Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-22
DUE TO LACK OF MONEY
No Fault With. Management of
Asylum Hospital.
VIEWS OF Mr.. MCFARLAND
Says Congress Has Been Importuned
for Appropriation.
MODERN INSTITUTION NEEDED
Site Purchased, But Fund for Build
ing Not Provided-Case I'm
der Investigation.
VIEWS OF Mr.. MCFARLAND
MODERN INSTITUTION NEEDED

Aside from the question whether or not
there is any foundation for the allegations
that the existing conditions at the WASH
fngton Asylum Hospital are bad and that
| Insane patients and others supposed to be
| Insane are not properly treated or cared
| for, Commissioner Macfarland says there
are some things in connection with that in
stitution which are by no means satisfac-
| tory. These conditions, however, he says,
| are in no sense due to a lack Of manage
| ment on the part Of the officials in charge
OF the hospital. but on account of a lack
| Of appropriations to make certain improve
ments and changes
| In a statement yesterday afternoon Com
missioner Macfarland said that while he
| did not care to discuss at this time, in adj
vance of the investigation by the board Of
charities, even the specific statement or
| charge made to him that four patients in
| tested with vernlin were sent from the
asylum to ST. Elizabeth since last March,
| he believes the asylum should not be To-
Gated where it is, between the workhouse
and the Jail.
In speaking generally of the conditions,
| he said the Commissioners have in the past
earnestly urged Congress to appropriate a
| sufficient sum with which to build and
| equip modern municipal hospital on the
| site bought by the District ON Brightwo Od
avenue several years ago.
Purchase of the Site.
J Mr.. Macfarland stated further: Congress
at the request Of the Commissioners gave
them in 1901 100000 with which to buy
site for the municipal hospital. They bought
for less than $4,000 the site on Br;ghtwood
avenue, now worth several times what they
paid for it, and pronounced by hospital ex-
peTts the best possible. Then they got from
Congress authority and money for plans
and after specially good architectural
competition got plans from Frank Niles
Day of Philadelphia, last years president
of the American Institute of Architects
These plans called for expenditure OF
about million dollars, covering four or
five years, which would have given an ex-
cellent plant, and they provided also for
additions through years to come which
would have made the total expenditure
about three millions of dollars. Opposition
sprang up from interests which feared that
the proposed hospital would affect them un-
favorably, although there was no ground
for their fear, and this with the amount Of
the appropriation required when SO many
other large appropriations wer icing made
by Congress, has kept Congress from max
ing the appropriation for the general hos
pital.
Provision for One Ward.
ut did, however, give the Commissioners
| at their urgent request 100000 for the tu-
bercuosis ward of the proposed hospital,
and this will be completed as soon as is
practicable, difficulties having been met be-
cause of the rise in building prices and the
| smallness of the appropriation.
We also secured, he continued, lat the
last session an appropriation for converting
the old almshouse nea~ the Washington
Asylum Hospital into wards for insane
and inebriates. The alterations are we'll
advanced and when Congress has added
sufficient additional force of employees will
be means of relief to the congested quar-
tiers. But at best the Washington Hospital
Asylum plant is a makeshift, the Com
mssioners, the board of charities and the
superintendent of the Washington asylum
have said to Congress, formally and in
formally, and as they will continue to say.
Personally, l have through the news
papers and otherwise done my utmost to
arouse the community to see the necessity
for removing the decent sick poor from
the neighborhood of the jail and the work
house and from the company Of the sick
workhouse conv1cts, who have to be pro-
vided for in the Washington Asylum Hos
pital, to proper buildings on the Brightwood
avenue site, which is so much more salu-
brious than that on the Eastern branch. /
shall continue to appeal to Congress and
the community for this, which is more
needed than some other things which have
been more generally advocated.
Larger Force and Better Pay.
Another thing, the Commissioners and
the board of charities have appealed to
Congress session after session for larger
force and better pay for the employees of
the Washington asylum, including the
Washington Hospital, where it has been
difficult to keep physicians and nurses be-
cause of the small pay, the peculiarly dis
agreeable character of the work. SO largely
with a class of patients that other hos
pitfalls would not take, and the nefghbor-
hood Of the Jail and the workhouse. We
shall, of course, continue to ask for larger
force and better salaries long as the
Washington Asylum Hospital remains
there.
But all this, which appears In all the
hearings of the Commissioners before the
two appropriations committees for the past
five six years, refers to general condi-
lions and not to conditions caused BY the
management, which has been. according to
all the Information that comes to me and
the former report of the board Of charities
last March, creditable to Mr.. Zinkhan. the
superintendent of the Washington asylum.
OF course, l am not considering now the
charges just made which the board of
charities is about to investigate.
Discusses a Report.
In speaking of the request that was made
by the board Of charities at the time of
the investigation last winter of the Gov
eminent Hospital for the Insane that it
would promptly report to the board of
charities any case where a patient arrived
from the Washington Asylum Hospital In
bad condition. Mr.. mcfarland said.
II am informed by the secretary of the
board of charities that this request was
made personally Of the superintendent of
the Government Hospital for the Insane,
Dr. White, by the subcommittee of the
board of charities that made the investi-
CATION. and that DR.. White said he would
be glad to see that such notices were sent
If any such cases were received.
SUMMARY OF WORK.