Asheville, N.C., July 27—Declaring that the charges against the management of the state sanatorium for tuberculosis “are not sufficient to warrant this committee in recommending” the removal of Dr. L.B. McBrayer from the position of superintendent of the institution, the special committee appointed by the legislature to investigate charged which had been preferred, tonight made its report public through Governor Cameron Morrison.
The committee, however, did not entirely absolve Dr. McBrayer, for it found that “Dr. McBrayer and his son Lewis McBrayer, have violated section 4,390 of the consolidated statutes of North Carolina of 1919, technically in trading with business enterprises in which they have a pecuniary interest,” adding that “your committee does not find any moral turpitude in connection with said transactions.”
Another charge brought against Dr. McBrayer and which was sustained by the committee was that he “has used at different intervals portions of the maintenance funds of this institution for the purchase and maintenance of automobiles used in connection with the institution, which transaction was either authorized or sanctions by the state board of health.”
The committee also found that “nepotism has been practiced at the state sanatorium, but they further find from the evidence that at time it was inaugurated at said institution the conditions were such as to justify it, but they further find from the evidence that the conditions which justified it have ceased to exist, and they, therefor, recommend that the practice thereof be discontinued.”
The report of the committee declared that Dr. McBrayer is doing a great work for the state at the progress and improvement had been noted at the institution since he took charge in 1914, it having become one of the leading institutions of its kind in the country.
Touching on various offices of which Dr. McBrayer holds in addition to that of superintendent of the institution, the report recommends that he be paid a sufficient salary as to enable him to give up all outside employment and that whatever remuneration he receives from positions he holds which are not inconsistent with his duties as superintendent be turned over to the funds of the sanatorium.
Following in the full report of the special sanatorium committee to Governor Morrison, and made public here tonight:
“We, the undersigned members of the committee appointed by joint resolution of the house of representatives and senate of North Carolina the session of 1923, authorized and directed to investigate the charges made against the management of the state sanatorium for tuberculosis at Sanatorium, N.C., report that we held several sessions of the legislature and afterwards met n the city of Raleigh and secured evidence both of the proponents of the resolution and the respondents, and w herewith transmit with our report to you a copy of the evidence taken as said hearings.
“It is the opinion of your committee that, as shown by the evidence, the state sanatorium for tuberculosis is doing great work for the state, and that it has made considerable progress and improvement under the management of Dr. McBrayer since he took charge of this institution in 1914; that at the time he took charge of the institution it was in a somewhat dilapidated condition, due to the fact that the appropriations theretofore made for this institution were insufficient to meet the demands and needs thereof, and that after Dr. McBrayer took charge, and at his solicitation and instigation, the state increased the appropriations, and under his management and expenditure of the funds it developed into one of the leading institutions of its character in the country, and the evidence before the committee abundantly shows that this institution has done a great work for the state of North Carolina, and in the opinion of this committee the charges against the management of this institution by Dr. McBrayer are not sufficient to warrant this committee in recommending his removal from said institution.
“But your committee does find as a fact that Dr. McBrayer and his son, Lewis McBrayer, have violated section 439 of the consolidated statutes of North Carolina of 1919, technically, in trading with business enterprises in which they had a pecuniary interest, but our committee does not find any moral turpitude in connection with said transactions.
“Your committee finds that Dr. McBrayer has used at different intervals portions of the maintenance funds of this institution for the purchase and maintenance of automobiles used in connection with the institution, which transaction was either authorized or sanctioned by the state board of health. Your committee is on of the opinion that neither the state sanatorium at Sanatorium, N.C., nor, in their opinion, any other public institution in North Carolina, should be permitted to use maintenance funds for such purposes, it having been suggested during said hearing that other public institutions are doing so. “It is also the opinion of the committee that the practice of trading with enterprises with which the heads of the institutions are connected, should be strongly condemned by the board of directors who have charge thereof.
. . . .
“Since the appointment of this committee and since its last meeting Dr. E.M. McIver, a member of this committee, has died, and Hon. W.D. Purden, another member thereof, is in Baltimore with his mother, who is ill in a hospital, and he is therefore, unable to attend the final meeting, and for these reasons neither of said members have signed this report.
This 26th day of July, 1923.
T.C. Bowie, Chairman
P.D. Ebbs
U.A. Harrison
From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, Sunday, July 29, 1923. The governor’s summer residence is in Asheville, so the report is released from there rather than Raleigh.
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