The herald., 1896-07-19

2 Z.
ascertain or believe, no girl has been
| whipped at the school so as to draw
| blood, and am assured by the principal
| that from eight to ten blows Is all that
| are usually given, except IN very ex
| treme cases.
| believe that much of the trouble in
4 connection with the discipline at the
| girls department is due to the fact that
| Mrs. Mitchell was anxious to secure the
| appointment OF a friend of hers Tor prin-
| cipal. and to appoint other of her friends
| to positions in that department. we are
| ready to open the new building, which
| was intended to separate the younger
| and better girls from the older and more
| vicious ones severalmonths before II was
Y done. but Mrs. Mitchell objected to open
( ing the building unless | would consent
| to the discharge of Miss Olmstead, the
| principal of the girls department. J
| offered to vote with her to appoint who
| ever she might nominate as matron or
the new building. but not until positive
/ orders came from the governor would
she consent to make the appointment
| without insisting upon the removal OF
| Miss Olmstead. Consequently. for sew
eral months. the building which cost the
| state many thousands of dollars was
| not used, and the two classes of girls
were necessarily kept together longer
than they would have been had the new
! building been promptly occupied. This
| does not seem to me to show any great
| so1icitude for the welfare of the children.
| 1t is notoriously necessary to separate
as far as possible the different classes
| of inmates and allow the better girls to
! have as little association with the more
| depraVed as possible.
| Before dismissing this branch of the
subject, l desire to say that several
months ago Superintendent Coffin rec
| ommended, and the board approved his
| suggestion that all corporal punishment
| in the girls department should be Sus-
| pended for time, and if that was found
| to work satisfactorily that it should be
abolished altogether. The moment the
| girls learned of the passage of this res
olution, insubordination increased and
| it was found necessary to return, at
least temporarily, TO old methods. l
| may add that l am informed that, if not
all, nearly all, of the schools of this
kind in the country find it necessary
to employ corporal punishment, and in
most of them it is far more severe than
anything that takes place at Whittier
Mrs. Mitchell is reported as saying in
her published communication that she
found ii impossible to get a meeting of
the board and was therefore forced to
apply to the governor In reply to this
| l have to say that l have never refused
to meet with her at any time for the
transaction of any business in connec-
tion with the work of the school. When
I received a telegram from the governor
mediately communicated with Mrs.
Mitchell. She at first proposed to put
it off until the new trustee was appoint
ed. Then she pleaded a. prior engage
ment, and it was not until had insisted
upon the proceeding with the investiga-
tion at once that she consented to go
with me to Whittier.
l notice the statement made in sew
eral of the reports purporting to eman-
ate from Mrs. Mitchell that she says she
has done all she could to keep these mat
ters from the newspapers. This may be
true, but l am at a loss to understand
how they should have been given pub
lcity without her connivance. l GER
tainly said nothing until after the pub
lication of her side of the story. The
superintendent of the school was absent
by permission of the board of trustees
and by special commission from Gov
Budd, in attendance upon the national
convention of charities and corrections
at the time when the investigation was
in progress. He was therefore unable
to have made the statements that have
appeared in the papers, and the acting
superintendent was only permitted to be
present while giving his own testimony
and consequently heard none of the testi-
mony but his own. The only person be-
sides Mrs. Mitchell and myself who was
present throughout the entire investga-
ton was the stenographer. Mr.. Meal
lister, who. under date of July 18th,
writes me 1..: as f1loMJs MS responsbres tetHeF
directly or indirectly, for any of the
publications that have been in the pa
pers. l have not communicated any of
the information in regard to the matter
whatever"
1 might call attention to the fact that
it is a curious coincidence that the pub
lication should have taken place imme-
| diately after the announcement of Prof.
! keyes as trustee, an appointment which
presumably did not please the Mitchells,
who, it is currently understood, were
| interested in and endeavoring to secure
the appointment of another person. AS
the governor made the selection him
self, it is evident that they do not con-
troll him as completely as they would
like to have the public believe, and that
their vest pockets, capacious as they
may be, are hardly large enough to con-
tain the present governor of California.
l desire to say in closing, that the tes-
timony in the recent investigation is of
public record and is entirely open to the
inspection of any newspaper or any per-
son desiring to see it. l think it will be
found to substantiate exactly the oppo-
site of what Mrs. Mitchell claims that
it shows.
w. c. PATTERSON,
Trustee Whittier State School,
Los Angeles, July II, 1896.