I respectfully submit the following report' for the biennial period ended June 30, 1928.

POPULATION

During the entire period the population exceeded the normal capacity of the buildings, which is for 315 children. As shown in the statistical statement accompanying this report, the population was 363 at the beginning and 417 at the end of the biennium. Five hundred and twenty were admitted for the first time, and 332, about 14 per cent of the number out under supervision, were returned for replacement; 775 were placed in homes and 14 discharged, eight of whom were self-supporting, two returned to counties as unfit subjects, and four restored to parents. The total number cared for in the school was 1,215, and the average population was 394.

Outside, the number in homes under supervision was 1,189 at the beginning and 1,155 at the end of the biennium, the average being 1,196; 481 were discharged from guardianship, of whom 227 were self-supporting, 46 restored to parents, 59 returned to counties as unplaceable, and 149 legally adopted.

AMENDMENT OF 1927

The law, as amended by the last legislature, requires that the children of soldiers be given preference in admission. Officers of the American Legion have proposed that the law be further amended to provide means for keeping the children of disabled soldiers in the institution in the hope of eventually returning them to their parents. The purpose in view, of reuniting soldiers' families, is commendable, but additional room for the accommodation of such children will be required if the proposal is to be carried out at this institution. Present accommodations are heavily overtaxed, and without additional room the accumulation of any considerable number of soldiers' children to be kept indefinitely would exclude many placeable children and interfere with the established placing-out policy. The average length of stay in the institution of placeable children during the last two years was 9.6 months; including 37 whose stay had been prolonged for several years, 12.5 months.

FIELD WORK

In the investigation of homes for the 775 children placed out and in the after-care and supervision of an average of 1,196 in foster homes during the biennium, extensive field work was done. Efforts were made to see every child remaining under guardianship as often as circumstances required. To some, especially the older girls who were unsettled and in need of constant advice and encouragement, monthly or even more frequent visits were made. To others, who were well settled in good homes and doing well, frequent visits were deemed unnecessary. The homes of all applicants were visited before they were approved for children.

This work has been done by five state agents, three men and two women. With this number of agents it has not always been possible to act promptly upon applications from families wanting children, or to respond immediately to requests for help from children, and undesirable delays have occurred. The addition of another agent to the staff would improve the service and help to keep the Minnesota placing-out system at its best.

PHYSICAL CARE AND DEVELOPMENT

An important part of the care given the children in preparation for their placement in homes has been the building up of those whose development had been, through neglect or ill-treatment, stunted and retarded. An important factor in the upbuilding of such children has been the recreational activities afforded. The gymnasium, with its complete equipment, including swimming pool for the older children and wading pool for the little ones, is the recreation center. Besides regular gymnasium classes there were basket ball, baseball, tennis and all sorts of games for the younger children.

The activities of the Camp Fire Girls and Boy Scouts, with their hikes and camping parties, the campus playgrounds and out-of-door gymnasium, have afforded means for plenty of play in the open. All such activities, directed by trained instructors, have been important aids to the physician and dietitian in the physical upbuilding of the children.

MEDICAL SERVICE

Notwithstanding the general good health that prevailed, some of the usual contagions of childhood were brought in by newly admitted children. Although children are inoculated against diphtheria and scarlet fever on their admission, there were several cases of each. Several diphtheria carriers were discovered, and there were 12 cases of clinical diphtheria, three of which resulted fatally, either from the primary disease or complications which followed. There were two other deaths, one from pernicious anemia and one, an infant two months old, from diarrhea. With this one exception there was comparative freedom from the destructive intestinal diseases often prevalent among infants artificially fed. There were 49 operative cases, 47 of tonsillectomy and two of circumcision.

An epidemic of whooping cough occurred in the fall of 1927, and one of mumps in the spring of 1928. Fortunately the general type of the disease in both instances was mild and no fatalities resulted. The spread of contagious diseases can be avoided only by keeping newly admitted children in complete isolation beyond the period of incubation of any contagion to which they may have been exposed. To accomplish this, a detention building should be provided, as the small cottage now available for such purpose is entirely inadequate.

A woman dentist has worked half of the time at this institution and half at the school for girls at Sauk Center. She has not been able to do all of the work that should have been done here, but the most urgent cases have been taken care of. With an average population of 394, and a total of over 800 under care each year, there is work enough for a full-time dentist.

