Evening star., 1953-03-01
Child Center Funds
Urged by Members
OF House Committee

Two House District Committee
members yesterday threw their
support behind the program to
get the Districts child wards out
of ''firetrap" buildings with in
adequate facilities.
Chairman Miller of the House
District subcommittee on health,
welfare and recreation said he
would recommend an appropria-
ton for new construction at the
Children's Center in Laurel, Md.
"It's the only appropriation
I'm going to recommend this
year." he added.
Representative Hyde, Repub-
lican. of Maryland, agreed with
DR.. Miller, on whose subcommit-
tee he serves.
cts obvious" he said, "these
facilities are not only inadequate
but atrocious. There should be
no delay in re-establishing these
children at a different location" j"
Inspect 2 Institutions.
What convinced the two legis-
lators was a visit to the ational
Training School for Girls and
its neighbor, the Junior Village,
in the 5000 block of Loughbor-
ough road NV. They spent four
hours on the tour last Friday.
The Commissioners expect to
forward this week budget re-
quest tor 81 million to start con-
struction of a combined institu-
ton for colored boys and girls at
the Laurel center. This would
replace the National Training
School for Girls and the Indus
trial Home School for Colored
Boys, now at Blue Plains. When
the new institution is completed
and the colored boys are moved
fro mBlue Plains, the plan is to
transfer the youngsters at the
Junior Village to the Blue Plains
institution.
AS the result of a community
campaign spearheaded by The
Star last year, $4,000 to plan
a new institution at Laurel was
appropriated by Congress. The
requested 81 million appropria-
ton is the next step in the pro-
gram for better overall facili-
ties for child wards of the city.
See Rehabilitation Baked.
We've been fooling around
with this problem a long time, -
commented DR.. Miller as he
went through the National
Training School buildings. This
institution needs a new building,
new facilities.
"You can't rehabilitate any,
body under these conditions.
After going through the aged
buildings and looking at the
falling plaster and worn wooden
floors, Mr.. Hyde commented:
THE best thing to do with
these buildings is to blow them
all up"
Beth men expressed alarm at
the fire hazards. In the Junior
Village they climbed to the third
floor of the aged Washington
building where 46 girls between
the ages of 6 and IL are housed.
Then they looked at the fire
escape They noticed that be-
tween the first and second floors.
escaping children would have to
walk ac1 osS a roof without guard
rails to get to the lower part of
the fire escape.
Cribs damned in Small Room.
Il wouldn't want to go down
that in the daytime, much less
at night one of them COM
merteG
In the nursery OF the Junior
Village where fou1 cribs are
iammed in each cell-like room.
DR.. Miner thought they were
very crowded.
He looked at doubled
wooden beds so rickety that they
swayed at a touch. He was told
that one maintenance man does
all the painting and repair work
on the Junior Village building
and his time was consumed by
emergencies.
The Junior Village houses $50
youngsters, whose families can
not care for them. They are
dependent children as distin-
guished from youngsters COM
mitted to District institutions as
delinquents.
In the quarters of the Ma
tional Training School, the two
legislators were told the school
has q capacity of "a, has reached
As and is currently housing 81
girls. DR.. Miller expressed sur
prise at the size of the staff, II,
but it was explained that they