Evening star., 1944-05-06
Public Welfare Board
Reorganization Plan
Urged by Coffee
BY DON S. WARREN.

Public Welfare with the idea of
speeding and streamlining its opera
tions was urged last night by Chair
man Coffee of the House District
Appropriation Subcommittee as he
called for development of formal
five-year building program for the
starved" welfare institutions.
Mr., Coffee declared he and other
members of the subcommittee had
become convinced the welfare board
consisting Of nine volunteer men,
bers, was too large, and he sug-
gested 1t might be desirable to sub
stitute a board of three members
to be compensated, perhaps at the
rate of $40 a day, with some suitable
monthly limit.
This along with questions of what
can be done to improve, expand or
replace the various welfare institu-
tion structures are to be considered
at a special joint session Tuesday
between the Appropriations Sub
committee, the D'Alesandro Welfare
Subcommittee of the House District
Committee and the members of the
welfare board.
The D'Alesandro group has been
considering the legislative proposal
of the Commissioners to transfer
powers of the welfare board to the
Commissioners and convert the
welfare board into an advisory
agency. Hearings on this measure
are expected to be resunc ed soon.
Mr.. Coffee, while saying the well
fare control issue was legislative
matter and one that preferably
should be handled by the District
Committee, suggested his Appropria-
tions Subcommittee might include
some recommendations in its report
on the 1945 budget.
II can see," he said, "there is
need for greater Capitalization of
authority and responsibility. Under
the present setup, the Commits
sioners can neither hire nor fire
welfare employees, except on recon-
mendation by the Welfare Board"
In this connection, Mr.. Coffee said,
there has been too much buck
passing" and that members of his
subcommittee felt the District had.
not been getting enough for the
money spent on its welfare program.
The welfare institutions, he said,
constitute the weakest link" refer
ring particularly to the conditions
of the physical plants of the District
Training School for Predetermined
at Laurel, Md; the Receiving Home
for Children and the Industrial
Home Schools.
The condition of the District
Training School was described as
the worst, and Mr.. Coffee said steps
should be taken promptly to double
its present capacity of $50. After
the war, when job competition in
creases, he suggested many deficient
persons who now can hold jobs prob
ably will become public charges and
that this change should be antici-
pated
Welfare officials are seeking funds
for the preparation of plans for con-
siderable expansion of this institu-
ton. Funds are available for one
building to house so inmates, but
now emphasis is placed on the need
for a long-range building program.
Members of the Coffee subcom-
mittee protested against three bur-
dens that now are placed on Dis
trict taxpayers by reason of this be-
ing the National Capital. One was
the large" number of persons
charged to the District under care
at st. Eizabeth's Hospital who are
believed not to be bona f1de" Dis
trict residents. Though many had |
been In the District for a time be- |
fore being sent to st. Elizabeth's,
Mr.. Coffee said, there was doubt |
they really were chargeable as Dis
trict residents.
& Another was the huge amounts of
water provided free by the District
to Federal institutions in the Dis
trict and in nearby Arlington
County, notably the Pentagon War
Building, which houses some $4,000
Federal workers. Water Depart
ment officials were directed to SUBJ
NIT statements of how much free
water is supplied for Federal
agencies. Some informal estimates
places this at Is per cent of the
total consumption, with it's cost close
to 100000.
The third was that the District
pays more of the expenses of large
park areas here which are under
the control of the National Parks
Office of the Interior Department,
though the title is held by the
United States. Mr.. Coffee voiced
the sentiment that Legislation is
needed"
/ Welfare Director Ray Huff was
grilled for more than an hour yes
terday on complaints made by Con-
qoller General Lindsay C. Warren
against numerous MANAGEMENT
practices in the District prisons. Ap-
parently he went through the ordeal
well, for Mr.. Coffee announced later
the subcommittee was not particu-
lsrly impressed with the gravity" of
the complaints. Most of them, he
added, were either policy" matters
not subject to final decision by the
welfare director, or were small or
technical matters" that arose largely
because of the fact MIR. Huff was
serving as acting penal director as
wen as welfare director, was carry