OFFICIALS LIVE LIKE MONARCHS AT NORTHVILLE
Nibble skinned dates at $1.50 a Pound on Tax Money
Eight Baths in Home of Superintendent
By Clifford A. Prevost
Eight bath and washrooms grace the home of the superintendent of the Wayne County Training School near Northville, built by the taxpayers of the County at a cost of slightly more then $50,000. Taxpayers also invested $31,000 for a home for the assistant superintendent, and 28,672.21 for the educational directors residence.
Lincoln Car and Chauffeur
All these officials are provided with homes for themselves and families, and all have families of five. Full maintenance is given by the County, which includes all meals and other costs involved in the upkeep of a home. the superintendent also receives a Lincoln automobile and a chauffeur.
These buildings are located on the hill near Northville where Wayne County is seeking to train 671 boys and girls who are classed as feeble-minded. To supervise the education and training, the County employs 155 people and provides free meals, free residence or both to the employees and 44 of their relatives. It costs the taxpayers $1.80 per day for each pupil at the school, or 5 cents more per day then Controller G. Hall Roosevelt recently estimated was sufficient to maintain an adult on the welfare rolls per week. The statistics presented fail to reveal how much it costs per employee per day. But the superintendent who occupies of the finest homes constructed for any official in the Country receives $7,500 per year. His assistant receives $4,000 and the educational director $4,500. Some of the employees at the home are much mystified as to reason for the costly residences, but officials in the County Building have a plausible explanation they believe. Plymouth is about 20 miles from downtown Detroit, and the institution, so they say, is one of the finest in the world � in fact the most up to date institution and place on the globe.Being a unique institution it is naturally a Mecca for those who indulge in research into the care of feeble-minded children one of the officials explained. Wayne County could not ask people who came here from England to travel to and from a hotel. So the County built a larger home than would have been necessary for just the superintendent. These people engaged in research are guests at his home.These buildings are located on the hill near Northville where Wayne County is seeking to train 671 boys and girls who are classed as feeble-minded. To supervise the education and training, the County employs 155 people and provides free meals, free residence or both to the employees and 44 of their relatives. It costs the taxpayers $1.80 per day for each pupil at the school, or 5 cents more per day then Controller G. Hall Roosevelt recently estimated was sufficient to maintain an adult on the welfare rolls per week. The statistics presented fail to reveal how much it costs per employee per day. But the superintendent who occupies of the finest homes constructed for any official in the Country receives $7,500 per year. His assistant receives $4,000 and the educational director $4,500. Some of the employees at the home are much mystified as to reason for the costly residences, but officials in the County Building have a plausible explanation they believe. Plymouth is about 20 miles from downtown Detroit, and the institution, so they say, is one of the finest in the world � in fact the most up to date institution and place on the globe.Being a unique institution it is naturally a Mecca for those who indulge in research into the care of feeble-minded children one of the officials explained. Wayne County could not ask people who came here from England to travel to and from a hotel. So the County built a larger home than would have been necessary for just the superintendent. These people engaged in research are guests at his home.
Delicacies Eliminated
But with the tax delinquencies reducing the Counties income and the County Board of Auditors has been giving more careful study to the food bills of the institution, the records show.For a long time the superintendents table was graced with skinned dates and imported nuts at $1.50 per pound. These are now listed among delicacies not directly essential to the care of the feeble-minded and have been cut out. The County also built a home for the teachers at the training school, and in this, home is 54 rooms. This structure cost approximately $220,000 according tot he records in the auditor�s office. In addition there are numerous farm buildings located on the property as well as the homes in which inmates reside. Prior to the time the County took over the activity most of the feeble-minded children were educated in grade schools.
