Evening star., 1939-05-27
Unauthorized
Paroles Laid
To DR.. Smith
Allowed Employers
To Hire Diseased
Girls, Hearing Told

Charges that DR.. Carrie Weaver
Smith, when superintendent of the
National Training School for Girls,
permitted inmates to be paroled, or
to take extended" leave without
the approval of the Board of Public
Welfare, have been placed in the
mounting record of the hearings
before the District Commissioners
on reasons for her summary dis
missal
Testimony to this effect was de-
ant corporation counsel, from two
parole officers of the institution yes
terday afternoon before the hear
ings were adjourned over the Memo
rial Day holiday. The hearings are
to be resumed next Wednesday
afternoon.
There were allegations that DR..
Smith allowed IL girls to be sent
out for daytime work for private
employers without the o. K by the
schools medical officer, although
there was evidence they had vene-
real disease.
Clothing Costs Cited.
Other charges made at the ses-
sion were:
That during DR.. Smiths regime
girl inmates of the institution were
permitted to acquire increased
quantities of clothing of more ex-
pensive type, at the expense of the
District. including silk stockings and
silk slips:
That maintenance costs (eXclud-
ing appropriations for new con-
struction or salaries leaped from
s419 per capita in the fiscal year
1885, DR.. Smith being in charge only
during the last four months, to
s1,165 in 1887, when she was in
charge throughout the year: and
dropped to S640 in 1888, during which
she remained in charge only during
the first four months; and,
That five girls were "paroled"
without Welfare Board approval.
Six prosecution" witnesses were
heard at the extended session and
from all of them came criticism of
DR.. Smiths management. Mr..
Gasch indicated he would finish his
case Wednesday. Thereafter DR..
Smith will begin with her parade of
witnesses. She also plans to testify
to give full account of her side
of the story
Mrs. Jean Bromley, the institu-
tions parole officer, telling of i'm
morality among girls of the institu-
ton, said this condition became
worse after DR. Smith ordered that
the girls sleeping quarters be left
unlocked at night.
"Mutiny" Charged.
Discussing the alleged lack of
discipline, she said it was common
knowledge" that, if the girls were
asked to do some work they replied:
do it yourself, you -, that is
what you are paid for"
Mrs. Bromley made the direct
charge that DR.. Smith had allowed
inmates of the institution to leave
the place without sanction by the
Welfare Board She said "a girls
were sent home on extended visits,
that it was quite general prac-
tice' to permit girls to go away for
a week or longer.
Mrs. Bromley also declared that
ii girls were sent out on day work
assignments without the approval of
the medical officer, although vene-
real disease tests showed positive re-
actions. DR.. Smith previously had
nlIocfin1nI urhothnr thn uaolfL na
partment laboratory tests we're suf-
flciently conclusive.
Says Conditions Improved.
Since DR.. Smiths custer, Mrs
Bromley said, conditions at the in
stitution were improved, that disci-
pline is better
Miss Emily Koehler, social worker,
who assists in the parole work at the
institution, testified that girl in
mates who had not had the re
ouired" number of treatments for
venereal disease. had been permitted
to go out to work in private homes.
She said the private employers were
not informed of the condition of the
girls.
New Rules Set Up.
She insisted that DR.. Smith
~must" have known of this, since she
was familiar" with the health rec
ords of the girls. The Welfare
Board later, she said, established
new rules about girls leaving for oc-
casional jobs.
Miss Koehler said DR.. Smiths
policy of moral suasion" was not a
recognized" social work technique.
She said she felt that while DR..
Smith was entirely sincere in her
ideas of passive control over the
girls-that is not using force to con-
troll the girls-that DR.. Smith had
failed to see the difference between
measures of discipline" and pun
ishment."
Cross-Examined by DIR. Smith.
On cross-examination by DR..
Smith. the witness said she did not
remember that any girls were per-
mltted to leave the institution with
out the o. K. of the medical officer,
after June 81, 1887. when the We'll
fare Board issued new rules concern
ing leave permits.
Accounts of the increased per
capita costs of the school during the
Smith regime were developed during
testimony by Mrs. Alma Burling,
record clerk.
Mrs. Burling testified that when
DR.. Smith took charge, it became
the practice to buy porterhouse
steaks, pork and lamb chops for the
inmates. whereas since her dismissal
meats are bought in quarter car
casses, which were cut up at the in
stitution, the cost being much lower.
On oSs-eXamining the witness.
DR.. Smith sought to show the special
cuts were ordered by her because
there was not sufficient refrigera-
ton space to store the quarter car
casses. The witness insisted, how
ever, such practice had been fol-
lowed before, and that the quarters