The sun., 1895-02-03
THE DIs1BLED BoYs IN DLUB.
r,,.restiue Statistics OF the Homes Fro
ytded for Union Soldiers.


wAsuIyurov, Feb. 2.--In the Sundry Civii
Appropriation bill recently passed by the House
and now before the Senate, provision Is made TOT
tho National Home for Disabled Volunteers
Ono noteworthy item in this bill allows s"g'-
500 for new barrack nt the Pacific Home, III
order 10 oaccommodatc more of the disaDleh NcC
erans. Originally two new barracks. costing
ss5 600, were estimated for, but in view OF the
condition OF tho Treasury, tho Committee on
Appropriations concluded to begin with one
this year, which will carry also kitchen ana
an electric plant.
But still more noticeable was tho defeat Of n
proposcd amendment declaring that all be-
quests. donations payments, or funds received
from any source for the Home should be sub
ject to the general laws regulating public funds,
and that monthly accounts of them, except the
pension fund, should bo submitted to the war
Department; and be supervised By It, That was
promptly killed on n point Of order. But 1t
might we'll also have been killed on its merits,
since 1t altered SO essentially the present law.
The opponents OF that scheme point out that
during the last twenty years no scandal mas
touched the management of tho National Home.
Its Board of Managers has borne high charac-
ter. one comment upon tho proposed action
says that the men maintained in the National
Homo are better fed, better clothed. better
cared for in hospital, and have more entertain
ment and amusement OF every KIND than the
soldiers OF the regular army who are maintained
at the Government Homo at Washington, and
this is done at less than one-half tho cost
per capita The Homo In Washington
for the regulars is under the absolute
control Of the War Department and its several
bureaus. To put the National Home under the
same control would be not only mistake but
grave wrong" However, as has been said, the
provision was defeated on n point Of order raised
against II In the House
1t will be timely perhaps to Givo here some
facts from the recently printed report OF tie
managers of the National Homo.
1t is a great and growing establishment, which
now has seven different and widely distant
homes. The first was the Eastern, at Togus. in
Maine, bought and opened in 1865; the. second.
tho Central, placed at Columbus. o., in 1857,
and the same year removed TO Dayton. where Il
now is; the third. the Northwestern, near Mil
waukee, opened in 1867: the fourth, the South
ern, in Hampton, Va, dating from 1870; the
fifth, this Western. at Loavenworth. from 1884:
the sixth, the Pacific at Santa Monica, Cal,
1888: the seventh. the Marion, at Marion, Ind.
opened In 1890.
The first four of these branches of the Homo
were established under the act OF 1866 and the
other three under subsequent acts. The land
alone for these seven branches cost the United
States S234, ,577.s4. The buildings and other
improvements, up to the beginning of the pres
ent fiscal year, had brought the aggregate cost
of the establishments up to Si,G95, T6s II. In
some instances private or local contributions
tributed $4,000 as part payment for the land
Of the Central branch; ladies of Milwaukee.
SDO,UUO Tor the northwestern branch: citizens
Of Leavenworth. all the land, amounting to $40
acres. for the Western branch Mr.. Jones and
MIR. Baker OF santa Monica and seven citizens
Of Los Angeles 63l acres required for the Pacific
branch. Thus altogether the cost of this insti- |
tuition must be well along toward S5.OO0,0OO, |
apart from the great amounts expended for its |
maintenance. The largest part of this sum. and, |
in fact, nearly double as much as for any other,
belongs to the Central branch, while the South |
ern comes second and the Northwestern third |
in aggregate outlays for the establishment.
But the real extent OF this system is not seen |
n mn faNyar bap
twenty -one state Homes which have been sub |
sidized by the United States. at rates OF 500 |
per man per year, less half the amounts retained
from pensions OF their members. Accordingly, |
the original cost OF these various State instltu- |
above mentioned. in order to find out the |
tual aggregate amount expended upon these es-
this latter item. we find that for maintenance |
of the seven branches of the National Home, |
exclusive OF SonsIIGt9n s aGd and repairs the cost
figures, 81 ,goS. S.39l.67: while the amount paid |
to state Homes was Sd24,s0O.47. The total,
was upward Of S2.G0O,O00 in IA single |
year. IL other current expenses for construc-
tion and repairs are added, we find the amount
still furthe! increased by S264 ,G29. .45. which !
was a smaller amount than had been expended
for that purpose for several years. The cst-
the State and Territorial Homes, were S3,33C,-
320O6. The two items OF maintenance and con-
struGtl9n 9 and nd @ repair SHOW gross amount of
nearly 3o,63O,O0O up TO the end of the last fis-
AT the date last mentioned. June 30. 1894
y
tional Home was 1873, which was an increase
Of l,65s for the year. BY, Aug. =? the number
had risen to 16,4Sl, which was also greater by
/ ,653 than the number one year previous The
crowd!n6, and especially the prospective ex-
haustiOn OF appropriations, caused the issue OF
an order for suspensions of admission, so thet
month before last, when the report of Gen.
Franklin, President of the Board of Managers.
was made up the excess over the year previous |
had been reduced TO 415. OF course this result
had been secured only by excluding some that
therefore. to be left to the charity of Grand
Army posts or of cities and towns where they |
happened TO be stranded
- What Is the remedy for this state of things?
ien; Franklin says that two existing. branches
Or the Home. the Marion and the Pacific, will
admit OF enlargement and S15 additional men
could there be accommodated; And, as has been
said, the pending bill provides for adding one
oarrack To the Pacific branch
One recent saving has been in the annual cost |
per member for maintenance. This for the last
lscal year was Sl27 10, whereas the year before
I had been Sl4Oa5. This is also the lowest cost
hat has ever been known except in the years
1850 and 1886. The result Is that while the
average present for last year all the way
ore the expenditures Tor maintenance were over
(. 5000 less, and the total expenditures over
slOS;oO less. The average age of the number
'ared for was about 69li years.
One more point may be- cGllcd from this docu-
nent OF about 100 pages which Gen. Franklin
presents to Congress. Taking together both the
,ersUns maintained in the National Home and
hose maintained by Congress in the State
ear was 20, lD-, while the whole number cared
or WAS 3I,5ui. 1t will be secn. therefore, that
ms portion of the system OF hOspitablc treat
ncnt OF disabled Union volunteers has taken on
'ery great proportions especially as il Is sun
,lcmCnted by the great pension system and tho
irahd Army anu similar organizations.
BOYS ANTI-CIGARETIE LEAGUE.