ,3 9 9 1 ,1 8 5 1,246
R ate 62.1 4 6 .8 26.0 22 .7
Maternal m ortality 208 112 20 14
R ate 8.0 3 .8 0 .4 0 .3 *
133
TABLE 5
VITAL STATISTICS FOR LOUISIANA
1930 1940 1950 i 960
Number of births 42,888 50,973 76,731 90,126
Birth Rate 20.4 21.5 2 8 .8 2 7 .7
Number of deaths 24,843 25,695 24,206 29,628
Death rate 11.8 10.8 9 .1 9 .1
S till births 2,294 1 ,9 3 8 1 ,7 5 1 1 ,4 8 4
R ate 5 3 .5 3 8 .0 2 2 .8 1 6 .5
Infant mortality 3,356 3,187 2,647 2 ,881
R ate 78.3 62.5 3 4 .5 3 2 .0
Maternal mortality 4 l4 270 69 41
R ate 9 .6 5 .3 0 .9 0 .5 134
TABLE 6
VITAL STATISTICS FOR THE UNITED STATES
1930 1940 1950 I 960
Number of births 2 ,2 0 3 ,9 5 8
B irth R ate 18.9 1 7 .9 23.6 23.6
D eath R ate 11.3 10.8 9 .6 9 .5
Rate of S till births 3 9 .2 31.3 1 9 .2 16.1
Infant death rate 6 4 .6 47 .0 29.2 26.0
Maternal death rate 6 .7 3 .8 0 .8 0 .4 135
2o The 1924 Legislature accepted the provisions of the Act. It appropriated along with the Federal Government $22,129.80. These funds made it possible for the Bureau of Child Hygiene to extend its work and to carry on many of the activities it had merely dreamed about. The Bureau was able to employ a small force of doctors, dentists, and nurses to do specific work in the examination of infants and pre-school children and to do field work among midwives. It expanded its organization by including Divisions of Maternal and Infant
Hygiene, Dental Hygiene, School Hygiene, Midwife Instruction, Birth
Registration, and Education. The Division of Midwife Instruction organized classes for midwives throughout the State as well, as made home visits to and had interviews with midwives and expectant mothers.
Of the 2500 midwives in Louisiana in 1929 eight hundred seventy-eight received instruction, 146 completed the course of six lessons, and
2l4 were transferred to classes conducted by Parish Health U nits.^
In 1927 the Appropriations Committee of the United States House of Representatives expressed its unwillingness to continue providing
the money necessary for the administration of the Maternity Act.
Appropriations were made for the biennum 1927-1929 with the stipulation
that by 1929 the work of the Act would have to be completed. The
Louisiana Bureau of Child Hygiene continued until June 30, 1929, when
Federal funds were discontinued and Kiss Agnes Morris who worked so
^ Touisiana Acts of 1924. No. 239.
2lBiennial Reioort of the State Board of Health. 1929, 103. 136 diligently with the Bureau for nearly twenty years retired. Many of the specialized activities of the Bureau had to be suspended and its chief function became that of dispensing silver nitrate and sending educational material to institutions, organizations, and parish and
State fairs.
In the meantime Governor Long moved against the State Board of
Health by denouncing its president, Dr. Dowling, who was accused of wasting nearly one-half million dollars annually. Dr. Dowling refused to resign and so the Legislature passed a b ill ending his term of office on August 24, 1928, instead of 1932. Dowling declared the act
unconstitutional and though the Attorney-General said the removal was
illegal, Dowling was forced out of office and replaced by Dr. Joseph
A. O'Hara. The State Supreme Court upheld the new appointment in
January, 1929.
As a result of allocations made available in1935 under Title V of the Social Security Act, the functions of the old Child Hygiene
Bureau were revitalized in the Division of Maternal and Child Health.
This Division set as some of its objectives: an education program to
stimulate mothers to seek services during pregnancy, provisions for
adequate services to the indigent, and improving the quality of work
carried on by unlicensed midwives.
The plantation midwife continued to play an important role in
rural community life of Louisiana. Her presence has long been
recognized as a compromise which presented problems to public health
workers. The greatest of these was her complete lack of medical 137
training and her inability to read and write. The State Board had for sometime a program for the supervision of these "God inspired" women and since 1928 their number had dropped considerably. The State
Board tried to lim it their growth by encouraging early retirement and discouraging potential midwives. But the Board realized that the
best way to eliminate them would be to provide better medical facilities
in rural communities. By 1957 there were only 310 unlicensed midwives
enrolled in Board sponsored classes and the number of births attended
by midwives continued to dwindle. Live births recorded as neither
taking place in a hospital nor attended by a physician totaled3,385
in 1958. This total included 1^6 white babies and 3,239 Negroes, and 22 four white and fifty-four Negro babies were stillborn.
In the meantime, in 19^0, Sam Jones capaigned for 'Governor on a
platform which urged the complete reorganization of the State's
governmental structure. Jones was elected and as Governor he called
for the abolition of useless boards, commissions, departments, and
bureaus.^ He was able to get his reform bill passed and it was
immediately put into operation. The State Supreme Court, however,
declared the Reorganization Act unconstitutional.
Under reorganization there was to have been a Board of Health and
a Department of Health sim ilar to the present set-up of the Department
of Public Welfare. The Board was to be purely an advisory one and all
22Biennia] Report of the State Board of Health, 1958-59. 77.
^O fficial Journal of the House. 19*K), 26, 27. 138 administration would be under the Department of Health with its
director as the State's Chief Health Officer. Within the department
there were to have been seven major divisions which in turn were
subdivided into sections,e.g., the Division of Preventive Medicine was subdivided into several sections, two of which were those of
Maternal and Child Health and Crippled Children. As of August 1,
1941, the Department of Health was abolished and the Board regained
its administrative functions with the State's Chief Health Officer
acting as the Board's president. S till the intra-departmental
reorganization was kept and the Maternal and Child Health Section was
enlarged to cover more adequately the major problems of reducing
maternal and child morbidity and mortality. Also in the reorganization
of the State Board the office of Public Health Education and Public
Relations was set up. The office took over the many educational
functions of the old Child Hygiene Bureau; for it supplied films to
schools, arranged exhibits for State and parish fairs, and helped to
develop rural community health projects in cooperation with the
Department of Education and other agencies.
With the help and support of both the Legislature and the
Community the Maternity and Child Health Section was able to realize
some of its objectives. For example, during 1956 eighty-six medical
clinics outside of New Orleans provided maternity health supervision
during prenatal and postnatal periods to 7,398 mothers. Medical
clinics in fifty-nine location^ provided child health supervision
services to 4,884 infants, ll6l pre-school age children, and 1,004 five 139 years of age and over. Maternity and child health conferences were held in 279 locations and 8,435 mothers and 36,303 children received nursing services through either conferences, home visits, or elsewhere in the community. There were 341 persons enrolled in classes for expectant parents and310 unlicensed midwives, as previously stated, enrolled in a series of regularly scheduled meetings. At the request of several child welfare agencies twenty-nine unmarried mothers and their new born infants were given special medical and hospital maternity care. The State Board also helped the Child Welfare Bureau of the State Department of Public Welfare license child welfare agencies throughout the State. Another measure of progress in the
State was the decline in the infant mortality rate from 78.3 in 1930 to 32.0 in i960. The rate was still higher than that of the United
States as a whole which was 26.0 in i 960. CHAPTER VH
CARE FOR HIE HANDICAPPED CHILD
The Era o f Reform 1830-1860
The intellectual radicalism and humanitarian reform which swept
New England in the 1830's and 18^40's were primarily urban northern movements rather than southern rural ones. To the rural South, painfully sensitive to attacks on slavery, all "isms" were obnoxious and disdainful. But despite antagonisms toward Northern reformers,
the South was not to go unaffected by the winds of change and ultimately even slavery was to fall.
At the suggestion of Dorothea L. Dix and Samuel G. Howe who visited New Orleans during this period, Louisiana instituted reforms
in the treatment of the insane, the blind, and the deaf. Religious radicalism was represented by Theodore Clapp who founded the First
Congregational Unitarian Church in New Orleans after his expulsion from
the Presbyterian Church in1833« Many of Parson Clapp's theological
ideas were sim ilar to those of William Ellery Charming, the New England
"Apostle of Unitarianism," Clapp, of course, differed from many of his
northern brethren in that he had been convinced that slavery was both
morally and economically sound.^ i8 By 6 0 what little religious
1John Duffy, ed., Parson Clapp of Strangers' Church of New Orleans (Baton Rouge, 19 5 7 ).
1*K> 141 liberalism had existed in the South along with Parson Clapp was virtually extinct with Unitarian churches to be found only in
Charleston, Louisville, and New Orleans.
Other political and social reforms came to Louisiana with the new constitution of 1845 which abolished all property tests for voters and officeholders, established free public education, and multiplied the 2 number of local elective offices. All of this, however, did not insure honest democratic government or guarantee the actual establish ment of a state public school system, but it was a progressive step.
The most notable of the reform movements in the Old South was the temperance movement, an outgrowth of the Washingtonian and Father
Mathew movements. The tenets of the movement were in harmony with the puritanical feelings of many Southerners. The first national temperance societies introduced in Louisiana were the fraternal orders: the Sons
of Temperance in 1842, the Templars of Honor and Temperance in 1845,
and the Good Templars after 1854. On his tour of America Father Mathew
visited New Orleans in 1850 and was welcomed enthusiastically,^ In
the city where Henry Benjamin Whipple, the Episopal Bishop of /
Minnesota had said in 1849, "Drinking is an awful vice here," Father 4 Mathew was able to obtain 12,000 abstinence pledges.
"Ttoger W. Shugg, "Suffrage and Representation in Ante-Bellum Louisiana," Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. XIX (April, 1936), 393.
^Standard Encyclopedia of Alcohol Problem. IF (W esterville, Ohio, 1928) , 1607.
^Bishop Whinnle1s Southern Diary 1843-1844 (Minneapolis, 1937). — 111. 142
Another outstanding figure during the era of reform, Orestes A.
Brownson, visited New Orleans in 1855. Brownson certainly did not help the lagging southern cause for social justice when he caustically exposed such philanthropic organizations as the abolition societies, women's rights conventions, temperance groups, and anti-hangman associations. True reform, he stated in a speech in New Orleans, came from an understanding of the source of the ill, namely, that evil dwelt within men's hearts. Such evil could only be changed by super natural means, not by external social or political force.^
There were several reasons why the reform movement in the United
States prior to the Civil War did not catch fire in the South. In the first place, the humanitarian and egalitarian doctrines of the movement would have undermined slavery. And in the second place, as
Clement Eaton pointed out, southern politicians had their eyes primarily on the national capitol, on the slavery and pseudo territorial issue, and on victory in national elections: All to the detriment of state issues and social reform.0
Care for the Mentally Handicapped
One of the outcomes of the reform movement throughout the country was the separation of the mentally handicapped from the inmates of
■^Robert C. Reinders, "Brownson's V isit to New Orleans,1855*" Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. XXXVIH (July,1955) , l 6 .
^Clement Eaton, The Growth of Southern C ivilization (New York, 1961) , 2 9 3. 143 prisons and almshouses. Until the 1840's the indigent mentally handicapped of Louisiana were placed in the parish ja il, the Charity
Hospital, or were allowed to roam about the community. It was, of course, Dorothea Lynde Dix who le d the movement to get the insane out of the jails and workhouses of the nation and into asylums for the insane and feebleminded. Her influence was felt in Louisiana; for she visited New Orleans for several days in 1845 and inspected the schools,
Charity Hospital, and other public institutions of the city. She did not prepare a special memorial for Louisiana as she had done for other states, but she merely commented in a letter to a friend, "I have seen n incomparably more to approve than censure in New Orleans." She also visited the state prison located at that time in Baton Rouge.
In 1847 the Legislature established an insane asylum in Jackson and provided $10,000 for its erection. Charity Hospital was ordered by the Legislature to deliver all of its insane patients to the asylum O at Jackson. The institution opened in November, 1848, with eighty- five patients irostly from Charity Hospital.
By 1854 the Jackson institution was overcrowded and it became necessary to establish a temporary asylum in New Orleans. The
institution from its beginning received the feebleminded, and the
idiotic, as well as the insane. This asylum was closed in 1883 after the reformer George Washington Cable and others brought to the
^Francis Tiffany, Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix (Boston, 1890), 123. g E. Wisner, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana.87 . 144
9 attention of the public the horrors of this city institution. The patients from the New Orleans' asylum were eventually transferred to
Jackson. Large numbers of the mentally handicapped were s till to be found in the parish jails, for there was no room for them in the state institution at Jackson or in Pineville, an asylum which opened in
1906.
In February, 1900, after years of litigation the Louisiana
Attorney-General appointed trustees to the Milne estate and authorized
them to organize orphan asylums as provided by Alexander Milne's w ill of 1838.^ The Milne Asylum for Destitute Orphan Girls was established
near New Orleans to care for white feebleminded girls of child-bearing age who were not insane, epileptic, or blind. Miss Jean Gordon was named president of the asylum, the first institution in the State set aside for the feebleminded. For many years this institution received state money in spite of a law prohibiting the granting of state funds
to private agencies.
It was not until 1918 that the State got around to establishing
an institution for the feebleminded. The State Colony and Training
School, now called the Pinecrest State School, opened temporarily in
Baton Rouge on December 21, 1921, with thirty-seven patients. The
school was later moved to Pineville, near Alexandria.
When the Legislature created State Colony, it prohibited the
insane hospital from admitting any more of the feebleminded; the first
^The Times-Democrat. December 25, l88l.
10Ibid. , May 13, 1904. 145 one hundred (100) patients admitted to the institution came from the insane asylums at Jackson and Pineville thus relieving these hospitals of some of their feebleminded cases. State Colony was equipped for about 175 patients but by 1924 it had 210."^ In 1926 the population had increased to 220 of which 159 were white and sixty-one were Negro; twenty-five were under nineteen. In one instance parish officials were informed of six indigent children, three of whom were feeble minded; three of the children were placed in orphan homes and the officials requested permission to place the other three in State Colony.
When the school refused to take them, parish authorities were unwilling to take court action because of known crowded conditions at the I2 s c h o o l.
The problem of the ever-increasing population of mental defectives led many Americans and some physicians to the conclusion that the solution lay in sterilization. By 1912 Indiana, Washington, Colorado,
Connecticut, Nevada, Iowa, New Jersey, and New York had a ll passed laws
providing for some form of sterilization of defectives and of certain criminal types.13 ^ Louisiana, too, had adherents to the cause of
sterilization who called for state action. On June 9. 1924, Senator
Jules G. Fisher, a Jefferson Parish businessman and member of the
Health, Quarantine, Drainage, and Charitable Institution Committee,
^ Biennial Report of the State Colony and Training School of Louisiana. 1922-1924, 7.
l2Biennian Report of the State Colony. 1924-1926. 13.
•^■’Health," The Survey. XXIX (December 21, 1912), 374. introduced an act to provide for the eugenical sterilization of the 1 4 inmates of institutions for the feebleminded and for the epileptic.
The clergy, including Archbishop Shaw of the Archdiocese of New
Orleans, spoke out against the law as "heartless injustice." The proponents who included Miss Gordon of Milne Asylum, argued that the law would bring about a reduction in taxes and the practical elimination, in time, of the feebleminded. John L. Williams, state superintendent of the Louisiana Child Finding and Home Society, speaking in behalf of the b ill said that his agency had handled over
1500 children and at least forty per cent were feebleminded and that passage of the sterilization b ill would eliminate more than fifty per cent of crime and destitution."'"-* The b ill passed the Senate 22 to 11; in the House, although it was favorably reported by the Committee on
Public Health and Quarantine, it was allowed to die.
Governor Huey Long added to the problem of overcrowding by obtaining passage of a b ill providing for the treatment and care of
persons suffering from epilepsy at the State Colony and Training School.
The Board of Administrators of State Colony immediately requested that
the school not accept epileptics until means were provided for erecting
separate and suitable buildings for their care. The first unit of the
Epileptic Division at Fineville was completed and ready for occupancy
about August 1, 1930. It was immediately filled to its capacity of
fifty patients; consequently, new quarters were already needed. At the
"^O fficial Journal of the. Senate (June 9, 1924) , 131.
1^Times-Picayune. June 25, 1924. 1^7 same time there -were 238 white treles, 180 white fenales, fifty-two
Negro males and twenty-six Negro females in the Pineville Training
S ch ool.
In 1932 the Board of Administrators estimated that there were approximately 3500 feebleminded persons in Louisiana who needed
institutional care. Nearly 600 were being cared for at State Colony,
plus another fifty or so at Milne Asylum. The rest, of course, were at large. Because of the lack of training facilities, State Colony was just a custodial institution. Even at that it was below par; for
many of the patients were housed in frame buildings, remnants of old
Camp Beauregard, which were inadequate, uncomfortable, unsanitary and
unsafe.^ By 1938 it was estimated that fifty per cent of the children
in the institution were educable. Five teachers were then employed to
teach on the very lowest level of learning to the seventh grade.
The Governor's Advisory Coimiittee found in 19^+ that the Colony
had a patient capacity for 550, but had a daily average of 801, an
excess of 251 patients. In order to alleviate some of the overcrowding,
State Colony worked out a plan with the State Department of Welfare to
release certain patients on parole with local workers of the Department
supervising them in their communities. In this way a limited number of
boys who had specialized in dairy and farm work could secure jobs away
from Pineville and s till have some supervision.-'-''7
•^Biennial Report of State Colony. 1930-1932. 11. 17 "Report of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Ins t i tu tio n s," (New Orleans, 1 9 ^ ) , 35. 148
Early in 1953 Governor Kennon promised to wipe out a major blot on the state's treatment of the feebleminded who could be found roaming the street and alleys or held in parish jails because of the l8 lack of facilities. In 1954 fourteen new dormitories each housing thirty-six patients were opened at Pineville. Old dormitories were remodeled and a new hospital of 175 beds was built. Thus the facilities of the institution were increased fifty per cent so that 944 patients were then being institutionalized.
In 1940 State Colony lost its old Board of Administrators and was placed under the Department of Institutions. The Governor's Advisory
Committee criticized the administration of the institution by the
Department as being unequipped to give consultation and professional advice. By 1954 some effort was made to change the work of State
Colony from that of simple care to one of training, educating, and giving expert medical care to its patients. Because of this change in policy the morale of many older employees was at a very low ebb. The change in philosophy of the institution was exemplified in a two year squabble over who was to head the institution.
In 1953 the Department of Institutions appointed W, E. Kees, Jr., superintendent of State Colony. Kees's qualifications were his experience as mayor of Pineville and as a local businessman. The Family Service
Society of New Orleans and other organizations protested to the
Director of State Institutions concerning the appointment of Kees, a
*1 Q Times-Picavune. January 25, 1953* 149 man unqualified for the position. The Director then changed Kees's position to that of superintendent of business and named Dr. William
P. Hurder as clinical director. The dual authority of the two men led to Hurder's resignation and the reappointment of Kees as Colony head. Later, however, Kees quit and Hurder was named as acting Colony director. At last the fight was won to give professional direction to the program which would now train these unfortunates to make the most of their potentialities.
In 1959 it was estimated that approximately three per cent of the
Louisiana population was mentally retarded and some 2600 retardates were bom in the state every year. At that time State Colony housed about 1640 and private institutions throughout the state about 450 patients. One observer pointed out that there were nearly 60,000
"almost forgotten" children in Louisiana who were not being properly 1 9 cared for. In order to discover children who needed professional care the Louisiana Youth Commission helped to establish in New Orleans
the Evaluation Center for Exceptional Children. Children in the New
Orleans area could be sent to the center for proper diagnosis of their
difficulty so that the necessary and adequate treatment could be given
to them. Preference was given to pre-school children with handicaps.
The Center's purpose was to try to provide a continuum of mental
health services in New Orleans including early diagnosis and treatment,
pre-hospitalization and after hospitalization care for all types of
•^Times-Picayune. November 17, 1959. 150 mental disorders, counseling with family members, and consultation to
community agencies and professional personnel.
In 1964 the State provided additional services to emotionally
disturbed children when it opened "Children’s House at the insane asylum
at Mandeville. Children's House accommodated thirty-two children
between the ages of six and twelve. To be admitted to Children's
House, a child was required to have an I.Q. of no less than 80 and to
have no physical defects. Prior to the opening of Children's House it
was estimated that fifty to sixty young psychotic children were confined
in adult hospitals for the m entally-ill because there was no other
place for them. At Children's House the child was to be treated by
professional doctors and psychiatrists. If the child had not responded
to treatment within three months, he was sent back to the custodial
institution which sent him. On the other hand, those who showed
improvement would remain in the institution for a maximum of three
years.^ Admittedly too small to meet Louisiana's needs for the State's
emotionally disturbed children, Children's House did represent an
improvement in the treatment of the m entally-ill over past years.
Along with the State's effort to provide facilities for the mentally-
disturbed child, Louisiana expanded its facilities for the mentally
deficient. In 960i State Colony was placed under the Department of
Hospitals. This Department through its Division of Mental Retardation
operated four State Residential Schools for the care and treatment of
2 0 State-Times. February 3. 1959. 151 the mentally retarded: Pinecrest State School with an enrollment of
1,739; Ruston State School with 107; Hammond State School with 146;
Leesville State School with thirty-seven; and the School at Belle
Chase which was still in the process of being built. These institutions were supplemented by five private agencies in New Orleans which provided services for over 450 patients. In I960 there were
31,643 white children and 17,877 Negro children who were classified as being mentally retarded. Only 2500 were being serviced by the State.
Care for the Deaf and the Blind
The histories of the deaf and blind in Louisiana during the nineteenth century were intertwined very much like those of the insane and the feebleminded. Prior to 1838 the State provided no education or care for the deaf and blind. In 1838 the Legislature gave the parish police juries the responsibility of ascertaining the number of deaf and dumb persons in the parish and reporting the indigent ones to the governor who would then make arrangements with an asylum in a slave-holding state to educate the deaf and dumb of Louisiana. All expenses for the education of the deaf would be paid by the State.
The Governor was to report annually to the Legislature concerning the health and the scholarship of these students. Aid would be withdrawn 2 i from persons of unworthy conduct.
Between l8l6 and 1851 there were fourteen schools for the deaf in the United States located in New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, 152
Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia,
South Carolina, Missouri, Michigan, Connecticut. In compliance with the law deaf children of Louisiana were sent by flatboat to the
Kentucky School for the Deaf at Danville. In 1852 Louisiana established its institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind in Baton
Rouge. It was the duty of the seven-man Board of Administrators to receive, support, and instruct all deaf, dumb, and blind indigent residents of Louisiana. Residents of other states were to be served only on conditions determined by the Board. The Legislature appropriated $25,000 for the expenses of establishing the school.
The original building for the institution was made possible through the generosity of Francis Dubose Richardson, a member of the State
Legislature who introduced the b ill establishing the school. On
December 8, 1852, James S. Brown, who had worked at the Indiana Asylum of the Deaf and Dumb, arrived in Baton Rouge to open the new school and to serve as its superintendent. On his way to the capital city he stopped at the Kentucky Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and picked up eleven Louisiana pupils who were going to school there, and brought them with him to inaugurate the Louisiana Institution for the Education 22 of the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind.
