Library Collections: Document: Full Text

XIII.
Acts of 1906, Chapter 385.

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. There shall be a state board, to be known as the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, consisting of five persons, to be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the council, within sixty days after the passage of this act, one member of which shall be appointed for a term of five years, one for a term of four years, one for a term of three years, one for a term of two years and one for a term of one year. At the expiration of the term of any member of the commission, a member for the term of five years shall be appointed. Any member of the commission may be removed by the governor, with the consent of the council for such cause as he shall deem sufficient and shall assign in the order of removal.

SECTION 2. The commission shall be authorised to prepare and maintain a register of the blind in Massachusetts, which shall describe their condition, cause of blindness and capacity for education and industrial training. The chief of the bureau of statistics of labor is hereby directed to aid the commission by furnishing it from time to time, upon its request, with the names, addresses and such other facts concerning the blind as may be recorded by the enumerators in taking any decennial census.

SECTION 3. The commission shall act as a bureau of information and industrial aid, the object of which shall be to aid the blind in finding employment and to develop home industries for them. For this purpose the commission may furnish materials and tools to any blind person, and may assist such blind persons as are engaged in home industries in marketing their products.

SECTION 4. The commission may, with the approval of the governor and council, establish, equip and maintain one or more schools for industrial training, and workshops for the employment of blind persons, may pay to employees suitable wages, and may devise means for the sale and distribution of the products of such schools and workshops.

SECTION 5. The commission may receive in the schools established by it pupils from other states, upon the payment of such fees as the commission shall determine, and may at its discretion contribute to the support of pupils from Massachusetts receiving instruction in institutions outside' he commonwealth.

SECTION 6. The commission, in furtherance of the purposes of this act, may provide or pay for temporary lodgings and temporary support for workmen or pupils received at any industrial school or workshop established by it, and may ameliorate the condition of the blind by devising means to facilitate the circulation of books, by promoting visits among the aged or helpless blind in their homes, and by ouch other methods as it may deem expedient: provided, that the commission shall not undertake the permanent support or maintenance of any blind person. SECTION 7. The commission, with the approval of the governor and council, may appoint such officers and agents as may be necessary, and fix their compensation within the limits of the annual appropriation; but no person employed by the board shall be a member thereof. It shall make its own by-laws, and shall annually, on or before the third Wednesday in January, make a report to the governor and council of its doings up to and including the thirtieth day of November preceding, embodying therein a properly classified and tabulated statement of its estimates for the year ensuing, with its opinion as to the necessity or expediency of appropriations in accordance with such estimates. The annual report shall also present a concise review of the work of the commission for the preceding year, with such suggestions and recommendations as to improving the condition of the blind as it may deem expedient. The members of the board shall receive no compensation for their services, but their travelling and other expenses necessary for the proper performance of their duties shall be allowed and paid out of the treasury of the commonwealth.

SECTION 8. There may be expended during the present year a sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars in carrying out the provisions of this act.

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect upon its passage. (Approved May 11, 1906.

XIV.
Acts of 1907, Chapter 173.

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE MASSACHUSETTS COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter three hundred and eighty-five of the sets of the year nineteen hundred and six is hereby amended by adding after section eight the following new sections: -- Section 9. There may be advanced to the chairman of said commission out of the treasury of the commonwealth annually, from the amount appropriated for the maintenance of its industries, such sum as may be necessary, not exceeding five thousand dollars at any one time, to be used as a working capital for said industries. Said sum when drawn from the treasury of the commonwealth shall be deposited in a national bank or trust company to the credit of the chair-man of the commission as such, who shall give a bond in such sum and with such sureties as the governor and council may approve -- Section 10. The commission shall keep separate books of account for its industries, and may use all moneys received from the sale of any products made at its workshops or from the sale of products made under its supervision to which it has title, for the purpose of carrying on its said industries. The auditor of accounts shall at least once in each year, and oftener if he deems it advisable, examine the books, accounts and vouchers of the commission.