The Washington herald., 1921-12-14

present bill. for an increase of $500
in his present unearned salary. The
office has no justifiable place in the
District budget; ii merely exists for
what il pays or what II suggests
to the taxpayer who would like TO
believe that IT was functioninE for
the good of the Districts poor.
The Washington Asylum Hospital.
directly under the long thumb OF
the Board of Charities from its
swiviI chairs in the District BUILD
ing. is the most thoroughly unman-
AGED. the most regrettable OF all the
civic enterprises in the District.
There is. perhaps. none in America
to equal its daily outrages upon
civic deccnCy. 1t has no head: il
has no ability: and il has become
merely place for boarding and
lodging impecunious MEDICAL stu
dents. former prisoners from the
police courts. aliens, and the un-
clean product of the slums. ID OF
whom are added to the payroll or
every opportunity. The m"Glcal
students attend their classes up
town during the day and come back
to this collection OF shacks n try
out what they think their ins'ruc-
tors meant upon the defensoless
and unfortunate. housed In th's
four-walled dump. The mor'alN
files attest how often they miss the
point The Board Of Charities Is
supposed to govern this institution
Perhaps they do. Hence the com
plant.
The Rord Of Charities Is r"Sr"nsi-
bile for the crime called the '"'o-
ouan Workhouse." Here is a m"hu-
ment to Rromides. An experiment
devised to stupidity that W"uin oe
mistaken for genius one hunnreu
thousand dollars is squand' I"a eN-
cry year at Occoquan. IL does no
worthwhile thing. 1t permits the
warden to read papers on ne
Prison without Walls" before auul-
ences that undoubtedly prefer IhelI
prisons that way, but hone to get
through life without them IN any
form. The Board OF ChariI'es
thrives on the publicity II gets out
Of the enterprise. and the righteous
taxpayer merely knows II must oe
bad-all hypocrisy is.
The superintendent at Accoauan
is the general superintendent or All
the Districts penal institutions.
That is he has the veto power over
all of them. He has been in once
since the Goth of August and has
never been at the Jail for two con-
secutive hours since his appoint
ment and often at intervals of three
weeks. This is n convenient ar
400. Fa..al
that Is well done, passes the buck
for the rest and stands in with the
Board of Charities. which is his real
sponsor, and shares in the joint
apologies for failure. He is not to
blame. Only a miracle can save Oc-
coquan from being anything more
than a waster's paradise. 1t is a
failure. 1t should be junked long
before the first battleship. The
sooner the appropriation is withheld
the earlier will be the return to
civic efficiency hereabouts.
The Board of Charities has usurped
authority steadily from year to year
and in doing so has outrageously
neglected the objects for which il
was designed in the slothful year
of its inception. 1t is meddling with
concerns which the Commissioners
frankly state "is none of its bust
ness"
The remedy is with Congress. The
board should have no more of the
public funds except for the relief
OF the destitute. 1t should have no
voice in the management of the
penal institutions and should never
be permitted inside the new CAT
linger Memorial Hospital Millions
of money going into this splendid
enterprise had better go directly
into the Eastern branch than TO md
its way into uselessfess at the
hands Of the Board Of Charities.
Let IT be established that the
board have no authority over the
iail Federal nrisoners and man