and with certain Members of Congress who have heretofore been appointed as consulting trustees, one by the Senate and one by the House of Representatives, is that they do not come out there and see what is done and how the school is carried on, and we would be very much gratified if this committee would come out and look at the school. Representative NORTHWAY. How far is it out to the school?

Mr. CLAY. About 3 miles northeast of the city, at the District line. Now as to topics 5, 6, and 7. I supposed that No. 5 probably referred only to the Reform School for Girls.

Senator FAULKNER. That refers to the Reform School for Girls more particularly.

Mr. CLAY. The seventh topic is, "What becomes of boys and girls discharged from these schools?" We have put in answers to topics 5 and 6 also, so that you can refer to them if you care to. I will file this memorandum of replies and also this list of 61 boys, showing their whereabouts and occupations since leaving the school.

The statement and list referred to are as follows:

MEMORANDUM OF REPLIES TO QUESTIONS OF THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHARITIES AND REFORMATORY INSTITUTIONS IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BY THE REFORM SCHOOL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Question 1. What is the work of the Reform School?

Answer. The reformation of its inmates. The average number of these is 219, of whom 69 per cent are committed by the courts of the District of Columbia, 17 per cent by the courts of the United States, and 14 per cent by the president of the board.

Question 1. What are the needs of the institution?

Answer. (a) As to maintenance and running expenses the present appropriations are sufficient.

(b) As to buildings and improvements: The board has for some years recommended an appropriation for an assembly hall or chapel structure. There is no urgent need of this, but it should be provided for as soon as financial conditions warrant it.

(c) As to additional legislation: The board has for years been of the opinion that the discharge from the school should be a limited, not an absolute, one; that Congress should be asked to provide by legislation for such control by the board of trustees of the boys after discharge as will enable it to reclaim and return to the school any boy who, by his bad conduct, shows himself amenable to recommitment. This control is given to institutions of like character in many of the States, and is found to work very satisfactorily. As long ago as the first session of the Fiftieth Congress, in 1888, Congress was asked to legislate in this direction, and a bill was favorably reported in the House at that session, but not passed.

This recommendation of the board has been brought to the attention of Congress by the Attorney-General in his annual report for several years.

Question 2. What is "the management of the school and extent of supervision exercised by the Department of Justice?"

Answer. The earlier acts under which the Reform School was organized placed it under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, who was directed to set apart a location for it on what was then known as the Government farm. This site proving unhealthy, in the year 1872 Congress made an appropriation for the purchase of the present site

and the erection of necessary buildings, the title to the land then bought and the 116 acres subsequently purchased, in all 366 acres, was vested in the United States.

In the same year Congress also enacted that "all and singular the powers conferred and duties enjoined by existing laws upon the Secretary of the Interior, relating to the imprisonment or discharge of convicted offenders against the laws of the United States, or to the Reform School and jail in the District of Columbia, be, and the same are hereby, transferred to the Department of Justice."

The subsequent act of May 3, 1876, amending the various acts relat ing to the school shows more in detail the authority of the AttorneyGeneral over the affairs of the school. The trustees are appointed by the President upon his recommendation; officials appointed by the board of trustees have their appointment and compensation made subject to his approval; the bond which the superintendent is required to give before entering upon the duties of his office must also be approved by him; and it is to the Attorney General that the trustees make their annual report, accompanied by that of the superintendent, treasurer, and other subordinate officers. Attorneys General since this act took effect have personally visited the institution at proper times and been personally cognizant of its workings. It may further be said in this connection that the chief clerk of the Department of Justice has since 1887 served as one of the board of trustees, and that he is now the president of that board.

Question 3. Should the control be transferred to the District authorities?

Answer. The Attorney General being charged by law with matters relating to the imprisonment or discharge of convicted offenders against the laws of the United States, as well as with matters relating to the Reform School and jail in the District of Columbia, it does not appear that any part of his duties in respect to these matters should be taken from him and put in other hands.

For some years after its incorporation no appropriation was made for support of the inmates of the Reform School-the District of Colum bia paying a certain sum per week for such of its boys as were com mitted to the school. Shortly after the adoption of the present system of government for the District of Columbia and agreeably to the plan of placing upon the District of Columbia the obligation of sharing with the General Government in the payment of certain expenses, appropriation was made for the support of inmates of the Reform School, one-half to be paid by the District of Columbia. Appropriations have been so made annually since. This legislation simply provided a different method for paying for the support of such boys as should be sent to the school from the District of Columbia. Before that time the District of Columbia paid board for them.

By the act of June 4, 1880, it was provided that "one of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, to be selected by the Board of Commissioners, shall be a trustee, with all the powers, privileges, and duties of other trustees" of the school. And by the act of March 3, 1881, it was provided that the officers of the Reform School should at the end of each fiscal year make a report to the Commissioners giving certain information as to property, employees, their employment, results, etc. This connection of the Commissioners with the school, their representation upon the board of trustees-one of their number for several years serving as president of the board-and the supervision exercised by them through the accounting officer of the District over the accounts

of the school has so far worked well and amply protected the interests of the District in the school.

