The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-08-04

A correspondent of the Argus, who
evidently speaks by authority, has kind
~ explained just what the city is to get
for the 500 which it is asked to appro-
pirate for the Maine Eye and Ear mfr
mary. He says:
There seem to be misapprehension of
the facts in regard to the order passed
by the city government to maintain a
daily dispensary in the out-patient de-
partment of the Maine Eye and Ear In
Urinary. In the first place the Impress
ion was given that something new was
going to be done by the Infrmary to
obtain an appropriation from the city.
which is entirely wrong The Infirmary
has maintained a daily clinic in it's out
patient department. for over eight years,
supplementedswith board and nursing in
the impatient department whenever it
was necessary, and has thus cared for a
largeynumber OF the poor who were or
would be under the care of, or charge
upon, the city. For more than a quar-
ter of a century money has been paid for
services rendered similarly by the pass
age of an order that was known not to
be strictly andetechnically legal, and as
IL never had been questioned nobody
thought it would be and hence it never
had been changed. Now it has been
questioned it's form has been changed to
a strictly legal one; and the words daily
dispensary' and daily clinic are synony-
nous in a medical sense, and means
places where patients may go to be ex-
amined and treated. Medicine NAV be
prescribed or may be given, but neither
of these are absolutely necessary, as a
large number of patients need only the
advice and the treatment given at the
time. Hence in this true seLse of the
terms the city does not, nor has it ever
maintained a daily dispensary or clinic
for the treatment of the poor.
The upshot of all this is that the city
is to get absolutely nothing for it's $1,000
except what it has been getting and
what it is entitled to get under the obli-
cation which this institution entered in
to with the State when it was chartered.
and which every other city and town of
the State now gets and will continue to
get for nothing. Said DR.. Holt in his
address at the dedication of this insti-
tuition: "Those who have contributed
SO liberallyEtc it's support have done SO
for the benefit of the poor" Portland
people have contributed 500 to every one
dollar contri buted by nybody else, and
yet the contributions of Portland people
are to count nothing for Portland's poor,
but they must be paid for specially. To
ask the city government of Portland to
consent to such discrimination against
the poor of their own city and the
liberal donors of their own city, requires
remarkable amount of assurance. II
this programme is to prevail then the
second paragraph in the constitution OF
the institution should be changed tc
read as follows:
The object of the corporation shall be
the establishment and maintenance OF
an infirmary in Portland, Maine, where g
daily clinic may be held for the treat.
ment, free of charge, of poor persons
throughout the State, suffering from
diseases of the eye and ear-here add
| Except poor persons of the city of Port
| land, who shall be paid for at the rate
of $1,000 per annum in ADVANCED