by said act nine trustees and their successors were created a body corporate, to be known as the board of trustees of the Girls' Reform School of the District of Columbia. On July 14, 1892, Congress, in the District of Columbia appropriation bill, appropriated $35,000 for the erection. and completion according to plans and specifications to be prepared by the inspector of buildings and approved by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, of a suitable building or buildings to be used as a Reform School for Girls, to be expended under the direction of said Commissioners. It was also stipulated that said building should be erected on land belonging to the Government, to be selected by the Attorney-General, the Secretary of War, and the Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia. The land selected upon which to erect the Girls' Reform School is at the corner of the Conduit and Loughborough roads, and was an old farm of about 19 acres. The building was built in accordance with the act of Congress, and on or about November 1, 1893, was handed over by the Commissioners of the District to the board of trustees of the Reform School of the District of Columbia. The title to the real and personal property of this institution is vested in the board of trustees, and at the dissolution of the said corporation, or if it should cease for the space of six months to maintain a reform school for girls, all the property, real and personal, of said corporation would vest in the United States.

The trustees are appointed by the President of the United States upon the recommendation of the Attorney-General, each for the term of three years, but in such manner that the terms of not more than three of them shall expire within any one or the same year. The said board of trustees has authority to appoint such officers, agents, teachers, and other employees as may be necessary, and to fix the rate of compensation of the same, subject to the approval of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia.

The president of the board of trustees each year makes an annual report to the Attorney-General, to be accompanied by the annual report of the superintendent and treasurer.

Since the founding of the institution the Girls' Reform School of the District of Columbia has been placed under the head of charities and corrections in the District of Columbia appropriation bills, while the Boys' Reform School has been placed under the head of reformatories and prisons. This has led to trouble. Attorney-General Olney and Attorney-General Harmon have both recommended that in the District appropriation bill the Girls' Reform School be placed under the head of reformatories and prisons, as the school is not in any sense a charitable institution. It has further been urged that it is for the interest of the school that the appointments made by the board of trustees should be confirmed or approved by the Attorney-General, and not by the District Commissioners as at present. This would avoid delay and would place the Girls' Reform School in the same relation to the Department of Justice as the Boys' Reform School. The present method of confirmation of officers gives rise to unnecessary trouble and inconvenience.

Number of girls committed to the school since its opening, 62; number of girls released, 38.

The following classes of girls are committed to the school: The judges of the criminal and police courts of the District of Columbia have power to commit to the school (1) any girl under 18 years of age who may be liable to punishment by imprisonment under any existing law of the District of Columbia; (2) any girl under the age of 18, with the

consent of her parent or guardian, against whom any charge of committing any crime or misdemeanor shall have been made the punishment of which on conviction would be confinement in jail or prison; (3) any girl under 18 who is destitute of a suitable home and adequate means of obtaining an honest living and who is in danger of being brought up or is brought up to lead an idle and vicious life; (4) any girl under 18 who is incorrigible or habitually disregards the commands of her father or mother or guardian, who leads a vagrant life, or resorts to immoral places or practices, or neglects or refuses to perform labor suitable to her years and condition, or to attend school. The president of the board of trustees may commit such girls as are mentioned in the foregoing third and fourth classes upon application or complaint in writing of a parent or guardian or relative having charge of such girl, and upon such testimony in regard to the facts stated as shall be satisfactory to him. Fifty-one girls have been committed by the police court; nine girls by the president of the board of trustees; two girls by the supreme court of the District of Columbia. When the president of the board commits girls to the institution, it has been the custom to take a sworn statement from the parent or guardian, or relative having charge of such child, and then to place said papers in the hands of the police, who investigate the matter and report to the trustees whether the statements made by the applicant are true.

Girls, unless sooner discharged, are committed to the institution until 21 years of age.

It is earnestly desired that Congress should appropriate $50,000, in order that ninety or more rooms could be added to the school. At present the institution is built to accommodate twenty-seven girls only. The building is ill adapted to its uses in every respect. When it was handed over to us by the Commissioners of the District there were no gratings upon the windows, no fire escapes upon the building, the system of plumbing and heating was as bad as it could be-so much so that for the year ending June 30, 1897, Congress appropriated for erection of fire escapes $500; for changing from Smead heating system to steam heating and changing the plumbing, $2,200; there were no proper locks upon the doors of the building. In fact the trustees have been compelled from time to time to spend a great deal of money in making the institution one from which it is impossible to escape. At present there are four women officers in the institution and four men connected with the place. It is absolutely impossible to separate good from bad girls. Innocent children who have never committed crime are thrown with criminals. The building is constructed in such a way that the girls can not be separated. If Congress will appropriate $50,000, the same force of officers, with possibly two additional teachers, could run the entire institution. Though the number of girls is small at present, it is impossible to leave them alone, and some one of the women connected with the institution have to be on hand at all times. At present I can not say that the institution is run economically, owing to the small number of inmates, but if the school can be increased, the cost per capita would be reduced, so that it would be no more expensive to support girls in this institution than in other reformatory institutions in this country.