In 1853 the Board of Administrators of Charity Hospital reported having twenty-three blind persons, a ll of whom were misplaced at such an institution. The next year these twenty-three persons were provided
22 Louisiana State School for the Deaf, One Hundred Years of Progress (Baton Rouge, 1952), 7. 153 for at the school in Baton Rouge. On the sixth anniversary of the
Institution for the Deaf and Blind the Board members were thankful for the progress that had been made:
Six years have elapsed since the first steps were taken for establishing the Louisiana Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. All of these years have constituted a period of financial embarrassment to the State and three of them marked in their course with fearful pestilence. Yet, under the fostering care of the Legislature, and the smile of Providence, the Institution has continued to prosper. ^
By i860 the Institution was "believed to be inferior to no establish- 24 ment in our country." There were enrolled at that time forty-four males and thirty-three females who were deaf mutes, and fourteen persons who were blind.
When the Civil War began, all of the students left the school except those who had no home. The exhaustion of funds compelled the
Board to dispense also with the services of all teachers and other employees except the superintendent and a matron. During the War the school was le ft to its own resources and was supported for a while by the proceeds of cakes made by the girls and sold by the boys, by the sale of vegetables from its garden, and from benevolence. When these resources failed, Superintendent Brown applied for and received rations from Federal authorities. Before the occupation of Baton Rouge by the Union forces the school, located near the M ississippi River, was
23 Sixth Annua] Report of the Institution for the Deaf. Dumb, and Blind (January, 1858) , 11.
of the Joint Committee .on Charitable. Institutions (Baton Rouge, i860) , 9* 15^ a target for shells fired by Federal gunboats. After the occupation
the Union forces used the school as a hospital and the students were
used as attendants for the wounded and sick. The Army moved out
in 1865 leaving the buildings dilapidated and the furniture destroyed.^
The legislature of I865 appropriated $18,000 for the school but little
of it could be drawn. Creditors who had waited long and patiently
began to press their claims. The task of reorganizing and sustaining
the institution seemed almost hopeless to Superintendent Brown. Yet
two years later the school was in such good condition that it was in a
position to help a neighboring state with its problem of educating
the deaf. The institution for the deaf at Jackson, Mississippi, had
been destroyed during the War. Superintendent Brown made arrangements
with authorities in M ississippi to educate M ississippi pupils in the
Louisiana institution at $250 per pupil. Seventeen mutes and one
blind child were enrolled in the Louisiana school in 186? from
M ississippi while there were thirty-seven deaf and fourteen blind
students from Louisiana.
The school had no more than rid itself of one occupation when it
became necessary to fight again for its buildings and grounds as the
students and faculty of the state university moved in. The buildings
of the Louisiana State Seminary, located near Alexandria, were burned
in 1869. When no satisfactory quarters could be located in Alexandria,
the Seminary was moved to Baton Rouge. At the suggestion of Governor
2^Renort of the Board of Administrators oil the Louisiana Institution for the Deaf. Dumb, and Blind (Baton Rouge, 1867) , 3. 155
Warirouth the Board of Administrators of the Deaf and Blind Institution offered one-half of their building for the use of the Seminary.
President David French Boyd recalled his students on November1869, 1, and began classes at the Institution for the Deaf and Blind. Thus began a struggle between the Seminary and the Deaf and Blind School for the use of the buildings and between Boyd and the Legislature for adequate appropriations to keep the Seminary alive. The following year Boyd and his Board of Supervisors recommended to the Legislature
that the whole of the asylum be placed at the disposal of the Seminary
until it was rebuilt. But Boyd did not want anything done for the
Seminary until it was absolutely certain that the deaf mutes would not s u ffe r .^
In the meantime the blind were removed to other quarters in order
to make room for the college. The act of 1871 which established a separate school for the blind provided that no person should be
deprived of the privilege of admittance to the institution because of
race or color. This section of the act was ignored like so many other non-discriminatory clauses passed by the Reconstruction Legislature.
While the college students were with the School for the Deaf,
the students were forbidden to communicate with the deaf students, but
they did not always observe the rule. Signs were frequently passed
between the two groups and later one of the college students became
superintendent of an institution for the deaf in West Virginia, perhaps
26Annua] Report of the Board of Supervisors of.Louisiana University (New Orleans, 1871), 2. 156
27 because of this experience. ' Between 1872 and 1877 the college got little support from the Reconstruction Legislature because it would 28 not admit Negro students. In 1875 there were only five cadets and two instructors on the Seminary's roster. In the meantime the name of the Seminary was changed to Louisiana State University and in 1877 the University merged with Louisiana A. and M. College of New Orleans to form Louisiana State University and A. and M. College.
Superintendent J. A. McWhorter of the Deaf School felt from the first that the blind had been moved to neke way for the eventual moving of the deaf. However, the University knew that the blind and the deaf were working toward repossession of their plant as soon as possible. Thomas Duckett Boyd, brother of the president and an instructor at the University commented in his diary:
The little games of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum Board begin to be made manifest. They and the Board of the Blind Asylum have devised a scheme to get possession of this building and to crowd us out. Their plan is this: to send the deaf mutes away temporarily, then the blind to request the use of their part of the building while they are away, to which there can be no objection since they are both state institutions. But when the deaf mutes return, it w ill appear that the blind cannot get away. They w ill then consolidate the two appropriations with which they can carry on both institutions, until the meeting of the Legislature, when they w ill have two chances to our one of getting the whole building.'
Boyd's "little games" did not materialize for the Seminary combined
^Marcus M. Wilkerson, Thomas Duckett Bovd. The Story of A Southern Educator (Baton Rouge, 1935) , 27.
28Ibid. . 29.
2^Thomas D. Boyd, Diarv. 1875-1885 (typew ritten), Louisiana State University, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, May 8, 1875. 157 with the College and the enlarged institution continued to function in the plant built for the deaf and blind. Finally,1879 in th e d e a f pupils were moved to another site and the University occupied the whole of the deaf school's property.
In 1886 the University got permission to occupy an old m ilitary barracks in Baton Rouge on the M ississippi River. On May28, 1887, both the blind and the deaf moved back to their original site and united as one group again. The legislative act which permitted this reunion also stated that only persons between eight and twenty-five years of age were eligible for admission to either school. Ten years later the
Louisiana Institution for the Blind was established, thus splitting the institutions for the second time.
The superintendent of the Deaf School disliked the official name of the school; for it conveyed to him that it was something of an asylum for dumb creatures. He insisted that the institution was a real school, not an institution for the helpless and suggested that its name be changed. In 1908 th e name o f th e sc h o o l was changed to th e
Louisiana State School for the Deaf and Dumb and later both schools were placed under the supervision of the Louisiana State Board of Education.
In spite of the fact that the laws providing for the schools for the deaf and blind did not mention race, only white students were admitted to both institutions. Throughout the nineteenth century no provision was made for the education of Negro deaf and blind in
Louisiana. Through the efforts of J. S. Clark the Legislature provided for the establishing of a State School for Deaf and Blind Children of 158
the Negro race in 1920. There were not enough funds for the operation
of both schools, so the available funds were used to build facilities
for the blind on the campus of Southern University in Scotlandville,
near Baton Rouge. This school opened in October, 1922, with an
enrollment of sixteen students and three facultym em bers.-^ Funds were not available for the Deaf Sphool until 1938 after Clark working
with State Superintendent T. H. Harris devised means for securing the
needed finances. In 1955 both schools had an enrollment of 1^3 students
and a faculty of thirty.
Louisiana showed its concern for a ll of its blind when the
Legislature created in 1928 the Louisiana State Board for the Blind
consisting of the superintendent of the State School for the Blind who
was chairman of the Board and four other members, one of whom had to
be blind. The Board was to assist the adult blind by helping them find
employment, teaching them a trade, and helping them market their
products; to maintain a complete register of the blind; to inquire
about the cause of blindness; and to adopt and enforce the proper pre-
ventive measures to discourage begging.31
Although the 1938 Legislature provided for the temporary
assistance for eye treatment to prevent blindness or restore sight, no
funds were set aside for this purpose. A private agency, the State
Society for the Prevention of Blindness helped to provide some care,
^°John B. Cade, The Man Christened Josiah Clark (New York, 1966), 155.
^ "Toni s i ana Acts o f 1928. No. 101. 159 especially glasses to children; but its program was discontinued in
19^1. A state-wide program of sight conservation and prevention of b lin d n e s s , home te a c h in g f o r th e b lin d , a home in d u s try program , and a program of vocational training and rehabilitation of the blind became a part of the program of the State Department of Public Welfare in
19^2 and responsibilities of the State Board for the Blind were trans- 32 ferred to the State Department. The prevention of blindness program of the Department of Welfare was available to persons who were not
ANB recipients but who complained of a disabling eye condition and were found to be financially unable to secure diagnostic services and treatment. The success of the program depended upon the willingness of physicians to make out the necessary form in order that a recipient might qualify and the availability of free clinics throughout the state for diagnosis and treatment. In 1959 the eye care program cost the State $1^9, 067. The Department of Welfare paid for 8,537 eye examinations and purchased 7,^7 pairs of eye glasses at a cost of
$93,905.
Care for the Crippled Child
When Sophia Bell Wright, a New Orleans educator and social worker, discovered that there was no place in Louisiana for a crippled orphaned boy, she decided to do something about33 it. ^ She secured
•^Louisiana Acts of 1942. No. 119. 33 Margaret F. Gardner, "Sophie Bell Wright: A Biography," Unpublished master's thesis (Louisiana State University, 1959), 33. See also Sophie B. Wright Scrapbook, Louisiana State University, Department of Archives and Manuscripts. l 6 o
permission from the Board of the New Orleans Home for Incurables to
raise money to build a cottage in which handicapped children could be
cared for. The Board agreed to allow the building to be constructed
and on November 23, 1904, the cornerstone was laid for the Children's
Annex of the Home for the Incurables, the first major effort in the
State to provide some care for its crippled children. Another private
group, the Shriners, established a hospital for crippled children in
Shreveport in 1922. The hospital gave orthopedic care to children
under fourteen years old whose families were indigent and there were no restrictions on the basis of race or creed. This sixty-bed hospital has been completely supported by the Shriners.
The Louisiana Society for Crippled Children was incorporated in
1935. This agency furnished orthopedic appliances and transportation
to and from medical facilities to all crippled children. The Society's
program was financed chiefly by its annual Valentine Drive.
Up to 1936 all of the efforts on behalf of the crippled had been
the results of private agencies. In 1936 the State Board of Health was given the authority to devise a state plan for services to
crippled children. A plan was developed in 1938 and was finally
approved and funds made available by the U. S. Children's Bureau in 34 April, 1939. By December 31. 1939. over 1000 crippled children were
registered with the Board of Health and 6o3 children received treatment
either from the Crippled Children's Division of the Board of Health or
•^Biennial Report of the Louisiana State Board of Health. 194Q- 1941, 143. l 6 l through some other agency such as the Shriners' Hospital or the
Charity Hospital of New Orleans. Clinics with at least one resident orthopedic surgeon and a nurse were available for whites at Tour©
Infirmary and for Negroes at Flint-Goodridge Hospital, both of New
Orleans. Bi-nwnthly clinics for both races were available in
Lafayette, Shreveport, Monroe, and later Alexandria and Baton Rouge.
Since 1951 the Louisiana Chapter of the National Society for
Crippled Children, which was supported by Easter Seals, has supple mented the work of the Board of Health by furnishing transportation
~ " N to clinics, and orthopedical and prosthetic appliances. The
Louisiana Chapter has also supported special education through scholarships to enable teachers to obtain professional training. In
1956 over 1180 children were served by this agency throughout the
S t a t e .
Another woman, Elizabeth M. Robin, herself a cripple since childhood, was in part responsible for the New Orleans Crippled
Hospital. Mrs. Robin, who throughout her life had had a vital interest in the welfare of other crippled children and adults, con ceived the idea of a hospital for crippled children after the Second
World War. She spearheaded fund-raising efforts and was the person most actively connected with the hospital's planning. On February27,
1955* the Crippled Children's Hospital was dedicated.-^ The
$1,175,000 facility of nearly 100 beds was a convalescent and
3 5 ''Tlmes-Picavune. February 27, 1955. See also the Times- Picayune for October 19, 19^7. 162 rehabilitation center for both white and Negro children. Patients undergoing the acute stage of an illness or corrective surgery in one of the city's general hospitals were transferred there. Children who did not need to be hospitalized received follow-up care and treatment on an out-patient basis.
Another service to the State's handicapped children was the
State School for Spastic Children at Alexandria. It has been said that when the opponents of Earl Long suggested a cut in welfare, Long accused "them of wanting to take it out on the spastics. During the
I960 campaign Long said, among other things, in a speech in Alexandria,
"Some sapsuckers talk about cutting down taxes. Where are they going to start cutting expenses? On the Spastic School? They want to cut down on the spastics.11 The school for spastics had opened on the site of the old Alexandria Air Force Base in September, 1947, with an enrollment of 110 children. Fifteen years later the enrollment had more than doubled. In 1948 the school was placed under the jurisdic tion of the Louisiana State Board of Education and a Technical
Advisory Board. On September 4, 1953. a new school was built to serve approximately 100 children throughout the State.
Five Cerebral Palsy Associations or Centers also served 245 children in the State. These Centers were financed from private funds but utilized funds for special education provided through the Department of Education. In the Shreveport area the Caddo School for Exceptional
36 A. J. Liebling, The,fepl pf Louisiana, 96. 163
Children has been a joint public and private enterprise serving about sixty children. Thus through private and public efforts the State has been able to provide services for about ^00 children who are crippled one way or another.
In 1962 Kathryn E. Mullinnix of Louisiana State University made a study of the problem of handicapped children in Louisiana for the
Louisiana Youth Commission. She concluded accurately that Louisiana had developed a number of programs aimed to serve children with handicaps; but as to focus they were more directed toward diagnosis than toward treatment. That is, personnel, funds, and facilities to carry out the necessary remedial and rehabilitative services were less available than diagnostic or evaluative processes. The programs have been established and supervised by various state departments such as
Welfare, Education, and Health, not always on the basis of cooperative and overall planning, with the result that there were areas of overlapping, lack of clarity as to purposes and objectives, as well as service omissions. Services to the blind, for example, were administered by both the Department of Welfare and the Department of
Education while services to the crippled were administered by both the
Department of Education and the Board of Health. She further stated
that each of the departments tended to focus upon a particular aspect
of the child's health, disability, or adjustment rather than upon a
complete understanding of the child, his total situation, potentials, 1 6 4 problems, and needs if he was to have an opportunity for fullest development.37
37 'Kathryn E. Mullinnix, A Study of the Problem of Handicapped Children in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1962), 35. CHAPTER V U I
LOUISIANA AND THE CHILD OFFENDER
Edward Livingston's School of Reform
When Edward Livingston codified the criminal laws of Louisiana in 1825, he called for a school of reform to complete his penal system. He assumed that convicts were men who were motivated in much the same way as other men and th at i t was the duty of the penal system "to turn them into a course that w ill promote the true happiness o f the in d ivid u al, by making them cease to injure that of s o c ie ty . . . . 1,1
In order to carry out this objective for juveniles, Livingston suggested a special institution of confinement for those under eighteen and above six years of age. The school would contain separate divisions for the sexes and separate cells for each prisoner.
The inmates were to be employed in open courts or in shops, and there was to be a schoolroom with a competent teacher and an infirmary for each division. Every inmate was to be taught some mechanical arts and be required to work at it with intermissions only for meals, instruction, relaxation, and sleep. Discipline was to be persuasive so long as th at method was serv icea b le, but coercive when bad conduct
■^Edward Livingston, A System o f Penal Law (Philadelphia,1833) » 338. 166 necessitated coercion. The inmates were to be discharged only on the expiration of their terms of service or by apprenticeship. No male under twenty-one or female under nineteen was to be released, except by apprenticeship, notwithstanding the term of service prescribed in the sentence. Discharge for apprenticeship was to be made only after the inmate had had two years of residence in the institution and had attained a certain proficiency in elementary education. Before the inmate could be freed, he was required to have a w ritten recommendation 2 signed and approved by the inspectors. As has been pointed out,
Louisiana did not accept Livingston's penal code and prison reforms, but the influence of the code was felt throughout the United States and the rest of the world. Commenting on the importance of the code, the historian, George Bancroft, wrote: "The code which he (Livingston) prepared at the insistence of the State of Louisiana is in its sim plicity, completeness, and humanity at once an impersonation of the man and an exposition of American constitutions. If it has never yet been adopted as a whole, it has proved an unfailing fountain of reforms suggested by its principles.... The great doctrines which it develops w ill, as time advances, be more and more nearly reduced to 3 practice; for they are but the expression of true philanthropy."
The long development toward adequate penal institutions for juveniles in Louisiana has bom out the prophecy which Bancroft made in i860.
^Edward Livingston, A System of Penal law. 714-722.
•^Charles Haven Hunt, Life of Edward Livingston (New York, 1864) , xv ii . 167
Institutions for the Juvenile Delinquent
The history of institutions for child offenders parallels that of the rest of the nation. Throughout the nineteenth century children were placed in the parish jail with adult criminals since there was no separate institution for their incarceration. Only New Orleans made an attempt to provide some separation of juveniles from adult o ffe n d e rs .
In 1847 the legislature empowered New Orleans to establish houses of refuge for its juvenile delinquents and vagrants who were fifteen
years of age or younger. The New Orleans House of Refuge opened in
1848 with about sixteen boys. Four years later the institution was said to be in a disgraceful condition and a "positive stain upon the
character of the city, the building being more suitable for cattle
than humans."^ As a result, the boys were indentured to landholders
in nearby parishes whenever possible.
A sim ilar institution was established in New Orleans for girls
in 1852. It housed about 100 inmates from ages two to seventeen. The
girls were subjected to rigid discipline, given manual training, and,
on Sunday, given moral lectures by a Presbyterian elder and a
prominent businessman.^ The Catholics established the House of Good
Shepherd in 1859 as an institution "designed to reclaim the erring
daughters of dissipation and licentiousness and afford them due
4 Reinders, End of an Era. 71.
5Ibid. . 71. 168 opportunity to reform their habits and retrieve, as far as possible,
their ruined character."^ In 1873 the Girls' House of Refuge was abolished by the city and the inmates were transferred to the House o f th e Good S hepherd. F or many y e a rs t h i s p r iv a te i n s t i t u t i o n was subsidized by the City of New Orleans as its sole detention home and house of correction for girls.
In May, 1881, George Washington Cable, the w riter and reformer,
tendered his services to Mayor Shakespeare of New Orleans to v isit at his own expense a number of model institutions in northern and eastern cities. In July, 1881, he made a report to the grand jury
proposing that the Mayor appoint a board of prison and asylum commissioners to supervise the welfare institutions of the city and recommending the formation of a voluntary prison and charities aid association to help improve construction, discipline, and iranagement of prisons and houses of the poor, and also to help procure legislation necessary for the best conduct of the city's houses of detention and 7 correction.
In one of his articles in The Times-Democrat where he campaigned
for prison reform, Cable wrote:
One glance at our Parish Prison, our Insane Asylum, or our House of Refuge ought to be to any informed and observing, a dreadful revelation. And it is . . . . Concerning every house of detention or charity, purely and entirely under the control of our city government,
6 Report of the Joint Conmittee on Charitable Institutions (Baton Rouge, i860) , 5. n E ditorial, The Times-Democrat. December 25 , 1881. 169
there is but one conviction—that it is a disgrace to the community.^
Speaking of the parish jail he said: "All ages sometimes even down
to childhood and a ll degrees of viciousness and depravity and
brutality—from a lad who has stolen$5 out of a carelessly kept till,
to a man who has killed his wife with an ax—swarm and companion g together."'
Ifeyor Shakspeare did appoint the Board of Prisons and Asylums
and on March 7. 1882, a group of interested citizens organized the
Prison Reform and Asylums Aid Association with Cable as its secretary
to carry on further investigations and to campaign for prison reform
in the city. In1886 the Prison Reform Association of Louisiana was
organized to do similar work for the entire state; for the same
conditions that existed in New Orleans existed in all of the other
parishes of the state. Cable was particularly interested in the
South's system of leasing convicts to private contractors for work.
The Prison Reform Association was instrumental in getting laws passed
which abolished the system of leasing convicts along with other reforms
which were carried out by the State in the early part of the twentieth
c e n tu ry .
The New Orleans Board of Commissioners reported on December 31.
1890, that there were twenty-one white and sixty-seven colored boys in
8 George W. Cable, "Our Vice Mills and Jails for the Aged and Insane," The Times-Democrat. December 25, 1881. 9 G. W. Cable, "A Rogue's Congress," The Times-Democrat. Jan u ary2 2 , 1882. 1 7 0 the House of Refuge. Rabbi Leucht, twenty-four year board member of
Jewish Children Homes, commenting about the provisions for delinquent boys in the city, said: "We have also a house of refuge for refractory boys, boys convicted by a court for vagrancy and minor offenses. It is a refuge, but not a reformatory and here is not the place to pass any criticism , even were I inclined to do so."^
I n 1893 the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children established a Waifs' Home for the temporary shelter and protection o f both white and Negro youth. At this same time the
Prison Reform Association of Louisiana called for the ab olition of the ill-managed boys' reformatory and the transfer of its inmates to the
Waifs' Home. These reformers also called for the establishment of a state reformatory and a juvenile court for child offenders.-^
The State Reform School was founded at Monroe in 1904 as a correctional school for delinquent, neglected, and dependent boys, ages eight to twenty-one. Although the legislation providing for the institution did not specify that only white boys were to be admitted, the board of trustees was given the authority to restrict admission to white boys. Therefore Negro boys and girls outside of New Orleans were still confined in parish jails because until19^6 there was no state institution for their detention. After the opening of the State
Reformatory, New Orleans closed its House of Refuge and used only the
10New Orleans Daily Picayune. March 7, 1897.
^F . S. Shields, Prison Reform: Its Principles and Purposes. What I t Has Accomplished. The Work Yet To. B.e Done (New Orleans, 1905), 20. 171
Waifs' Home as a house of detention for boys and the House of Good
Shepherd for girls. Slingerland reported in 1916 that the state
reformatory, the Louisiana Training Institute, had a capacity for
eighty, but averaged about sixty inmates on any one day. The white
Waifs' Home averaged about seventy-five and the colored Waifs' Home
about eighty-five inmates; however, each had a capacity of one
hundred. The House of the Good Shepherd had a daily average of 185
and a capacity for200 .
A private agency, the Bureau of Municipal Research, reported
after its investigation of the welfare institutions of New Orleans
in 1921, that there was need for a complete reorganization of the
correctional institutions of the city. The report suggested a need
for a change in policy from one of punishment for prisoners to one of
training in self-help. The investigators found that the administrator's
of the Waifs' Home were too inclined to treat the boys as criminals
who had to be guarded and driven. The immediate needs at the Home
were new buildings of the cottage type, more recreation for the
inmates, an extended system of parole, and a trained staff. The report
concluded that because of these conditions it was far better to release 12 the boys than keep them where they were.
