The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1916-12-08
WOMAN MAKING
ROUND OF JAlLS
MRS. E. B. WEIRICK ONE OF
MOST ACTIVE OF STATE
OFFICIALS.
AS Member of Board of Charities
and Reform She Has Made Person
al Investigation of Conditions in
Penitentiary and Other Institutions.

One of the most active Of the state
officials Of Montana is woman Mrs
b. b. Weirick, member of the board
OF charities and corrections, which has
an oversight over city and county in
stitutions 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 penitentiary
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 feebleminded 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
tions 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
Acknowledgement and the secretary of
state. The board is unanimous in it's
decision to ask for much larger APP
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 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
greets the eye.
Penitentiary Well Equipped
"The penitentiary at Deer Lodge is
notable as one Of the best equipped
and best conducted in the country.
Here the 300 prisoners make nearly
everything they wear and all the cells
are provided with electric lights and
running water. The state institutions,
in abolishing the contract system, have
set an example the city and county
institutions should follow. When
man undertakes to feed the inmates
Of an institution at so cents a day, he
can give them 40 cents worth and
make profit of one cent, or he can
give them three cents worth and make
a profits of Az cents. Some Of the
counties and municipalities have abol-
ished the contract system, but it is
still retained as the principle under
which majority of the jails, poor
farms and county hospitals are con-
ducted.'
First Woman on Board.
Mrs Weirick is the first woman to
serve on the state board Of charities
and reform. She is also member of
the executive boards Of the children s
home finding society and the state So
ciety for the prevention of tuberculo-
sis. She has long been leading men,
Der of the Homer club Of Butte, the
oldest woman's club in the state, and
she has done much to enlist the club
women in a movement for better care
of the state s unfortunates. WHEREBY
err she goes in the course of her tours
as a memper of the state board of
charities she is called upon to address
the clubwomen and advise them as
to the direction their activities should