THE COMMISSIONER OF CHARITIES IN OKLAHOMA
ALEXANDER JOHNSON
Secretary National Conference of Charities and Correction
The fourth report of the commissioner of charities of the new state of Oklahoma is an interesting document and much of the work reported is unique for it is work not done in a similar way or not done at all in any other state.
The plan of having a single commissioner do work ordinarily done by a secretary and a board exists only in two states—New Jersey and Oklahoma. In Oklahoma the work has been developed along some lines that are intensely interesting, although it seems doubtful whether the conditions anywhere else will lead to this plan being copied.
When Indian Territory became a part of Oklahoma, the lands were allotted in severalty to the Indians of the various tribes. Much of the land is almost worthless, but there is a great deal that is valuable because of the presence of oil, deposits of asphalt, building stone, coal, etc., while a large part of the old Indian Territory is among the best agricultural land of the state.
The temptation to exploit these Indian lands, to purchase them from the Indians at a tenth of their value, has been somewhat offset by the action of the United States government. But among the Indians were a large number of orphans. Their land has been cared for by guardians, some of whom have succeeded in getting themselves appointed, with motives anything but benevolent toward their wards.
KATE BARNARD
The Oklahoma charities commissioner whose administration has secured the return of a million dollars to Indian orphans under incompetent or dishonest guardians.
The legal department conducted under Kate Barnard, the commissioner, by Dr. J. H. Stolper, has taken up a vast number of Indian orphan cases. The results have been positively surprising. The legal department has not failed in one single case. The entire amount of money wrested from incompetent or dishonest guardians and returned to orphans has been nearly $950,000. The value of the land is not stated but it is probably several times as much as that of the actual cash returned. The number of minors represented in the report is 1,373 and the number of cases 1,361. These were tried out in thirty-six different county courts. The cost of handling this enormous amount of legal work as well as all the legal work in the office was less than $6,000 which covers the salary of the general attorney, that of one stenographer and the necessary travelling expenses.
The commissioner suggests that, as there seems to be some difficulty in appropriating sufficient money for the support of her office, she should be allowed to charge a uniform fee of $5 for each case of the kind which is undertaken, that fee going to the support of the Department of Charities and Correction. At present no fees are charged from any of the minors.
Beside acting as next friend of orphan children, the general attorney of the commission has been for a year or more acting as public defender. It seemed to the Legislature that there was as much need of a public defender as of a public prosecutor and accordingly, at the last Legislature a law was passed creating the office. This the governor vetoed, but his veto was not in time to defeat the bill. However, the question of the salary was not taken up and Dr. Stolper, attorney for the commissioner, was appointed public defender and has been doing the work. A number of interesting instances of miscarriage of justice which the public defender has been able to remedy are given in the report.
The report gives the usual account of inspection of institutions both state and county and shows that the commissioner with her very limited office and inspection force was able to do much more work than would be expected. On the whole it seems as though the plan of a single headed commission is a success in the state of Oklahoma.