The Washington herald., 1912-03-08
Tuberculosis Institution Un.
der Fire at Civic Fed
GRAFTON Meeting.
DEATH RATE rs LARGE
Uncleanliness and Negligence in
Many Departments Charged
in Report.

1
Federation meeting yesterday was To-
cused almost exclusively on the Tubercu-
losis Hospital OF the District OF Columbia.
stirring attack on conditions at the
institution was made by Mrs. Medill Nc
Cormick, national chairman. and Mrs
J. Meta McGin, Washington chairman OF
the committee on tuberculosis Of the
woman's Welfare Department and they
we're declared TO be deplorable. The crux
OF their criticism was that OF 402 cases
OF tuberculosis treated at the hospital,
there were 800 death and only five cures.
The two speakers criticised the system
whereby the course OF CHASTITY death is
burned into the brain OF each patient by
the multiplied object lesson" charged
Iuncleanliness In the dining-Toom and the
operating and apothecary rooms, and de-
plored the absence of a suitable dressing
room, with lockers, and an assembly
room, where patients able to walk about
may get away from the scenes Of intense
agony in the ward ROOM
Mrs. dcCormIck's Report.
Mrs: MednI Mccormick. reading the re-
port on the tuberculosis Hospital, said.
in part:
The charges which the committee in
conscience feels compelled to make
|
That a tuberculosis hospital conducted
on the ward plan is a mistake, the ma
tional chairman OF hospitals having seen
from association with the work in other
towns, and in a climate far more Sc
we're than Washington. that the percen-
tage of cases is infinitely greater, even
in the secondary stage, with patients
segregated in tents
The horrors Of an unscreened tuber-
PRESSED upon his conscience the long
agony of progressive symptoms and
watches in another the inevitable ap-
proach of death, cannot fail to charge
the atmosphere of the whole institution
with a tragic gloom, and thIs seems to
find its main expression in the hope
less appearance of the inmates and the
unearthly stiffness of the place.
The second charge, scarcely less in
Importance, found necessary 10 make is
that of uncleanlIness in certain parts OF
the hospital
"Then, too, the milk should be deliv-
cred and kept in bottles instead OF cans.
the eggs supplied to the hospital are Of
the contract or cold storage variety.
"A fourth necessity for the comfort OF
patients is a suitable dressing room with
suitable lockers for the use Of those in
the secondary stare of tuberculosis.
for the patients still able to walk about,
where they may assemble for an occ-
siopal hour of music.
Perhaps some such method might
serve TO relieve the gloom Of the TU-
berculosis Hospital and for a time OBJ
literste the impression made by the
knowledge that out OF 4O2 cases treat
ed there were 800 deaths and only five
cures, and that the appropriate inscrip-
N hafO ha
would read: All hope abandon, ye who
enter here"
Seth Low Reelected.
Seth Low. at the general meeting Of
the organization, was again elected pres
ident Of the National Civic Federation.
The officers elected are: Seth Low.
president: Samuel Gompers. vice presi-
dent: Ellison A Smyth, vice president:
Benjamin Ide. Wheeler. vice president;
Isaac n. Seligman, treasurer; Ralph NJ
Easley, chairman executive council;
John Hays Hammond, chairman commit
tee on organization; William r. Wilcox.
chairman employers welfare depart
ment; Alton B. Parker. chairman depart
ment on uniform legislation; Nicholas
Murray Butler. chairman industrial eco
nomics department: August Belmont,
chairman department compensation In
dustrial accidents; George W. Perkins,
chairman wage earners' insurance de-
partment; Emerson McMillin, chairman
department interstate and municipal util-
tiles: Mrs. John Hays Hammond, chair
man woman's Welfare Department, and
E. r. A. zSelEman, chairman taxation
department.
At the meeting OF the Woman's Welfare
Department, held in the council room, on
the first floor. Mrs. John Hays Ham
mond, chairman, presided.
Reports were made by Miss Mona Wet
more, treasurer: by Mrs. Robert s. Chew,
secretary: by Mrs. Francis Mcneil Ba-
con, chairman Of the New York and New
Jersey section: by Mrs. Richard VAIN
wright, on the subject of government
employees and the conditions of their Ia
Dor, and by Mrs. Archibald Hopkins,
chairman of the District OF Columbia
section. on general activities for the well
fare OF women in the National Capital
Asks Final Appeal.
Resolutions supporting the bill pending
before Congress to permit appeal from
the highest State courts to the Supreme
Court of the United States in all cases
arising under the Federal Constitution.
and bills providing for the decision of
causes upon merits, were adopted at the
general session in the red room Of the
New Willard Hotel yesterday.
Walter E. Smith, chairman Of the de- |
partment on regulation OF Industrial cor
pcrations, presided at yesterdays ses- |
sion. Ralph Breckinridge, chairman of
the committee on reform in legal pro-
cedure, presented the views of the COM |
niittee, lndorsing the measures for ma
tional legislation proposed by the Ameri- !
can Bar Association. Talcott Williams |