ns, or any honor to
the board thus examining, I respectfully tender my
resignation.

SARAH E. H. DOYLE,

_Providence, R. I._

Three more ladies of the Women's Board of Visitors to the Penal
and Correctional Institutions of the State attest the correctness
of the repeated suggestions that the board, as organized under
the existing laws, must be comparatively powerless for good. The
question now comes, will the Rhode Island General Assembly enact
a law which shall give to women certain definite duties and
responsibilities in connection with the care and correction of
female offenders? We propose to refer to this matter further. We
are requested to publish the following communications to his
excellency, the governor:

_To Henry Lippitt, Governor of Rhode Island:_

My appointment on the Women's Board of Visitors to the Penal
and Correctional Institutions of the State, which I received
from your hands for this year, I am now compelled
respectfully to resign. My experience in this board for
nearly six years has convinced me that this office, which
confers on its holders no power to decide that any
improvement shall be made in the government or workings of
these institutions, is so nearly useless that I am forced to
the conclusion that, for myself, the time spent in the
performance of its duties can be more effectively employed
elsewhere. That the influence of women is indispensable to
the proper management of these institutions I was never more
sure than I am at this moment; but to make it effectual,
that influence must be obtained by placing women on the
boards of direct control, where their judgment shall be
expressed by argument and by vote.

A board of women, whose only duties, as defined by the law,
are to visit the penal and correctional institutions, elect
its own officers and report annually to the legislature,
bears within itself the elements of weakness and
insufficiency. And if the annual reports contain any
exposure of abuses, they are sure to give offense to the
managers, to be followed by timidity and vacillation in the
board of