NORTH CAROLINA
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

Raleigh, N.C., Dec. 27, 1912.

Hon. Locke Craig,
Governor-Elect of North Carolina,
Asheville, N.C.

My dear Governor Craig:-

There is a public institution, which will take its first steps under your administration, that, from what I have heard from men in whom I have great confidence, will be sorely in need of your wise judgment and careful direction. The institution to which I refer is the North Carolina School for the Feebleminded, authorized by the last General Assembly, now being established at Kinston, N.C. This institution is the first effort on the part of North Carolina to begin at the beginning in the matter of handling our defective classes.

The chief object of the school for the feebleminded is, by segregating this class of our citizens, to retard and ultimately stop their propagation, and, by so doing, strike at the very root of much of the poverty, dependency, crime, and insanity that statistics show is gradually accumulating among our people.

I am afraid, from what I have heard, that the outlook for the growth of that institution is not what it ought to be. I have understood that there was considerable opposition in the Board of Managers to Dr. Hardy as superintendent, and my sympathies, without being swayed by any personal considerations, for I barely know Dr. Hardy, are entirely with the opposition. My opinion is (and you may accept it for what it is worth), that, if that institution is to succeed, the next General Assembly must be influenced to make the present Board of Directors such as to give the now minority of the Board, the opposition of Dr. Hardy’s management, control.

Dr. McBrayer, of Asheville, is on the Board and can give you all the details as regards the institution from its very beginning. Now, there is absolutely nothing personal in this, and I am writing solely for two reasons: First, for the good of the institution, and, second, that its management may reflect only credit on your administration. I have no one to suggest for a place on the Board, and I am sure both the State Board of Health and its Secretary would be opposed to having anything to do with the institution.. I have been connected with an institution that has started and been operating during the last four years under very adverse circumstances and bad management, the latter principally, and in that way has been stunted in its very infancy and its development hurt for years to come. I, therefore, appreciate the situation that seems to be developing at Kinston.

In conclusion I hope that you will thoroughly understand the unselfish spirit that prompts this letter, and not consider me presumptuous in writing you in regard to this matter. It shall be my policy, if agreeable to you, to call your attention, from time to time, to matters of importance affecting the public health of the State that come to my attention.

With the highest esteem, I am

Yours sincerely,

W S Rankin
Secretary.

WSR/P.-3830.