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Topic No. 5

RELATION OF COMMISSION TO OTHER AGENCIES

SURVEY BY R. B. IRWIN
Supervisor of Classes for Conservation of Eyesight, Board of Education, Cleveland, Ohio

January 3, 1917.

SIR FREDERICK FRASER, Chairman.

DEAR SIR FREDERICK:

I visited the Massachusetts Commission office on Thursday morning, November 23, and left Boston Saturday night, December 2. Practically every minute of this time was spent discussing the work of the Commission with the various members of the staff, interviewing heads of organizations having a practical or logical relationship to the Commission for the Blind, and talking With various representative blind people.

The topic of this survey of the work of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind assigned to me is that having to do with the relationship of the Commission to other social agencies and to organizations of the blind. I was especially asked to consider existing and proposed methods for meeting the need for poor relief to the needy blind. Any one at all familiar with the multiplicity and high degree of specialization of the social agencies of Massachusetts will realize that it would be manifestly impossible in such a short period of time to make anything like a critical study of the entire field in which the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind might conceivably have relations with other social agencies. For this reason, I confined my observations primarily to two lines of endeavor, namely, Prevention of blindness, including conservation of vision; and Relief. These two activities could only be sampled here and there, in order to get the trend of policies and the effectiveness of the efforts put forth.

I wish to express at the outset my appreciation of the absolute frankness and the desire to be of the greatest help in getting at the real situation exhibited by every member of the staff.

COOPERATION WITH VARIOUS RELIEF AGENCIES

Before one can discuss intelligently the relation of the Massachusetts Commission to other social agencies in the State, he should first get some statement of the conception of the proper function of the Commission in that community. The activities of a commission for the blind, in whatever State it may be, are, of course, limited by the powers and duties intrusted to it by the legislature by which it was created. A commission, though, which is directed by persons with broad vision and earnest devotion has a certain ideal toward which it is striving. If its legislative authority is not broad enough, then the General Court should be asked to amend the law creating it. So far as I could make out, the function of the Massachusetts Commission is to study the condition and needs of the blind in the State, and to devise ways and means to meet these needs. So far as possible it is the policy of the Commission to utilize existing agencies which may cooperate in the solution of the various problems arising out of blindness. When no agency can be enlisted in the work, or when existing agencies are inadequate to the task, then only will the Commission undertake to create new machinery for dealing with the special problems. I was much impressed with the ability of the Commission's agents to enlist the cooperation of other organizations. The Commission seems to be upon the most cordial relations with other State and private social agencies, and enjoys the respect of the most advanced social workers in the community. The Commission has shown a willingness to do its special task in the light of its relation to a general program which has won for it the most cordial approbation of those striving to coordinate social effort in the State. This requires patience and forbearance, for there is a danger that an organization working in behalf of a class of people which makes so strong an appeal to public sympathy as do the blind may retard the achievement of certain desired ends by endeavoring to keep step and to work shoulder to shoulder with others in a comprehensive social program. This plan of cooperation, though, wins for the Commission friends who are invaluable in a thorough-going system of case-work.

COOPERATION WITH AGENCIES FOR THE BLIND

The relation of the Commission for the Blind to special agencies organized in behalf of the blind is very close. The Massachusetts Association for the Blind works in such close harmony with the Commission that it is difficult for an outsider to determine the exact line of demarcation between the activities of the Commission and those of the Association. The mechanical connection between these organizations, brought about by the presence of a member of the Commission upon the Board of the Massachusetts Association, is an illustration of the close cooperation of these two agencies, rather than an explanation of it. The close team-work of these two organizations grows out of a singleness of purpose and the unselfish devotion to the cause of the blind actuating both. The value of a private association for the blind in working out a general State program is so manifest as to make one wonder how other State commissions manage to operate without such an auxiliary. The convenience of an association or this kind, unlimited by legislative restrictions or considerations of public policy, makes many undertakings in behalf of the blind possible which might otherwise be left unattempted. Possibly the most valuable assistance which this Association renders in the solution of the problem of the blind is its recreational work. Perhaps the blind need recreation quite as much as employment, but public opinion is not yet clear enough upon this point to make it possible for a State agency to give this side of the work its due attention.