The Topeka state journal., 1898-09-08
THE USUAL PLANT.
Was the Reform School Ever Man
aged Properly-What Bruce Says.

dR6Q ETOp6rly-W nat Bruce DAYS.
Mr.. James Bruce, who. resigned his
place as engineer at the Reform school
in North Topeka, on the 18th of Aug
ust, the same to take effect the first Of
September, and whose place was filled
by John Higgins. who has been en-
plOyed at the Topeka insane asylum,
left the Reform school because he was
dissatisfied with the mana cement of the
institution and the treatment accorded
the employees by the officers thereof.
Mr.. Bruce will be remembered as the
chairman of the Populist county COM
mtttee of Lyons county, during the
campaign of 1896. He was one of the
strongest workers for Bryan and Leedy
among the laboring men during that
campaign. He has been a railroad en-
ploye for years and is well known all
over Kansas for the interest that he
has taken in labor movements, espec-
tally among railroad employees.
He says: AT the Reform school,
while the superintendent and other
higher officials, including the board of
trustees, enjoy every luxury possible
and take life easy with short hours and
good pay, the ordinary run of en-
ployes, in order to make a record for
the board of trustees, are ground down,
required to work overtime and in every
way given the worst of it. He says that
on many occasions he, as well as others
at the institution, have been required
to work 4S hours without rest or sleep
That for this extra work, extra pay
would not be allowed.
I'm order to make a financial show
ing, the institution has been permitted
to go to wreck and ruin; that the steam
plant is in a deplora BILE condition; that
lights are out of the windows every
where about the institution, and that
for want of paint the woodwork is ev-
erywhere decaying and that thousands
of dollars will be required to replace
what a false economy has destroyed"
He further says: THAT in many
q
incompetent employees are given places,
and that as a result the number of
boys who have escaped from the insti-
tuition have been greater than ever be
fore in it's history That recently a
man was given a place as assistant en-
gineer there, who admitted that he new
er opened a throttle before in his life
Mr.. Bruce complains bitterly of the
assessments that have been made on
the employees of the institution. He
says: From the $3.50 dining room
girls up, that ever since the POpuliStS
secured complete control of the board
that a 2 per cent assessment has been
made on their monthly wages, until the
first of July, when it was raised to
per cent, and that this assessment is
collected by the superintendent of the
institution himself who taking the
monthly pay roll, each month when the
checks are issued to the employees, re-
quires them to simply plank down to
him the required per cent of the wages
that the check represents. He also
says that the same system pertains IN
the other institutions under the control
of the state board of charities.
Mr.. Bruce resigned his place volun-
tarily in face of the fact that he was
urged to remain by Governor Leedy
The governor was very anxious to re-
tain Mr.. Bruce in his position and
urged him not to resign. Some weeks
ago when the engineer called upon
Governor Leedy and stated that the
superintendent of the Reform school, in
accordance with orders from the board
of charities, declined to furnish suffi-
cient help to do the plumbing and
steam fitting, which was absolutely nee
essary for the protection of the plant
Mr. Bruce told the governor that un-
less this work be done Immediately
that the plant would be damaged SER
iousIy and it would be necessary to re-
place it entirely in another year.