Much the same could have been said about the Institute at Monroe.
Very little in the way of reform was accomplished at the state's school
since the emphasis was on custodial care rather than rehabilitation.
1 2 "Report on Welfare in New Orleans," Times-Picavune. December 20, 1921. 172
The Institute had guard towers just like a prison and whipping and
confinement in small cells were the usual forms of punishment.^ At
the end of a boy’s sentence he was returned to his old environment
with no probationary supervision. The result was that he usuaXly
returned to Monroe, the parish prison, or the State Penitentiary.
In order to provide some type of public temporary care for
delinquent or neglected children the 1920 Legislature authorized
'police juries to enter into contracts with children’s foundling
societies for care and placing of delinquent, neglected or abandoned
children who had been so regarded by the juvenile courts. Thus the
Legislature not only legalized what New Orleans had already been doing,
but it made it possible for other parishes to do likewise.
In 1926 the State Legislature established the State Industrial
School for Girls. The school was located eight miles north of
Alexandria on forty acres of "cut-over" piney woodland. The first
girl was committed to the school in 1928. This school like its male
counterpart was to house delinquent, dependent, and neglected juveniles.
The school was built to accomirwdate sixty-nine girls and its population
ranged from forty-two to seventy-six on any one day. By 1935 it could
only accommodate one-third of the girls who needed its care and
protection. Upon admission girls received physical, psychometric, and
psychiatric examinations and a large number of girls were treated for
venereal disease. Nearly twenty per cent were found to be feeble-minded
•^Annual Report of the- Department ofm e 1itu t ions, 1955, 29. 1 7 3 and should have been transferred to another institution. Another very small per cent of admissions were girls who were neglected or dependent and who did not need to be in a correctional institution. Girls were allowed to remain in the school only seven years, and when they left they were given no probationary supervision.-^
The girls did not engage in agriculture or dairy operations but they o p e ra te d t h e i r own la u n d ry and made t h e i r own c lo th e s . U n til 19^3 slapping and paddling were used as a means of punishment. After that time punishment consisted primarily of confinement to the punishment room for periods from two to six weeks. The Governor's Committee to investigate the State's institutions condemned this type of punishment for the room became a breeding place for repeated offenses, invited lesbian relations, and was detrimental to the health and welfare of the g irls.^
In the meantime New Orleans replaced the old Waifs' home and established Milne-Municipal Boys' Home in 1932 for both white and Negro boys. The Milne Home became a catch-all for boys ages eight to twenty-one.
It housed the feebleminded, the neglected, the maladjusted, the destitute, runaways, the incorrigibles, truants, the little boy of eight, frightened and homesick, and the juvenile of eighteen, approaching manhood either maladjusted or incorrigible, but in the main rebellious and thwarted.
Some of the boys were sent to the Louisiana Training Institute, but the
^Annual Report of the Department of Institutions. 19^1, unpaginated.
■^"Report of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Institutions" (New Orleans, 19^) » 60. 17^ feebleminded, white and colored, and the colored incorrigible remained to bog down the Home's program.^ In 19^6 the Department of Public
Welfare of New Orleans assumed responsibility for the administration of the Milne Boys* Home. The Department trade strides in eliminating deficiencies and inadequacies in administration by hiring trained personnel and planning recreational and educational programs. There s till remained, however, the problem of the feebleminded and older Negro delinquents for which there was no other institution.
As early as 1900 there had been those who called for a special institution for Negro juvenile delinquents, including J. B. Lafargue, president of the Louisiana Colored Teachers' Association and J. S. Clark, president of Southern University. Some twenty-eight years later Dr, Clark served as the spokesman for the committee of citizens which prevailed upon the Huey Long Legislature to pass the act which would provide for the creation, maintenance, and government of a State Industrial School for Colored Male Youth aged seventeen and under. The act passed and at the same time the Legislature authorized the district prison farms to 17 maintain a special department where colored juveniles might be held.
Thereafter, Juvenile Court judges sentenced Negro delinquents to the prison farm; since no money was appropriated, the state reformatory was not built until twenty years after the initial act. In the meantime police juries were authorized to create parish industrial schools for
^B elle Pike Winchester, "Milne-Municipal Boys' Home," Louisiana W elfare. VI (July, 19^+6) , 10.
^ Louisiana Acts of 1928, No. 189. 1 7 5 colored youths. The parish of East Carroll, with the cooperation of
Madison and Tensas parishes, provided for the placement of juveniles 18 in one section of the parish penal farm. The other police juries were reluctant to provide institutions for their colored delinquents because they felt that the state institution would adequately serve their purposes.
Before his death in 19^4 Dr. Clark sought and received the promise that the school would be controlled and operated by Negroes. When the school opened in 19^8, its superintendent, Dallas B. Matthews, and his staff were all Negroes and the chairman of the three-man Board of
Commissioners was an outstanding Negro of East Baton Rouge Parish,
John G. Lewis, Jr. In 1952 the School was placed under the Board of
Institutions which had no Negro members but it was s till staffed by
Negro personnel. The physical plant, covering 417 acres of which 315 were used for crop land, consisted of two dormitories, a commissary, a classroom building, and the superintendent's home. Less than a year after the institution opened the dormitories, originally designed for
thirty boys, housed sixty boys.^ Soon the institution became too
crowded; it also lacked personnel trained in rehabilitation work.
In 1952 the juvenile and district courts were authorized to commit
both male and female to the institution. The first two female trainees
l 8 Robert G. Pugh, Juvenile Laws of Louisiana: History and Development (Baton Rouge, 1957)•
•^Annual Report of the Board of Comiss loners of the. Sta.te Industrial School for Colored Youths. 19^9, 1950. 176 were admitted in 1956. During 1962 nearly 800 boys and 150 girls
were cared for at the school, in ten dormitories for male and five for
female trainees.
The Board of Institutions reported in 1956 that more than 800
children and youth were found on any one day in the State's three
correctional schools and the number kept mounting year by year. Over
crowding and understaffing made rehabilitation almost impossible in
any of the schools. On September 22, 1958, the State opened the
Louisiana Correctional Institute for Males near DeQuincy, Louisiana.
This institution relieved both city and state correctional schools and
detention homes of all juvenile males twelve years of age and over who
had been found to be incorrigible or possessed of other undesirable
tendencies. The juveniles were to be kept separate from adult
convicts; they represented those juveniles whose behavior made them
unfit for the correctional schools, but who were too young to be placed
in the State Penitentiary at Angola.
The Juvenile Delinquent and His Court
The State Legislature passed its first law pertaining to the
detention of minors in 1870. This law, as amended in 1892, stated that
any child found begging for alms or soliciting charity from door to
door or in the street should be deemed a vagrant and should be committed
to the House of Refuge of New Orleans, to the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children, or to such a place as might be 177 provided by the parochial authorities. 20 While the law was placing responsibility for the care of juvenile delinquents in the hands of
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the
Society, along with other groups and individuals, was working for the establishment of juvenile courts throughout the State.
In 1898 the Committee of Children of the National Conference of
Charities and Corrections recommended that there be created a special court to try children's cases in which there would be no semblance of formal criminal procedure. The recommendation of the Committee went beyond the mere establishment of a special court and proposed a corwnission whose responsibility would begin with the complaint against the child and not end until the child had been discharged from 2i supervision by the state. The advocates of the juvenile court also believed that if children were separated from adult offenders and the
judge dealt with the problems of "erring children" as a "wise and kind father," then the wayward tendencies of the child could be
checked and delinquency and crime prevented or reduced. Under such a court the child offender was to be regarded not as a criminal, but as a delinquent, as a misdirected and misguided child needing aid, encouragement, help, and assistance. As Grace Abbott has said, "The
challenging and seminal idea which was back of the juvenile court was
^ Louisiana Acts of 1892. No. 28.
2lBruno, Trends .in Social Work.67 . 178 that its function was to cure, rather than punish delinquency—a very 22 much more difficult task."
The first juvenile court in the United States was established in
C hicago in 1899 through th e jo i n t e f f o r t s o f Jane Addams and J u lia n
Lathrop of Hull House and an outstanding liberal judge, Julian W. Mack.
The first juvenile court in Louisiana was established in New Orleans in 1908 with Andrew H. Wilson as one of its first judges. The
Legislature provided for a juvenile court system in the State which would consist of the Juvenile Court of Orleans parish and the D istrict
Courts throughout the State sitting as juvenile courts. The Juvenile
Court of New Orleans was to have separate accommodations from other criminal courts and separate trial periods for juveniles and adults, white and colored children. No police officer, sheriff, or probation officer arresting a child was to place him in a police station or jail. Pending trial the courts were to permit the child to remain in the possession of the person having custody of the child or of some responsible citizen or institution. The juvenile court was to have fu ll and complete jurisdiction of delinquent and neglected children seventeen years of age or under, except cases of murder, manslaughter, and rape.^ Moreover, the Board of Charities and Corrections was charged with the duty of requiring a yearly statement from all clerks of court as to the number, character, and disposition of cases coming before the court during the year.
22Grace Abbott, The Child and the State (Chicago, 1938), II, 331.
^ Louisiana Acts of 1908. No. 83. Until 1924 the Juvenile Court was primarily an institution which existed only in New Orleans when a court was established in Caddo
Parish. In spite of the law many juveniles were sentenced as criminals by district and city courts and confined to parish jails and in some cases to the State Penitentiary at Angola. In 1920 three
Negro boys ages ten, thirteen, and fourteen years were sentenced to the State Farm at Angola for ten, thirteen, and fourteen years respectively. The D istrict Judge who sentenced them stated that they had criminal records over a period of years. He further stated that he was unable to te ll the age of a Negro by looking at him, and that no proof was offered that they were juveniles. When Governor Parker, whose attention had been called to the matter, asked the Attorney-
General A. V. Coco to given an opinion, the Attorney-General said that these children should never have been tried and convicted as criminals and the D istrict Court of East Baton Rouge Parish had no
jurisdiction over them. He further stated that they should have been tried as juveniles, and upon conviction they should have been confined or placed in some reformatory school. He concluded that their 24- conviction was illegal. These Negroes should have been incarcerated
in some reformatory, but at that time the State had no such school for
Negro delinquents and the only other place that they might have been
placed was the parish jail which was not suited for long imprisonments.
24 , Report of the Attorney-General of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1922), 4?2. 180
In 1938 to point up the need for an institution for Negro delinquents, the Board of Charities cited the case of the Tom Mix gang which terrorized Baton Rouge for several years. Members of the gang were arrested and detained in the parish jail from five to ten days, then returned to the streets. This routine continued until the leader became eighteen years old; then he was sentenced to the 2 S penitentiary and the gang broke up.J
From 1938 to 19^0 the Council of Social Agencies of New Orleans and other civic groups were vigorously trying to secure better physical conditions for the juvenile court. None of their efforts brought concrete results. Mrs. Judith Douglas, president of the Child
Conservation League, a state-wide child-placing agency, sponsored a b ill in the Legislature calling for a committee to study the problem of juvenile delinquency on a state-wide basis. The b ill did not have much backing, but there was no opposition to its passage. As a result
of widespread insistence on the part of many citizens to do something about the problem of increasing juvenile delinquency, Governor Davis appointed the Juvenile Court Commission in November, 19^. The
Commission consisted of Judge Chris Barnette of Shreveport, chairman;
Mrs. Roger P. Sharp of New Orleans, W. S. Terry, Jr. of Baton Rouge,
Dr. Elizabeth Wisner of New Orleans, Judge Frank Voelker of Lake
Providence, and Lawrence E, Higgins who was appointed in July, 19^8,
25 Annua1 Report of Board of Charities. 1938. Report in the form of a letter addressed to Governor Leche. 181 after the death of the Commissioner of Public Welfare, W. S. Terry,
J r .
The Commission held open hearings in several Louisiana cities which were attended by members of the legal, social work, teaching, medical, psychiatric, and m inisterial professions. The Commission called on experts in the field of juvenile crime for advice, and sponsored research in connection with courts, state departments, and private institutions. After compiling all of its research, the
Commission issued a report recommending that judges of city courts be attorneys; that the Department of Public Welfare provide properly equipped and managed detention homes; that individual cases of
juvenile delinquency not be publicized; that better training be given
members of law enforcement agencies, and that the State establish a
permanent Youth Commission to study and make recommendations on a ll
2 fi problems pertaining to youth.
The findings of the Juvenile Court Commission were reinforced by
a study The National Probation Association made in New Orleans. This
study disclosed that New Orleans had one of the most poorly equipped
juvenile courts of any large city in the country. Its major faults
were inadequate quarters, poor organization, lack of trained probation 27 personnel, and ineffective procedural policies. ' The effects of both
of these studies were to be felt in New Orleans, four years later in
26 Report of the Juvenile Court Commission for the State of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 19^6) , 1.
^Times-Picayune. November 21, 19^7. 182
1951 when the juvenile court quarters were renovated and enlarged, eight social workers instead of three were placed on the probation staff, and the budget was increased from $90,9^ in 1950 to $102,4o6 in 1951.28
Another result of the Juvenile Court Comission study was an act of the Legislature giving the Department of Public Welfare the authority to construct and operate detention facilities and to contract with individuals to provide foster home care to children with special needs.^ Since the passage of this act in 19^8 the Department has made contracts for foster home care for special children but it has made little headway in building and operating detention homes.
How the acts setting up juvenile courts have worked in other parts of the State, excluding New Orleans and Shreveport, was best exemplified by the experience of Baton Rouge prior to 195^-. In 1952 the East Baton Rouge Parish Council authorized representatives of the
National Probation and Parole Association to make a survey in the parish of the treatment of neglected and dependent children.
Representatives of the Association found that the juvenile court in
East Baton Rouge Parish was not a special court with exclusive juris diction in children's cases. Instead the court was presided over by four district court judges who rotated by agreement every five months, each judge serving ex-officio as judge of the juvenile court. The
2^Ibid. . February 26, 1951.
^Louisiana Acts of 1948. No. 5^. 183
criminal court docket was rotated at the same time as that of the
judge who presided over the juvenile court and who also acted as
judge of the criminal court during the same period. Moreover, the
judge of the city court served ex-officio as a juvenile court judge in
juvenile cases brought before him.
In the district court two days were set aside for juvenile cases
and three days for criminal cases. Cases of neglect and delinquency
might be heard at any time, sandwiched between other cases or heard before the court convenedSfor adult ones. Cases involving children were, heard in the judge's chamber, while cases of non-support were heard in the courtroom. During the session of 1952, the court heard
1,560 cases of non-support, 82 adoption hearings, 1^0 cases of
delinquency,92 neglect cases, 31 cases of contributing to the neglect,
and 2 cases of contributing to the delinquency of minors.
Frequently, the sole probation officer of East Baton Rouge Parish
did not furnish the judge with a written report covering the officer's
investigation of the child being brought before the court.
Consequently 13 per cent of the delinquency cases were dismissed by
the judge with a warning to the child, or the child was paroled to his
parents, an action which ordinarily had little meaning; 11 per cent
were committed to institutions; and 19.2 per cent were officially
placed on probation. Twice as many Negro children were sentenced to
the parish jail as whites, three times as many Negroes were committed
institutions, and only one-third as many were placed on probation.
The investigators declared a less perfunctory, milder treatment policy 18** operated in favor of white than of Negro juveniles. The judge gave little consideration to the fact that there were fewer resources in the parish for Negroes and that fewer Negro delinquents obtained the services of the probation officer.
The investigators described the detention facilities at the East
Baton Rouge Parish jail in great detail. The jail had a wide central hallway off which were "tanks" for prisoners segregated according to sex and race. One of the tanks was reserved for Negro women and girls. Here young girls were often locked up with sophisticated prostitutes. At the far end of the central hallway was a small shower room which contained mops, cleaning material and medical examining
table. This room was used for Negro boys who slept on mattresses on
the cement floor. When so many boys were detained that the mattresses took up all the floor space, additional nattresses were put down in
the central hall.
Near the jail's entrance there were five small ^ells. The first one, about ten feet by ten feet, was reserved for white boys. It contained one double deck bunk bed and a toilet, but no wash basin.
When more than two boys were detained, mattresses were put down on the
floor of the cell. In the next two cells were the drunks and the
mentally disturbed. The fourth cell was used for white women and
girls. When both women and girls were jailed, every effort was made
to move the women to another cell to provide for complete segregation.
During 1951 there were 243 juveniles between the ages of eight and
sixteen held in the East Baton Rouge Parish jail from one to 185 seventy-eight daysj 118 Negro boys, 90 white boys,27 Negro girls and 8 white girls.
The survey concluded that in Baton Rouge the poor facilities provided in the jail, the lack of probation services in the district court and the lack of a state institution for delinquent Negro girls tended to encourage the very delinquency decried by the community.
The report also recommended that the city judge refer or remand all
juvenile cases to the district juvenile court, that parish commissioners appoint an advisory committee to the juvenile court and develop an adequate probation department.^
Following the 1952 survey in East Baton Rouge Parish, the report rested for several months without any action being taken upon its recommendations. Several groups discussed the report during 1953
including the M inisterial Alliance, Inter-Civic Club, the League of
Women Voters, Parent-Teachers Association Council, Kiwanis Club, and
the Amvets. The first of these groups to take action was the Amvets who passed a resolution favoring the establishment of a detention home
in Baton Rouge. The PTA of the parish became the organization to
coordinate the efforts of all groups interested in the program for
probation and detention services for the parish. Through the PTA's
public relations committee public awareness was aroused. In the
meantime the Kiwanis Club decided to renovate, at the cost of $8,500,
an old army administration building at Harding Field as a detention
30State-Times. July 9, 10, 1952. 186 home. The PTA trade an appeal to the city-parish council which after deliberations, appropriated monies for the operation of the home.
On February 15, 1954, Baton Rouge's firs t detention home opened with an appropriate staff, both white and Negro, and new probation personnel.31 '
In conjunction with the founding of the detention home the legislature made it possible for the people of the State to adopt a constitutional amendment to establish a family court in East Baton
Rouge Parish. On November 2, 1954, the Family Court was established.
It had exclusive jurisdiction over all cases of juveniles, except those involving capital crimes of minors under seventeen years of age; a ll cases of desertion, non-support or criminal neglect; adoption; and cases of divorce or annulment of marriage. The Family Court began operation on December 10, 1954, with Judge Joe W. Sanders, presiding.
During the Court's first year 280 different children, including runaways from other states, were cared for at the Juvenile Detention
Home. The sum of $83,924.55 was collected for the support of dependents under probation plans imposed by court sentence in criminal neglect of family cases. The Court also granted658 cases of divorce 32 and separation involving 570 children and heard 105 adoption .J cases
Also during this first year the Court made arrangements with the
East Baton Rouge Parish Department of Public Welfare to provide
■^^Margaret G. Beste, "Operation Detention Home," Louisiana W elfare. XV (April, 1954) , 6-19. 32 Annual Report of the Family Court in the Parish of East Baton Rouge for 1955 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), 3, 4. 187 receiving homes for temporary emergency care of neglected dependent or homeless children. Receiving homes were made available to white children by December 17, 195^, and during the year forty-nine children received care in such facilities.
The city-parish council created the Family Court Advisory
Committee of twenty-one citizens for the purpose of lending guidance, assistance, and support in the improvement of court services and facilities. At the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on
January 7» 1955, the Judge of the Family Court referred to the Committee for study the creation of a family counseling service and the establish ment of receiving homes for colored children. Receiving homes for
Negro children were made available on September2 3 , 1955, and by the time of the first anniversary of the Court twelve Negro children had been cared for in receiving homes. In 1958 a private agency affiliated with the Family Service Association of America made family counseling services available to the people of Baton Rouge. Mrs. Inez Land and other interested citizens were instrumental in establishing the Family
Counseling Service of East Baton Rouge Parish. Between 1956 and 1967 the budget of the agency had grown from $22,000 to $65,229 and its staff from one to three full-time caseworkers, an office staff, and several part-time workers. The agency like its counterpart in New
Orleans and the rest of the United States provided counseling in all phases of family problems on a pay as you can basis. Most of its 33 operational funds, however, were derived from United Givers.
-^Morning Advocate. February 21, 1968. 188
In its most recent report the Family Court Advisory Committee included at least one Negro 'woman in its membership. The report called attention to the overcrowded condition at the State Industrial
School for Colored Youth and expressed hope that the Committee would
"take positive steps toward pressing for solutions for this deplorable circumstances." The chairman also hoped that the Committee would make the public aware of the crowded family court docket and he hoped that the State Legislature would provide a second family court judge for
East Baton Rouge Parish.
Many of the juveniles appearing before the city court were traffic offenders. With the opening of the Family Court these offenders were tried in this court. In 1962 a juvenile traffic court with a panel of five to six high school jurors was chosen by the Baton
Rouge Youth Council. Jurors were licensed drivers who served for six weeks. The growing problem of juvenile traffic violations was demonstrated by the fact that in 1965 only 562 violators appeared before the court while in 1966 there were a total of 1,293 ju v e n ile traffic violations.
The Louisiana Youth Commission
The recommendation by the Juvenile Court Commission that a permanent youth committee be established was not carried out until
November, 1950, when Governor Earl K. Long appointed the nine-man
34 / ' o *' Morning Advocate. February 2, 1968. 189 commission. The Louisiana Youth Commission consisted of Judge Chris
Barnette who, as chairman of the defunct Juvenile Court Commission, remained for two more years as chairman of the new committee, Senator
Gu J. D'Antonio of New Orleans, Dr. Harrison Dobbs of Baton Rouge,
Father Fred Digby of New Orleans, Mrs. G. W. Pomeroy of Ruston,
Rabbi M. M. Thurman of Alexandria, Mrs. A. Dent Tisdale of Monroe,
Judge Frank Voelker of Lake Providence, and Dr. C. H. Webb of
Shreveport. In September, 1951, Rabbi Thurman resigned and was replaced in November, 1952, by Herbert Heymann of Lafayette.
The Commission was charged by law "to collect facts and statistics, make special studies of conditions effecting children and youth in the state, to keep abreast of the developments in this field throughout the nation, to interpret its findings to the public, to provide for mutual exchange of ideas and information on national, state and local levels, to conduct hearings, to make recommendations for improvement in the field of child care, to serve as an advisory bod;/ in regard to new legislation in the field and to coordinate the services of all agencies in the State serving children.J The Commission was to be advisory, investigatory, consultative and not administrative. For its first year's work the Legislature appropriated $20,000. The Commissioners received no pay except travel.
