Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-10

humlllatlOn, is verified by at least one
instance here in Washington. 1t &C.
| CURED in the midst OF our heaviest
snow of last Winter. A feeble man
Of more than four-sccre years weakly
climbed the steps of a comfortable
home and solicited the purchase by
| the home owner of two cotton cushion
pads for use in handling hot utensils
in the kitchen. Price, Is cents for
| the two"
The half-frozen octogenarian was
taken into the house, that his be-
numbed hands and feet might thaw-
and, incidentally, that his story might
be extracted from his quivering lips.
| Here it is: He lived with his daugh
ter. who is bedridden-she never got
over the flu of 1918. They had been
put out of their rented cottage in the
suburbs because they could not meet
the rent-$8 a month-but a colored
man had offered them the free use
of his stable. So daughter made these
cushions and father peddled them. But
the stable was a mile from the main
road-a mile, then, through more than
foot Of snow, with no broken path.
Then he could get the car, near Chain
| Bridge, and come in to Washington.
But some days he did not sell enough
even to pay his car fare.
The old man did not beg, and when
taken to the Salvation Army and given
81, which was 81 more than enough
to pay for a room in Georgetown for
month, he explained that the kind
colored man would haul his goods in
free, but he could not get his team
through the snow just then-the mile
Of snow the old man got through.
He hoped to get his sick daughter
into a hospital and then she would be
comfortable, and he-he was never
heard from again.
| No thought of the poorhouse. Just
trudging through a foot Of snow a
mile to reach the street car, to try
He looked with intense envy at labor
ers on the streets shoveling snow, and
he said frankly that the 81 was more
money than he had had for years.
X X X
| Washington is exceptionally pro-
vided with rescue homes for the
aged, but usually there is a waiting
list.
Mr.. Evans says Of our poorhouse:
1.-THE poor farm at the Nations
Capital Is among the well equipped
and best managed institutions Of its
kind in the United States. There are
200 acres, $50 under cultivation. The
investment is $325,000 number of in.
mates, 304-$1 ,069 per inmate. The
maintenance cost Is $S4,583, or $278
per inmate.
He suggests: Much that might be
done in the way Of occupational work
and developing the usefulness Of in
mates is wholly neglected. The hos.
lpital quarters are insufficient and un.
derstaned."
Then the author adds:
with only 81 per cent as many
paupers as the District; South Da.
money invested in her 20 farms, and
spends $20.So7 per year more: 80 per
cent Of the States total income and
Is per cent Of the Districts go to the
pay ROLL
The fact that some States have
many more institutions than has the
District, in proportion to inmates
and that more, per capita, Is expend
ed, Is not given as proof of superior
treatment, but of waste and ineffl.
cheney. The modern tendency Is to cen.
tralize and combine in larger cen.
ters. Five counties of Virginia are
now considering the desirability OF
uniting and building a district poor
house.
/ The subject is wholly one for the
States to handle, but in addition &c
this survey by the fraternal organiza
lions. the United States Department
Of Labor has issued a pamphlet (No
1861 on THE Cost Of American Aims
houses by Miss Estelle Stewart
This, > too, shows the extravagant
waste of county institutions, as well
as their inadequate care of the In
mates. It is stated that 1877 such
county poorhouses. in the few States
covered by the Department. survey
contain no inmates, and many more
only one or two, with no attendants
The Labor Departments report also
urges consolidation of lighthouses ir
place Of county institutions.
tCopyrlshA 1915. b. Paul v. Collins.)