The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-01-25
THE CHARLESTON DAILY NEWS SATURDAY MORNING. ANUARY 25
tee on Assessments: Aldermen olney, Honour,

3 CHARLESTON DAILY
tee on Assessments: Aldermen Olney, Honour,
Oakes, Whilden, and the Mayor.
The Mayor presented the following memo
rial which was referred to the Board OF Health:
To the Honorable the Mayor and the City Council Of
] GENTLEMEN: The Faculty and Board of Trustees
Of the Medical College OF the State of South Carolina
beg leave respectfully to memorabilia your honorable
body upon subject OF gre;t importance TO the w wei
fare OF the institution the interests of which nave
been conhded to them, and In urging ite que COL
sideraton upon your attention, ey couhdeutly
hope to be able show that it possesses even deep
er interest to the city to the STATE and TO the COM
munity at large, than is generally r. cognized.
II would be an act of supererogaon, in the present
age to employ any arguments to prove the Vaue OF
thorough and efficient system OF medical education;
for certainly no topic can prese more profound
and abiding interest to mankind than that wnch re-
lates the health and the ivs of individuals and
communities. Accordingly IN all civilized govern
meps and In all enlightened States this consldera.
ton has been 30 clearly recognized that IN al OF
them all practicable measures for fostering these
paramount considerations have occupiso large
share of the attention of the wisest statesmen and
legislators, an6 have been urged and sustained py
the purest philanthropy.
been built and endowed In which the sick and act-
ed Door could have secured to them al the
of skiful medical attendance. the principle has al
wa, been acknowledged and acted upon, that In re-
turn or the advantages thus secured, the examples
| I rnished by tic mulutudinous and varied 5uter-
ings should ..ered subservienl to the improve
| ment of medic. .uc and thereby conducive to
the welfare Of cict, The same policy, therefore,
thar led to he organic alton and endowment OF medi'
cal colleges, almost always placed them in assocauon
with and Us appendages to the hospitals, 80 that
while in the lecture rooms CT the foin those IN
pursuit of medical knowledge received all the advan.
tages Of didachc instruction pertaining to the ele-
mentary principles of medical education, 1t was re-
coanized that the wards Of the hospital could alone
furnish the living examples OF disease In Its diVersl-
| fed condltions-its course, successive phenomena
its treatment and results, 30 lndispensaoy necessa-
ry to insure proper qualification for medical prac'
| tce.
These views were acknowledged and acted upon by
your predecessors at the period when this college
was first organized and the arran cement tnen maze
was successfully aud faithfully carried out, through
long series of years. with mutual advantage to the
| college and the city.
The object of the present memorial Is to pray your
hororab body to restore the status wmch 80 long
existed between the Medical College nnd the city hos-
pitals the departure from which has seriously nur.
ed institution in which the city and the state al
| large have deep interest while it has created a
| b avy and needless draught on the hnance> OF the
city, now crippled in its resources.
Your meuoraliss prop to illustrate these posi-
tous by the following brief statement OF faots
In 1924, or about that time. when the college was
frat established, the City Council Of Charleston made
grant of the lot which to erect suitable build
ing and appropriation OF fifteen thousand sl6 os0)
dollars, towards the erection Of tho present edihce,
the condition of the contract being that the Faculty
of the Medical College bound, in consideration
Of the above appropria ion, to furnish gratultous
medical attendance on the City Almshouse and the
Marine Hospital in perpeuty Up to that PERIOD II Is
believed that the City Council had been paying 10 the
two medical officers VI those institutions salary Of
from one thousand to twelve hundred dollars each per
annum, which expenditure, after the contract WIN
the college was consummated ceased. luis LED
fo Tho
| thousand to twenty-four hundred dollars. NOW,
as the services above specified were faithfully rem
dered by the Faculty their appointees, subject to
the control of tho Council TO the one institution for
period of thirty.four years, and to the other for
thirtyseven years, credit be given to the city for
the amount of their approrriation-say three thou
sand dollars for the lot and fifteen thousand dollars
| In money-tolal, eighteen thousand dollars-it is
apparent thnt within that time, estimating the
salaries previously paid as above, and deductng the
eighteen thousand dollars, clear saving to the city
| treasury was secured under the contract OF more
| than sixty thousand d jlars, while the numerous
students attending the lectures OF the college enjoy
ed all the bens its Of valuable cinical instruction
without fee or reward.