In 1959 the Commission looked over its accomplishments after its existence for nearly ten years. Its recommendations enacted into law
3Louisiana Acts of 125Q, Spec. Sess., No. 25. 190 included a system of juvenile probation within the Department of
Public Welfare in 1952, the development of facilities for delinquent
Negro girls at the State Industrial School for Colored Youth in 1956, centralized administration of juvenile correctional schools under the
Department of Institutions in 1956, increased staff and facilities at the State Industrial School for Colored Youth, and the opening of an
intermediate institution for juveniles ages eighteen to twenty-five at
DeQuincy. ^
In its surveys and studies the Youth Commission found that although the law forbade the jailing of children under fifteen years o f a g e , 11.7 per cent of a ll children brought before the courts spent some time in jail. The Commission also found that in 75 per cent of the cases policemen decided what was to be done with a child with only
25 per cent being referred to the juvenile court or to another social agency. Police action included such things as placing the juvenile on informal probation, ordering restitution, or revoking a driver's
permit. The confusion and lack of uniformity of procedure in the handling of juveniles were the results of dual jurisdiction between
d istrict and city courts. The Youth Commission attempted to remedy
this situation by developing a series of judicial forms designed to
begin a semblance of uniform treatment of children in the courts of
th e S ta t e .
J Biennial Report of the Louisiana .Youth Commission. 1957-1259., 7 . 191
Among its other accomplishments have been the making of special studies and recommendations in the field of mental retardation, the developing of the Evaluation Center for Exceptional Children at New
Orleans; the compilation and publishing of Juvenile laws of Louisiana.
Private Agencies Serving Louisiana Children, and Sjate_Seryjp.gs.,fQr_
Louisiana Children. The Youth Commission has encouraged the develop ment of juvenile courts and has tried to educate the public concerning the problems of delinquent and handicapped children by its publications, by holding institutes, and by working with statewide citizen groups, such as the PTA, the League of Women Voters, the Business and
Professional Women's Club, and other religious and civic groups on problems of children and youth. In 1967 the Governor named Dean E. W.
Bashful of Southern University in New Orleans, as the first Negro member of the Youth Commission.
The Rights of the Delinquent, Neglected or Abused Child
Under common law the child under seven years of age was incapable of committing a crime; while between the ages of seven and fourteen, he might or might not have been capable of committing a crime. But in
Louisiana legal presumption of innocence due to tender years did not exist and it was assumed that the offender knew the act was wrong and was aware of his legal responsibility for the commission of the crime.^7
37 Benjamin W. Dart, Ed., Code of Criminal law and Procedure of .the State of Louisiana (Indianapolis, Ind., 1943), 439. 192
By 1942 this attitude had changed and the law exempted the child under ten years of age from criminal responsibility, and all of his delinquencies came under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
Sexual intercourse with a girl under twelve years of age with or without her consent was considered to be aggravated rape punishable by death. But when a jury found a twenty-seven year old Baton Rouge
Negro guilty of aggravated rape of a ten year old Negro girl, the jury declined to recommend capital punishment for the accused. Conviction on a charge of aggravated rape carried a rrandatory death penalty unless the jury recommended no capital punishment. In this case the sentence became life imprisonment.-^ Sex relations with a female from ages twelve to seventeen by a man over seventeen was considered to be a crime of carnal knowledge punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years. Contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile consisted of intentionally enticing a child under seventeen to go to a gambling house, to perform a sexually immoral act, or to v isit a place where alcoholic beverages were being sold.
The law of Louisiana was peculiar in that it distinguished between two sorts of illegitinete children: those who were bom from
two persons who at the time of conception might have had a legal marriage, and the adulterous or incestuous bastards born from person
^Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 (Baton Rouge, 1950) , Title 14:13.
•^Morning Advocate. October 28, 1967.
^ Revised Statutes. 1950, Title 14:80-92. jLli to whose marriage there existed at the time some legal impediment. x
Before 1948 neither the adulterous nor the incestuous child could be legitinatized by subsequent rrerriage of his parents, nor could the child attain through acknowledgment the status of a "natural child."
The Civil Code of 1950 le ft out the words adulterous and incestuous and merely stated that natural fathers and mothers would have the power to legitimatize their natural child by declaring their intention before a notary public and two witnesses provided no other legal impediments to the narriage except color existed at the time of 4? conception. ' Fathers and mothers owed support to their illegitim ate children when they were in need and the children had a right to claim such assistance. Nevertheless, in order to claim support the children must have been acknowledged by either father or m other.^ If the father chose not to support his child, there could be no criminal neglect of family proceedings brought against him without his having legally acknowledged the paternity of the child before a notary public and two witnesses or his paternity having been established by the
ii.ii district court. The juvenile court was never given jurisdiction in cases establishing the paternity of an illegitim ate child and therefore
^Louisiana Acts of 1948. No. 482. 42 Revised Statutes of 1950. Title 9:391. 43 H arriet S. Daggett, A Compilation of Louisiana Statutes Affecting Child Welfare (Baton Rouge, 1933), 275. 44 Robert G. Pugh, Juvenile Laws of Louisiana. History and Development. 1962 suppl., 96. 19^ could only force support from fathers who acknowledged their
illegitim ate children.
The abandoned child whether legitimate or illegitim ate was called by the law a vagrant and a foundling. As previously stated, the
deserted child was to be placed in the House of Refuge or turned over
to the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
A child was considered to be abandoned when his parents had not
assisted him in three years.J In 1938 the time of abandonment was
reduced to one year and then later reduced to four months. An
abandoned child could be placed for adoption by the agency having his
cu sto d y .
In Louisiana the law did not provide for damages in the wrongful
death of children bom out of wedlock. Because of this fact a
d istrict court judge dismissed a suit by a woman seeking darrages for
the drowning of two illegitim ate children in a Baton Rouge drainage
canal. Cn Jfey 20, 19&8 the United States Supreme Court in a 6-3
decision barred Louisiana from blocking damage suits that involved
illegitim ate children. The ruling involved two cases. In one the
five illegitim ate children of Louise Levy, a New Orleans domestic
servant, had been barred by state courts from suing a physician and a
hospital for her death. The damage suit claimed Miss Levy died as a
result of negligent medical treatment. In the other case, Mrs. Minnie
Brade Glona of Giddings, Texas, was barred from suing a motorist and
Acts of 1910. No. 173 195 an insurance company for the death of her son in an automobile accident in New Orleans.
Louisiana Attorney General Jack P. F. Gremillion, supporting the state law, said Louisiana’s purpose was "the encouragement of marriage as one of the most important institutions known to the law, the preservation of the legitimate family as the preferred environment for socializing the child and the preservation of the security and certainty of property rights linked with the fam ily."^ On the other hand, Ju stice William 0. Douglas stated in the majority opinion:
"Illegitim ate children are not norupersons, they are human beings, live and have their being. They are clearly persons within the meaning of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.11^"'7
Concerning the neglected or abused child, legitimate or illegitim ate, the public policy of Louisiana has been to place the welfare of the child above any right of parental custody when such welfare became endangered morally or physically by the parent's miscon- 48 duct or neglect of the chi]_d. The earliest legislative act concerning neglect or abuse was that of 1892 which gave the Louisiana
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children the power to enforce all laws enacted for the prevention of cruelty to children. In 1894
the law stated that the judge of the district courts could remove
46 Morning Advocate. May 21, 1968.
^ I b i d . 48 Pugh, Juvenile Laws of Louisiana.297 . 196 children from the custody of their parents whenever the physical or moral welfare of such a child was endangered by neglect or abuse.
By 1906 the juvenile court was to designate a voluntary probation officer to investigate cases of neglect or abuse. The law further stated, as previously mentioned, that no child, pending a hearing should be held in the parish jail or police station to which adult convicts were sentenced. Such a child should be placed in a foster home having the same religious beliefs as the child's parents and no child under twelve years of age should be placed in an institution of
correction.
In the 1950's Pugh found the words, "district judge," in the
189^ law to be ambiguous. Was the judge to sit as a district judge or a juvenile court judge? So as to preclude any question of
concurrent jurisdiction in natters of neglect the act of 189^ was repealed in 1956, thus giving the juvenile court complete jurisdiction Lpq over matters of neglect. 7
The term "neglected child" also included the child whose home by reason of cruelty or depravity had become an unfit place for such a
child to live. Throughout the nation there have been about 10,000 children who are battered or abused yearly. Battered children have made up an alarming percentage of the patients in the New Orleans
Charity Hospital. As many as two to five cases a week are admitted to
pediatrics and the number of battered children constitutes about 3.5
^9Pugh, Juvenile Laws of Louisiana. 310. 1 9 7 per cent of the in-patients and1 .7 per cent of the out-patients.
Dr. H. C. Tolmas, secretary to the Louisiana State Pediatric Society and assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at Tulane University said that most patients who come to the hosoital as abused children are under the age of three. He further stated that parents leave the hospital quickly and seldom visit the child thereafter. These parents often have gone from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital to avoid detection. Thus convictions have not been easy to obtain because child abuse usually takes place in the absence of witnesses who can testify. The battered child act of 1964 requires physicians and hospitals to report any physical injury inflicted upon a child.
Dr. Tolmas feels that reporting incidents is not enough. A multi disciplinary network of protection which would include the assistance of pediatricians, psychiatrists, lawyers, and social workers must be devised for the benefit of the child and his parents. ^
Prior to 1944 the chief purpose of the Louisiana Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children or the Children's Bureau was that of protecting children from the effects of neglect and cruelty. When protective services were assumed by the Department of Public Welfare in 1944 and later shared by the Department with the New Orleans
D istrict Court and the Juvenile Bureau of the Police Department, the
Children's Bureau modified its program and left protective services for these other agencies.
50 Times-Picavune. October 19, 1967. 198
Administrations of Public Institutions
Prior to 19^0 each of Louisiana's public institutions was administered by its own board of supervisors with some assistance from the Board of Charities and Corrections. By 19^0 there were nineteen boards or individuals who administered the various hospitals and industrial schools of the State. The reorganization program of
Governor Sam Jones brought the administrative functions of the different state institutions, except schools and colleges, under the Department of Institutions. All of the general hospitals, mental and correctional institutions were brought under the new Department. The Department had a director, assistant director, and the board of institutions consisting o f n in e members.This integrated form of administering the State's
institutions lasted until the election of Earl Long.
A key proposal in Long's program of 19^+8 was repeal of the acts creating the Department of Institutions. The act of repeal passed with little opposition from the Legislature and the various hospitals and schools reverted to individual control.
The administration of institutions became a fiery issue in the
1952 campaign. Governor Kennon's reorganization program, not only
included re-instituting the Board of Institutions, but also removing
the big spending agencies such as Welfare, Education, Highways, and
Institutions from power politics. According to PAR, the welfare and
^ Louisiana Acts of 1940. No. 47. 199 institutions boards were to have been filled by a system whereby non-profit organizations and interested citizens would submit names and biographical sketches of leading citizens to a panel for each board, called a State Board Panel. Whenever a vacancy occurred, the remaining members of the board would select seven names from the
Panel and send them to the Governor within thirty days; then the
Governor would appoint one of the seven. No names were ever submitted for the Panel and the Governor made appointments without these restrictions.^" Thus the new machinery failed to operate. The Board of Institutions was re-created in 1952 and Kermon imported Dr.
Edward D. Grant of Richmond, Virginia, to take over the arduous task of administering Louisiana's far-flung institutional system.
When E a rl Long, who had d e c e n tra liz e d th e a d m in is tra tio n o f institutions in 1948, was elected again in 1956, he suggested a change in the set up for the Department of Institutions to separate administration of the penal and correctional institutions from the hospitals and establish units for each group. A Baton Rouge news paper agreed with Long's proposal and stated that while the plan to put many institutions under one directing authority has much to be said for it as opposed to the decentralization which prevailed before
1940 and from 1948 to1952 , we find wisdom in the division mentioned by Governor Long.-® On the other hand, PAR opposed the changes for
^ S ta te -T im e s , J u ly 13 , 1953.
^ State-Times . April 23, 1956. 200 they would "in many instances extend further the complexities, duplications, and inconsistencies of the existing structure."-^
During 1956 laws providing for the Department of Institutions were repealed and a new Department and Board were created which administered only the mentally deficient, penal, and correctional institutions.
Grant reirained for two more years as the director of the new Department minus both the general and mental hospitals. After the State Colony and Training School was placed under the State Department of Hospitals in I960 the Board of Institutions became the State Department of
Institutions over penal and correctional institutions.
The astute observer and newscaster, Ed Clinton, has summarized the history of the administration of state institutions when he said:
"Long a political football, to be passed, kicked, and punted during campaigns, the state's institutional set-up used to wind up at the end of the legislative session as an undernourished stepchild, fed enough to keep it alive, but by a badly balanced diet that forestalled a healthy life ." ^ More recently Margaret Dixon, managing editor of
Morning Advocate, reported that the shocking conditions at the state's penal and correctional institutions pointed up how little planning has gone into the agencies and how so-called economy measures have back fired. She further stated that most of the correctional institutions which probably got the hardest wear and tear of any state buildings
^ Morning Advocate. June 24, 3.956.
-^State-Times. July 24, 1953. 201 have simply not had repair funds for years and hardly a crent has gone into repairing the greatly overcrowded school and prisons. One building at the Louisiana Training Institute was reported so eaten up with termites that "only the fact that termites have joined hands and formed a chain is holding it up." Miss Dixon concluded that at the least it was bad management, at worst it was neglect of the worst sort, <6 and it was high time something be done about the situation.
56 Sunday Advocate. January 21, 1968. CHAPTER IX
CHILD LABOR IN LOUISIANA
The New South and the Progressives 1890 - 1920
Prior to the Civil War the employment of children in a state which was over seventy-five per cent rural was not challenged and the only laws existing in Louisiana regarding child labor were the apprentice ship laws. At the same time northerners, having in mind establishing more cotton mills in the South, spoke sympathetically of the "ignorant, half-fed, ill-clothed Southerners" whose suffering could only be alleviated when some benefactor established cotton m ills.^
Ten years after the Civil War voices in New Orleans could be heard calling for factories, crop diversification, adequate schools and other refo rm s w hich had made th e N orth p ro g re s s iv e and p ro sp e ro u s. One such voice called for the establishment of New Orleans as a cotton manu facturing center. According to this source, there were in New Orleans enough persons to run100,000 spindles, a task requiring only3000 operatives. He felt that there were vast numbers of poor women and
children over twelve years of age who were incapable of doing the
demanding work of cultivating cotton, sugar cane, and rice or of
■'‘Emory Q. Hawk, Economic History of the South (New York, 193^) , 291. 203 performing the laborious tasks involved in the transportation of these staples. No employment would suit these people better than that 2 provided by a cotton mill. Thus New Orleans advertised the fact that a cheap labor supply was available in Louisiana and for this reason
industry should locate there.
By 1888 New Orleans was very proud of the great number of manufacturing establishments in the city. A review of all industries
in New Orleans disclosed that there were 2,185 manufacturing establish
ments with a capital investment of $21,667,670, employing 23,865 workers who were paid $8,242,599 in wages.^ The post-Civil War industries of
Louisiana centered principally upon the abundant raw materials of its forest and upon the products of sugar cane, cotton, rice, and seafoods.
The chief industrial establishments of New Orleans included cotton
mills, garment factories, breweries, bakeries, confectioneries, cigar
and cigarette factories, and bag and box factories. The development
of the oyster industry in the South was at first confined to Maryland
and Virginia; then after 1885 the packing houses established branches
in North Carolina and Louisiana which had one shrimp and oyster
cannery in 1888.
The manufacturing of cane sugar in the United States at the turn
of the century was confined almost exclusively to Louisiana where all
but six of the stablishments reporting in the 1909 census were located.
Pailv-Picayune. January 20, 1875.
^Times-Democrat. September 1, 1888. 204
In terms of value of the product Louisiana's leading industries were sugar refining, lumber, cottonseed oil, rice cleaning and polishing.
While Louisiana now ranks third in the nation in crude oil production, it did not become an oil producing state until1902 .
Before and since the Civil War agriculture has continued to be the most important occupation. In 1899 Louisiana produced 709»04l bales of cotton ranking sixth in the number of bales produced in the
United States. In 1910 cotton ranked first in the value of all of the State's agricultural products and second in acreage.^ Cotton s till remains Louisiana's most important crop.
Another important agricultural product is rice. Louisiana became the leading state in rice production in1889 , but in recent years it has dropped to third place. On the other hand, the growing of sugar cane for commercial purposes has been confined almost exclusively to
Louisiana where it has been cultivated and refined since 1757.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, although Louisiana was s till basically an agricultural state, where industry existed were to be found many of the abuses of industrialization commonplace in the cities and factories of the North. In fact local sentiment against such abuses lagged behind that of the North. Louisiana, like most of the South, thought of its problems in terms of an agricultural society in which it was considered improper for the state to regulate either
industry or agriculture. Nevertheless the problems of
^Department of Comnerce, Bureau of Census, l4th Census of the United States. V (Washington, D. C., 192 ), 836. 205 industrialization did not go unchallenged. A few reformers, centered mostly in New Orleans, had many of the characteristics of northern progressives. These southern progressives were neither Bourbons nor
Populists; they represented the southern middleclass of prosperous farmers, small businessmen, school teachers, editors, preachers, social workers, and other professional groups. Their aims were similar to the Populists; extension of popular education, more democracy in government, and some state control of business and industry.^
Progressivism in Louisiana was exemplified by some of the legislation and reforms carried out during the early years of the twentieth century. The 1898 Constitution of Louisiana, for instance, provided for a Railway Commission which would govern and regulate railroads, steamboats, and telephone and telegraph service. Cther progressive reforms included the organization of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in 1900, organization of parish school boards, the enactment of pure food and drug laws, the organization of the Board of Charities and Corrections, the adoption of the direct primary, the establishment of a reform school for boys, and the popular election of a number of state and local officers heretofore appointed by the governor. Leaders
in the movement included governors such as William Wright Heard,
Newton Crain Blanchard, Jared Young Sanders, and John M illiken Parker who was not only the Progressive Party nominee for vice president in
"’Arthur S. Link, "The Progressive Movement in the South, 1870- 1914," The North Carolina H istorical Review. XXIII (April, 1946), 179. 206
1916 although the party fizzled out before the election, but also the progressive governor of the State in the twenties. Another national figure was Arsene Paulin Pujo of Lake Charles who, as chairman of the
Committee on Banking and Currency in the Sixty-second Congress, investigated the money trust and brought forth the famous Pujo Report.
Other local progressives included the members of the Equal Rights
Association of New Orleans. The Era Club, as it was popularly called, was established in 1896 for the purpose of organizing a suffrage club for the advancement of the rights of women. It advocated woman's suffrage, women members on school boards, matrons to serve prison 5 inmates, and the improvement of sanitary conditions in New Orleans.
Judge Andrew H. Wilson, first judge of the New Orleans Juvenile Court,
Miss Jean Gordon, the first Factory Inspector of New Orleans, Miss
Sophie B. Wright, educator and social worker, Rabbi Leucht, and
Solomon Wolf, president of the Louisiana Child Labor Committee, all worked for progressive legislation and reforms for both city and the state during this period.
The progressives did very little to aid the Negro in Louisiana.
The Constitution of 898 I with its restrictions to voters who were
either literate, property owners, or voters in1867 , the infamous
Grandfather Clause, cut the Negro electorate about ninety-five per cent
while cutting white voters only twenty-four per cent. By 1900 Negroes
had been segregated by law in restaurants, bars, theaters, on railroad
^Garnet McNeil, "The History of Child Labor Legislation in Louisiana," master's thesis (Tulane University, 1935), *KL. 207 coaches, and railroad depots and stations. Job opportunities, outside of farming were limited and highly circumscribed. Because of these discriminations Negroes continued to flock to the cities of the North and West looking for better job opportunities; for wages and income in the South continued to be lower than the rest of the country.
Because of low wages many parents fe lt compelled to put their children to work not only on the farms, but in the factories as well.
The number of children in Louisiana at work between the ages of ten and fifteen nearly doubled during 890 the 's l increasing from 31.847 n to 61,047. The majority were to be found in agriculture rather than in industry. In ten representative establishments during the 1890's the number of girls under eighteen increased2l 6 per cent and the number of boys116 per cent. Children earned as much as five dollars a week while their fathers earned ten. The Lane Cotton Mills of New
Orleans employed 250 operatives including a Jlarge number of women, boys and girls living in the immediate vicinity of the factory while another cotton m ill employed nearly375 persons and paid them from
$3*75 to $16.50 weekly. Boys and girls were employed in the making of g bags from jute and burlap and were paid less than $20.00 a month. A retired insurance collector told in 1949 how he started to work at the age of twelve in the summer of 1891 for the Brooklyn Cooperage Company,
n R. Shugg, origins of the Class Struggle in Louis jam . 295. O The Times-Democrat. September 1, 1888. 208 a subsidiary of the American Sugar Refinery Company. Here he -worked for ten hours a day helping to fabricate huge sugar hogsheads and 9 whiskey barrels.
The worst exploiter of child labor has been and continues to be the farmer. Agriculture has involved more child workers than all other occupations together, with 6l per cent of the total of working c h ild r e n 10 to l 6 years old, 87 per cent of all working children10 to 14 years old. It employed thousands of children as migratory workers and it has presented difficult problems of control and even more than industrial work, it has interfered seriously with school attendance.-*-® Among the several occupations in Louisiana agriculture has ranked first as the chief employer of children between the ages o f 10 and 1 5 .11
Until recent years cotton, one of Louisiana's chief agricultural products, was planted, hoed, weeded, and picked by hand. The fact that there were so many kinds of work even a six year old child could perform was conclusive proof to his parents that he ought to work, school or no school, recreation or no recreation. On rrany tenant farms the number of acres the tenant was able to cultivate depended on the number of children he had.
^Times-Picayune. December U, 19^9.
■*"®White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, Child Labor (New York, 19 3 2 ), 219.
"^See Table 7« 209
In the ante-bellum years many slave women and children had worked in the cane fields in the cultivation of sugar. In the 1890's labor saving implements reduced the need for the hand labor of women and children in planting, cultivating, and harvesting cane. Between 1880 and 1910 the efficiency of cane cutters declined fifty per cent and at the same time wages rose from ninety cents to $1.50 per day. The result was that the cost of harvesting a ton of cane increased from eighteen cents to seventy-five cents. The cause of this reduction in efficiency was the loss of the most valuable workers to higher paying 12 jobs and their replacement by a large number of women and boys.
In the forest and sand bogs of North Louisiana boys ten to fourteen years old could be found performing some jobs that would tax
the strength of grown men. Other jobs in the collection of turpentine were often performed by young workers. The number of children employed in Louisiana was the largest in the lumber industry although
the proportion which they formed of all wage earners in that industry was only eight tenths of one per cent.^ Woodward has concluded that
child labor in the South at the beginning of the twentieth century was not an occasional abuse or a passing phenomenon, but an entrenched
12J. C. Sitterson, Sugar Country: The South's Cane Sugar Industry. 1753-1950 (Lexington, 1953), 276, 323.
■^U. S. Commerce Department, Bureau of Census, Abstract of the Thirteenth Census with Supplement for Louisiana (Washington, D. C., 1913), 657. 2 1 0 interest, a growing evil that had become a normal feature of certain 14 industries and the foundations of great fortunes.
