2. An annual conference of this central organization in January at which might be discussed one topic of paramount importance in the health field, to the end that the work of the central organization during the year be centered instead of scattered.
3. Establishment of a central bureau or clearing house with an executive secretary and facilities for collecting and distributing information relating to the work of the various health organizations represented.
4. Provision of $10,000 to $20,000 for the expense of the central bureau.
5. Appointment of a committee (of seven perhaps) to study and carry forward the plans of the bureau of health organizations.
As a result of the discussion on these questions the following resolutions were adopted:
Resolved, that it is the sense of this meeting that we should organize as a conference, either independently of the American Public Health Association or as a section thereof or of any other organization which should later be decided, after investigation by a committee to be appointed to work out details.
Resolved, that a committee consisting of fifteen members, of which five shall constitute a quorum, shall be appointed by the chairman at his convenience, to report at a subsequent meeting.
WIDOWS PENSIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS
That the private charitable societies of Boston oppose the plan to transfer to the state the care of deserving widows with dependent children as an independent class is indicated by the hearings on the various bills now before the Massachusetts Legislature. Four bills have been introduced at this session. The first of these (House Bill No. 815) provides:
“If the parent or parents of a dependent or neglected child are poor and unable to properly care for the said child, but are otherwise proper guardians, and it is for the welfare of such child to remain at home, the juvenile court, the probate court, or, except in Boston, any police, municipal or district court, may enter an order finding such facts and fixing the amount of money necessary to enable the parent or parents to properly care for such child, and thereupon it shall be the duty of the county commissioners, or, in Suffolk County, the city council of Boston, to pay to such parent or parents at such times and as such order may designate the money so specified for the care of such dependent or neglected child until the further order of the court.”