The school has the reputation of being a colored girls' reform school, but is for the reception of both white and colored girls. There is no way of separating white and colored girls, and thus only colored girls have been committed to our care. I am informed by the judges of the police court that there is great need for an increase in the capac ity of this school, and that arrangements should be made so that white

as well as colored girls could be received. At present, many white girls who, provided the institution was large enough, would be sent to the Reform School are sent to the jail or the workhouse, where they associate at once with criminals, and where the chance for reformation becomes less and less, probably, each day they are there. The House of the Good Shepherd in Washington and the House of Mercy have for some time been active in their efforts to reform white girls, and each year receive a large number of these girls who otherwise would be sent to the jail or workhouse. Until the Girls' Reform School was established no effort was made in the District of Columbia to reform colored girls, as these institutions above referred to have no means for accommodating them. If this appropriation should be made by Congress, as requested, I would suggest that the plans for such an addition to the school, when carefully prepared by an architect under the direction of the board of trustees of the school, be submitted to the AttorneyGeneral of the United States and the Engineer Commissioner of the District for their approval. The plans of the present building, as prepared by the inspector of buildings and approved by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia (though the trustees took infinite pains to find out the best system followed in the country for such an institution, submitted such plans to the Commissioners and urged their adoption), have been proved to be as bad as possible.

On October 28, 1896, a treasurer was appointed by the trustees, which appointment was approved by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia on December 18, 1896, on condition that no liability for salary be incurred until an appropriation is made therefor by Congress. The salary was fixed by the trustees at $600, as this appeared to be a fair compensation, particularly in view of the fact that the treasurer is obliged to give a bond with two or more sureties, to be approved by the First Comptroller of the Treasury, in the sum of $20,000, conditioned that she shall faithfully account for all money received by her as treasurer. This bond is the same as the treasurer of the Reform School gives, as the same law in this respect applies to both schools. On June 8, 1896, in the general deficiency bill, an appropriation was made to pay the treasurer a salary of $50 per month, from January 1 to June 30, 1896. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, Congress has failed to make an appropriation, and numerous efforts have been made to obtain an appropriation of $50 per month in the deficiency bill to pay the treasurer, which thus far have not been successful. For the year ending June 30, 1898, Congress has appropriated $300 only to pay the treasurer.

In view of the law establishing the office of treasurer, it seems to be unjust that the salary of the treasurer should have been reduced onehalf. Up to the time the treasurer was appointed by the school, the funds of the institution were disbursed by the Commissioners of the District. The reason why a treasurer was not appointed, in the first place, was owing to opposition on the part of the Commissioners of the District and the commissioner of charities, and it is quite evident that during the three years preceding the appointment of the treasurer the funds were disbursed by the Commissioners of the District without any authority of law. The trustees were powerless to do anything in regard to this, as the appointment could not be made without the approval of the Commissioners. The delay in approving the appointment of a treas urer would seem to show how desirable it is that the law, as requested above, should be altered so that the appointments are approved by the Attorney-General.

S. Doc. 185—4

Representative NORTHWAY. Are the girls permitted to go out of doors, to roam at will?

Mr. ENDICOTT. No, sir; except under the eye of some one.

Senator MARTIN. Has the president of your institution the power to commit girls without some legal process?

Mr. ENDICOTT. No, sir; he has not that power, but there is commitment after a careful examination of all the facts in any particular case. For instance, before I commit a child I see his or her parents or guardians, and I take their sworn statement. I inform myself as best I can of the merits of the case, and put the papers in the hands of the police to make a report about it. So far as I know, since I have been president of the school, or since the opening of the school in November, 1893I have committed nine girls-there has never been any difficulty about commitment. The girls committed certainly were girls who ought properly to have been committed.

Representative NORTHWAY. Are most of the commitments for crimes? Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes; most of the inmates are incorrigibles. I might better give information on that point by referring the committee to this report, which gives the statistics as to commitments and the causes for which the girls have been placed in the school. (Mr. Endicott submitted here the annual report of the Reform School for Girls for the year 1896.)

