Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1916-12-08
WOMAN MAKING
ROUND OF JAILS
MRS. Z. B. WERLICH ONE OF
MOST ACTIVE OF STATE
OFFICIALS.
AS a member of Board of Charities
and Reform She Has Made Person
al investigation of Conditions in
P~enltentiary and Other Institutions.

One OF the most active of the state
ttlclals OF Montana is a woman-Mrs.
E. b. Welrlck, a member of the board
OF charlties and corrections, which has
an oversight over city and county in
stltutlons such as jails, hospitals and
poor farms, as well as the larger state
institutions.
Since she was appointed by the gov
ernor a year ago, Mrs. Weirick has
made thorough Investigations at first
hand OF conditions at the p~enitentiary
at Deer Lodge, the insane asylum at
Warm Springs, the orphans home at
TWIN Bridges, the soldiers home at
Columbia Falls, the industrial school
at Miles City, the home for the deaf,
blind and Predetermined at Boulder,
and the tuberculosis sanitarium at Ga
len. At present she is making a tour
OF the county and the city jails and
the poor farms.
Report Soon to Be Made.
The conclusions and recommends
tons reached and agreed Upon by her.
self and her associates on the board
will be issued shortly in the biennial
report to the board of examiners,
which is composed Of the governor, the
encouragement and the secretary of
state. The board is unanimous in its
decision to ask for a much larger ap-
preparation for the maintenance OF
these institutions and for the pur-
chase of equipment.
"The accommodations at Galen and
Boulder, in particular, are totally in
adequate" said Mrs. Weirick in re-
porting her findings. "Galen is little
better than a morgue for it has room
only for those patients who are in
the last stages of tuberculosis. The
grounds, moreover, are unsightly. The
grounds are attractive at Warm
Springs where the patients are not in
telligent enough to appreciate them
and also at Deer Lodge, where most
of the inmates perhaps are not in the
mood to admire scenery, but at Galen
where the patients would find comfort
in pleasant surroundings, an ugly
prospect greets the eye.
Penitentiary Well Equipped
"The penitentiary at Deer Lodge il
notable as one of the best equipped
and best conducted in the country
Here the 800 prisoners make nearly
everything they wear and all the cell
are provided with electric lights anC
running water. The state institutions
in abolishing the contract system, hav'
set an example the city and count.
institutions should follow. When
man undertakes to feed the inmate
of an institution at so cents a day, h
can give them 40 cents worth an,
make a profit Of one cent, OF he cal
give them three cents worth and max
a profits of AZ cents. Some of tn
counties and municipalities have abol
ished the contract system, but it i
still retained as the principle unde
which a majority of the jails, poo
farms and county hospitals are con
Quoted"
First Woman On Board.
Mrs Weirick is the first woman t
serve on the state board of charitie
and reform. She is also a member o
the executive boards Of the children
home finding society and the state sc
ciety for the prevention of tuberculc
sis. She has long been a leading men
Der of the Homer club of Butte, tn
oldest woman's club in the state, an
she has done much to enlist the club
women in a movement for better car
of the states unfortunates. WhereN
err she goes in the course of her tour
as a memper of the state board G
charities she is called upon to addres
the clubwomen and advise them a
To the direction their activities shonl