The first attempt to control child labor in Louisiana came in
1886 when the Legislature passed an act prohibiting the employing of any boy under twelve years of age and any girl under fourteen years of age in any factory, warehouse or workshop unless the child had a certificate of school attendance. The act did not apply to children working as domestics or on farms. The responsibility for enforcement was assigned to the c h ie f o f p o lice or the mayors o f the to w n s.^ In
1892 two acts pertaining to child labor were passed. The first prohibited the employment of children under twelve in cleaning or operating dangerous machinery while the machinery was in motion. The other prohibited the employment of children as gymnasts, or contortionists, and acrobats. There were no provisions for enforcement.
The chief weakness of all of these child labor laws was lack of enforcement. In 1902 a group of citizens of New Orleans became so oncerned about the problem that they offered to act as volunteer
inspectors if the chief of police would commission them.^ In spite of non-enforcement of laws already enacted the Legislature continued
to pass more laws in order to satisfy the reformers. The act of 1902 stated that no child or woman under eighteen years would be employed
14 C. Vann Woodward, Origins of the New South (Baton Rouge, 1951)» 4l6.
^Louisiana Acts of 1886. No. 43.
“1 z? New Orleans Times-Democrat. June 8, 1902. 211 in a factory for a period longer than ten hours a day or sixty hours a week with at least one hour for dinner. 3h 1906 the Legislature provided for the appointment of a factory inspector for New Orleans.
This law marked the first step toward the enforcement of all previous child labor laws of the State, at least in New Orleans.
After the state constitution was amended to allow women to be elected or appointed factory inspectors, Mayor Martin Behrmann in
January, 1907, appointed Miss Jean Gordon as the first factory inspector for the city of New Orleans. For four years Miss Gordpn braved insult, humiliation, and efforts to oust her from office. In the meantime she collected facts and figures to draft a new child labor law and which she used in a campaign later for its enactment.
Two child labor bills were presented in 1908 to the Legislature.
The first b ill drafted by Miss Gordon and backed by the Era Club was introduced in the House by Major W. L. Hughes while the second which had the backing of the Federation of Labor was introduced by Mr. J. L.
Kaliski. The chief objections to the Hughes's b ill were the provisions for a nine-hour day, the prohibition of work for those under fourteen years of age and the compulsory procurement of an age certificate.
Other provisions included the requirement of seats in factories and
* 1 n mills for females and no night work for children. Miss Gordon stated
that the Kaliski b ill might just as well have been framed by the manufacturers; for it proposed a ten-hour law for women and children
^Times-Democrat. June 3, 1908. 212 and conspicuously omitted the word "mill" from a b ill presented by the group whose chief interest should have been that of all working p eo p le .
John Dymond, testifying before the House Committee on Capital and
Labor, and representing the twelve canning factories of the State with an investment of $1,000,000, pointed out that the labor employed in his industry was brought from Baltimore and New York and sent back at the end of the canning season and that opening oysters furnished satisfactory and easy employment to children. He further testified that chairs for women to sit down and restrictions of child labor would destroy this industry because children as young as seven years of age came with their mothers to shuck oysters. The representative of the
New Orleans cotton mills said that the Hughes b ill would destroy the manufacturing industries of the city and Louisiana would be unable to 1 P compete with those who worked for sixty hours per week.
Many prominent persons publicly expressed their staunch support of Jean Gordon and the Hughes b ill. These included James Byrnes of the White Screwmen's Association, C. B. Trotter, President of Central
Trades, Mrs. J. B. Parker, Secretary of the Era Club, Miss Sophie B.
Wright, and Rabbie Leucht.-^ On June 13, 1908, a mass meeting was held
in New Orleans on behalf of the child labor law. Included among the speakers was Mayor Behrmann who praised Miss Gordon highly and said:
^Times-Democrat. June 13, 1 9 0 8 . V"
213
I have never had cause to regret her appointment, and her every act has my entire approval. No chief executive of a city can afford to do anything to hurt the manufacturing interests of that city. But the women and children have rights that the mill owners must re sp e c t.^ ®
Mayor Behrman further pointed out that much of the opposition to Miss
Gordon had developed because she inspected too well.
The meeting finally closed with an endorsement of the amended
Kaliski b ill. Compromises had been reached between the opponents and
proponents of the Kaliski b ill. The manufacturers were willing to
raise the age lim it for working boys from twelve to fourteen and Miss
Gordon agreed to waive the demand for a nine-hour day and other
provisions for the protection of children.21 The Times-Democrat
endorsed the amended b ill and hoped that a conference of southern
states would be called in order for them to decide to lower working
hours so that one state would not have a competitive advantage over 2? the others.
The amended Kaliski b ill which finally passed the Legislature
prohibited the employment of children under fourteen years of age in
any factory, bowling alley, boot blacking establishment, mine, packing
house, theater, concert hall, or any unhealthful or dangerous job.
The State Factory Inspector or City Factory Inspector with the consent
of the Board of Health and the school board in each parish would have
^ Times-Democrat. June 13, 1908.
2lIbid. . June 15, 1908. 77 I b i d .. June 17, 1908. 214 fu ll power to issue age certificates to minors over fourteen and under sixteen years of age seeking employment. The -work of women and children was limited to ten hours perd a y .2^ The passage of this law was due almost solely to the perseverance of Miss Gordon who remained with the Legislature in Baton Rouge until the law was finally signed by Governor Sanders.
Both labor and management opposed Miss Gordon's continuing in office because as Factory Inspector she seemed to think it her duty to construe the law according to her views and assume the relation of
mother to children. Efforts were made by one of the largest department stores of New Orleans to have the entire act declared unconstitutional; 24 but all of these efforts failed.
One of the first persons to be prosecuted under the new law was
I.ew Rose who was accused of employing a ten year old girl for a brief
part on the stage of the Greenwald Theater of New Orleans. Because
the case involved a minor, it was tried before Judge Wilson of the
Juvenile Court. Judge Wilson held that the labor law was 25 constitutional and the employer was guilty as charged by Miss Gordon.
Mr. Rose appealed his case to the Louisiana Supreme Court which declared that under the 1908 law the Juvenile Court did not have
23 Louisiana Acts of 1908. No. 301. 24 Jean M. Gordon, "The Forward Step in Louisiana," Annals of the American Academy of P olitical and Social Sciences. XXXIII (March, 1909), suppl., 163.
2jThe Survey. XXII (September 18, 1909), 817. 215 jurisdiction since it had not been declared that the child was either delinquent or neglected. Thus Mr. Rose won a temporary victory.
At the 1910 convention of the National Child Labor Committee Miss
Gordon spoke out strongly for legislation governing the child in the theater; for she felt that he was just as serious a problem as the child in the cotton mill. Even though Miss Gordon resigned her position as Factory Inspector on March 5, 1911» the Legislature passed a b ill prohibiting the employment of children under sixteen as acrobats, singers, dancers, or instrum entalists. The law did not apply, however, to singers or musicians in churches or schools. For such children
under sixteen, the employer had to make a formal written request to
the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The
judge of the juvenile or district court would then issue a work 27 permit. Thus the pitfalls of the old law were to be avoided and the law of 1908 strengthened.
In the meantime there was a feeling that groups fighting for child labor laws in the various states should coordinate their efforts. One
representative group was the Alabama Child Labor Committee organized
by the Rev. Edward Gardner Murphy, a Protestant Episcopal minister of
Montgomery. Other local leaders such as Murphy, Mrs. Florence Kelley
of the New York Child Labor Committee, aware of the national concern
26 "Child Employing Industries," suppl. Annals of the American Acaden^v o f P o l i t i c a l and S o c ia l S c ie n c e s . XXXV (M arch, 1910), 2 l6 .
^Louisiana Acts of 1912. No. 184. 216 about the problem, summoned a meeting in 1904 to consider a national organization to advance the child labor movement. Their efforts resulted in the organization of the National Child Labor Committee on
April 15, 1904, with Feljbc Adler as president, Samuel McCune Lindsay, as secretary, and two salaried assistant secretaries, Owen R. Lovejoy and Alexander J. McKelway, the executive secretary for the South.
The general objective of the organization was to safeguard American 28 childhood as affected by industrial and agricultural conditions. Its membership consisted of individuals rather than organizations, but such organizations as the National Consumers' League, General Federation of
Women's Clubs, and the American Federation of Labor, a ll cooperated with the National Committee. By 1910 there were 4,600 members and twenty-five state and local child labor committees representing twenty- 29 two states, including Louisiana in the National Committee.
The National Committee did not at first support federal legislation for child labor; hence it did not support the Beveridge-
Parsons b ill of 1906 which prohibited the transportation of products of factories that employed children under fourteen years of age. The
National Committee did, however, have a model child labor law which it hoped that the states would adopt. This law prohibited the employment of children under fourteen years of age in manufacturing and under
See Appendix XX. 29 7John R. Commons, H is to ry o f Labor in th e U n ited S ta te s 1896-1932. Ill, Elizabeth Sands Johnson, "Child Labor Legislation," 406 f f . 217 sixteen years of age in mining; called for an eight hour day, prohibited night work, and demanded documentary proof of age. In
190^ no state law measured up to all five^standards set up by the
National Committee. Ten years later only nine states: Arizona,
Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin had met all of the standards set up by the National
Com m ittee.
Slowness on the part of the states to legislate these minimum standards convinced the National Committee that federal legislation was necessary. In 1912 the National Committee drafted for the
Congress the Palmer-Owne b ill which made it a misdemeanor for a producer to put into interstate commerce the products of children
under sixteen in mines and under fourteen in manufacturing. The b ill also required an eight hour day for minors between the ages of 30 fourteen and sixteen. On September 1, 1916, President Wilson signed
a similar b ill, the Keating-Owen Act, which prohibited the interstate
shipment of any goods made by children. Two years later the United
States Supreme Court in the case of Hammer vs Dagenhart declared the
act unconstitutional.
Besides the Federal Child Labor law events in Europe greatly
influenced the number of child workers in Louisiana. The industrial
depression which narked the opening months of World War I was
reflected in the number of children taking out permits. From 1913
-^"The History of Federal Child Labor Legislation," The American Child. I ll (November, 1921) , 204, 205. 218 to 191^ minors receiving employment certificates in New Orleans decreased from 2,06? to 1,950- By the latter part of 1915 the
increased orders for war goods was reflected in an increased number of children employed, reaching a high for the decade of 3»^50 in 1918.
In August, 1918, Governor Ruffin G. Pleasant issued a proclamation
calling upon all "to strain every nerve and endure every sacrifice p o s s ib le in o rd e r t h a t th e maximum number o f ed u cab le boys and g i r l s
may attend school during the coming scholastic year."-^ While there were fewer work certificates issued in 1918 than in 1919, there was
little indication that the words of the Governor were heeded. By
1922 the number of certificates had decreased partly because Congress had placed a ten per cent Child labor Tax on goods produced in
factories or mines employing children and because there was an ample
supply of manpower in the State. The Revenue Act of 1918 which
contained the child labor tax was declared unconstitutional in 1922.
Meanwhile the National Child Labor Committee at the request of
the Consumers' League campaigned for the establishment of a national
children's bureau. Cn April 9, 1912, President Taft signed the bill
establishing the U. S. Children's Bureau, initially in the Department
of Commerce and Labor. The Bureau was headed by Kiss Julia Lathrop
from 1912 to 1921 and Miss Grace Abbott from 1921 to 193^. The Bureau
was directed to investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to
the welfare of children and child life in all social classes, and to
■^^State-Times. August 12, 1918. 219 administer certain Federal laws affecting child welfare. It was also to be a central office for collecting and interpreting facts of child life to the public. The First Child Labor Law was administered by the
Bureau, as well as the Maternity and Infancy Act of 19^2, and the
Maternal and Child Welfare provisions of the Social Security Act.
In 1919* carrying out its investigative functions, the Children's
Bureau made a study of the conditions of child labor in the oyster and
Shrimp canneries of M ississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. The investi gators found that enforcing the child labor law in the canneries was difficult because the work was irregular and the canneries were some times situated in isolated or almost inaccessible places. Since the law in Louisiana did not make it an offense for a child to be in a factory provided he was not paid, difficulties of enforcement were increased. A child was paid according to the number of pounds of oysters he shucked or the amount of shrimp he picked, the rates varying from one and one-third cent to five cents per pound. Some children earned as much as $5.00 per week while others made less than fifty cents. Most of the children worked all during the canning season, others just on Saturdays, while still others worked before and after school. Of the children between the ages of ten and fifteen twenty- five per cent were illiterate and some had never gone to school.
Workers were subjected to all sorts of hazards in the cannery.
The work was wet and dirty and was often done in cold, damp, and drafty sheds in which the shuckers or the pickers stood among the empty oyster shells or shrimp hulls. Workers were subjected to being 2 2 0 cpt by the sharp oyster shells or by the knife used in shucking. The shrimp pickers were subjected to an acid which came from the head of 32 the shrimp causing the hands to be raw and sore. From time to time the Child Labor Committee visited these canneries; over the years there was some improvement and fewer children working.
Enforcing the law anywhere in the State was also nede difficult because Louisiana had only one labor commissioner and two assistants who were responsible for the entire state outside of New Orleans.
The total appropriation available for traveling expenses for the commissioner and his assistants was approximately $100.00 per month.
Child Labor in Louisiana During the Twenties
Soon after the Children's Bureau investigation of the canneries the Fifteenth National Conference on Child Labor was held in New
Orleans on April 14, 1920. Such national leaders as Felix Adler, chairman of the National Child Labor Committee; Owen R. Love joy, general secretary of NCLC; Edward N. Clopper, assistant secretary of
NCLC; Raymond Fuller, editor of the American Child; and Hastings H.
Hart of the Russel Sage Foundation, all participated in this conference
One observer commented that it was not too much to say that the New
Orleans Conference was one of the most satisfactory and successful in
the history of the National Child Labor Committee.33
32 Viola I. Paradise, Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp Canning Communities on the Gulf Coast. U. S. Children's Bureau Publication No. 98 (Washington, D. C., 1922), passim.
-^The American Child. II (May 20, 1920),k. 221
TABLE ?
CHILD LABOR IN LOUISIANA IN 1930*
Ages 10 to 15
O ccupation 1910 1920 $ of increase or decrease
Agriculture 49,435 23,718 - 52.0
Manufacturing 3,0*46 2,502 -1 7 .9
D om estic 4 ,3 9 9 2,501 -4 3 .1
C le r ic a l 1,136 1,703 49.9
Trade 1,171 1,196 2 .1
Transportation 465 514 10 .5
M ining 16 52
O ther 64 88 -
T o ta l 59,732 32,27*4- -4 6 .0
£ Child Tabnr: Facts and Figures. Children's Bureau Publication No. 197 (Washington, D. C., 1930), facing p. 20. 222
TABLE 8
NUMBER AND PROPORTION OF CHILDREN
EMPLOYED IN LOUISIANA AGES 10 - I5 b
M ales
1910 1220 1220
T o ta l 114,766 128,369 135,766
No. Employed 38,830 21,928 18,274 i> 3 3 .8 1 7 .1 1 3 .5
Fem ales
1910 1920 2220
T o ta l 114,171 129,683 134,741
No. Employed 20,902 10,346 8,922
% 18.3 8 .0 6 .6
^Abstract of .the X5th Census of the United States. Occupations. (Washington, D. C., 1933). 3 70. During that same year, 1920, the Consumers League of New Orleans sponsored a b ill which would have regulated child labor in street trades. The bill failed to pass the House and little effort was made to pass similar legislation until the 1930's. In the jobs covered by law, it was necessary for a child to obtain a work certificate. In
1921 Miss Martha Gould, Factory Inspector of New Orleans, reported that 2393 children had obtained certificates. This number represented
759 less than the number in 1920. Of this number 5^2 had not completed the eighth grade and1500 had not completed fifth grade. "The conclusion is obvious," said Miss Gould who felt that there was a
"crying need" for continued education of children who were obliged to work. Like Sophie Wright, Miss Gould believed that there should be night schools available to workers so that they might continue their education while working.
The regulation of child labor has gone hand in hand with school compulsory attendance laws. In1910 Louisiana passed its first attendance law for children between eight and fourteen in the schools of New Orleans. The law of 191^ covered only cities with 25,000 or more inhabitants, that is, Baton Rouge and Shreveport, while the law o f 1916 covered the entire state. Prior to 19^ there were very few attempts to enforce the law; thus it did not reinforce the child labor laws as it should have. Compulsory attendance laws could have
curtailed child labor on the farm if it had been strictly enforced.
34 Annual Report of the Factories Inspection Department. Parish o f O rlean s (New O rle a n s, 1921) , 2 . 224
Consequently by1920 leaders in the child labor movement felt that there was a great need for laws governing child labor in agriculture.
Some of the chief exploiters of child laborers were found in the one-crop sections of the South. Here many of the farmers were either tenants or sharecroppers. In1920 Louisiana had 26,430 white tenants and 50,981 Negro tenants.There were also 20,426 white share croppers and 42,575 Negro sharecroppers. In the cotton section of
Louisiana there was a great deal of moving among the tenants. The average tenant remained in one place about 28.8 months. So much moving certainly had a bad influence on school attendance and shifting tenantry also created an attitude of indifference on the part of both owner and tenant parents toward the development of schools.
It has been widely recognized that Negroes, especially the rural
Negro population found mostly in the South, formed the most exploited sector of the nation's labor force. Negro children in the United
States between the ages of two to fifteen constituted ten per cent of all children in that age bracket; but Negro children of that same age group constituted thirty-four per cent of those gainfully employed.
In fact eighty-five per cent of all Negro children who were gainfully employed in1930 were employed in agriculture and ninety-eight per cent of all Negro children employed in agriculture were in the
■^Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States. V, 2 0 1 .
^Charles E. Gibbons, "Child Labor and Rural Tenancy," The American Child. II (February,1921), 301. 225
South.37 While these figures were not for Louisiana, it could be assumed that the figures for the State would be somewhat sim ilar since a higher percentage of Negroes lived in Louisiana than lived in the nation as a whole.
In 1920 there were 258,052 children in Louisiana between the ages of ten and fifteen. Of this number 23,718 were employed in agriculture, a decrease of fifty-two percent from the1910 figure. Of those working in agriculture 21.9 per cent were illiterate.®® Rupert Vance found that the enrollment of cotton tenants* children in school always ranked 39 lower than the enrollment for any other group. This enrollment reached its lowest stage during the cotton picking time in October,
November, and December when tenants and sharecroppers expected and landlords demanded that children be placed into the cotton fields in order to rush picking as much as possible. Poor schools, if there were any, poor roads, and no transportation, no child labor laws for rural
Workers, and an unenforced school attendance law in the 1920*s and
1930's all made the future for the rural child a dim one, to say the
l e a s t .
Having failed to obtain court approval of federal legislation on
child labor, the reformers sought an amendment to the United States
37 'K. D. Lumpkin and D. W. Douglas, Child Workers in America (New York, 1937), 87.
38U. S. Children's Bureau, Child Labor: Facts and Figures. Publication No. 197 (Washington, D. C., 1930), 20.
®%. B. Vance, Human jGepgranhv of the South (Chapel H ill, N. C., 1932), 329. 226
Constitution. The amendment, which stated that Congress should have the power to lim it, regulate, and prohibit the labor of persons under eighteen years of age, was not presented to the Congress until 1924 where it passed the House on April 26, 1924, and the Senate on June 2,
1924. The Louisiana delegation voted in the House against the amendment four to three while in the Senate both senators Edwin S,
Broussard of New Iberia and Joseph E. Ransdell of Lake Providence voted against the amendment. In the Louisiana Legislature the amendment was given to the House Federal Relations Committee which heard Mrs. Lydia
W ickliff speak in its behalf while Miss Jean Gordon, the first Factory
Inspector of New Orleans, opposed the measure on the ground that it 40 was an infringement upon states' rights. The Committee gave an unfavorable report to the Legislature which postponed indefinitely consideration of the amendment.
During 1924 the Legislature not only turned down the National
Child Labor Amendment, but also refused to amend the 1908 law which had several imperfections. First Louisiana and seventeen other states had no legal requirement for a physical examination of children going to work. Second, there was no educational requirement for work permits,
and finally, Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Dakota s till
lim ited hours of work to sixty hours per week. Commenting on these
imperfections, the Commissioner of Labor wrote: "The present law,
commonly known as the Child Labor Law, is obsolete, and, further, is
^ Times-Picayune. June 26, 1924. 22 7
convincing that Louisiana is far behind other states as to Legislation looking to the welfare of child workers, especially as refers to hours
a -i of employment, physical fitness, and educational requirements." x A b ill providing for a nine-hour day and fifty-four hour week for children
under eighteen in factories, stores, laundries, and restaurants and
requiring children under eighteen to complete the fifth grade and pass
a physical examination before receiving work permits, passed the House
but was rejected by the Senate.
With help from the National Child Labor Committee the reformers were able to get the 1926 Legislature to pass a law which conformed
closely to the minimum standards of the Child Labor Committee. This b ill called for the eight hour day and forty-eight hour week for
children under sixteen, thus replacing the ten hour day and sixty hour week. A physician's certificate of physical fitness was required for
children under sixteen years of age. An employment certificate was
required instead of age certificates which had been granted on the
parent's affidavit. These employment certificates were to be based on
documentary proof of age, a definite promise of work from the employer,
and a certificate of physical fitness. The employment certificates
were to be issued by the superintendent of schools or, in New Orleans,
the factory inspector. After the termination of employment the
certificate was to be returned to the person wTho issued it. While
4 l Biennial Report of the Department of the Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics (New Orleans, 1924),6 . l ho Louisiana Acts of 1926. No. 176. 228 this law was a great improvement over the previous laws, it s till failed to have an educational requirement for children under sixteen leaving school for work and to prohibit the employment of children in certain specified dangerous trades and occupations.
When a child was injured, he was not usually covered by the liability laws of the State. Louisiana's first Employer's Liability
Act was passed in 191^. The law made it compulsory and obligatory for employers to pay employees who had been injured by accidents. Unless the parent of a child worker definitely elected to put him under the compensation law, he was not affected by it. Minors not under the law could sue through the courts. To cite one instance, a child was killed by falling into a vat of boiling liquid. His parents sued his employers and received $4000 on the grounds of contributory negligence.
Moreover, in case of total disability a child who was eligible received compensation based on his childhood wages, not upon his future earning capacity as an adult.** The compensation law, however, did not apply to children illegally employed. The Commissioner of Labor criticized the inadequacies of the law in the following ways. First, he thought that the compensation for injuries was too small. Second, there was no authorized supervision of the law unless the case was taken before a court whose costs were too expensive and wThose procedures were too slow .^ The Commissioner then called for the creation of a
^Lulie Westfeldt, "Industrial Accidents to Children in Louisiana," The American Child. IX (August, 1927), 3. hh Biennial Report of t he Department of the Commissioner of Labor (New Orleans, 193*0, 17. 2 2 9
State Industrial Insurance Commission which was opposed by the insurance companies of the State. By 1933 Louisiana was one of three or four states s till having a compensation law administered by the c o u r ts .
National and State Legislation for Child Labor
During the Depression and After
During the depression there were attempts by both the federal and state governments to extend their control of child labor.
