The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-08-28
Legislative System of Probing
Institutions Condemned.
DIR. F. A. Carmichael of Osa-
watOmie Offers Advice.
MUST IMPROVE ITS PROPERTY
State Cannot Profit in "EcOn-
0my" Move There.
Asylum Buildings Are in Near
Ruined Condition.

Junketing trips to state institutions
by members of the state legislature
who know nothing of conditions ana
needs. are severely condemned in the
biennial report of DR.. F. A. Carmich-
ael superintendent of Osawatome
state hospital 1t is the first official
sian at an ancient system which pro-
viGed a junketing trip for members OF
the legislative ways and means COM
mittees who looked at state institu-
lions a few hours and guessed as TO
their needs for two years.
Not stopping with body dow TOT
the time worn method of handling ap-
preparation bills, DR.. Carmichael tens
the state it must improve It's properly
or suffer the consequences. Buildings
at the Osawatomie hospital are d1lapl-
d. ted and in a comparatively ruined
condition, the report rec1tes. because
of the states policy to save pennies and
spend dollars, the hospital was denied
a new stock barn and in two years
has lost sixty head of valuable cattle.
Here is DIR. Carmichaers jolt No. 1
for the states method of handling
appropriations:
again it seems necessary to ex-
press the belief that a more careful
and more exact knowledge of institu-
tional needs should be shown by those
| assigned to this duty by the governor
or legislature before recomH .endations
bearing upon appropriations for main
| tenance and improvement is cons1d-
cred. The old system of junketing trips
for legislators who are incompetent to
pass upon the needs or requirements
| of these large institutions cannot be
| too strongly condemned as lack OF
ia miliarity with the methods of in
stitutionaI management, or conception
OF how best to promote institutional
welfare is usually strongly in evil
dence''
Buildings Neglected.
| Then the Osawatomie hospital SUI
perintendent devotes a little attention
in his report to the buildings which
have been neglected by the state in
CARRYING out a program of economy
and efficiency" This for the main
building mentioned in Doctor Car
michaePs report:
| 1.-The general condition of this
building demands that a considera bic
sum of money be expended upon 1t
within the next two years; otherwise
portions of it will be in compare
lively ruined condition. Attention
was called in the last biennial report
| to the dilapidated condition of the roof
and cornices. Nothing has been done
to improve this condition thru lack
of adequate funds. An appro-
priation for remodeiing of all bath
rooms in the custodial buildings
should be made inasmuch as they
neither conform to sanitary standards
nor are they at all convenient. Be-
| cause these bathrooms have been so
long neglected and concrete floors
placed upon wooden joists, they are
rotted and unsafe. Practically all OF
these bathrooms will have to be re-
built when any alteration is at
tempted"
Many Cattle Die.
During the session of the 1915 leg
islature, demand was made by the hos
pital management for a modern dairy
barn. Economy was the watchword
of the legislature. The appropriation
was denied. LESS of livestock during
the last two years would have built a
modern barn. Now the state has
neither the livestock nor the barn.
This is what Doctor Carmichael's re-
port said about it:
Our dairy herd has suffered Sc
verely from the inroads of disease and
at present is much below the stand
ard we require. We have lost during
the biennium forty eight cattle from
tuberculosis, two from actinomycosis
and as climax of misfortunes during
the winter we lost ten head of our
young female stock, mostly thorobred
from hemorrhagic septicaemia A
great deal of this misfortune is, in
the judgment of the veterinarians, at
tributable to the unsanitary conditions
of our present dairy barn. This barn
is a dug-out affair." improperly ven
tilated and poorly lighted, always
damp and unfit"