Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-13
The Workhouse Employes.
EDITOR Of The Evening Star,

To the Editor Of The Evening Start
On the 10th Of June there appeared in
your paper some extracts from a communi-
cation addressed to the District Commits
sioners by Representative p J. Otey in ref
erence to the workhouse of the District of
Columbia. After a visit to the Institution
Mr.. Otey had ascertained for himself that
the complaints made by the employees are
true in every respect. though he could not
be expected TO find out all in such a brief
visit. He enumerated the various defects
In the management OF the workhouse, the
chief part Of the article being confined to
the food, the cooking and the bad treat
| ment of the employees, both as to the poor
quality of food furnished them and the
long and unremitted time of duty. amount
ing TO thirty-six and sometimes sixty. CON-
secutive hours.
The employees Of the institution and oth-
ers besides. who are interested in the mat
ter, Zee! deeply grateful to Mr. Otey for
giving his attention and labor to this i'm
poitant subject, and they hope his efforts
Will result IN the betterment of conditions
at the workhouse
In the article referred TO thera aro so,,,a
things TO which Mr.. Stoutenburgh the in
tendant, takes very grave exceptions and
he mas prepared a report and submitted n
70 the District Commissioners making a
uehial OF the statements of Mr.. Otey claim
ing that that gentleman had been misled by
the ignorance or malice of the employes
me lntendant calls attention to the fact
that he has repeatedly recommended an in
crease In the force OF overseers to obyiate
the necessity Of keeping them on duty so
!ohg: rms Is one acknowledgment of the
truth that previously had been denied by
the workhouse authorities.
AS there is no kitchen at the workhouse
the 1000 Is cooked at the almshouse and
sent down TO the workhouse instead OF be-
ing cooked at the latter place. but il Is
rather immaterial whether II is always
wheeled down or carried in a wagon The
point made by Mr.. Otey is not SET aside and
cannot be. The food gets cold before Il is
served, and the dust and pollution Of all
Kinds floating in the atmosphere, and the
dirt caused by the handling of the food so
many times by the too often unclean in
mates. besides the filth deposited by flies
ana other Insects, always make the food
more or less unfit for anybody to eat and
only very strong stomach is equal to the
emergency. What matters II If the food is
carried in covered wagon during a rain
or snow storm? The statement that the
food gets cold. and more or less unfit TO
be eaten before 1t reaches the table is I'M
deniable, and what is the use of Mr.
Stoutenburgh attempting TO controvert it,
Kitchen ought to have been built years
ago, out Of the funds available for such n
purpose. and great deal of the trouble
in this respect might have been avoided.
What is the use of the intendant giving a
list of the food articles used al the work.
house-such as poultry, eggs. ham, mutton,
beef roast beef steaksD, fresh and salt fish,
oysters and corned meats? Everybody
knows that preparing and serving food are
more than half the battle" as the say
ing goes. and the finest ham or roast beef
would be anything but appetizing if the
reaches and flies had made free with &c
Tor an hour or two, and II had then been
handled by filthy prisoners, and after
ward conveyed for nearly a quarter of a
mile with the dust of the streets flying
about 1t and covering II with a coating OF
dirt, the leading ingredient OF which Is
pulveriZed horse manure.
The intendant seems 10 think that the
employees are too ignorant to know whether
a piece OF beef is boiled or roasted. Mr.
Otey says the idea seems to pervade the
management that everything must be boil
ed. BY this means the meat does double
duty. The 3-cent meat is boiled to make
soup and is afterward used slice meat.
though the nutriment has been cooked out
of It by the first process. This universal
boiling is not excused by giving list OF
eatables used, which in themselves are not
objectionable. but there Is a great differ
ence in the quality Of meats poultry, eggs.
etc, as there is a great difference in their
preparation for the table. Tough old roost-
ers and hens of many summers are poul-
try, beyond a doubt. but they are not
young and tender spring chickens, which
are also poultry. Piece beef, often tainted,
the refuse of the market, at three and
four-tenths cents per pound, or steak from
a bulls neck in close proximity TO the
horns may all be very truly called beef,
but everybody knows there is other beef
There are eggs, and there are eggs. Good,
fresh eggs are fit for anybody, but eggs
added or with chickens on the way are
not fit for anybody, not even for Ii Hung
Chang who ate eggs (prepared by his own
cooks at the Arlington which were said to
be a hundred or more years old; but the
eggs which are sometimes seen at the asy-
lum were not preserved by the Chinese
formula which, however, would have been
a great Improvement: and so II is with all
food. for all of it under certain conditions
can be made a source of disease instead OF
a means of sustenance. There are en-
ployes at the workhouse who are as fully
competent to tell a piece Of boiled meat
from a piece of roasted meat as Mr.. w. ii.
Stoutenburgh himself, though that gentle
man seems to think that they either 40
not know the difference or are too mali
cious to tell the truth But Mr.. otey says
they told the truth. and he has sense
enough 10 know what he is talking about.
Every other person who has visited the IN
stitufion knows that the conditions COM
blamed of by the employees are true TO the
letter and IL court of inquiry, whetnef
81 congressman or of the citizens OF the
District, were to be instituted every fact
SET out by Mr.. Otey can be fully estabnsn-
ed on a rock foundation. T. l.. FISHER.