Increased efforts were made in Louisiana to get the Child labor Amend ment ratified. Since 1924 there had been many individuals and organizations interested in ratification, but it was only after a
Conference on Labor Standards was held in New Orleans on March 2, 3»
1934, under the auspices of the Consumer's League that these organizations began to coordinate their activities. On the other hand, many Catholics of the State opposed the amendment because it was thought that it would invade and threaten the home. At the same time other church groups, including the New Orleans M inisterial Alliance, endorsed the movement.^ The efforts of these various groups to get VJ ratification for the State of Louisiana failed; for by June, 1934, both houses of the Legislature again rejected federal regulation of child labor.
4 5 Lumpkin and Douglas, Child Workers in America. 222. 2 3 0
Meanwhile the Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery
Act to meet the emergency of national unemployment. Under the Act each industry was to submit a plan of its organization, pricing, labor and competitive practices. These plans were called codes and under one such code the cotton textile industry agreed to outlaw child labor. By ending child labor the cotton mills under NRA seemingly had secured overnight what years of reform agitation had failed to achieve. During 1933. for instance, only 380 employment certificates were issued to child workers in Louisiana. In her report for 193^
Mrs. Edward Pilsbury, the Factory Inspector of New Orleans, said,
"Thanks to NRA, child labor has been eliminated in industry in 1934."
With the end of control in 1935. regulation was right back where it was before NRA and the great numbers of child workers, unaffected in any case by the codes or even by state regulatory laws, went on as before. Mrs. Pilsbury considered the situation nothing short of a national disgrace- and urged that Louisiana ratify the Child Labor
Amendment. During 1935 the Factory Inspector issued 457 employment certificates, an increase over 1933 and 1934 when the NRA codes were LA in a f f e c t .
Within two years after the nullification of NIRA many bills affecting child labor were introduced in the Congress. One such b ill was the Walsh-Healy Act which prohibited the employment of boys under
^Kathryne E. Mullirmix, comp., Louisiana and Child labor (Baton Rouge, 1956) . 66. 231 sixteen years of age and girls under eighteen in any work performed^ under a contract to manufacture or supply rraterials valued in excess of $10,000 for the United States Government. The Secretary of labor was delegated the duty of making the necessary investigation to obtain compliance with the act. One such investigation of the Lane
Cotton Mill was made in New Orleans in 1938. The investigators revealed that the mill had employed nearly a dozen boys and girls under the ages specified by the Act, including four boys and two girls
under fifteen. One seventeen year old girl testified that she had told the mill officials that she was just seventeen, but they employed her in spite of this. After the investigation action was taken against the cotton mill on charges of violation of the Walsh-IIealy hn Public Contracts Act. '
The 1937 Sugar Act applied directly to farm child labor. Under
its provisions benefit payments would be denied to any producer of
sugar cane who employed children under fourteen years of age and did
not pay a fair and reasonable -wage. While the act did not protect the
child laborer on his family farm, it did set a precedent for the
regulation of young workers not employed on family farms.
The third and most important of the New Deal acts which provided
protection for child laborers was the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
This Act barred the employment of children under sixteen years of age
in manufacturing or mining occupations engaged in interstate or foreign
^ The American Child (June, 1938), 3. 232 commerce. In addition the act prohibited the employment of minors sixteen and seventeen years old in occupations declared hazardous for children. No work could be performed by children of fourteen and fifteen during school hours, but employment was permitted outside of school hours between 7:00 a.m . and 7 s00 p.m. for not more than three hours on any school day and eight hours on any other day. At first the U. S. Children's Bureau was charged with administering a system of granting age certificates or employment permits through state bureaus.
On April 15, 19^1, the Chief of the Children's Bureau designated the
Division of Women and Children of the Louisiana Department of Labor as the state agency from which age certificates were acceptable as 48 proof of age under the National Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Seemingly one of the chief violators of both state and federal laws on child labor was the shrimp and oyster canneries. The NCLC found in 1937 that in picking sheds operated by the canneries twelve per cent of the employees were under sixteen years of age and five per cent under fourteen. In a small number of heading sheds thirty-six per cent of the headers were children under fourteen who were either
Louisiana Cajuns or Negroes. Thirty children under sixteen in one picking shed were found at work at5:00 a.m. and sixteen in another 49 shed nearby. In 1939 child labor consultants inspected shrimp packing plants at Lafitte, Houma, Arabi, and Caenaroon and found what
^B iennial Report of the Department of Commissioner ...of -Labor. 1942-43, 8. 49 James E. Sidel and Sam B. Barton, "The L ittle Shrimp Nickel," The American Child. XIX (November, 1937), 1-3. 233
, NCLC had found that children from nine to fifteen years of age were
working for as little as six cents an hour even after earlier visits
had resulted in the plants being warned against the employment of
children. The plants, charged with violation of child labor provisions
of the Fair Labor Standards Act, pleaded guilty in federal court and
were fined $4900. The defendants declared that they were forced to
rely upon parent's word, baptismal records, or birth certificates which 50 had been altered. The shrimp canneries had also violated state law
in that they were supposed to have accepted not age certificates but
employment permits issued by the school superintendents. In 1943 the
U. S. Children Bureau reported that the latest investigation of the
shrimp canneries revealed that employment of children had been sharply
red u ce d .
Another violator of child labor laws was the basket and crate
factories in the State. A boy aged twelve was found working as a
staple machine helper, and another, age fourteen, as an operator.
These boys worked from ten to twelve hours a day at seventy-five cents
a day doing work considered dangerous. James E. Sidel, an NCLC
investigator, accused the Louisiana Legislature of changing its mind
about the Child Labor Amendment when it was reminded that boys were
useful in making the crates and boxes used in the strawberry industry,
one of Louisiana's leading agricultural industries.51
•5° Times -Picayune. October 1, 1940.
James E. Sidel, "Let's Look At Southern Lumber," The American Child. XVIII (October, 1936), 1, 3. 234
Although Louisiana had laws against minors working in hazardous occupations, it had no law against night work for children in 1937» so when it found that bakeries in New Orleans were working boys and girls until two and three o'clock in the morning, the Superintendent of Public Health and the Director of the Bureau of Women and Children found it necessary to issue orders prohibiting the employment of boys under sixteen and girls under eighteen in bakeries from7;00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. In a statement accompanying the order, the officials charged that "certain bakeries were guilty of the practice of employing extra help, chiefly among children whose remuneration was broken bread and cakes. The Order further stated that the mere presence of children this age in the bakeries, if found, constituted prima facie 52 evidence to their employment.
The State Labor Commissioner was not completely satisfied with th e 1926 child labor law; for one thing he did not control the issuance of work certificates. Outside of Orleans, Caddo, and
Terrebonne Parishes, not a single duplicate of the certificates issued in the other parishes had been mailed to him for review. This was conclusive proof to the Commissioner of the total lack of cooperation on the part of parish superintendents and of the necessity of placing this service in his hands.
In 1936 an act of the Legislature created the State Department of Labor to enforce the labor laws and abolished the position of
52 New Orleans Item. September 23, 1937. 235 factory inspector.-^ Four years later under the reforms of Governor
Sam Jones, A. P. Harvey was appointed Commissioner of Labor. Harvey
saw the need for strengthening the child labor laws and sought
consultation with Miss Elda Ketchin of the U. S. Children's Bureau
and Mr. James E. Sidel of NCLC who came to Louisiana to aid the
Commissioner in drafting new legislation. Mr. Sidel had made several
investigations of child labor in Louisiana shrimp and lumber industries
and therefore knew first hand of the problems involved and the
legislation necessary. At this same time the Louisiana Committee of V Revision of the State Child Labor Law was organized and endorsed by
prominent and active leaders throughout the State. A new child labor
b ill was introduced in the 1942 Legislature backed by the Louisiana
Committee, the Council of Social Agencies of New Orleans, and the 54 PTA. Even Catholic Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of New Orleans
endorsed the b ill and in his statement filed with the Committee on
Capital and Labor he approved of standards higher than that found in
the pending legislation.^
The 1942 b ill prohibited the employment of minors under sixteen;
however, minors fourteen and above could be employed outside of school
hours and during school vacations except in factories and canneries.
Twelve year old minors might be employed as golf caddies. Employment
^ Louisiana Acts of 1936. No. 30. 54 Betsy Ann Schuchat, "Child Labor Legislation in Louisiana, 1935-1942," nfister's thesis (Tulane University, 1944), 35.
-^Times-Picayune. June 14, 1942. 236 certificates were required for all employment except agricultural and domestic services and street trades. The Commissioner of Labor or his representative and the parish school superintendent were authorized to issue certificates. In order to qualify for an employ ment certificate the applicant was required to have a statement from his prospective employer stipulating the specific nature of the work, the number of hours per day and week, and the wages to be paid; documentary proof of age; a health certificate; and for the first time a school record signed by the principal. The employer was to return the certificate to the school superintendent or the issuing party upon the termination of the job. Duplicate copies of the certificate were to be filed with the Commissioner. No minor under eighteen was to work more than eight hours per day or forty-four hours a week. On school days a minor under sixteen was not to work more than three hours a day. Except for street trades no minor was to work before 6:00 a.m. or after 7*00 p.m. Boys between sixteen and eighteen could work before six in the morning and as late as ten at night. Street trade permits could be issued to boys ages fourteen to sixteen and girls age eighteen. Dangerous occupations such as mining, logging, the manu facturing of explosives, and others were prohibited to minors under age eighteen. In 1944 boys of twelve might obtain work permits and
in 1948 street trades were protected by workingmen's compensation laws.
Miss Angele Poncet, director of the Women's and Children's Division of
^ Louisiana Acts of 1942. No. 34l. 237 the Department of Labor, supervised the enforcement of the new law through representatives throughout the State. She also supervised the
issuance of work certificates by the parish superintendents of 57 schools.Prior to 19^8 there were only sixty-seven superintendents and the New Orleans office which issued certificates. For the convenience of minors who found it difficult to get to the parish seat the Department of Labor established 231 issuing officers over the
State instead of one in each parish seat.
During the war years of the 1940's the Louisiana Labor Department
found it increasingly difficult to enforce child labor laws because
of pressures from industry for dispensation and the determination of children to work. During 19^1 there were 2,564 certificates issued, by 1942 the number had trebled and during 1943, 15,000 permits were
issued. This last number did not take into account 3,329 the c h ild re n
found working illegally in the New Orleans area. Excessive hours, low wages and night work were some of the violations of state and federal law found by investigators.
The National Child Labor Committee referred to the child labor
laws of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana as being good 59 and well administered.7 S till there was need for more protection for
^State-Tim es. December 17, 19^3.
■^^Dorothy I. Edler, "Child Labor in Louisiana," Louisiana Welfare. V (January, 1945), 9. See also Myron Folk, "Child Labor in Defense Areas," The American Child. XXIV (March, 1942), 1.
~^The American Child. XXXVI (January, 195^08 ,. 238 farm and migrant children. There was also need for more educational counseling and guidance programs to prevent school and job floundering.
During the 1950‘s the NCLC saw a trend toward the breakdown of child labor standards throughout the nation by lowering the minimum age for such jobs as pinboys in bowling alleys and work in drug stores. NCLC felt that major efforts were and are needed to prevent the loss of hard won gains in protective legislation for young workers.
For many years it was assumed that little could be done about children working on farms except to enforce rigorously compulsory school attendance laws and to bolster rural school facilities. By 1952
Congress had amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to include children working on farms. The act forbade the employment of children under sixteen in agriculture during school hours. It did not set a minimum age for employment outside of school hours, nor did it apply to a parent -employing his own child.
In 1947 the Peabody survey found that twenty parishes in the
State of Louisiana operated Negro rural schools for less than160 days per year while only one parish operated schools for whites less than
175 days. By 1952 the average length of the school year in elementary schools for Negroes had increased about one and half weeks. On the other hand, parish boards of education were permitted to shorten the school day or split the school term in order to allow children to pick strawberries in April or cotton in October. Thus many rural children have been found in school during the hot summer months when other schools were closed. When there was no lay-by school, the school day 239
TABLE 9
PERCENTAGE URBAN POPULATION IN LOUISIANA
Y ear $
1900 26.5 1910 3 0 .0 1920 3 4 .9 1930 3 9 .7 1940 4 1 .5 1950 5 4 .8 i 960 63.3
TABLE 10
PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN 10 - 14 YEARS OF AGE NOT ENROLLED
IN SCHOOL BY RACE AND SEX, I9^0a
W hite Negro Age Boys G irls Boys G irls / 1 V../'"" 10 3 .4 3 .0 • 1 1 .4 10.0 11 3 .4 2 .9 1 10.6 9.6 12 4 .4 3 .3 1 2 .2 10.0 13 6 .0 5 .2 ' 14.3 12.3 14 1 0 .4 10.0 1 2 0 .0 16.7 1
Rudolf Keberle, The Labor Force in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 19^8), 156. in some rural areas was often shortened so that boys and girls might work in the fields in the spring and fall. Since neither federal or state law prohibited the working of children in agriculture during the summer or outside of school hours, shortening the school day was within the law. Also rural children who lived more than two miles from a school where adequate transportation had not been furnished were exempt from the compulsory education law. In East Carroll Parish seventy-five children or approximately two per cent of the Negro educables in the parish were legally out of school because they lived more than two miles from any school and busses were not provided.^®
With the mechanization of both the sugar and cotton plantations has come the breakdown of the old tenant system and the rise of the migrant worker and farm laborer. Not only are fewer laborers needed, but they are needed only at certain times of the year. The plantation owner no longer needs the tenant or sharecropper on the land the year round, and now he hires laborers by the day to do seasonal work.
Cotton activities, for example, in both cultivation and harvesting are affected by the use of migrant labor. Some workers commute daily from their homes, thus eliminating the problem of housing. Others have to be housed, fed, transported, and cared for when ill. From May 10 to
July 1 from 1500 to 2500 Negroes commute from Texarkana and M arshall,
Texas to North Caddo and Bossier Parishes to chop and hoe cotton
Public Education in Louisiana (Nashville, Tern., 195*0. 1U- 113. 241
and 500 Negroes from Vicksburg and 500 from Natichez, M ississippi
commute into adjacent Louisiana parishes to work.
The sugar cane fields of West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Lafayette,
St. Mary, Terrebonne, Lafourche, Ascension, and Assumption Parishes
also depend upon migrant workers to harvest the sugar cane crop. In
early October nearly 500 field hands migrate from M ississippi to
harvest the cane and 1,000 other workers migrate to sugar factories
and remain until mid-December. From April 1 to Kay 20 nearly 2500
workers migrant into Tangipahoa and Livingston Parishes to harvest
s tra w b e rrie s .^-*-
The children of migrant workers, especially those who do not
commute, are the victims of the system. They are denied proper food
and clothing making them ashamed to go to school and they tend not to
go while they are away from home; thus their education is grossly
r e ta rd e d .
A school for the children of migrant strawberry workers was
founded in 1956 at Natalbany in Tangipahoa Parish by a local volunteer
church group, and classes were taught by volunteer students from
Southeastern Louisiana College in an old wooden building. In 1965,
with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of the
U. S, Congress, the migrant school was completely funded with federal
money which enabled the Tangipahoa School Board to assume fu ll
^The Louisiana Interdepartmental Committee on Health, Education and Services, "Report on Louisiana Migrant Labor Problem," (Baton Rouge, i960), passim. 242 responsibility for the program. The work of the school consisted of a five week teacher training program in the peculiar skills needed for the migrant child, many of whom came from Spanish speaking origins.
The school, the only one of its kind in Louisiana, begins on April 1 and lasts until sometime in May. The separate school became necessary because the public schools were closed during the strawberry harvest.
Also because children pick berries a ll morning, the school hours were usually from 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thus for a few weeks children from age five through sixteen may attend for the first time a school with: a lunchroom and cafetorium where they w ill receive daily a hot meal, the services of ten certified teachers, eleven teachers' aides, a registered nurse, two social workers, and theprincipal.Still another complication is the complete lack of child care facilities for pre-school children. Too often these children must accompany
parents to the fields because there is no one with whom to leave them.
On such migrant family is the Hansons. The Hansons had owned
land in Missouri where they raised cotton as sharecroppers. In 1939
the Hanson family picked strawberries in April and May in Louisiana,
then moved into Arkansas. They le ft Arkansas and moved on to Illinois,
Michigan, then back to Missouri to pick cotton from September to
November. During the winter Mr. Hanson found odd jobs and his children
went to school. On April 1 Hanson and his family returned to Louisiana
^^Morning Advocate. March 12,1968 . 243 to pick strawberries and to begin again his trek northward and finally back to his home in Missouri. The Hanson children ages three to fifteen contributed to the family income which averaged about $400.00 yearly, by working in the strawberry and cotton fields.
In no section of this country can the migrant farm laborer establish firm roots. In the South where most of the Negro workers are bom and where the migrant works during the winter months, he is
discriminated against because of his color and class. In the North where he continues to harvest crops during the summer and fall, he is
segregated for the same reasons from the community. Though he is necessary to the prosperity of thousands of farm communities, the
migrant worker almost everywhere is received by local residents with
disdain, if not hostility. For these reasons, then, very little is
done by thecommunity to make the plight of the migrant and his
children less severe.
While child labor is gradually disappearing, it is still frequent
in agriculture, domestic service, and in such distributive occupations
as newsboys, messengers, and delivery boys. During the fiscal year
beginning July 1, 1958 and ending June 30, 1959, 7,328 employment
certificates were issued to minors sixteen and seventeen years of age
to work in varying non-hazardous occupations. Boys and girls ages
fourteen and fifteen were issued 1,541 work permits to be employed in
Raymond G. Fuller, Children in Strawberries (New York, 1940), 7 f f . 244 permissible occupations outside of school hours and during summer vacations. There were 1,723 permits issued for those working in street trades, making a total of 10,851 legal employment certificates issued by the Division of Women and Children for the boys and girls 64 of the State.
During the 1960's the War on Poverty of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations has centered part of its program on the school drop out and efforts to keep boys and girls in school. The Neighborhood
Youth Corps began to provide jobs first for the school drop-out and laterH he "in-school" group who worked two hours after school for five days a week earning $12.50. It was hoped that this small income would enable many potential drop-outs to stay in school.^ During the period from July 1, 1965. to June 30, 1966, there was a thirty-one per cent increase in the number of employment certificates issued to minors. This increase was due in part to the clean-up program in the aftermath of Hurricane Betsy encompassing Orleans, Jefferson, St.
Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes and to the War on Poverty programs.
64 Annual Report of the Louisiana Department of Labor. 19.58-59 . 21.
65Ibid. . 1965-66 . 23. CHAPTER X
CHILD WELFARE IN LOUISIANA:
PAST, FRESENT, AND FUTURE
Care for dependent and neglected children in Louisiana during the nineteenth century was primarily the work of private agencies, many of which still exist. At irregular intervals the State contributed lump sums of money to some, but not all, of these institutions. There was and is no institution like the Franklin County Children's Home of
Columbus, Ohio, which was supported by public funds. During the early years of the twentieth century new private institutions were organized such as the Louisiana Baptist Children's Home of Monroe founded in
1899 and incorporated in 1902; the Louisiana Methodist Orphanage of
Ruston, founded in 1925; and the Sager Brown and Godman School of
Baldwin founded for Negro children in 1921 by the Methodist Church.
Today there are thirty-two licensed agencies providing institutional care for 1,413 children throughout the State.
Besides the fact that the State did not provide institutional care for its dependent and neglected children, it made little or no provisions for delinquents. The prison reforms for juvenile offenders which Edward Livingston wrote about in 1824 and for which George
Washington Cable campaigned in the l880's were all but ignored until
245 2M6 the twentieth century when special reformatories for both whites and
Negroes, boys and girls, were established. Dependent and neglected children may still be found in these state institutions designed primarily for rehabilitating the delinquent.
The national campaign for special courts for delinquent children resulted in one being established in New Orleans in 1908. Since that time there have been only three courts established in Louisiana for the child offender. During 1957 the Louisiana Council of Juvenile
Court Judges was founded to assist in the development, among other things, of special courts and procedures for youthful offenders. It would appear, as suggested by the Louisiana State Advisory Committee fo r th e i 960 White House Conference on Children and Youth, that regional courts as well as regional detention centers represent a possible solution to the problem of additional facilities throughout th e S ta t e .
Along with this need for additional court and detention facilities, there has been for sometime a need to expand the Industrial
School for Colored at Baker. The school's capacity is approximately
500 youths, but there are now more than 1000 enrolled, including quite a few who are merely homeless rather than delinquent. Residents of the Baker community have in recent years sought to have the school relocated on the grounds that frequent escapes throw the residents and the area into a panic. Submitting to the demands of this community,
the State has endeavored to relocate the school in the New Orleans area since fifty-two per cent of the enrollees are from New Orleans. At 2k7 least ten cities have rejected having the school placed in their communities in spite of the additional jobs and money that it might bring. It is hoped that the more incorrigible youths -would be transferred to the new facility leaving the more docile ones at the present institution.
The State did attempt to provide special facilities for the blind and deaf and custodial care for the insane and feebleminded during the past century. Yet care for the Negro blind and deaf did not appear until the 1920's. The crowded conditions found in the feebleminded
institution for children made it difficult to train the educable into productive citizens. Moreover, the State only provided limited services to the mentally retarded child. When a state grant-in-aid
program to private schools was nullified in a federal court in 1967, some 286 white and 568 Negro, mentally retarded children in the New
Orleans area were left without educational facilities.
What public awareness there has been of the needs of the retarded child for the past fifteen years has been the work of the Louisiana
Association for Retarded Children, a state-wide organization of persons
interested in extending and expanding services to more than 100,000
retarded persons in the State today. At its 1968 convention the
Association adopted a legislative program supporting increases in the
state budget for vocational rehabilitation, special education centers,
and day care programs for the mentally retarded. The Association
asked that the exceptional child act be amended. At the present time
the law states that parish school boards shall provide special classes 248 where ten or more students of one category of exceptionality are found, if classrooms and teachers are available. The Association proposes that the phrase "where classrooms and teachers are avail able," be deleted, thus forcing parish boards to provide facilities for the exceptional child. The State's five institutions for the mentally retarded are to be supplemented by two more institutions, one in Northwest Louisiana and the other in Southwest Louisiana, if and when the Legislature provides the funds for their construction.
Besides the institutional care for both white and Negro handi capped boys and girls and juvenile delinquents, the State through its
Aid to Dependent Children program has provided for keeping children with their own families rather than placing them in institutions.
During the program's first year the state and federal governments spent $1,772,308 on 4,503 families or 12,695 children. In 1966 th e amount spent had increased to $29,746,482 for 24,608 clients.
Louisiana used proportionately less of its welfare expenditures Tor
ADC, nineteen per cent, than the remainder of the United States as a whole which used twenty-seven per cent of its relief expenditures for this program.
In spite of efforts to cut the number of recipients of the ADC program, this form of welfare assistance is the most rapidly increasing category in the state's public assistance program. In i 960 the in itial attempt at reducing the ADC caseload was directed toward those who allegedly had not provided a suitable home for children. Then in 1964 the Welfare Department began to deny payments 249 to mothers living with men other than their husbands. Since that time nearly 16,000 children, sixty-three per cent Negroes, have been barred from ADC payments. In March, 1968, the U. S. D istrict Court ordered State Commissioner of Welfare Garland Bonin to reinstate to the welfare rolls a ll children dropped on grounds of alleged misconduct of their mothers. This problem was further complicated by the fact that Congress passed legislation in January, 1968, freezing federal funds to the State's AFDC program on the average number of participants during the first three months of 1968. The State would then have to provide all money for cases added to rolls after March 31. 1968.
