Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-21
A BOARD OF CONTROL
Continued from Thirteenth Page.)
record of the attention paid to such calls

I'm making the Recommendation that no
appropriation be made for the relief of
cases investigated by the police depart
ment the committee does In view of the
fact that there is already a fund amount
Ing to SS30U0, yielding an income of about
5000 year. which is under the control of
the Commissioners of the District of Co
1umbia. for the relief of tine poor. This
fund has been created from gifts from the
executive committee of the inaugural GER
emonies of March 4, 1889, and March i,
1891.
The committee recommends that an addi-
tional appropriation be made to provide
more ample accommodations for the Re
form School for Girls, so that white girls
well colored girls may be committed
to the institution; that the maximum age
at which girls can be committed be re-
duced from eighteen to sixteen years, thus
answering the needs of the community and
making a more efficient school.
The report states that about one-seventh
of the I94 patiepts in the Government Hos
pital for the Insane charged to the District
of Columbia are not properly so charge
able, and the committee recommends that
the board of management report to Con-
gress, through the Secretary of the In
terror. the draft of a bill to confine the
benefits of the institution to those persons
whom the law contemplates as benefici-
aries
In discussing the Columbia Institution for
the Deaf and Dumb the committee says in
case of the establishment of a board of
charities, the admission of the deaf and
dumb pupils from the District should be
placed under the general control of that
board, and should not be left with the Sec
rotary of the Interior. 1t Is also recon-
mended that the work of providing for the
blind children of the District of Columbia
be transferred from the Secretary Of the
Interior to the board of chiIdren's guardi-
ans, and that a specific appropriation for
the care of the blind be made in the Dis
trict appropriation bill.
Care of Children and the Aged. \
The committee recommends that all chill
dren under sixteen years of age who are
hereafter found abused, abandoned, neglect
ed, morally exposed. or in a condition of
want and suffering in the District of CO.
lumbia. and for whom no other relief is
offered. be committed to the guardianship
of the board of children's guardians during
minority. That such commitments be
made by the Police Court or the Supreme
Court of the District of Columbia holding
sessions for orphans court business. and
that such courts be empowered to make
modify and revoke orders for contributions
toward the maintenance of such children
by parents. and to enforce such orders.
After discussing the question of the care
OF the aged in the Washington asylum and
other institutions in the District of Column
bia. the committee recommends that: mo
appropriation shall be made for homes for
the aged. nor shall any institution receiving
public aid admit aged persons; and the
board of charities II created, shall make
an examination into the cases of all such
aged persons as may now be in institutions
supported wholly or IN part at public ex-
pense. with the view Of ascertaining whether
such persons, II properly public charges,
may not be removed to the asylum"
In discussing the work of the Woman's
Christian Association. the committee rec
ommends that 1.-The work for the aged be
discontinued; that the outdoor relief be
turned over to the Associated Charities,
n Ito
task of providing temporary accommoda-
ton for those in need of such service"
OF the Night Lodging House Association
the report says: The committee recon-
title to the land and buildings, and that an
appropriation be made to provide such re-
pairs and such provision for cleanliness as
may be necessary to put the institution in
good condition or, what would be better.
that the property be sold and a more avail
able site purchased. 1t is not necessary to
expand this work. for the reason that the
Central Union Mission. a private institu-
ton. provides for the same class of depend
ents.
The Freedmen's Hospital
The committee recommends that the en-
tire plant of the Freedmen's Hospital be
turned over to the trustees of Howard Uni
versity, and that the appropriations be re-
duced TO an amount not exceeding 10000
to be paid for the care and treatment Of a
contract to be entered into between the
said trustees and the Commissioners of the
District of Columbia. The committee makes
these recommendations in the full belief
that when the admissions and dismissions
shall be properly guarded the sum named
will enable the hospital authorities to fur
nlSh care and treatment of kind vastly
superior to that at present furnished to the
great majority of the patients"
The committee recommends that the man.
agement Of the Washington asylum hospital
Re divorced absolutely frctn that of the asy-
lurn proper; that a superintendent and two
resident physicians Of the hospital be en-
pioyei, and that a staff of physicians be Sc
cured on the same basis that other hos
pitfalls secure their Stats. The work now
Gone at the asylum hospital and that done
at Columbia Hospital might well be COM
bined in one institution. but in separate
buildings: and thus a duplication of agen-
cies might be done away with"
The Columbia Hospital.
''The Columbia HOSPITAL" the report says.
needs a complete reorganization. The main
building was formerly a residence, and was
never adapted to hospital purposes. The
pavilion. where most of the hospital work
Is done, is a slight wooden structure of no
particular value. The ground occupied by
the hospital is very valuable. 1t might be
sold advantageously, and the proceeds
might well be applied to the purchase of a
leSS expensive site ana Inc erection or mod
ern hospital buildings. The nature of the
cases treated is such that site in the SUBJ
urbs, but near some rapid transit street
railway line, would answer every purpose"
Accompanying the report are several ap-
pendices, being reports Of Drs. Henry M.
Hurd and John B. Chaplin on the hospitals
OF the District, which have been published
IN The Star; a letter from the Medical So
ciety of the District of Columbia, relative
to the administration of hospitals, list Of
property used for charitable purposes In
the District and exempt from taxation;
number OF INDECENT persons sent to the
several hospitals and asylum by the SAINT
tary officer Of the metropolitan police from
1873 to 1897: health officers report on the
sanitary condition of the various charitable
institutions; list of appropriations for char
stable purposes for the District Of Columbia
Tor the fiscal years 1877 to 1898, inclusive.