Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-05-25
been ringleader IN the outbreak that
occurred ten years ago.
Guilty Of Cruelty.

| unfortunate girls would be the rule,
had no thought that the new superin-
tendent would soon be charged with
grasping helpless girl by the throat,
and knocking her head against wall.
That Undue Intimacy.
| y had permitted child in the school
TO go to her home in Des Moines in
compliance with her mothers dying
request. After the death and funeral
| OF the mother on one of my visits to
the school the little girl asked to speak
to me, out of the hearing of the other
girls. request which was promptly
granted. The girl, a mere child, told
me of the death and funeral of her
mother and as I rendered my SYM
pathy to the poor child. l laid my
hand affectionately upon her shoulder,
as II she had been my own daughter,
and as | spoke words of hope and en-
enlargement, I was pleased to see the
chidl wipe the tears from her eyes,
and after thanking me, go back to re-
sumo her work
This act on my part was displeasing
TO Miss Garrison. and my manner of
addressing the girls in a kindly spirit
did not meet her approval.
While l did not find fault with ev
erything Miss Garrison has done, as
she is reported as saying, l did object
to many Of her methods, but always to
herself alone, and never to any en-
ploye or girl of the school.
Sneering lnsolcnce Toward Girls.
Il did not approve of the puritanical
methods she introduced, her sneerng
insolent manner towards the girls. her
endeavor to belittle them in their own
estimation at every opportunity, and
her lack OF sympathy with those en-
trusted by the state 10 her care
L did not approve Of her order pro-
hibiting conversation by the girls at
meals, something that has never been
done even With the women in the peni-
Tertiary. and the holding up of differ
ent fingers by the girls when it was
desired that a certain article should
be passed was to me simply abhorrent.
Her refusal to allow the girls 10
write 70 me. when formerly | carried
on a large correspondence with them
in regard 10 their studies, their hopes
and ambitions, and my efforts to secure
for them honora BILE and congenial en-
ployment when they left the school.
did not meet my appreciation, and the
fact that / did not receive single
letter from a girl a I the school during
the time Miss Garrison has been super
intendent proves how we'll she en-
forced her arbitrary order.
One of the first rules made by the
board Of control was TO allow all in
mates of state institutions to commune
cate with the board Or any member
thereof, without having the letters
read by the superintendent or some one
delegated by him. as is the case with
other correspondence, this being the
only means whereby injustice or OPP
preston could be made known to those
who stood between the inmates and
the officers, and whose duty it was to
see tina, no injustice was done to any
one.
Has No Apologies to Make.
II have no apology 20 make for any
act or word of mine as affecting the
School for Girls at Mitch |
sllville and having reared a family Of
my own l can say without hesitation
that il has been my constant endeavor
10 take the place of a true father to
these girls and assist them by every
means in my power in getting new
start in life.
And as 1 read so often their record |
=
and mother separated, father and |
mother divorced father dead moth
.r dead my whole soul goes out in /
sympathy TO these unfortunate girls, |
and as l think of the trials and temp |
.ations tina, have been. and will be
their lot in life, I can not and will |
not. be party to the crushing out of
all hope for better things TO these /
Young lives, and must condemn with
all the power I can command the cree
ton of iron cells in which to incar-
cerate helpless girls converting what
was created TO be school into a
prison.
Such methods of governing these
are adhorrent to every right
person, and the present board
Of control may deceive itself into be-
lieving that cruel and inhuman treat
ment is the only means by which the
school can be conducted, but the good
people of Iowa are not deceived by this
report, vainly trying to exonerate those
who are responsible for all the trouble |
and endeavoring 10 place the blame on
one whose every effort has been to ele-
vate and uplift every girl in the school. |
AS to Robinson.
The report as made to the governor |
is undoubtedly the work of Mr.. G. S. |
Robinson. who has been a member of |
the board of control for ten years The |
other two members having served but |
d short time on the board can not be |
familiar with the conditions as they |
have existed. It required nearly 200 |
pages of typewriter matter for Judge |
Robinson to give his views of the past |
and present condition of the school, and |
the treatment the girls had and are /
now receiving. And yet in the ten
years that he has been a member of |
the board of control ne has evinced no |
interest in the girls, done nothing for !
them, given them no word of sympathy |
Or encouragement, all in striking con-
trast with the steadfast and unselfish |
friendship of Iowa's grand old man, |
Gov. William LARA bee. first chairman |
Of the board of control, and the I'M
swerving devotion to the best interests |
Of the girls by John T. Hamilton, who |
from the board short time |
ago.
But no one can point to single act |
Of kindness, word of encouragement or
with these girls by Judge
who has held himself aloof
from them as far as it was possible to
10 in his position, and no one knows
r.