The D istrict of Columbia and nineteen other states including
Alabana. have sim ilar "man-in-the-house" regulations. In Alabama a federal court ruled that Alabama's "substitute father" regulation was unconstitutional. The State took its case to the Supreme Court. Cn
June 19, 1968, the United States Supreme Court ruled that fatherless dependent children are entitled to welfare benefits even if there is another man around the house. The ruling was met with initial defiance in several of the affected states. Louisiana State Welfare
Director Garland Bonin said that it would be necessary to place an additional 30,000 to 42,000 children on Louisiana Welfare rolls. He also stated that in view of the prospective additional cost "we may decide to do away with aid to dependent children completely."
R. Bernard Houston, director of the Michigan Department of Social
Services, said that his state would stand pat on its present policy of denying funds for children whose mothers have extra-m arital sex 250
relations. He further complained that "illicit relationships w ill be
fostered and legalized by this Supreme Court ruling" and added that
action by "tin heads and eggheads" is forcing welfare costs to a
prohibitive level.^
Besides banning applicants and clients who allegedly had
substitute husbands, the State has attempted to ban those mothers who
refuse to work when work was offered to them. Prior to 1968 the
Federal Government frowned on this policy. But in early 1968 Senator
Russell B. Long of Louisiana pushed through amendments to the Social
Security Act which contained sim ilar provisions to the Louisiana law.
Under the new amendment day care centers are to be provided for
children when their mothers are offered employment. The new amendments
also set up a job training program under the U. S. Department of Labor
for these mothers. In addition the new federal law provides for
cutoff from welfare payments sixty days after a mother has refused to
work in contrast to the immediate cutoff provision in the Louisiana law.
This sixty-day delay in denying payments to welfare recipients who
refuse to work—during which time the Welfare Department must provide
counseling services—is expected to raise the costs of Louisiana's
AFDC program .
For over 120 years educators have hoped that the public school
would be the vehicle which would give opportunity to all to develop
their capacities to the fullest and thus the poor, the immigrant, and
^Morning Advocate. June 20, 1968. 251 the Negro could enter the mainstream of American life. But this dream can only be realized if boys and girls remain in school. Louisiana, like the rest of the nation, is faced with the problem of keeping students in school at least until the day of high school graduation.
During 1966 there were 15,628 students reported by visiting teachers as school dropouts. Of this number 8,300 or 53.11 per cent were white and 7,328 or ^*6.89 per cent were Negro. Both white male and female dropouts gave as their chief reasons for leaving school: academic difficulty, dislike of the school experience, and employment.
Similarly Negro males gave as their three top reasons for leaving school: dislike of the school experience, employment, and academic difficulty. On the other hand, Negro females gave marriage, pregnancy, and academic difficulty as their three top reasons for quitting school.
The typical Louisiana dropout was a sixteen year old boy in the tenth grade. He was below average in intelligence and his parents had at least eight years of schooling. He was among the one-third of all dropouts having brothers and sisters who were dropouts and one of the fifty-seven per cent who was retarded one or more years. He was among those fifty per cent who took no part in extra-curricular activities and was excessively absent from school along with nearly half the total number of dropouts. This typical boy who left school two years before graduation gave academic difficulty as his chief reason for leaving school although once out of school he had great difficulty in 252
2 finding employment. Ihere are 1,100,126 educable boys and girls in
Louisiana between the ages of six and eighteen of whom 708,151 or
64.37 per cent are white and 391.975 or 35.63 per cent are Negro.
While the typical student leaves school in the tenth grade, dropouts occur at a ll age and grade levels.
Even though the typical dropout could not find employment, his counterpart who remained in school often could. On June 30, 1966, the
State Department of Labor issued 18,469 certificates to youths between the ages of fourteen and eighteen,1,662 of which were for workers ages fourteen and fifteen and 14,508 between ages sixteen and seventeen.
The number of youths illegally employed is hard to discover, but when ever they are found, the Department of Labor takes the necessary legal action against such an employer.
The biggest child labor problem s till remains that of children working on farms. However, this is being solved by the rapid
mechanization of many farms and the effective use of herbicides. In
cotton cultivation and harvesting, for instance, increased use of
improved machinery and chemicals has not only lowered seasonal labor
demands, but also shortened the terms of employment one to two months
during the last five years. Adult female and school youth have been
most affected by these changes. Ninety per cent of the cotton in
Louisiana is already being machine picked; thus hand pickers are needed
only to get that which is left by the machine. Those workers no longer
^Walter C. Hohman, The School Dropout in Louisiana 1966-67. State Department of Education publication (Baton Rouge, 1967)• 21. 253 needed on a given plantation have either become migrant laborers, seasonal day workers, or they have moved to the city where because of the lack of skills, they remain unemployed and soon become welfare c l i e n t s .
It does seem paradoxical that in the midst of abundance the number of welfare clients throughout the United States continues to rise. Instead of freeing the poor from poverty today's approach to public welfare is actually locking millions into poverty, sometimes for two or three generations. Many relief programs tend to perpetuate the conditions they are designed to alleviate. For example, the AFDC program seems to produce female-centered households with increased rates of illegitimacy and other undesirable results. The child who is reared in an unstable and insecure home is apt to be aggressive and delinquent or lazy and apathetic, a school dropout, an early wage earner, and a potential welfare client.
The State w ill continue to need and support its institutions for the handicapped and the juvenile delinquent. The people of the State w ill have to continue to support institutions for dependent and neglected children for some time to come. All of these agencies need a trained staff and a program of rehabilitation in order to allow the boys and girls who are served by these institutions a chance to mature into worthwhile and productive citizens. On the other hand, those c h ild r e n who a re serv ed in th e home by w e lfa re program s must look forward to new approaches to their problem; for they are members of what Harrington calls a "culture of poverty in American s„ociety." If 25*f these children happen to be Negro, their problem is compounded by racial prejudice and discrimination; for in too many instances they live.in slum housing, receive inferior education and inadequate medical care. Their parents are either unemployed or underemployed, a condition which is often stultifying and debasing.
In 1967 the Department of Welfare took great pride in the fact that 2,098 children whose parents were AFDC recipients finished high school and 288 graduated with honors. These graduates, perhaps, w ill have better opportunities for employment and hopefully w ill break the cycle of poverty only and if the State of Louisiana has the imagination and courage to provide better opportunities for all of its people to be productive citizens in the future than it has in the p a s t. APPENDIX I
Ihe following are examples of sentimental poems found in newspapers and designed to win friends and sympathy for the orphan:
0 , ye who for the fatherless feel Lead kind deeds their early wounds to heal, If ye have youous children, from whose eyes light beams reflected from the azure skies, 0 , teach their little hands to bless your cares Dispense your bounty, win the orphan's prayers, Prayers that shall rise and register your names Where angel witnesses attest your claims. Two fold doth pity bless your heart with joy, When pity springs to bless the Orphan Boy.
Les Orphelins
Dans les promenade publique Les beaux dimanches, on veut voir Passer, troupes melancolique Des petites filles en noir
De loin, on croit des hirondelles Robes sombres et grands cols blancs; Et le vent met des frissons d'ailes Dans les legers camails tremblants
Mais quand plus pres des ecolieres On les voit se parler tout bas, On songe aux etroites volieres Ou les oiseaux ne chantent pas.
"^New Orleans Daily Picayune. April 24, 1842.
^The Opelousas Journal. May 29,1869 .
255 APPENDIX I I
An act to provide for the regulation of the labor and care of freedmen and women and their children in the State of Louisiana:
Section 3 - Be it further enacted, etc.. That any minor children who may be without mother or father to take care of and humanly provide for them, or who have no legal protector, shall be arrested and taken before said Parish Recorder of the parish in which said children may be strolling and homeless, who shall immediately, with the advice of two Justices of the Peace and two freeholders, residents of said parish, bind out said children to comfortable homes, until they are twenty-one years of age, to some citizen thereof, who shall bind themselves to feed and clothe and give medical attention when sick said children, and who shall protect them and take parental care of them during the time for which they are apprenticed.
Section 11 - Be it further enacted, etc.. That minors, who are bound as provided in the third section of this act, shall, when of the same mother, be bound to the same parties, when it can be done.
Section 13 - Be it further enacted, etc.. That any apprentice who has been bound as provided for in the second and third sections of this act, who shall leave the party to whom he or she is bound without
256 2 5 7 their consent, said party to whom said apprentice is bound, shall have the right to obtain a warrant, from any Judge or Justice of the
Peace directed to the Sheriff or Constable, who shall immediately arrest and deliver said apprentice to whom he or she was bound.'*"
The b ill passed the Senate and was ordered to be printed. It is
not listed in the Acts of Louisiana, 1865, and there is no evidence
that the b ill was ever signed by the Governor.
^Louisiana Senate Journal, ex. sess., November 29, 1865, p. 13, 14. APPENDIX I I I
The following items represent the appropriations for private charitable and benevolent societies for the year ending December 31»
1871.^ The b ill was signed by the controversial governor H. C.
Warmouth, the It. Governor Oscar J. Dunn and Speaker of the House,
George W. C a rte r.
1. New Orleans Female Orphan Asylum $ 6000 2 . St. Vincent Infant Orphan Asylum 5000 3 . St. Elizabeth Female Orphan Asylum 2000 4. St. Vincent Orphan Asylum at Donaldsonville, Louisiana 1500 5 . Female Orphan Asylum a t Baton Rouge 500
6. St. Joseph Orphan Asylum 1500 7. little Sisters of the Poor 1500 8. Protestant Episcopal Orphan Home 6000 9. Louisiana Orphans Home 2000 10. German Protestant Asylum 3000
11. St. Mary's Catholic Orphan Boys Asylum 2000 12. Sisters of Providence for the education of colored orphans 1000 13. House o f th e Good Shepherd 2500 14. St. Vincent's Home for Destitute Boys 1500 15. Widow's Friends of Home Missionary S o c ie ty 1000
16. Sisters of Providence, N. 0. 2000 17. American Seamen's Friend's Society of New York for refitting and maintaining Seamen's Home of New Orleans 15000 18. St. Mary's Benevolent Association of C a rro llto n 1000 19. Christian Social Band of Jefferson Parish 500 20. Union Band
^Louisiana Acts. 1871, pp. 183-186.
258 259
21. Union Benevolent Association of Jefferson Parish $ 500 22. Zion Traveler's Association 1000 23. German Evangelical Association of Carrollton 500 24. Union Benevolent Association of Lafourche Parish 1000 25. Association for the Relief of Jewish Widows and Orphans 3000
26. Touro Hospital, New Orleans 3000 27. Union Benevolent Society of Greensburg 1000 28. H oly Fam ily Widows 1000 29. "Les Orphelines Indigentes" 3000 30. Vidalia Benevolent Society 2500
31. Third District Indigent Orphans School 3000 32. Morning Star Benevolent Association of Shreveport 3000 33. Sisters of Charity of Shreveport 5000 34. Home Missionary Society of New Orleans 1000 35. T urgis Asylum f o r D e s titu te Widows and Orphans 1500
36. Ladies of Providence 1500 37. Mt. Carmel Charitable Institution of Vermilionville 1500 38. Howard Charitable Association of Washington, La. 1500 39. Society for the Protection of the Poor and Friendless of Carroll Parish 3000 40. Orphan's Home Society of St. Mary Parish 5000
41. Society of St. Vincent de Paul 1500 42. Firemen's Charitable Association 5000 43. Shreveport Medical and Surgical Infirmary 5000 44. Sisters of the Sacred Home of the Holy Family 1000 45. Female Asylum of the Imrficulate Conception 1000
46. Zion's Sons' Benevolent Association 500 47. Hathaway Home for Poor and Friendless 5000 APPENDIX 17
Part of a speech made by Huey P. Long during his campaign for governor of Louisiana in 1927s
And it is here under this oak where Evangeline waited for her lover, Gabriel, who never came. This oak is an immortal spot, made so by Longfellow's poem, but Evangeline is not the only one who has waited here in disappointment.
Where are the schools that you have waited for your children to have, that have never come? Where are the roads and the highways that you send your money to build, that are no nearer now than ever before? Where are the institutions to care for the sick and disabled? Evangeline wept bitter tears in her disappointment, but it lasted through only one lifetim e. Your tears in this country, around this oak, have lasted for generations. Give me the chance to dry the eyes of th o se who s t i l l weep h e r e l1
•Hi. P. Long, Every Man A King. New Orleans, 1933. p. 99.
260 APPENDIX V
PUBLIC WELFARE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS IN LOUISIANA, 1936 1
1. Board of Commissioners of the Industrial School for Colored Youths
2. Board of Commissioners of the Industrial School for Girls
3. Board of Commissioners of the Louisiana Training Institute
4. Board of Administrators of East Louisiana State Hospital
5. Board of Administrators of New Orleans Charity Hospital
6. Board of Control of Penitentiary
7. General Manager of the Penitentiary
8. Board of Administrators of Central State Hospital
9. Board of Directors of Charity Hospital, Monroe
10. Board of Directors of Charity Hospital, Shreveport
11. State Children's Aid Board
12. Commissioner of Veteran's Funds
13. Emergency Relief Commission
14. Louisiana Flood Relief Commission
15. Milne Asylum for Destitute and Orphan Boys
16. Milne Asylum for Destitute and Orphan Girls
17• Board of Parole
■4t. L. Carleton, Reorganization and Consolidation of State Administration in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, La.) , 1937, see pages 243-247.
26l 262
1 8. Travel Warden of State Pententiary
19. State Service Commissioner of Veterans of the Spanish- American War, Philippine Insurrection, and Boxer Rebellion
20. State Service Commissioners for World War Veterans
21. Board of Directors of Soldiers Home of Louisiana
22. Board of Pardons
23. Board of Charities and Corrections
24. State Colony and Training School
25. State Hospital Board
26. Department of Public Welfare of New Orleans
27. Tuberculosis Commission
28. Board of Administration of the Charity Hospital of Baton Rouge APPENDIX VI
A COMMISSIONER'S CREED1
I believe in an adequate public assistance program based on need,
I believe that public assistance can help people help themselves,
I believe that financial assistance only, in some cases, may be short-sighted economy,
I—believe that we work with people, not cases.
I believe that people should be treated with courtesy and Consideration at all times—that we may reject an application or request but that we never do it in a way that we reject the applicant as an individual.
I believe that the taxpayer should get his money's worth from our program—a fu ll day's work and prompt efficient service.
I believe that employees work better if they understand why.
I believe that professional education can be of great help in administering a sound public welfare program.
I believe that a public welfare program must be responsive to the public but that we have a responsibility to keep the public informed so that it can act on knowledge.
I believe, above all, in the dignity and worth of all people as individuals.
Mary Evelyn Parker
•^Louisiana W elfare. Janusry-April, 1957.
263 APPENDIX V II
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE STUDIES PROBLEM1
Committee of Louisiana's Legislature Holds Public Hearings
on Problems of Dependent Children
by 0. C. S i l l s
Mr. S ills, Welfare Services Director, Louisiana Department of Public Welfare, who was present for all the public hearings held over the state regarding the problems of dependent children, gives a comprehensive review of these meetings which were called to obtain expressions and exchange of viewpoints from citizens as a guide for the Legislative Committee.
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Ihe Welfare Department now has in effect a policy of giving subsistence to the mother of children who are bom out of wedlock, which subsistence is primarily designed for the benefit of said children, and
WHEREAS the intention and purpose behind this grant is good, but most of said subsistence money is being spent by the parents selfishly rather than for the exclusive benefit of said children, and
1Louisiana Welfare. April, 1958.
2 6k 265
WHEREAS since this subsistence policy has been in existence,
there has been an appalling increase in the number of illegitim ate
children born, and
WHEREAS it is the desire of this Legislature to discourage
illic it births and to see to it that the taxpayers money shall be
spent on these innocent children rather than squandered by the parent
of the said children.
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED by this House of Representatives and the
Senate concurring that a committee composed of three members of the
House of Representatives to be appointed by its Speaker and three
members of the Louisiana State Senate to be appointed by its President,
and the chairman to be selected by those who have been appointed, be
constituted as a Legislative Committee to make a diligent study and
investigation of the problem of the birth of illegitim ate children in
our State and the providing of subsistence thereof, with the object
and purpose of recommending legislation at the next regular session
that w ill be Consistent with the best interests and welfare of these
unfortunate children. APPENDIX V III
1950
PLEDGE TO CHILDREN
A dopted by
"Midcentury White House Conference on Children and Youth"
From your earliest infancy we give you our love, so that you may grow with trust in yourself and in others.
-W E w ill recognize your worth as a person and we w ill help you to strengthen your sense of belonging.
W E w ill respect your right to be yourself and at the same time help you to understand the rights of others, so that you may experience cooperative living.
W E w ill help you to develop initiative and imagination, So that you may have the opportunity freely to create.
W E w ill encourage your curiosity and your pride in workmanship, so that you may have the satisfaction that comes from achievement.
W E w ill provide the conditions for wholesome play that w ill add to your learning, to your social experience, and to your happiness.
W E w ill illustrate by precept and example the value of integrity and the importance of moral courage.
W E w ill encourage you always to seek the truth.
W E w ill provide you with all opportunities possible to develop your own f a i t h in God.
W E w ill open the way for you to enjoy the arts and to use them for deepening your understanding of life.
266 2 67
W E w ill work to rid ourselves of prejudice and discrimination, so that together we may achieve a truly democratic society.
W E w ill work to lift the standard of living and improve our economic practices, so that you may have the material basis for a full life.
W E w ill provide you with rewarding educational opportunities, so that you may develop your talents and contribute to a better w o rld .
W E w ill protect you against exploitation and undue hazards and help you grow in health and strength.
V/ E w ill work to conserve and improve family life and, as needed, to provide foster care according to your inherent rights.
W E w ill intensify our search for new knowledge in order to guide you more effectively as you develop your potentialities.
As you grow from child to youth to adult, establishing a family life of your own and accepting larger social responsibilities, we w ill work with you to improve conditions for all children and youth.
Aware that these promises to you cannot be fully met in the world at war, we ask you to join us in a firm dedication to the building of a world society based on freedom, justice and mutual respect.
SO MAY YOU grow in joy, in faith in God and in man, and in those qualities of vision and of the spirit that will sustain us all and give us new hope for the future. APPENDIX IX
THE PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF NCLC
1 . To determine by means of accurate studies the extent and cause of child labor in manufacturing and commercial industries and in agriculture.
2. To safeguard children against adverse conditions of labor in agriculture and industry.
3. To cooperate with all other interested agencies, organizations, and institutions in the promotion of normal child development by increasing and enlarging the opportunities for education for health and for recreation.
4. To assist in the fuller realization of these rights of childhood through better laws and through more enlightened practices on the part of government, industries and parents.
5. To create and foster an intelligent public opinion which w ill support these aims.
268 BIBLIOGRAPHY
P rim ary Sources
I. Federal Documents
Federal Security Agency, Aid to Dependent Children; A Study in Six States. Public Assistance Report No. 12 (Washington, D. C., 19^1) .
Freedmen*s Bureau. 39th Cong., 1 sess., House Executive Document, No. 70 (Washington, D. C., 1866).
"Fullerton Report," The New York Times. December 31. 1865.
McGill, Nettie, "Trends in Child Labor in the United States, 1913- 1920," Monthly Labor Review. XII (April, 1921), 717-730.
Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth, Children and Youth the Midcenturv: Report on Youth National Organizations. Federal. Government (Washington, D. C., 1950).
Proceedings of the Conference on the .Care of Dependent Children, 60th Cong., 2nd sess., Senate Document No. 721 (Washington, D. c . , 1909).
Report of the Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. 39th Cong., 2nd sess., House Executive Documents, III, No. 1.
Report of the Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, 40th Cong., 2nd sess., House Executive Document II, pt. 1, no. 1 (Washington, D. C., 1868).
Report of the Commissioner. Bureau of Refugees. Freedmen and Abandoned lands. 4lst Cong., 2nd sess., House Executive Documents (Washington, D. C., 1870).
Report of Carl Schurz on the States of South Carolina. Georgia. Alabama. M ississippi, and Louisiana. 39th Cong.,1 s t s e s s . , Senate Executive Documents, I, No. 2.
2 6 9
% 270
Report of Major General 0 . 0 . Howard. 4oth Cong., 3rd sess., House Executive Document I, pt.1 , No. 1 .
Report on the Economic Conditions of the South prepared for the President by the National Emergency Council, 1938.
U. S. Bureau of Census, Abstract of the 13th Census with Supplement for Louisiana (Washington, D. C., 1913).
U. S. Bureau of Census, Children Under Institutional Care (Washington, D. C ., 1923).
U. S. Bureau of Census, Paupers in Almshouses (Washington, D. C., 19 0 4 ).
U. S. Bureau of Census, Prisoners. 1923 (Washington, D. C., 1926).
U. S. Bureau of Census, Prisoners in State and Federal Prisons and Reformatories (Washington, D. C., 1937).
U. S. Bureau of Census, Thirteenth Census of the United States.. Agriculture. VI (Washington, D. C., 1913).
United States Code (Washington, D. C., 1952).
U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor S tatistics, The Cost of American Almshouses. Bulletin No. 386 (Washington, D. C,, 1925).
U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, Child Labor. Facts and Figures. No. 197 (Washington, D. C., 1930).
U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, The Development of Child Placing in the United States. No. 136. (Washington, D. C., 1926).
U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, Child Labor and Work of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp Canning Communities on the Gulf Coast. No. 98 (Washington, D. C., 1922).
U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, Social Statistics suppl. to The Child. II (November, 1946).
U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, Care of Dependent and Neglected Children. No. 209 (Washington, D. C., 1932).
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Social Security Administration, Bureau of Public Assistance, "Review of Practice under the Suitability of Home Policy in Aid to Dependent Children in Louisiana," (Washington, D. C., June-October, i960). 271
White House Conference on Children in a Democracy. Final Report (Washington, D. C,, 19^+0).
2, Documents of Louisiana and the Parishes
Annual Report of the Board of Administration of the Insane Asylum at Jackson. Documents of the Legislature, i860, 1866.
Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the State Industrial School for Colored Youths. 19*+9, 1950.
Annual Report of the Factories Inspection Department. Parish Orleans, 1921-1936.
Annual Report of the Family Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge. 1955-1967.
Annual Report of the Female Orphan Association of Baton Rouge. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 1858, 860 i .
Biennial Report of the Board of Administrators of the State Colony Training Scfaaol. 1922_19^0 ; Annual Reports. 1957-1965.
Biennial Reports of the Department of the Commissioner of Labor and Industrial S tatistics. 1909-1956; Annual Reports of the Louisiana Department of Labor. 1956-1966.
Biennial Reports of the Louisiana State Board of Health. 1860-1932, 19^ - 1966.