Representative NORTHWAY. Read us some of the cases.

Mr. ENDICOTT. Well, I find here, for instance, in the list of offenses since the opening of the school, 27 for incorrigibility, 1 for malicious mischief, 1 for assault, 13 for vagrancy, 1 for horse stealing, 19 for larceny. I think that the saddest thing about the institution is that girls are placed here who have committed crimes and who come often from very bad places in Washington. These criminals so committed are thrown in contact with little girls who may be wild but who have never committed a crime.

Representative NORTHWAY. Have you no power of separation, no way of preventing this contact of the fairly good with the criminal classes?

Mr. ENDICOTT. No, sir; it would take some time to explain that. The building was originally erected, in accordance with a law of Congress, under the supervision of the inspector of buildings of the District of Columbia, and it was turned over to

Representative NORTHWAY. My question was directed only as to whether you had the power of classifying and separating the various grades of criminal, or rather, as I said, to separate the fairly good from the very bad.

Mr. ENDICOTT. I was just coming to that. The building was handed over to the trustees by the Commissioners. The trustees had investigated the matter of buildings and had inquired into it very carefully. They obtained plans which they considered the best for the purpose in hand, and they urged upon the Commissioners that these plans be adopted. Instead of this the inspector erected a building that is perfectly useless for the particular purpose to which it is put. When it was handed over to us, it had no gratings on the windows; no locks on the doors that were of any use; the locks were the sort we have in private houses. In fact, the building was put up in such a way that it is impossible to separate the good from the bad girls.

Representative PITNEY. What is the maximum capacity of the school?
Mr. ENDICOTT. Twenty-seven girls.

Representative PITNEY. Is it full all the time?
Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir.

Representative PITNEY. How much ground have you?
Mr. ENDICOTT. About 19 acres.

Representative PITNEY. Surrounded by a wall?

Mr. ENDICOTT. No, sir; there is a lot in which the girls are allowed to play, and they work in the fields, as they have done more or less before coming to the school; and besides, someone connected with the institution is always watching them. There are four men on the place— overseer, engineer, night watchman, and laborer.

Senator FAULKNER. Have you been able to make any progress with these girls-any moral progress?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes; I think we have been doing something toward their reformation. Since the school has been opened, 62 girls have been admitted and 38 have been released. Of the 38 some have been returned to the school-I don't know the number; but a great many of them have turned out well. I think some of the ladies have kept track of them and can give you more definite information on this point.

Senator MARTIN. Do you need a capacity beyond that which you now have?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir; what we have been urging is that Congress shall give us $50,000 to increase the room and efficiency of the school. If Congress will do that, we can build a building in such a way as to be able to separate the criminals from the other girls; and then we could admit white girls. All there now are colored, although it was designed as a reformatory for both white and colored.

Representative NORTHWAY. They regard it as hard punishment to be there, do they not?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir; with the exception, perhaps, of those who like the institution.

Representative PITNEY. What do you teach them?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Well, they are taught to do cooking, washing, ironing, and all that kind of thing. I might say that in the work and in every other way we do separate the bad from the good as far as possible. Representative NORTHWAY. What becomes of the white girls? You say the institution was intended for both white and colored?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes; the white girls go to jail or to the workhouse. A great many are received in the House of the Good Shepherd in Georgetown, and a great many in the House of Mercy.

Representative NORTHWAY. How are they treated in jail?
Mr. ENDICOTT. Just as other prisoners are, you know.

Representative NORTHWAY. Incorrigibles, merely incorrigibles; girls who are not guilty of any criminal act are not sent to jail, are they? Mr. ENDICOTT. I think, up to the time the school was established, that as fast as even the little girls were brought before the courts they were sent to jail, and they are sent there now sometimes, I am informed. Representative NORTHWAY. White girls, too?

Mr. ENDICOTT. Yes, sir.

Representative NORTHWAY. Well, that is barbarous.

Mr. ENDICOTT. That might be remedied; and it could be, as I said, because the school is an institution for both white and colored, if the school were increased. We have already gone to great expense, but if the accommodations were increased so that we could receive 90 or even 100 girls, or 125 or 130, we would have to add but very few extra officers; probably two teachers would be all the additional help required to run it. Some extra force is necessary, because you see these girls are perfectly crazy to escape; they like to get away; you have to watch them all the time.