Any change in the direction of adding to the present authority of the Commissioners over the school would seem to be in antagonism to the tendency of recent legislation, which has increased the AttorneyGeneral's control over the administration of the offices of the United States courts and over all matters relating to United States prisons, prisoners, and convicts. Quite recently the appropriations for the support of the jail in the District of Columbia, one-half the expense of which, as in the case of the Reform School, is paid by the District of Columbia, was by express enactment directed to be hereafter expended under the direction of the Attorney-General and not by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. To reserve the unity of purpose indicated by this legislation, the same provision should be enacted in regard to the appropriation for the Reform School, the desirability and propriety of which has been heretofore advocated by the Commissioners themselves.

Question 5. Does the school provide for all necessary cases?

Answer. On several occasions in the history of the school, before the erection of its latest buildings, it was necessary to request the courts to suspend commitments because of the lack of accommodations. No such suspension has been asked since the completion of the last family building.

Question 6. Conditions of the most economical management.

Answer. The cost per head of subsistence, housing, clothing, and generally caring for the boys in the school is below the cost in similar institutions elsewhere in this country.

Question 7. What becomes of boys discharged from the school?

Answer. Up to the 31st of March, 1897, there had been received in the school 2,230 boys, of whom 225 remain. Owing to the absence of the desired legislation, as has already been stated, an accurate record of the career of boys subsequent to their discharge can not be shown, but in a general way the results achieved by a large proportion have been in every way satisfactory to the board and indicated the usefulness and helpfulness of the school.

A few typical cases are submitted-these without names, but their identity is complete-and all are well known to those in the present management of the school.

Senator FAULKNER. Is there anything else, Colonel, that you want the committee to hear?

Mr. CLAY. I think not.

Representative NORTHWAY. You think you have covered everything, do you?

Mr. CLAY. Yes, sir.

Senator FAULKNER. Does the board of trustees agree to this statement in regard to the school which you have filed?

Mr. CLAY. Yes, sir; that embodies the board's ideas. It was submitted to the board at a meeting held yesterday. It is also the idea of the Department of Justice; that is, in regard to control of the school. I would like to say just this on the point about how often the Attorney-General visits the school. It seems to me that that has very little bearing upon the question of taking it out of the control of the Department of Justice. You might just as well ask how often he goes to the Fort Leavenworth Penitentiary. It is the Department of Justice that has this control, not the Attorney-General individually; it is through the Department of Justice, and any of you gentlemen who are acquainted with the provisions about prisoners and prison accounts will see that you can not have very much better control or management of those interests than they get now under the Department of Justice.

Senator FAULKNER. I think it was an admirable idea of putting the chief clerk on the board.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

Senator FAULKNER. You have the Department in full touch.

THE REFORM SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.

Senator FAULKNER. Who is present representing the Reform School for Girls?

Mr. WILLIAM C. ENDICOTT, Jr. I am president of the board of trustees of the Reform School for Girls, and I have prepared a statement covering the operations of the school and its needs. I only learned of this hearing late yesterday afternoon, and therefore have not had an opportunity to submit the statement to the board of trustees. The statement contains practically what has been recommended in the annual reports of the board for the past three years; that is, since the school was first opened.

One thing I wish to call attention to is that the appropriations for the Reform School for Girls have always been made in the District appropriation bill, under the head of charities. Both Attorney-General Olney and Attorney-General Harmon have recommended that it be placed under the head of reformatories and prisons, as is done in the case of the Reform School for Boys. The officers that are appointed by the board of trustees are confirmed by the Commissioners of the District. That is practically the only difference between the institutious. I have always thought that the institution was in no sense a charitable one. Having it under the head of charities has from time to time led to more or less complication.

I think what is most desirable for the welfare of the school is that the powers be concentrated as much as possible in one place. For the first two years the Commissioners of the District disbursed the funds. We tried very hard to get them to agree to the appointment of a treasurer of the school, but they put it off from time to time, and that led to difficulty, because we never knew how the accounts stood. Finally, last year it was in the autumn of 1895-we did appoint a treasurer, and subsequently the appointment was confirmed by the Commissioners. Since then the funds have been disbursed through the treasurer.

Representative NORTHWAY. Upon whose order? He disburses the funds, but upon whose order?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Of the finance committee.

Representative NORTHWAY. Of the board of trustees?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir. The members of the board of trustees are appointed in exactly the same way as the board of trustees of the Reform School for Boys. The superintendent of the school makes requisition for supplies for the ensuing month, and these requisitions are submitted to the trustees at their monthly meetings, which are held on the last Friday of every month. They authorize the president to approve these requisitions, and if approved the superintendent takes them to whoever the supplies are to be purchased from. Then all the bills for expenditures are audited by the finance committee.

Senator FAULKNER. Are commitments to this school the same as to the boy's school?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir.

Senator FAULKNER. The same authorities?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir. On July 9, 1888, Congress passed an act to incorporate the Reform School for Girls of the District of Columbia, and