Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-10
Hospital Sunday.

A Statement of the Wants and Needs
 OR the InstitutfOn-TO-NIor Gm-
 pOrtant Aid.
 We find the following in reference to the wants and position of the State Hospital in this city, taken from a succinct and able pre- sentation of the situation of the institution by the management, and as tomorrow is Hospi- tai Sunday it is of special interest. It says: It is due to the friends of the hospital to tell them why, for the third time, it closes the year with deficit and asks for help. The causes of this misfortune, and the remedies for it. will be set forth as clearly as possible. The causes are chiefly the two following:
 1. The action of the State.-The Hospital is not, as is somstimes supposed, State in- stitution. The State, however, has aided 1t both directly as charity, by special and reg ular appropriations, and indirectly, in the way of business, by paying for the treatment of disabled soldiers. In June, 1876, the yearly appropriation of $2,OOO was increased to $5, ,OOO, and nearly $27, 1000, or more than half the total receipts of the hospital during that year, was paid for soldiers. In 1877 the State reduced as once it's bounty and it's patronage. On the one hand it made it's appropriation $2,000 as before, and on the other, it took dollar week from it's allow ance for each patient, and so changed the \ rules for admission, undoubtedly too lax, that about 75 per cent. of the soldiers were re- moved The effect Of these measures was suddenly to lessen the income of the institu- \ tion by at least $2O, GOO. The appropriation ' of $5, 900 has since been restored and the ! rules for admission have been made somewhat | less stringent. The weekly payment, how \ ever, was again reduced, being now $4. 50 In | stead of $6.00 as formerly, and during the \ year only between $4, 900 and $5, 900 was re- ceived for State patients. A considerable part of the income of the hospital from this N source may therefore be regarded as perma- \ nently lost, and unless the loss can be made good in other ways it is not undertaking the evil to say that the institution will be perma-
 nently crippled.
 2. Inadequate provision for the hospital as
 a charity.-The hospital is not business en-
 terprise any more than 1t is Q State institu tion it is, first of all, charitable establish
 ment. It is, indeed, less so than it ought to \ be, for it can give free treatment to but few \ of its inmates. But this is an acknowledged \ defect, and only makes the evil now com
 plained of more apparent. Nevertheless the
 hospital does an extensive work of charity.
 giving most of it's inmates moro than it re-
 ceives for them individually. The weekly
 cost is not uniform, varying with the number \ of patients at present 1t is between $6. 50
 and $7.00. The regular weekly charge, in
 the wards, is $6.0O the State pays $4.50 and
 the towns $4OO, while few are received, in Il emergencies, without promise of payment
 from any quarter. The States charity ($5,- \ 000) is used in bringing it's own payments and T those of the towns up to the regular charge o1 \ $6.OO, any balance being used for the charity \ patients proper. But $500 being less thar
 the weekly cost, there is still 8 deficiency.
 The regular charge cannot be increased, fol
 it now excludes many who ought to be re-
 ceived; the State pays what it pleases, anc ' the towns can send their sick to the pool
 house. The hospital must therefore be ad- \ ministered in some degree, as it ought to be 1T \ far larger degree, as charitable institution \ and, so far, it cannot be required to pay itt
 own expenses; its outlay will always exceed I it's earnings The difference must be made
 up by gifts, and at present these are in | sufi cient.
 The institution, the report further notes
 attained increased usefulness by the erection
 of the new building, but with it came in
 creased expenditures, and to-day, in spite o.
 the reduction of the number of State patients | it has to-day about 80 more patients thar , were ever crowded into the old building. Il
 all the deserving and needy applicants could be admitted, the proper limit, 150, would nc | doubt soon be reached. The inadequacy o
 receipts from donations was for year or twS ! concealed by the rare Iiberality of one man
 His death disclosed the true state of the case and devolved upon the community the obliga
 ton he had silently discharged for us all. | The report speaks of the exercise of the ut
 most and most stringent economy, by which ex
 penses have been kept down and the enor
 nous loss caused by the action of the State } made partially good in that way. These eff forts are still continued, and the debt incurred during the year 1879 is less than half that O
 1878, or about $1, 800. The remainder of thu present deficit, estimated at $3, 600, must b. provided for now only because the second Hospital Sunday yielded good deal less thai the first That new debt has been contract ed in spite of this large reduction of expenses To remedy permanently the difficulty en- , dowments are necessary, and ultimately b!
 this means it is believed the hospital will be-
 come in it's fullest sense charity. But pres ent help is vital necessity, and to obtain thi generous liberal donation is anxiously hoped
 for from tomorrow, Hospital Sunday.