The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-10-06
developed into a great wrong.
Hyde, Haines and Thomas

asylum farm under the administra-
ton Of DR.. w. A. Hyde while John
M. Haines was governor. Senator
Thomas did not appoint DR.. Hyde,
nor did he have any voice in the
management of the place. He had
a good opportunity to know what was
being done there and to make
strong stand for what was right II
he wanted to do anything about it,
or to keep his hands of and remain
silent IL he did not wish to mix in
the contention. These are the facts
and we ask the public to Judge of the
course he took:
Defending Questionable Things
When Governor Alexander, Demo-
cratic, was inaugurated, 1t was his
privilege to appoint new asylum
board, and it was the province Of the
board to employ some one of their
tendent. 1t was charged that the in
cumbent, DR.. Hyde, was not a good
man for the position, that while he
was gentle and kind to the patients,
he had but little business ability and
seemed to know almost nothing of
how to manage the big farm, gardens
and orchard, and that the institution
and its inmates were suffering in con-
sequence. 1t was said that In view
of the weakness of the man in this
respect it would not be advisable to
retain him and that the new board
would do well to find successor for
DR.. Hyde. There were charges of
poor food and insufficient nourish-
ment for the inmates and the money
being all spent and scarcely any
crops, fruits, vegetables and meats
raised and stored for winter and
spring use as was usual at that insti-
tuition. The retiring governor, Mr..
Haines, was discredited by the Allen
embezzlement and other charges of
fraud, and anything that he could
say would not be listened to. The
new governor was not supposed to
know very much about things at
Blackfoot and especially the asylum
farm, and the natural source OF in
formation in such a case was the
accredited representatives of Bing-
ham county then sitting in the house
and senate. In that body were Rep
resentative Peter G.. Johnston and
Senator l.. r. Thomas, whose homes
were within mile of the institution,
and having been elected to represent
that county were the natural spokes-
men if anyone could speak on the
subject. When the charges were
made against DR.. Hyde's management
Senator Thomas may or may not have
known what were the conditions at
the asylum, but he assumed to know
and denied the charges. He could
have said he did not know; he could
have said that part Of the charges
were true and that reports were ex-
aggerated. He could have kept still
about something he had not investi-
gated. He did neither of these things
but gave out an interview in which
he defended DR.. Hyde absolutely and
cast reproach upon those who had
made the statements that DR.. Hyde
was weak and incompetent and
should be succeeded by an ADLER man.
His interview went to the members
of the legislature, who were to make
appropriations for the institution; to
the governor, who had the appointive
power; to the people of the state
and to men in other states who might
later pass upon the fitness of men
applying for similar positions in the
asylums of other states. One of the
leading dailies of Idaho published
his statements, and, Senator Thomas
has never gone into print to say that
he was misquoted or that he had
learned that he was at that time COM
hitting a mistake. He voluntarily
assumed the responsibility of making
statements upon which so much
might depend. He is standpat Re-
publican and was defending Repub-
lican in power. Here are the facts
as to conditions at the asylum at
the moment he was giving out the
interview and for months before and
after:
A Succession of Blunders
DR.. Hyde had been in charge at
the asylum for 1S months. He took
charge in summer when the years
crops were partly made, and when
there was little to do but to have
employees go on and finish the irri-
CATION and harvest. The crop of that
season was good. The crops Of the
next season, 1914, were heavy thru
out the county but they were poor
at the asylum farm. DR.. Hyde had
discharged the farm manager and
had his son employed. The son,
George Hyde, made conspicuous
failure of the farm that year as he
also made a mess of the Millick
farm which he leased near Blackfoot
the year after he lost the state job.
The meadows were not irrigatd and
cared for in way to preserve them,
the big orchard was not irrigated
at the right times to develop fruit
crop, the gardens yielded but little
and the big beds of winter onions,
celery and rhubarb that had supplied
the institution for years disappeared.
In DR.. Hyde's biennial report pub
lished just before the legislature met,
he recommended that the orchard be
destroyed as it was no longer profit
able. 1t had been customary to pub
lish in the report the amount of each
kind of crop raised each year, and
the crop which had been raised under
the Hyde management was so light,
It would have looked bad in COMPARE
son If printed in the usual way, and