For reasons not known to-your memorialsts o
contract solemnly entered into by the two PARTIES
the Council on the Gne part and the Faculty OF the
Medical College on tho other. and duly ratified as
will be made TO appear by reference to the records
of your honorable body-was, ut the expiration OF
thityfour years violated by the City Council, with
out any assigned cause, by the appointment of Dr.
q. ". DeSausaure as physician to the City Aims
house, with o. salary Of six hundred dollars per
annum While the arrangement as regards the
Marine Hospital was permitted to continue up TO tho
commencement OF. the recent war, your memorial
ISIS have no desire to impune the motives OF the
City Council OF that time In office for their violating
the sacred oblgauons Of contract, and the crcum-
stance is manly alluded to in order to demonstrate
that the act could not have been prompted by any
allegation Of dere iction of duty on the part OF the
Faculty, as complaint was never made. Had thero
M c0n nnlant
well to the Marine Hospital aB TO the Aims House
both institutions lying under the eame arrangement
the medical officers Of both being appointed by
the Faculty and approved by Council It Certainly
could not have been dictated by motives OF economy
Whatever the incentives may have been, there can
scarcely be question Of it's injustice involving as 1t
dId, VOCATION of contract 1t also proved detri-
mental to the widespread interests OF the Medical
College, by deprving 1t OF the means OF clinical IN
struchon whi h 1t had previously possessed.
AS the exact relations OF the Medical College to the
city, to the State to the country and people at large,
may not be properly understood aud appreciated,
your memoriRists trust they may be pardoned Tor
Offering few additional remarks calculated to Illus
uate some of the elements OF its importance IN al
these rotations. 1t is net private corporation, but
q sta institution. No one, 1t ID presumed VIII CAL
IN question the importance Of high and thorough
home education in oil Departmental or hnoweJge, and
medical science s certainly not tho least valuable OF
these departments. 1t Was consideration OF the
interests of the south in this connection that
led to the establishment Of the Medical Col.
lege, as simllar considerations had before and
have subsequently led 10 the organization and
support OF institutions OF the same Kind In
almost evory government and State throughout
the civilized world. 1t is not designed to argue here
tue widely diffused blessings which have flowed
from the sources OF instruction which have been cre
ated under this wise policy, but to explain briefly
the immense pc uniary benefit which accrued to the
City Of Charleston, and the >te at large, throu.
the agency OF the Medical College, all ot which sum,
to say nothing OF the importance Of homo education,
would have gone elsewhere.
The college hss eli IN successful operation for
period OF torty-four years, within which time at
least seven thousand students coming from almost
every State In tho Union, from the Canadas, the
West Indies, aud elsewhere, have been educated
through Its agency. When 1t Is bornei in mind that
the aggregate expenses OF each student s about I'VE
hundred dollars per session, 1t will be seen that
within the time specified from three and half to
tour millions of dollars havo been drawn TO charles
ton and expended among her people, every cent Of
which, but for her Medical College, would have gone
10 other cities and to other States.
Such advantages, coupled as they are with many
others, should not be eighty appreciated An insa-
tuition couterring 60 great N amount ot benefit cer-
tainly merits favorable consideration OF Its claims;
and, viewed in the connect on with the present ma.
moria while 1t seeks pccuniary aid its demands,
on the contrary, if granted, securing diminished
expenditure of the city iunds, 1t only prays to have
such an arrangement established between the Facul-
ty OF the Mecical Co &c and tho city hospitals as
will enable them 10 add to their didachc course of
lectures thorough system Of clinical instruction.
In view Of these considerations, your ncmorialists
pray that your honorable body will place the wards
oi The city hospitals in charge Of the Professors OF the
Medical College mcdlcal officers with permission
to use the resortinS there Tor treatment,
lationB and restrictions, and responsibilities as
purdJ details duties md other cOuSderaI ae