EDUCATIONAL WORK

While the entire organization of the institution is educational in its intent, the school department, with its many activities, is the center of the educational work. The teaching staff of 11 includes a principal, who also serves as music teacher and librarian, a manual training teacher and physical director, a teacher of domestic economy and guardian of Camp Fire Girls, a kindergartner and seven grade teachers. The average enrollment in the school department during the past year was 320, the largest being in the first, second and third grades. The average enrollment in manual training

was 66, and in domestic economy classes 71. Thirteen of the more advanced pupils attend the Owatonna city schools, eight in high school and five in the eighth grade.

The library has continued to be an important factor in teaching the children to love good books and pictures. It is the center of the cultural interests of the institution. In the school program provision is made for a library period for each class from the primary grade up. The reading room has been in daily use and all children old enough to read have drawn books to read in their cottages. For the little ones who are not old enough to read, pictures and picture books have been extensively used. In the spring a frieze of colored pictures of birds directed the children's attention to their out-of-door neighbors. At Christmas time the story of the Nativity was told in pictures. Sometimes the pictures were of famous men and women, and again of some old legend or opera, like Henzel and Gretel. The average monthly library enrollment was 321 and the average monthly book circulation was 699.

Instruction has been given in music in the several grades, and a half hour each school day has been devoted to community singing, during which songs appropriate to the season, songs for general use and for the Sunday services have been taught.

Religious services have been conducted by the officers and teachers in which local ministers have, from time to time, taken part. Our senior state agent, Rev. H. J. Jager, has served as chaplain. In the Sunday School the Catholic children are taught by Catholic teachers and the Protestant children by Protestant teachers. After a general service appropriate for all, each teacher takes a class for special instruction.

Appropriate programs representing the spirit and purpose of the occasion have been given on holidays and other special occasions. And at the close of the school term each year a more elaborate entertainment or operetta was given in costume, to which the townspeople were invited.

Besides the formal instruction given in manual training and domestic economy, boys have been taught how to make and mend things and interest themselves in working out the practical concerns of the institution community, and girls have been taught how to cook and serve food, make and mend garments, weave rugs and do all kinds of housework. A Boy Scout troup and Girls' Camp Fire group have been maintained. The high ideals and out-of-door activities of these organizations have contributed much to the inental, moral and physical well-being of the children.

As an aid in determining the mental status of children, mental tests have been given by an examiner from the state department of research. The results of these tests, studied in connection with their school records and

their relative efficiency in the department of the institution to which they were detailed, have been of value in determining the treatment to be given the children.

FARM

The farm has been a source of income. The records show a profit of $5,987.87 during the first year and $9,971.91 during the second year of the biennium. The herd of Holstein cows produced all of the milk and the gardens practically all of the vegetables and small fruits required. Hogs raised on the farm have furnished all the fresh pork and much of the smoked meat. The orchards have produced apples in sufficient quantities to supply the needs of the school in late summer and fall. Besides its value in material profits, the farm has been of value in affording practical educational advantages to boys who were destined for farm homes or for training in the University School of Agriculture.

IMPROVEMENTS

With the appropriations available for improvements, a new poultry house and a wagon shed have been built, the heating system improved, radiator guards installed in buildings occupied by small children, new mattresses, chairs and other furniture purchased, additional manual training and library equipment installed, new tractor and plows purchased, tile draining of land extended and fences built, improvements to grounds made, including the laying of walks and gutters and many repairs to old buildings.

NEEDS OF THE INSTITUTION

Appropriations are recommended for the following purposes: Reception cottage, $45,000; equipment new cottage, $3,000; changing barn into residence, $5,000; power plant repairs, $3,500; piping and tunnels, $20,600; manual training equipment and library, $2,000; furniture and furnishings, $3,000; freight elevator, $2,800; laundry machinery, $1,600; farm equipment, $2,000; generating unit, $9,300; ground lighting and fire alarm system, $7,000; fire escapes, $3,600; improving grounds, $3,000; violet-ray equipment, $1,000; and repairs, $20,000.

CONCLUSION

I am pleased to acknowledge and commend the intelligent and faithful efforts of those employed. And especially do I wish to express my appreciation of the continued coöperation and encouragement given by the Board of Control.

Respectfully submitted,

GALEN A. MERRILL,

Superintendent.