Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-07
Work of the School Described by
President Endicott.
RESULTS HAVE BEEN ENCOURAGING
Age Limit of Admission Should Be
Lowered.
SEP ARATING THE RACES

The annual report of the board of trus-
ices of the District Reform School for Girls
is made to Attorney General McKenna and.
in turn, to Cor gress by William c. Endi-
colt, jr, president of the board of trus-
tees.
The report begins by saying that seventy
four girls have been admitted since 1889;
for the last year the number being twelve.
Sixteen girls have escaped. the largest
number being eight during the last fiscal
year. With the exception of three all
were brought back. The report continues:
Two girls who were apprenticed escaped
from their employers and were married.
Eleven girls have been returned-tve by
the board of chlldrens guardians, five by
persons to whom the girls were appren-
| ticed and one by a girls mother who found
1t impossible TO manage her. The latter
is the only case where Il girl who has been
released TO her family or relations has
been returned to the school. The trustees
eEdeaVor to keep track of girls release
WIN TINS and one other exception. as far
as Is known by them, the girls have done
well. and are thought to have been. thor
oughly trained in their work and to have
improved from the instruction given them
in SchoUi.
The following facts will explain why so
many girls have escaped from the school.
Nhen the building was turned over by
the commissioners of the District of Co.
lumbia TO the board Of trustees one can
hardly imagine how ill-adapted il was for
It's purposes. There We're no gratings unon
the windows or doors: the locks and doors
10 the inmates rooms We're such as would
ne placed In an ordinary dwelling. the
girls part of the building was not nron
eriy separated from that of the officers.
the fence surrounding the yard was easy
10 Ihhip' ana the cellar was arranged in
stem manner that 1T was a simple thing
to escape by the windows and doors The
trustees have been obliged to eXpend from
the appropriations for maintenance a large
sum of money in order to make ths, build
ing secure against escapes IT is now he
neVed that. provided the officers exercise
proper care and supervision over the girls
the chance Of escaping is reduced 10
l,i',ililuni. II must. however, be remember
ed that In all prison and reformatory in
stitutlons, even in those where the s,,er-
vision OF prisoners is strict, the escape of
prisoners Is by no means uncommon
IN the previous annual reports mar
tlcu;arly in those for the years 1894 and
1879. dwelt at some length upon the his
tory of the school and upon statistics re-
garding girl criminals in the District of
Columbia, 10 which special attention is
called.
Encouraging Showing.
1.-The school has been opened nearIx forr
years, ard any one who has studied the
problem cannot fail to be convinced that
lhe foundation OF great work much need
ed in the District, has been laid The work
OF the last year has given us great encour-
agement. There have beer MANY difficul-
ties Ill our way. and / am frank in saving
that at times the task has seemed almost
an impossible enc. The institution has been
grossly misrepresented before and to men,
be rs of congressional committees, and has
been unfairly dealt with by the press to
such an extent that I believe the citizens
Of the District of Columbia have an unfa-
vorabie impression regarding the school,
which in reality compares favoraby with
similar institutions.
'Any school built and maintained at a
large expense must of necessity he extrava-
CANT. especially when the school accom-
nlodates only twenty-seven girls In no
sense is the school colored reform school
at least not under the law by which Con-
gress established the school, for under that
law the school is intended for the reforma-
ton Of both white and colored girls. As far
as know no one has ever applied to send
white girls to the school, and the judges of
the courts have not committed any. but the
judges of the courts. as well the police,
girls in the District who should be sent to
just such an institution instead of to the
Jail and workhouse. If any addition is
made to the school then accommodation
can be built for both white and colored
girls Any one who Is familiar with the
difficulties attendant upon having white
and colored girls would. think, agree that
1t is best to separate the two races, par
ticularly when they belong to criminal
or lower class.
"Our principa, difficulties can be traced
to the laws made by Congress establishing
the school Under the law girls under
eighteen years of age are committed to
the school until they reach the age Of twen-
ty-one. unless sooner released by the trus-
tees which Is source Of trouble. Only
month ago a girl was committed to the
school by the Police Court under Slae inn
preston that she was under eighteen. The
girl herself has bad criminal record has
been well known to the police. and insisted
that she was over eighteen. A doctor who
examined the girl thought she must be