The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-09
AGAINST THE SOLDIERS HOME.
The Hennepin Representative Submits to House
Committee Eleven Points for Inquiry.
Ore Refers to Drunkenness at the Home and
Castle Says That Is Cow
ardy S1ander.

Representative S. A. Stockwell the
| member of the Thirty-third legislative
district, Hennepin county, seems to
have been hoisted with his own petard.
Some two or three weeks ago Mr.
Stockwell, whose district embraces the
| soldiers home at Minnehaha, handed
to each member of the house commit
tee on soldiers home a copy of a little
| pamphlet which contained no less than
| twelve charges or suggestions of the
| improper expenditure of funds and an
unwise administration Of the affairs of
| the home. After looking over these
| charges, the members of the committee
deemed them too general and not suf-
hciently specific in their character and
so advised Mr.. Stockwell, with the re-
quest that he cite witnesses and bring
more specific and detailed charges. Up
to last night Mr.. Stockwell had not
done this, so the committee will, in the
| regular way in short time make the
| customary visit to the soldiers home.
not to investigate any charges, but to
inspect the place.
| The committee a week ago called
on Capt. Henry A. Castle, president Of
| the board Of trustees of the home for
a statement relative to the sensational
| charges made by the Minneapolitan,
and it is likely that Mr.. Stockwell has
had an inkling of it's nature, for in an
attack made on the home last night
! by a Minneapolis evening paper there
were but two instead of twelve charges
given, both of which are fatty refuted
! by the statement made by Capt. Cas-
tie Speaking Of the Stockwell pro-
nunciamento; Capt. Castle says:
"The gentleman who has formulated
and presented these suggestions for
investigation has had thankless and
probably an unwelcome task. They are
not charges; they are simply inslnua-
tions. They are the gathered echoes
of the grumblings of discomfort and
the inventions Of malice from dis
charged inmates and employees or the
institution for many years. How trivial
and inconsequent they are can be
brought out by a careful peruSal, With
out any explanation whatever. Ihe
home has been in existence nearly ten
years It has sheltered, for a shorter
| or longer time, more than l,OOO dlf1ereht
| inmates. The total disbursements OF
the board of trustees, including the
relief fund, aggregate nearly $l,OOO,OoO'
| That close, unfriendly scrutiny can
| discover no more important SUBJECTS OF
criticism than those set forth In the
paper submitted is to my mind very
high compliment to the management.
Nevertheless we welcome the most
thorough and rigid investigation. Item
lied vouchers for every dollar Of our
expenditures, food clothing, fuel, medi-
cine. salaries, building materials and
| outside relief. are on file in the office of
the state auditor. These show what
every dollar was expended for and who
received it. Every other detail of ad-
| ministration and management is equal
ly open for public inspection and crlti-
cism If any wrong has been done,
there will be no attempt to cover 1t.
If any improved methods can be sug-
gested we will be only too happy to
adopt them
The members of the house committee
on soldiers home are Messrs Hall,
Hicks, Johnson, Kelley, Kendall, Ma
hood Larson, Mansfield, McElhaney,
Mclean and Parker. Appended is the
list of Stockwells suggestions and
Capt. Castles reply to each:
o. Inquire into the occasion for the cost
OF building what is known as the. pavilion
on the grounds of the Minnesota Soldiers
home.
This building was built at a cost of some
thing like $1,000, a price that is considered
to be exceedingly high and it is of no use
whatever except for a brief period in sum-
mer. Inmates Of the soldiers home not
allowed to the building except occa-
sion Of entertainments. 1t is claimed that
VVnC ncfr of tnH from finn dc
taken from the soldiers relief fund. 1t is
believed by many that this very poor
use to make of these funds, considering the
great amount of suffering during these hard
times.
The pavilion was badly needed and
did not cost over 81 600. 1t is for the
use Of the inmates of the home at
all times, in suitable weather, and
there is no other room on the grounds
where One-third of them can be as
Sembled for any purpose. Only the la
Dor was paid for out of the relief fund.
and that to old soldiers Of Minnea polls
who were already recipients Of relief
They were thus required to work for
tn sums given, instead of receiving
the help gratis. 1t was in every way
a judiciOus expenditure and the board
of trustees are proud of it.
C2) Investigate the occasion for and the
cost of procuring three smoke consumers
for the Minnesota Soldiers home, after smoke
consumers had been condemned by the chief
engineer.
1t is claimed that these smoke consumers
were sold to the state of Minnesota at a cost
of $175 apiece, and that they being sold
to private parties as low as $55; that the
usual price was from SIS to $S5. 1t is
claimed that these smoke consumers necesSi-
tated the consumption Of one and three
quarters tons more coal per day, and that
after they were used for a short time, they
were condemned and pulled out; that put
ting in and removing of these smoke con-
sumers so weakened the brick work about
the boilers that it was necessary to rebrick
them during the past summer at an expense
of about $500 per boiler. 1t is claimed that
this proceeding resulted in a net loss to the
state of Minnesota of about 81 900. It is
suggested that the committee call in this
connection Jambes Burns formerly chief en-
gineer of the soldiers home.
The smoke consumers We're pur-
chased, after full investigation, on the
recommendation of many leading Min
neapolis manufacturers The market
price at the time (three or more years
ago. was paid and they were sup
posed to save fuel as well as prevent
the smoke nuisance. Our engineers
could not or would not make them
operate properly, and they were taken
out last summer The removal of hrfcl Il