BjennlafL Reports of the Louisiana Training In stitu te. 1930-19^+0.
Biennial Reports of the Louisiana Youth Commission. 1950-1967.
Biennial Reports of the State Colony and Training School. 193^, 1938.
BienniaL Report of the State Industrial School for G irls. 1930-19^0.
Daggett, Harriet S., A Compilation of Louisiana Statutes Affecting Child Welfare and Report of the Louisiana Childrens Code Committee (Baton Rouge, L a., 1933).
Dart, Benjamin W., Constitutions of the State of Louisiana (Indianapolis, 1932).
Debates of the House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana (New Y o rle a n s , 18 7 0 ). 272
Debates of the Senate of the State of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1870).
Department of Public Welfare of New Orleans, Through Twenty Years. 1934 to 1954 (New Orleans, 1954).
Dobbs, Harrison A. Time to Stop Shadow Boxing in our Juvenile Delinquency Fight. Louisiana Youth Commission (Baton Rouge, 1957).
______. Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Courts. Louisiana Youth Commission (Baton Rouge, no date).
Favrot, Leo M., Aims and Needs in Negro Public Education in Iouisiana. Department of Education Bulletin Ho. 2 (Baton Rouge, 1918).
Governor's Committee for Handicapped Children, "Services for Handi capped Children in Louisiana," (Baton Rouge, 1956).
Handicapped Children's Committee, Community Services Council of Baton Rouge, "Handicapped Children in East Baton Rouge Parish" (Baton Rouge, 1862).
Hohman, W alter C., The School Dropout in Louisiana 1966-67. Department of Education Publication (Baton Rouge, 19^7).
Louisiana. Acts of the Legislature. 1824-1966.
Louisiana. A General Digest of the Acts of the Legislature. 1804- 1827 (New Orleans, 1828).
Louisiana. Official Journalo f th e House o f Representatives. 18.66- 1266.
.Louisiana. O fficial Journal of the Senate. 1853-1966.
Louisiana Division of Employment Security, Louisiana Annual Farm Labor R e p o rt. 1966.
Louisiana Legal Archives; Compiled Edition of Civil Codes of Louisiana (New O rle a n s , 1936).
Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. I-VII (Baton Rouge, 1950).
Louisiana Welfare laws through the Fiscal Session of. the Legislature of 1963 (Baton Rouge, 1964).
Louisiana Interdepartmental Committee on Health, Education and Services, "Report on Louisiana Migrant Labor Problem, (Baton Rouge, i960). 273
Louisiana Interdepartmental Committee on Health, Education, and Services, State Services for Louisiana Children (Baton Rouge, 1950, 1958).
Louisiana Report for the i960 White House Conference onChildr.eiL.aild Youth (Baton Rouge, 960 i ).
Louisiana State Board of Health Quarterly Bulletin. December,1939, March, 1940.
Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare, ADC: What Is It? Who Is Eli g i bl e? .Haw Dp, J Apply? (Baton Rouge, 1953).
Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare, Minimum Requirements for License of Child Caring Institutions (Baton Rouge, 1948).
Louisiana Department of Public Welfare, Louisiana Public Welfare S tatistics. 1938-196?.
Louisiana State' Department of Public Welfare, The Rights of a Child (Baton Rouge, 1953) .
Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare, What Kind of Care Is Your Child Receiving While You Work? (Baton Rouge, 1953).
Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare, You and Your Foster Child (Baton Rouge, 1961).
Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare, Louisiana Welfare. I- XXIH, October, 1940, to January, 1962.
Louisiana State Department of Public Welfare, Public Welfare in Louisiana. I-IV, April, 1937, to January, 1940.
Louisiana State School for the Deaf, One Hundred Years of Progress (Baton Rouge, 1952).
Louisiana Youth Commission, Private Agencies Serving Louisiana Children (Baton Rouge, 1953).
Mullinnix, Kathryne E ., comp., Louisiana and Child Labor. Louisiana Youth Commission (Baton Rouge, 1956).
Mullinnix, Kathryne E ., A Study of the Problem of Handicapped.C h ild r e n in Louisiana. Louisiana Youth Commission (Baton Rouge, 1962),
National Council on Crime and Delinquency, A System of Family Courts for Louisiana (New York, 1961). 274
Pugh, Robert G., comp., Juvenile Laws of Louisiana: History and Development. Louisiana Youth Commission (Baton Rouge, 1957).
"Report from Committee on Charitable Institutions," Senate Journal. 1853.
Reports of the Board of Institutions. 1940-1947, 1955-1966.
Report of the Committee on Charitable Institutions. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 1858, 1867, 1878.
"Report of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Institutions," (New Orleans , 1944) .
Report .of the Board of .Administrators of the Louisiana Institution for the Deaf. Dumb, and Blind. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, i860, 1867.
Report of the Board of Charities and Corrections. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 1908.
Report of the Institution for the Education of the Blind. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 1877.
"Report of the Joint Committee on Aid to Dependent Children," Louisiana Welfare (April, 1958) , 23-30.
"Report of the Joint Committee on Charitable and Public Institutions," Journal of the Senate. 1854, 108-109.
Report of the Joint Committee on Charitable Institutions. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 860 i .
"Report of the Joint Legislative Committee on Illegitim acy," O fficial Journal of the House, of Representatives (June 5, 1958), 704-707.
Rejxir-'Lof the. Juvenile Court Commission for the State of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1946).
Report of Louisiana Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 1908, 1910.
Report of the Special Joint Committee Appointed to Examine the Conditions and Management of the Deaf. Dumb and Blind Asylum. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature,1866 .
Reports of the Louisiana State Board of Charities and Corrections. 1909, 1920-1938. 275
Special Report of the Legislative Committee on Charitable Institutions. Documents of the Louisiana Legislature, 1857•
Webb, Clarence H., The Problem of Illegitim acy. Louisiana Youth Commission (Baton Rouge, 1961) .
3. Printed Sources
The American Child. I-LXII, 1919 to 1962.
The Charity Organization Society, Third Annual Report (New Orleans, 1899).
The C onvention o f 198 (New O rle a n s , 1898).
"Guide to Depositories of Manuscript Collections in Louisiana," Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. XXIV (April, 19^1), 305-353.
Howard, Oliver Otis, Autobiography of, I, II (New York, 1908).
Kerns, J. Harvey, "The M obilization of Community Resources to Aid 5000 Children Deprived of ADC Benefits in New Orleans, L a.,n (New O rle a n s , i960).
Livingston, Edward, A System of Penal Law (Philadelphia, 1833).
Long, Huey P., Every Man A King (New Orleans, 1933).
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Annual Reports. 1892, 1893, 189**, 1898.
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, A H istorical and Picto rial Souvenir of the Louisiana S.pc.iety_.fo.r the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (New Orleans, 1897).
"Louisiana Child Labor Committee Report," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. XXXV, suppl. (Spring, 1910) , 168.
Louisiana State University, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, "The Diary of Thomas D. Boyd," 1875-1885 (type.).
Louisiana State University, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, "Sophie B. Wright Scrapbook," II.
Olmsted, Frederick Law, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (New York, 1861). 276
Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, PAR Reports on Welfare. Nos. 1 -6 (Baton Rouge, January 15 to Kay 31, 1954).
Report of the Committee of the Free Market of New Orleans (New O rleans, 1862) .
Report .of. the Howard Association of New Orleans. The Epidemic of 1853 (New O rle a n s , 1853).
Rubin, Harold, ed., Century of Progress in Child Care, the Jewish Children's Home. 1855-1955 (New Orleans, 1955).
R ussell, William Howard, Mv Diary North and South (New York, 1954) .
Shields, F. S., Prison Reform; Its Principles and Purposes.; What It Has Accomplished; TheWork Yet To be Done: Prison Reform Association of Louisiana, 1905.
Slingerland, W. H., A Constructive Program of Organized Child Welfare WQ.r.k for New Orleans and Louisiana. Russell Sage Foundation (New York, 1916).
"Suitable Home Requirements," Social Service Review. XXXV (June, 1961) , 203'-214.
4. Newspapers
Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. July 14, 1925-present.
Baton Rouge Daily Gazette and Comet. September, 1852-December, i860.
Baton Rouge State-Times. April 28, 1908 to present.
Louisiana Progress. June 1936-May, 1937.
New Orleans Daily Picayune. January 25, 1837 to April 5, 1914.
New Orleans Item . June11, 1877 to February 22, 1958.
New Orleans Times. September 20, 1863 to December 3» 1881,
New Orleans Times-Democrat. December 4, 1881 to April 5» 1914.
New Orleans Times Picayune. April6 , 1914 to present.
Opelousas Journal. January 4, 1868 to January 5, 1878.
Shreveport Times. December l6 , 1871 to p resen t. 277
Secondary Works
1 . Books
Abbott, Grace, The Child and the State. I, II (Chicago, 1938). d'Agostino, Lorenzo, The History of Public Welfare in Vermont (Washington, D. C., 19^8).
Ailing, Elizabeth and Agnes Leisy, Characteristics of Families Receiving ADC. June. 1948. Public Assistance Report No. 17 (Washington, D. C., 1950).
Arnold, Mildred, Children's Services in the Public Welfare Agency. Child Welfare Report No. 3, May, 19^+7.
Baudier, Roger, The Catholic Church in Louisiana (New Orleans, 1939).
Bell, Winifred, Aid to Dependent Children (New York, 1965).
Berglund, A., George T. Starnes, and Frank T. Dyver, Labor in the Industrial South (New York, 1930).
Beven, Evelyn Campbell, Citv Subsidies to Private Charitable Agencies in New Orleans: The History and Present Status 182^-1933 (New Orleans, 193^).
Bragg, Jefferson Davis, Louisiana in the Confederacy (Baton Rouge, 19^L ).
Breckinridge, Sophonisba P., Public Welfare Administration in the United States (Chicago, 1938) .
Bremner, Robert Hamlett, From the Depths; The Discovery of Poverty in the United States (New York, 1956) .
Brown, Josephine C., Public Relief 1929-1939 (New York, 19^).
Bruno, Frank J ., Trends in Social Work 1874-1956 (New York, 1957).
Cade, John B., The Man Christened Josiah Clark (New York, 1966).
Capers, Gerald M., Occupied Citv; New Orleans under the Federals 1862-1865 (Lexington, Ky., 1965).
Carelton, R. L ., freQrgaiuaatioil.and Consolidation of State Administration in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1937) . 278
Charnley, Jean, The Art of Child Placement (Minneapolis, 1955).
Chisholm, John W. and Kenneth M. Thompson, The Louisiana Economy and Unemployment (Baton Rouge, 1956).
Clark, Kenneth, Dark Ghetto (New York, 1965).
Clopper, Edward N., Society and the Child (Boston, 1929).
Commons, JohnR., History of Labor in the United States. I-IV (New York, 1935).
Davidson, Elizabeth H„, Child Labor Legislation in the Southern Textile States (Chapel H ill, N. C., 1939).
Devine, L. R., "Louisiana State School for the Deaf," The H istorical Encyclopedia of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1952).
Duffy, John, Sword of Pestilence: The New Orleans Yellow Fever . 1852 (Baton Rouge, 1966).
Eaton, Clement, The Growth of Southern C ivilization 1790-1860 (New York, 1961) .
Ficklin, JohnR., History, oQ ecpns traction .in Louisiana, through 1868 (Baltimore, 1910).
Folks, Homer, The Care of D estitute. Neglected, and Delinquent Children (New York, 1902).
Folks, Homer, "State Supervision of Child Caring Agencies," National -Conference of Charities and 0 C r r e c t i c a- PXQ-P ejtiin FLSJL825 •
Fossier, Albert E ., New Orleans, the Glamour Period 1800-18^0 (Natchez, M iss., 1957).
Frazier, E. Franklin, The Negro Family in the United States (New York, 1951).
Fredericksen, Hazel, The Child and His Welfare (San Francisco, C alif., 1957).
Fuller, Raymond G,, Children in Strawberries (New York, 19*J0) .
Ginsberg, E li, The Nation's Children (New York, 960 i ).
Goodwin, Kathryn D. and others, ADC: Problem and Promise. American Public Welfare Association (Chicago, i960) . 279
Hawk, Emory Q., Economic History of the South (New York, 193*0.
Heberle, Rudolf, The Labor Force in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1948).
Heymann, Michel, "Reports from the States, Louisiana," National Conference of Charities and Correction. Proceedings. 1899.6o.
Howard, L. V ., and R. S. Friedman, Government in M etropolitan New Orleans. VI, Tulane Studies in Political Science, (New Orleans, 1959).
Hunt, Charles Havens, Life of Edward Livingston (New York, 1864).
Kane, Harnett, Louisiana Havride (New York, 19*+l) .
Kendall, John Smith, History of New Orleans (New York, 1922).
Leiby, James, Charity and Correction in New Jersey: A History of State Welfare Institutions (New Brunswick, N. J ., 1967).
Levy, Anna Judge Veters, Other People's Children (New York, 1956).
Liebling, A. J ., The Earl of Louisiana (London, 1962).
Lonn, Ella, Reconstruction in Louisiana After 1868 (New York, 1918).
Louisiana Legislative Council, Louisiana; Its History. People. .Government, and Economy (Baton Rouge, 1955).
Lumpkin, K. D., The South in Progress (New York, 1940).
Lumpkin, K. D., and D. W. D ouglas, Child Workers in America (New York, 1937).
Marshall, Helen E., Dorothea Dix: Forgotten Samaritan (Chapel H ill, N. C ., 1937).
Massey, Mary Elizabeth, Refugees in the Confederacy (Baton Rouge, 1964).
Murphy, Edgar Gardner, "Child Labor as a National Problem with Special Reference to the Southern States," National Conference of Charities and Corrections. Proceedings. 1903, 121-134.
Myrdal, Gunnar, An American Dilemma; Xh.e_.Hegrp Problem and JMo.de.m Democracy (New York, 1944).
Opotowsky, Stan, The Longs of Louisiana (New York, I960). 280
Parton, James, General Butler in New Orleans: History of the Administration of the Department of the Gulf In the Year 1862 (New Y ork, 1864) .
Raper, Arthur F. and Ira DeA. Reid, Sharecroppers ATI (Chapel H ill, N. C ., 1941).
Reinders, Robert C .t End of an Era. New Orleans. 1850-1860 (New Orleans, 1964) .
Rightor, Henry, ed., Standard History of New Orleans. Louisiana (Chicago, 1900).
Robertson, M. S., Public Education in Louisiana after 1868 (Baton Rouge, 1952).
Rousseve, Charles B., The Negro in Louisiana (New Orleans, 1937).
Semple, Henry Churchill, The Ursulines in New Orleans and Our Lady nf .Prompt Suqgor (New York, 1925).
Schneider, David M., and Albert Deutsch, The History of Public Welfare in New York State. 1867-1940 (Chicago, 1941) .
Shugg, Roger W., Origins of the Class Struggle in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1939).
Silberman, Charles E ., Crisis in Black and White (New York, 1964).
Simkins, Francis Butler, A History of the South (New York, 1958).
Sindler, Allan P., Huey Long's Louisiana; State Politics 1920-1952 (Baltimore, Md., 1956).
Sitterson, J. C., Sugar Country; Hie.,South's Qane. Sugar Industry, 1753-1950 (Lexington, Ky. , 1953).
Spargo, John, The B itter Cry of Children (New York, 1900).
Stampp, Kenneth, The Peculiar Institution in the Ante-bellum South (New York, 1956).
Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem (W esterville, 0., 1928).
Thurston, Henry W,, The Dependent Child (New York, 1930).
Tiffany, Francis, The Life of Dorothea Lvnde Djx (Boston, 1890). 281
Turner, Arlin, George W. Cable; A Biography (Durham, N. C., 1956).
Tyler, Alice Felt, Freedom's Ferment (New York, 19^) •
Vance, Rupert B., Human Geography of the South (Chapel H ill, N. C., 1932) .
Warner, Amos and others, American Charities and Social Work (New York, 1930).
Washburne, Carleton, Louisiana Looks at Its Schools (Baton Rouge, 19^2).
Weaver, Robert H., Administrative Reorganization in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1951) .
Wiley, Bell Irvin, Southern Negroes 1861-1865 (New York, 1938).
Wilkerson, Marcus M., Thomas Duckett Bnvd. The Story of a Southern Educator (Baton Rouge, 1935).
Wilson, D. Von Steen, Public Social Security in Louisiana (Monroe, La., 19^3).
Wisner, Elizabeth, Public Welfare Administration in Louisiana (Chicago, 1930).
Woodward, C. Vann, Origins of the New South (Baton Rouge, 1951).
Zietz, Dorothy, Child Welfare; Principle and Methods (New York, 1959).
2. Articles and Periodicals
Adams, Hannah M., and Ursula M. Gallagher, "Some Facts and Observa tions about Illegitim acy," X (March-April,1963 ) , ^ -4 5 ,
Bernstein, Rose, "Gaps in Services to Unmarried Mothers," Children. X (March-April, 1963), ^9-55.
Brenner, Robert H., "The Impact of the Civil War on Philanthropy and Social Welfare," Civil War History. XU (December, 1966), 293-
Cable, George W., "A Rogue's Congress," The Times-Democrat. January 22, 1882.
Cable, George W., "Our Vice Mills and Jails for the Aged," The Times- Democrat. December 25, 1881. 282
"Child Employing Industries," Annals of the Academy of American P olitical and Social Sciences. XXXV (March, 1910 suppl.).2 l 6.
"Children in the Canneries," The literary Digest. XLV (December 14, 1912), 1110-1112.
Doyle, Elizabeth J ., "Nurseries of Treason, Schools in Occupied New Orleans," Journal of Southern History.XXVI (May, i960), l6l-179.
E llis, Leonora Beck, "Child Labor Legislation in the South," G u n sto n 's M agazine. XXI (1 9 0 1 ), 45-53.
Engelsman, John C., "The Freedmen's Bureau in Louisiana," Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. XXXII (January, 1949) , 145-224.
Ferman, Irving, "Louisiana Side-Show," New Republic. CXXVI (January 21, 1952), 13-14.
Fernald, Walter E., "The History of the Treatment of the Feebleminded," National Conference of Charities and Corrections.,.. .Proceedings.. 1822, 201- 221.
Goode, William J ., "Illegitimacy in the Caribbean Social Structure," American Sociological Review. XXV (February, i 960 ) , 21-31.
Gordon, Jean M., "New Louisiana Child Labor Law," Charities and Commons. XXI (Ja n u a ry 26, 1908), 480-481.
Gordon, Jean M., "The Forward Steps in Louisiana," Annals of the American Academy of P olitical and Social Science. XXXIII (March, 1909 suppl.), l62_l65.
Grigsby, S. Earl and Harold Hoffsommer, Cotton Plantation laborers. Louisiana Bulletin No. 328, February, 1941.
Harlan, Louis R., "Desegregation in New Orleans Public Schools during Reconstruction," American H istorical Review. LXVII (April, 1962), 663-675.
Holmes, George K., "The Peons of the South," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. IV (September, 1893), 265-274.
-hungry Children in Louisiana," Social Service Review. XXXIV (December, i 960) , 443-445.
Karraker, Cyrus H., "Forgotten Child Laborers," The Christian Century. LXXIII (June 13, 1956), 723-724. 283
Lansdale, Robert T., "The Impact of Federal Social Security Act on Public Welfare Programs in the South," Research Reports in Social Science. IV (February, 1961) , 30.
Link, Arthur S., "The Progressive Movement in the South, 1870-1914," The North Carolina H istorical Review. XXIII (April, 19^6), 171- 195.
McKelway, A. J ., "Child Labor in the South," The Outlook. LXXXV (April 27, 1907), 999-1000.
Moody, V. Alton, "Slavery on Louisiana Sugar Plantations," Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. VII (April, 1924) , 187-301.
Porter, Betty, "The History of Negro Education in Louisiana," Louisiana Historical Quarterly. XXV (July,1942) , 728-815.
Rashbaum, William and others, "Use of Social Services by Unmarried Mothers," Children. X (January-February, 1963), 11-17.
Reinders, Robert C., "Brownson's V isit to New Orleans, l855i" Louisiana Historical Quarterly. XXXVUI (July,1955) , 1-20.
Rothert, Frances G., "The Crippled Children's Program in Louisiana," Proceedings of the Louisiana Conference on Social Welfare (Shreveport, 1940).
S treet, James H., "Cotton Mechanization and Economic Development," American Economic Review. XLV (September, 1955), 566-583.
Sytz, Florence, "Some Louisiana Relief Families," Social Service Review. VUI (June, 1934), 226-237.
Turner, Arlin, "George W. Cable's Beginnings as a Reformer," Journal of Southern History.XVII (May, 1951), 135-161.
White, Melvin, "Populism in Louisiana in the Nineties," M ississippi Valiev H istorical Review. V (June, 1918), 3-19. V Wisner, Elizabeth, "Trends in Social Welfare in Louisiana," Louisiana Conference of Social Welfare Proceedings (May, 1937).
Zornov, William Frank, "State Aid for Indigent Soldiers and Their Families in Louisiana, 1861-1865," Louisiana H istorical Quarterly. XXXIX (July, 1956), 3 7 5-380. 3. Unpublished Materials
Boudreaux, Juliana Liles, "A History of Philanthropy in New Orleans, I, II, doctoral dissertation, Tulane University, 196l, 1962.
Carrigan, Jo Ann, "The Saffron Scourge: A History of Yellow Fever in Louisiana 1796-1905," doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1961.
Carroll, Jack S., "Protective Services for Children," master's thesis, Louisiana State University, 195^+.
Chung, Bang-Kyung, "Children's Services Rendered by the Louisiana Department of Public Welfare," master's thesis, Louisiana State University, 1956.
Dinwiddie, Worth, "A History of Mothers' Pensions in Louisiana," master's thesis, Tulane University, 1935.
Doyle, Elizabeth Joan, "Civilian Life in Occupied New Orleans," doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, 1955.
Evans, Marianna, "Development of Public Assistance in Louisiana," master's thesis, Louisiana State University, 1938.
Gardner, Margaret E., "Sophie Bell Wright: A Biography," master's thesis, Louisiana State University,1959.
McNeil, Garnet, "The History of Child Labor Legislation in Louisiana master's thesis, Tulane Universit;/, 1935.
Nairne, L illie H., "A Study of the Administration of Relief to the Unemployed in Louisiana with Special Reference to a Future Public Welfare Program," raster's thesis, Tulane University, 1935.
Parks, Franklin, "The Impact of Racial Factors in Casework Services: The Louisiana Aid to Dependent Children C risis," Family Service Society of New Orleans, May, 1962 (type.).
Pipkin, Charles W., "The Challenge of Childhood to Louisiana," Shreveport, 1933 (mimeo).
Rucker, Sophie B., "The Development of Maternal and Child Health Services in Louisiana, 1912-19^+3," master's thesis, Tulane U n iv e rs ity , l9*+5. 285
Schuchat, Betsy, "Child Labor Legislation in Louisiana, 193^-19^2," master's thesis, Tulane University, 19^2.
Wright, Efton Otto, "The Establishment and Development of the Louisiana Youth Commission," rrester's thesis, Louisiana State University, 1952.