Evening star., 1946-12-08
St. Elizabeth S Debate
Feels Bios Influence
But Best Interests of People
Should Determine the Issue

Should Determine the Issue
BIZ John w. Thompson, Jr.
What you think of the proposal to
convert st. Elizabeths Hospital from a
Federal institution for the insane to a
District master hospital and welfare
center depends entirely on the bias from
which you approach it.
District Budget Officer Walter L.
Fowler, in advancing the suggestion. is
moved entirely by considerations OF
economy. AS the watchdog OF the Dis
trict treasury, that is his job, And from
q purely municipal dollars -and-cents
point OF view he can justify it.
DR.. Winfred Overhoiser, the nationally
| known superintendent of ST. Elizabeth's
| in its present role, has not officially COM
/ mented on the suggestion but could not
/ be anything else but strongly opposed.
His opposition would be based on nat
ural reluctance to exchange fat Fed
eral purse for lean District wallet be-
cause of what this would mean for the
/ care of insane and the laboratory and
teaching center he and his predecessors
have built up there to develop new ap-
/ proaches and cures
Welfare Director Ray Huff views the
suggestion with mixed opinions. The
363-acre grounds are not big enough nor
| the existing buildings suitable for child
/ welfare center AS such he is not willing
to exchange St. Elizabetfls for his dream
| of a 2,o00-acre, $10,00o00O childrens
| community at nearby Laurel, Md. He Is
unwilling to compromise in any way
what he believes to be the best stand
ards of care modern welfare program
can offer its wards. Yet he admits he
could do better job with plant like
| st. Elizabeth's than he is now doing
with some of his decaying and scattered
institutions. And he admits that all the
arguments of economies resulting from
centralized facilities and administration,
which he has advanced in support of the
Laurel project, apply with equal force
to Mr.. Fowler's proposal. AS a tenn
porary expedient, then, Mr. Huff is will
ing to give it careful consideration. AS
permanent substitution, he is not.
To some extent the rolling st. Eliza
beth's tract along Nichols avenue Sc
would meet objections raised by some
private social work groups against the
Laurel project-that it is too far out and
thus endangers the preservation of al
ready slim family ties between inmates
and their families; or that the welfare
! wards should obtain their readjustment
in an urban community because that Is
what they will come back to.
| On the other hand, there will be OBJ
jections raised that st. Elizabeths will
always be associated with the insane
and that this will attach suspicion of
mental illness to any one sent there.
The same argument is now raised
against the Laurel center because of the
participation of the District Training
School for Feeble Minded.
And those who throw up their hands
in horror at assembling all types of well
fare wards in single community at
Laurel can wall even louder about the
same thing on still more confning
basis at ST. Elizabeths.
The conflict in these viewpoints is
obvious. Mr.. Fowler is considering
solely the financial advantage of the
District. Dr.. Oyerholser's outlook is
national and professional one that
aims at the best regardless of cost in
I the field of the insane. Mr.. Huff and
| the private social workers have pro-
fessional approach in their field that
often finds reconciliation difficult with
dollars and cents but their focus is
more local than DR.. Overholser's or
that OF his Federal Security Agency
bosses.
A major premise in Mr.. Fowlers
proposal is that st. Elizabeth's has lost
its usefulness to the Federal Govern
ment in view of President Trumans
recent reorganization order, which
leaves the hospital almost a District
institution. Nearly 5000 of the 6,400
cases at st. Elizabeth's are District
cases paid for at daily rates by the
city government.
Certainly it can be established
| whether this is SO. If it is true that
the Federal Government is losing in
|
dispose of it, the District has vital
"recapture" interest init
In any event, the budget officers
proposal has interesting possibilities
and deserves the most serious consid-
Grafton. ALI views should be studied
but the final result should reflect what
is most beneficial to the greatest number
of people.
In its simplest form Mr. Fowler's
plan can. be reduced to this question:
Is the present use of the st. Elizabeth's
acreage and facilities the best to which
they can be put for the benefit of the
District and the people of the United
States? If SO, it should continue as it
is. If not, it should be converted to
its best use.
/ There is another possibility that the
District might want to take over the
hospital solely as a municipal insane
asylum, especially since about 5 out Of
| s patients there now are local cases. This
4 could be the defense of the city admin
istration against the constant increases
IN the cost per day per patient which
are voted at the hospital without any
control by District officials.
Certainly an interim action that
would benefit the city while the major
issues are being decided would be the
immediate fixing by Congress of a limit
to the per diem cost the hospital would
be permitted to charge the city. The
! So rloxy ;,,o,r