Report of Board of Visitors to the Georgia School for the Deaf, 1897

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REPORT'
OF 1'B)';

BOARD OF VISITORS

TO TilE

Georgia School for'the Deaf

ATLA TA, GA. GEO. W. HARRISON, STATE PRINTER
(Franklin Prtg. and Pub. Co.) 1897

REPORT
Ol'TDE
BOARD OF VISITORS
'1'0 THE
Geor~ia Sc~ool for the Deaf
ATLA TA, GA. GEO. W. IIARRISO., STATE PRINTER
(Franklin Prtg. and Pub. Co.) 1897

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Report of the Board of Visitors to the Georgia School for the Deaf.
To Hi Excellency, W. Y: Aikin on, GovemOl' of GeOl'gia: The Board of Vi itor appointed by your Excellency to
vil:iit the above named In titution met a majOl'ity of the Trustee at Cave Spring on October 7th inst., and pent the rno t of t\\'o day in examining the affair and property of said In titution, and beg leave to ubmit the following report:
Generally peaking, we find the Institution. in excellent ondition. It affair are being managed wisely by good and capable men. The principal, and the men and women whom he ha elected to in truct and care for the pupils, thorouO'hly uuderdtand their re'pective dutie aud are doing t:ffectivc work. The propelty i being well pre erved, and, .0 fal' as we al'e able to judge, the State's appl'opl'iation of of mouey al'e being prudently and hone. tly expended for the good of the chool.
I STRUCTlO.l. AND TREATMENT OF I MATES.
In the White department we find 94 pupil enrolIed, and in the Negl'o depal'tment 3 enrolIed. A.t pre ent tbel'e are only two ick, oue a white girl, and the otber a negro

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pupil. All of them appeared happy and contented, properly clothed and well cared for. The sanitary measures and regulations, according to the facilities at hand, are the very be t that enlightened and cientific knowledge can. ugge t; though the boys are without adequate bathing facilitie and have no gymnasium.
'Ye find no fault with the teachers, or with the method of in truction. The efficient principle, Profe or W. O. Connor, ha devoted many year' of hi life to tudy of deaf mutes and the manner of instructing them. We suppo e no man in America has given more thought to this ubject. He ha surrounded him elf with a ufficient number of a i tants who eem to be ably and faithfully di charging their part of the work.
The water-works plant i ample for all purpose, except that the water pre ure on the hill where the negro building i located i not ufficient to protect that building fully again t fire.
The electric light and team-heating plants are now under cour e of con truction and will be completed about ovember I' t next; but the said plant and their equipment, a, then completed, will not be ufficient to upply either the machinery ball, or the negro department.
FINA CES.
The Legi lative Committee' having examined and approved the financial workinO' and di bur. ement of money of the institution up to October] st, 1896, we have not gone behind said date in our investigations, but we have exam-

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ined the Trea O1'el"s book and vouchers {or the period extendiug from October 1 t,l 96, to October 1 t, 1 97, and filiI that aid Trea urer ha pI'oper vouchel' covering all money,; paid out by him during said period.
We highly approve of the y tem adopted by the principal and trn. tee of purcha inO' all bulk upplies by competiti\-e bid, and we recommend that thi system be extended a far a po' ible in making all purcha e for the
chooJ. The book of the officer of the in titution are cOI'l'ectly and well kept. We commend the plan of bookkeeping, and e pecially the method adopte<1 alld u ed in checking fund from the Trea ury.
DD lNG-ROOM AND KITCHE FOR WHITE.
We find that the dining-room and kitchen facilities for white, are entirely too mall to accommodate the number of inn;Jate alt-eady in attendance. Thi part of the building was el'ected many years ago, when the need of the chuol were quite limited. The dining-ruum h nld be large enough to eat comfortably all of the teacher and white employees and pupils at one time. This i not the ca e now.
We think there hould be erected a two- tory building adjoining the southeast side of the main dOl'mitory building, say 30 by 100 feet, the lower floor to be u ed for diningroom and kitchen; and the upper tory to be u eo a an Induetrial Hall for the gid .
According to the plan adopted, the main electric light

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plant \~vill be run by . team power, and it will not be economical to rnn thi plant later than 9 o'clock P.)1. The halls of the d rmitory and the ground of the in titution hould be lighted all niaht. Tberefore, \\'e think a mall dynamo having a capacity of thirty or forty incande'ccnt light . hould be supplied and nJU by the watcr-wheel, 0 a to fUl'Ui h tbe above mentioned lights.
The old b iler room wa not ufficient for the added impro\'elllent under furmer appropriatiou {or heating and lighting. 0 that the tru.tces bave begun the con truction of a larger boiler-room; whicb work we rcgard a. an abolute nece ity.
NEGRO "BUILD! G.
A beforc tated, the appropriation heretofore mad fOt' electric lighting and heating have not been sufficient to light and heat the neO'ro building.
We notic that the dormitory room i quite r wJed. All of the girls-ninetcen in number-occupy one .room and in some instance two girls leep in one smail ingle-bed. The dining-room and kitchen con!ii ts of a mall wooden tru ture, detached fl'om main bou e about firty yard, built of rough plank "up and down," un ealed and 'omewbat airy. We think au addition bould be built to the main hou e two !'torie. high, the fi r t floor to be devoted to din iog-room and ki tchen, and ('cond tory to dorm itory mom fOI' girl .

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I D 'TIUAL TRAI~ ING FUR GIRL~.

In c1o.'ing our report we desire to call your Excellency"

attention e pecially to one matter: A nd that i , we fear

tbat the tate of Georgia, ul to date, ha. neglected to pro-

"ide for the proper indu trial training of the girl of tbi

excellent in titutiou. Many and con iderabJe appl'ppria-

tion of money have been allowed for the plll'flose of teach-

ing the boy' differcnt occupations by meaus of which they

can eat'll their liviug aFter leaving the a ylum. But very

little ha been doue in thi direction for the gid. The

teachers are doing all they can, with the mean. offered

them, to teach the female indu trial art., but the gil'!

are now being taught nothing excep,t e,'..,ing, wa h-

ing and il'Oning, and 'ome wood-carving. The kitchen i'

too mall to organize a cia in ookery. Owill~ to the pcrver e exigencie of the times for many

yem', , our women ha"e been forced, many of them, to en-

ter the bu ine world and work for a livelihood. To do

thi , even tbu e po. e d of all of their facultie houlcl

be equipped for the truggle. How much greater, then,

the ne 'e :ity for CIuipping the e poor unfortunate women

whom thfl reator ha' depriv d of hearing and :,;peech.

Re. pectfull' 'ubmitted, this ctober 7, 1 97.

A. Rl lIAHD:ON, hairmun,

DAVID \Y. IEADow, ecretary,

Board of

JOHN ATTAWAY,
W. II. DAXI EL,
IRA E. FA R~I F:R,
W. n. Bt &1'.
isitor to the Geor.~ia School for the Deaf.

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