East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-08-19
FULL TEXT OF HALLS
LETTER MADE PUBLIC
LA GRANDE PHYSICIAN
SCORES NEW ASYLUM
Condemns Water Supply ana Declares
He "DOes Not Want to BE Com
ncctcd With IL FNilure"-COst of
Maintenance VIII BE Large.

Salem Ore, Aug. 19.-Although ef-
forts have been made to learn the
contents of the letter of resignation
which DR.. NJ. X. Hall of La Grande,
sent the state asylum board, the
matter was kept more or less secret
until Saturday, when the board made
public what the letter contained. The
letter was written under date of Au-
gust IA. Governor West said that the
board had decided first to keep the
letter quiet so as to prevent the old
controversy over the eastern Oregon
asylum from being brought up.
Dr. Hall in his letter bitterly scores
the location of the branch asylum at
Pendleton and declares among other
things that the water Is bad and that
the conditions are such as to require
much larger outlay for maintenance
at the new hospital than at the Salem
institution.
81 am unwilling to be connected
with failure" is one OF the dec
larations which he makes.
In his letter rendering his resigna-
tion and scoring the site as we'll as
>
quarters. DR., Hall says:
ITO the best of my ability, l have
gone over the history of the establish
ment of this institution by its promo
ters, through the instrumentalty of
the state legislature, the choice of its
| location, etc, as well as having form
ed an estimate of its future history.
"In my opinion, the establishment
of this institution, especially at the
present location, with only infected
water available, etc, was a huge mis-
take. l predict that it will be a fail
ure either from the standpoint of
scenery or of efficiency, when COM
pared with the magnificent institution
at Salem, especially as the latter is
now conducted. l mean that it will
be impossible to maintain the East
ern oregon institution at cost per
! capita of less than one and one-half
times as much as the cost of main
tenance at the Salem institution. I'm
der present conditions, it will also be
impossible to maintain as high a
standard among the patients at PEN
dleton as it is at Salem.
81 am unwilling to be connected
with a failure, IL l can avoid it. An
other and more personal reason is
that the quarters destined to harbor
the families of the superintendent
and members of the staff at the Pen
dleton hospital are not at all fitted
for the occupancy of families having
children.
Living in little bunch of bed
rooms in close proximity to 800 or 400
of the unfortunates. is not such en-
vironment as is suited to families of
children who have been accustomed
to green grass and plenty of 1t. and
an unlimited opportunity to drink
pure water and not that which, it its
best, must contain boiled germs.
"In my opinion, third and greater
reason is that a man experienced in
organization of institutional work
should be chosen, If ne is available.
my sincere hope is that the delay
caused by my Investigations will not
result detrimentally to the institution
nor in personal inconvenience to any
member of the board.
81 wish to take this opportunity
again to extend to each of you my
sincere thanks for the confidence you
have displayed in me-"