Evening star., 1901-10-30
Hearing Given Those Who Had OBJ
jectionS to Urge.
COMMISSIONERS REPLY TO PROTEST
Opinion Expressed That No New
Question Had Been Raised.
BOTH SIDES REPRESENTED

\
Association and business interests OF Con-
gress Heights. who desired to protest
against the location Of the proposed new
almshouse on the tract i'm the southeastern
part of the District purchased last week by
the District authorities from H. s. Cum
mings and A. K. Rande. At the conclusion
of the hearing Commissioner Macfarland.
president of the board, stated that the citi-
Zens present had raised no new questions in
connection with the subject. All that they
had said he declared, had been considered
by the Commissioners when making their
decision to buy the land in question. All
the conditions brought up had been taken
into account. Commissioner Macfarland
SAID the District board was ever soicitous
for the best interests of all communities
and had decided upon the amshouse loca-
uon only after due deliberation and after
thoroughly going over the entire field.
1t was stated at the hearing that the new
site was difficult of access and was in an
unhealthy region. IL was declared that the
Anacostia river shore line was a notorious
breeding place for malaria. Mr.. Macfar-
land called attention to the fact that the
present site of the old almshouse, and a
site suggested by one of those present at
the hearing, were both on the Anacostia
river, while the new site at Shepherds
Landing is several miles from the Anacos-
tia river and therefore out Of the malarial
district.
MIR. Classics Argument.
The first speaker at the hearing was MIR.
II. III. Classic, who represented the Con-
gress Heights Citizens Association. He
maintained that the new almshouse and
the potter's field should be located on the
site of the old institution.
He said certainly no increased land space
was necessary for the po;ter's field. Lat
ter-day opinion on that subject, he said,
tended toward the replacement of potter's
neldS with crenatories He said the Dis.
trict health officer had recommended such
a course to the Commissioners He also
said that at present the medical schools of
the District claim about 200 pauper bodies
each year for the purpose of dissection. He
used these facts as argument that large
tract for the burying ground for the indi-
gent dead was not necessary, and that the
present site OF the almshouse was suffi-
cient.
Mr.. Classic declared that the site selected
by the Commissioners at Shepherds Land
ing is by no means a desirable one. He
said the first thing to be considered i'm an
almshouse is TO get the paupers into il. At
the location selected by the Commissioners
there is no such thing as getting the pau
pers to the place by land.
The only railroad in the vicinity is a
freight branch of the Baltimore and Ohio
only way to get the paupers there is by
water and there are many difficulties in
transporting the aged and infirm by that
means. Mr.. Classic said that often the
river was frozen and bitterly cold, and IL
was in winter that the asylum of such an
institution as the almshouse is most
eagerly sought by the destitute Mr.. Glas-
sic also maintained that the District would
have no place Of its own to land passen-
gers unless it should go to the expense Of
building wharf extending quite a dis
tance out into the Potomac.
Site Not n Healthy One.
Mr.. Classic said further that the site se-
lected was not properly speaking a healthy
one The whole Anacostia river territory,
he declared, is VIGOROUSLY unhealthy. He
said the Commissioners would be open to
criticism in taking aged and infirm people
to such an unhealthy location. The re-
port of the health officer shows the excess
of malaria in the Anacostia region. Mr.
Classic declared. The Commissioners. he
declared, are contemplating draining all
the sewage of the city into the Potomac at
Magazine Point, which is just at the aims
house site. The paupers would not like to
spend their declining years at the mouth of
the sewer.
Gentlemen" continued Mr.. Classic, "y5u
have chosen a lodge in the wilderness IN
which to place the paupers. They will be
isolated and separated from their friends
and the clergy. You wia have to maintain
there hospital and a staff of physicians
for it would be out of the question to bring
the SICK p3lptTS TO the W 3SDlnSlon Asylum
Hospital or to the new municipal hospital
in the city. You will be at a double cx-
pense constantly. As far the farm land
question goes, isn't IL an exploded idea Of
putting paupers on farm land which they
cannot work? You will not have an able
bodied force of men, but aged people most
ly and a great many women. Government
experiments in farming have never proven
profitable AT the insane asylum, 1 believe.
they grow cabbages at four times the cost
to truck farmers. You have got land
enough in your new tract, but it is not suit
able for the purposes of the almshouse"
In regard to the legal phase of the case
Mr.. Classic did not believe it was too late
for the Commissioners to abrogate their
agreement to purchase the property if they
saw fit. He said the title to the land had
not been perfected. and that the Commits
sioners could withdraw.
Questioned by Capt. Beach.
When Mr.. Classic had concluded he was
by Captain Beach, the Engi-
neer Commissioner. who asked:
What is the object of the citizens of
Congress Heights in protesting against the
site for the almshouse?"
They do not think replied Mr.. Classic.
''as citizens of the District of Columbia,
that the almshouse should be located
there"
Mr. Robert Cook, a property owner In
the vicinity of the new site, spoke next.
He said he saw in the institution q serious
damage to his property and all
other adjacent holdings. He said that Sec
ton of the District had been Disseminated
against in the past. and that just at this
time, when the residents were most hopeful
as to the future the place was to be marred
and everlasting injustice done by locating
the almshouse there. He said the section
was favored in many ways.
Discusses Legal Phase.
Mr.. Daniel orc. Callaghan, representing
the Business Mems Association of Congress
spoke next in opposition to the
almshouse site at Shepherds Point He
ccnfined himself almost entirely TO the Ie-
gal proposition which confronted the Com
missioners in doing away with the old
almshouse site. He said that The present
site of the old institution ceded TO
the District by the government. having
been formerly known as the marine hos
pital site. The Commissioners could not
the property, he declared, without
q special act of Congress-
DR.. Emmons spoke last. opposing the