Evening star., 1938-04-01
CITY HEADS SEEK
CASHF0RHOMEF0R
TRAINING SCHOOL.
Emergency Fund of $35, 900
Is Asked to Provide
Temporary Buildings.
COPELAND URGES PROBE
INTO HOUSING PROBLEM
Use Of Old Police Court Building
Condemned by Fire Marshal,
Officials Reveal.

Temporary quarters for the Dis
trict's wards at the National Training
School for Girls and the Receiving
Home for Children-whose present
housing must be abandoned under the
edlct OF Congress-were sought today
by the Commissioners in request for
additional appropriations filed with
the Budget Bureau.
Meanwhile. an immediate investiga-
tion by the Senate District Committee
to solve the problem of housing in
mates OF the two institutions was
asked in a resolution introduced by
Senator Copeland, Democrat, of New
York.
Tn resolution, which was sent to
the District Committee, does not refer
to either institution, but the Senator
said the proposal to close the receiving
home and training school under the
1899 District supply bill prompted him
to ask for the inquiry.
The resolution calls for a report by
May ! on a plan for the care of de-
linquent and dependent children in
local institutions. 1t calls for any in
formation on the subject that may be
on hand in the Board OF Public We'll
fore, the Children's Bureau Of the
Labor Department and the Child We'll
fare League of America.
Temporary Building Sought.
For the so or more girls at the
training school, who are to be dis
possessed of their quarters at Conduit
road and the District line on June
80, the city heads proposed an emer-
gency appropriation of s35,000 for
the construction of temporary build
ings at the Industrial Home School
for Colored Children at Blue Plains,
D. c.
For provision of proper care the
! children placed in the Receiving
Home, who otherwise would be shifted
to the care of the Woman's Bureau
OF the Police Department next De-
cember 81, the Commissioners asked
appropriations to permit the reopen
ing of some of the buildings at the
old tuberculosis Hospital at Thir-
teenth and Upshur streets NV. not
now usedssfor laospitaf- purposes. g
This latter request was made fol-
| lowing disclosure that Fire Marshal
Calvin G. LAUDER had advised the
Commissioners he could not approve
use OF the old Police Court Building,
Sixth and D streets NV. for resi-
dental purposes. 1t had been planned
to put the child wards on the top
floor of that building.
In connection with other supple
mental and deficiency estimates filed
at the Budget Bureau the Commits
sioners requested $65,OOO to make pos
sible the operation of the free lunch
program for needy school children dur
ing the next fiscal year. All told. the
additional appropriations requested
amount to $760,79O. and the items are
scattered among many District serv-
ices. One Of the largest items is $780,
500 as the Districts share Of w. P. A.
costs for projects in the next fiscal
year, which would give continued work
to some l,600 Of the needy persons on
the Districts roster.
Testing Stations Fund.
The Commissioners included also
the sum of $19O,397 for construction
OF the two testing stations to be pro-
vided under the law requiring annual
mechanical inspection of all automo-
biles. One Of these is to be built at
Tenth and G streets S.W. and the
other at West Virginia avenue and
Mount Olivet road NE.
The closing of the training school
and the Receiving Home was ordered
by Congress indirectly in depriving
these agencies OF appropriations in
the next fiscal year. Disturbed over
the plan" to shift the Receiving
Home wards to, the old Police Court
Building, the Commissioners deter
mined to make an effort to gain the
use OF the now abandoned Upshur-
street Hospital structure for that pur-
pose. Their requests for the needed
extra appropriations must pass mus
ter before Congress after passing
through the Budget Bureau machin-
cry.
For salaries and maintenance dur
ing the last half of the next fiscal
year, the Commissioners requested
$16,963, and for alterations and other
improvements to the old tuberculosis
Hospital Building they requested
$4,000. This would be spent on the
superintendent's residence, the nurses
nome and on a small building which
would be used as a kitchen. In addi-
ton to these items, the Commissioners
said there would be $500 to recon-
dition the present quarters used by
the Receiving Home at 816 Potomac
avenue Sc, when it is turned back
to its owner at the end Of next De-
cember.
Cost Held Too High.
One OF the" reasons given for the
closing of the training school for girls
was that the per capita cost of mainte-
nance was too high there. In the
past two years $225, 900 has been spent
on the plant. for improvements and
additional buildings. This was done
IN response to protests of Senators
King, Democrat, Of Utah and Cope
land. Democrat, Of New York over the
"barbaric" conditions that formerly
prevailed. Mrs. Roosevelt also ex-
pressed interest in the conditions of
the school,
Under the terms of the 1899 appro-
priation act the white girls at the insti-
tuition would be transferred to the
Industrial Home School for White
Children, on Wisconsin avenue and
Calvert street NV. Recently there
were about . half-dosen white girls
who would be affected. The colored
girls would be shifted to the Indus
trial Home School for Colored Chill
dren, At Blue Plains. The Commis-
sioners have decided this would re-
quire additional appropriations Of
$se.7o0.