The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-07-18

il had ever been seriously contemplate
ed. The Statesman predicted then
that the project would be revived soon
after the election and this prophecy
has come true.
The objection to the building OF a
poorhouse at a cost Of anywhere from
$4,000 to $4,000 are just as Well
grounded now as they were last fall
The average number of paupers kept
bv the county under contract does not
exceed half a dozen. There are now
only five. The contract price for the
keeping of these people is now $3.50,
and with some extras that are allowed
the total cost does not exceed $4,000.
If a poor farm were conducted by
the county, a superintendent would be
employed at a salary of probably
$1,000 a year. He would require an
assistant at not less than SIS a month,
or 5000 a year. Then it would be only
a matter of a short time when the cry
for political patronage would lead to
the creation of the position of farmer
at say $500 year. Here would be a
total of $4,000 year in salaries
$500 more than the entire cost or
keeping the county poor under the
contract system. Besides, if poor
house were built at an ultimate cost
of not less than 5000, the chairman
of the board last year favoring the
expenditure of not less than $1o,OO0-
the interest on the capital invested at
per cent would be $500 year, and
the insurance on the building would
be $50 or $50 year more. In add
ton there would be the cost Of fur
nishing the building and wages TO be
paid chambermaids, nurses, etc.
AS soon as it became generally
known throughout the northwest that
Walla Walla county had provided a
palatial poor house for INDECENT per-
sons. this city would become a mecca
for the lame, the halt, the decrepit and
the blind from far and near, and the
cost of keeping the poor would soon
be multiplied many fold. 1t is safe to
say that within three years after the
building of the county home, the ex-
penses of maintaining the institution
would reach $4,000 year and the cost
would increase year by year.
This is no calamity dream. This
county twelve or fifteen years ago
tried the poor farm experiment and it
proved costly one. The salaries of
the superintendent and assistants ex-
ceeded the present cost of keeping
the poor under the contract system.
The present system has proven emil
nently satisfactory. A recent investi-
CATION by the commissioners proved
that the inmates of the home are well
cared for by Contractor Hunt, being
sumptuously fed three times a day
on fare much better than the average
workingman can afford. In fact there
Is danger that the publication Of the
appetizing menu provided at Mr..
Hunts hotel may advertise the instf-
tuition so we'll that weary Willies will
flock hither from all directions to en-
Joy its generous spread.
The hope of having gardening and
farm work done on the county farm
by inmates of the home would prove
a disappointment unless the added at
fractions would draw to the home a
harder and sturdier class of inmates
than those now on the roll. The pres
ent force is composed Of decrepit,
childish old people who are almost as
helpless as babies. A more cOmmOd-
iOus and more attractive home owned
by the county would only increase the
number of helpless inmates. Men able
to do the work of farm hands have no
business in the poor house.
The more the proposition to build
a poor house and TO operate a county
poor farm is considered the greater
the folly appears, and the wonder is
that a board of commissioners com
posed of men Of good business judg-
ment in their private affairs would
ever think of it for moment. Walla
! Walla county is not like some of the
thickly populated counties in the
effete east where the number of pau
pers in proportion to the population is
| far greater than in this prosperous
community. filled with a thrifty and
prudent population. For that reason
there is not the need of a poor farm
that exists in eastern communities.
The Statesman believes that the
county commissioners ara MAKING 9