The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-04-18
agn ~ an.
JXfSTSXA 1885,
rHB PENITENFIARY. QUEsrIOH

THE R1ENTEEsNT1ART QUESTION.
Letter from one Of. the Hoard of DI.
,reetors.--Also another ConmunIea.
ton from G!P! 8EtS9I
Editors ntelhgeneer Z! g s..'e Z
Your-ipaper Of the 18th contained an
article over the signature of. G.P., ta-
ken rom the " ellsburg Herald of last
week, in which the writer handles with
out gloves, the, Board of Directors who
are charged with the duty of building
a3Penitentiary, for our State. 'Hi
Were itnot that an error. had been
made in the figures you gave In your
paper of the 6th; inst, as to the number
of perches Of stone that would be need
ed f0t the building Of said work, i
should not have felt It my dutyto have
noticed the article in question.
As public servants, the Board desire
to do nothing. in secret, and as our
friend g. p. has so path hsticaIly spoken
of our Hpoog State, as about to ba
honelesslysinyolved in needless debt,
Justice TO the public requires that we
should d:PIdcs beforelt what we consider
to be the facts, sr,-r yE-rI rIgU q r
The Board commenced their labors
under sense otduty, expressed in the
following language, quoted from their
annual report to the Governor:
"1n designing and adopting a plan
for this institution we feel that, no
smalfi degree of responsibility rests
upon US. Keeping in mind the press
Ing need foF-the speedy erection Of a
State, prison; also the fact that onr State
has no large reYenues from which to
build for, mere display; wa.haYe, at the
same time, rememb befed that works of
this kind shopld begpermRnent and Be-
cure, ahd that Cue prospective growth
ofouf State m wealth, population and
refinementS demands that the same
should ESQ designed and compleEedIas
to meet the growing wants OF the State
d,aec6rd with the landa BILE ambition
and 4 Taste Is q. Of p1r citizens in coming
years ~ rs * Fl .I,i.J ss5a-ls5Ia
themselves to the people of the State,
or not, is matter of which they are
to be th65ddges. 5tif'St1
.osYour paperof the n5th was in error in
stating that g, 900 perch Of. stone %ou1d
be needed to comp plete the work. Our
report, shows that only about 900
perch will belTequired, and had our
friend G. Rs.supplied himself with one
Of our reports, he would have saved the
labor OF his philippic.- ~
RI In his second article, Of today
which came to hand since Il commenced
this article-he seems to have gained
some light uponlthe subject, Ibntmani.
tests some little-fault finding that we
did not send him one of our reports.
Fhese reports were laid before our
LegislatQre,y and as secretary of the
Board, / distributedAquite d number
of copies to persons who / supposed
would feel AN interestninithe matter;
and, had fhad the pleasure of an ac-
qGaintance with your correspondent
should certainly not have overlooked
him. ..,,., -
But It seems 70 me that after your
correspondent had ascertained thatEan
error had crept into print, as to the
amount of stone that would be re-
quired, and that, his first article had
been written upon false premises, he
is needlesSly severe in his structures
upon: the Board. However, aSto this I
am " illing that heshould enjoy himself
fniwriting objections togtheltaRteo OF the
Directors, if it tishalltend to the public
good, or be even a qualification to the
writer. or one thing / can assure him,
that If he can spare the time, and has
desire to show his knowledge of archi-
lecture, or to prove to the dear people
his care of their interests fphandIfpg
their money, have no doubt that
should he attend the next meeting of
our Board he could secure seat in that
body. i, know OF 'atleast'6Ie member
of the Board who would surrender his
enRied position and pay a small bonus
to be relievedof its honors and emolu-
ments. 4l.,i5l,-i,'I .i.ii s5 i5a40 u
We propose to erect Superintend-
ent's house which shall accommo-
date that officer and his family,
and also afford rooms for officers
for guards > and stores. OnT each
sideIWe extend a wing 182 feet inlength
-one of which Is to contain the cells,
and the other for years can be used as
Aworshup in which the c6nvfcts VIII be
employed. The building OF these two
wings, at the present time, will be much
cheaper than to substitute the outer
walf In place Of one wing, and then
build workshop inside of the enclos-
ure. = =. q lLt IS =
As 10 the sum paid for stone, all 1
have to say is, that we had proposals
from some sixteen different parties,
showing that the notice was ample, and
we accepted the bids OF those Wholgave
in the lowest terms, sho wing that there
was no favoritism. - ia.5s i'i si'is g ~ Z,
AS o,wiY we did not go to Maine or
some of the small eastern States to OBJ
tain our plan, but chose rather to
take the penitentiary OF the great State
of Illinois for our model, viii, I think
fully appeArtto your correspondent, If
he will examine our report of which
he says he has copy. : We take theirs
for model, but ours will not be one
half SO large.p liIf o. - 194 -l79l't ~ Z
-lIhave read with pleasure and profit
a number of the articles that have ap-
peared over the signature Of G. p, but
ft'does seem to me that In this instance,
he has hurled his apathemas and play
Il az
without due consideration, and that
when he discovered his error, charity,
tleast, for a Board whose office Is no
sinecure, II not n desire to write harsh
and yuncalled for structures, should
have prompted him to drop the lash,
II he did not choose tolmake the Gmende
by an avowal that he had been mista-
ken! 3Ll = -t71 =, y -tta,-tl='-, isiAii
It is always easierto state objections,
than to give a remedy. land it seems
to be mOrer in consonanCe WithTpoor
human nature, to find fault with the
actions Of others, than to- do the work
ourselves, Yours truly. u Itly
Aprit 16, 1857 - J. 81: ATKINSON.
9fi1Dfl z n fre<=-sf-s fF tefI5 >
Can the Manifest Waste of Money on
the Hospital and Pepitentiary he
Stopped Before the Next LegISla.
4 lItaEe Comes Together ?
E1IftofS aigeNeer: @
The foregoing inquiry has become o.
deep concern to every tax payer, and
\ isions every lip. The last Legislature
4 appropriated 100000 for the hospital
and5there was then uhexpended S37, ,055
\ 10 of the Sz5, 900 appropriated the winter
before, which balance OF $37, ,055 10 the
Board of. Directors state In their lasi
report, which the Governor approved