Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-13
AIDING THE POOR
The Annual Report of the Super
intendent of Charities.
WORK OF THE PAST YEAR
Hospital Service Inadequate in
Time of Emergency,
AID FOR RESID E N 7 S

The annual report of the superintendent
of charities, a synopsis of which was
printed in The Star, is one of the most
complete reports ever issued by the office.
1t contains an exhaustive account of the
different charitable institutions, all of
Which arc we'll classified, with location and
date of organization. Referring to the diff
ferent important points covered, the report
says:
THE sums reported uneXpended bal
ances of appropriations for the several dis
tributng agencies were allotted to them
respectively for future charitable use. OF
the balance remaining in the hands of the
treasurer of the central relief committee.
$1,000, or so much thereof required was
placed at the disposal of the committee on
plans of agricultural relief, the operations
of which will he hereinafter described. The
relief street work, in removal of snow and
ice, at the expenditure of $J,001, was con-
dUcecd under the general supervision of
Major Mckenzie, superintendent of the
stieet-cleaninG department. Should there
be occasion for such work in the future the
relief-work gangs should be placed under
the supervision Of experienced employees of
the STRENGTHENING contractor, who are re-
tanned during winter months at reduced
pay. Their services could be secured at
st not greater than 81 per day each, and
the excessive expenditure for SUPERVISION
be thereby avoided.
Relief of Residents.
"Other experienced superintendent of
outdoor work could be utilized from the
Washington Asylum force, with further
effect in making the relief money available
for the greatest possible number of the
most needy class. There should also be more
careful avoidance of hasty and indscrim-
tT ate hiring than was practicable under the
circumstances attending last winters oper-
ations so that crowds of strangers might
not be attracted to the city, but relief con-
fined to worthy residents.
THE reports of the various organizations
ard the experience of last winter confirm
my conclusion of last year, that existing
charitable associations. with which Wash
ington is literally supplied, should con-
tinue to be utilized as distributing agencies
by any central collecting and managing
authority, and that, as to distribution, the
efforts of the latter should be chiefly d.
rected to the prevention of duplication in
relief and the detection of impostdre. I'm
der the conditions that obtain in the Dis
trlct OF Columbia no enc method or sort of
ala Will suffice for all cases. In order that
relief may be general and impartial it must
be given in variety of ways suited to
various classes of applicants. Where work
for the able-bodied can be secured it should
by all means be preferred: but it must al
ways be born in mind that those in great
est distress are unfit for hard labor. while
very many of them are unable to engage
ef1ciently even in the lighter indoor occu-
pations:
Special characteristics of Washington
HE ana population render peculiarly neces-
sary discrimination and variety in tenn
porary aid. Above all it is requisite to
avoid nythng tending to the creation of a
pauper class, shiftless during the working
season through reliance on charitable sup
port in winter time.
Municipal Hospital Service.
AS shown by the report of the sanitary
tn no r;r
politan police, public patients were sent to
hospitals by that branch of the District
service during the late fiscal year as fol-
lows: Freedman's Hospital $780, Providence
Hospital, SIS; hospital of the Washington
asylum, '92; Garfield Hospital, 255; Emer-
gency Hospital. III; Homeopa thic Hospital,
9I Columbia Hospital Go: Chldren's Hos
pital, 81. apd > TO the Sibley Hospital
Many patients in maternity cases are
sent to Columbia and other hospitals from
dispensaries. The Childrens Hospital re-
ceives through the same channel, as we'll
as from child-caring asylums. Accident
cases are brought to the Emergency Hos
Pltal by its own ambulance service, and
other medical establishments accept in
mates coming by transportation, public or
private. other than that of the sanitary
office. Hence, it is necessary to refer to
the report of the several hospitals and to
the tabulation of their statistics in order
TO accurately measure their services to the
community. Nevertheless, making allow
ance for these circumstances, the sanitary
ofiicerS reports afford fair indica ton of
the number of free public patients cared
for by the general hospitals of the District,
respectively, in return for the appropria-
tons made for their maintenance.
he figures given above show a total of
2,Iol cases sent to hospital by the sanitary
officer during the fiscal year ended June
~. lS9' During the succeeding quarter,
the months of July. August and September
iS'' there We're sent to the hospitals in
the same manner 11O2 patients, or at the
rate of 4,4OS cases year
Facilities Needed
TIL" number exceeds that recorded during
any previous quarter, and the fact shows
that, even when no serious epidemic pre-
walls, the hospital accommodations of
Washington are no more than adequate to
the demands upon them During the sum-
mer and fall at all places of medical refuge
the usual accommodations We're fully occu-
pied. and ii was necessary to improyiss adj
ditonal ones in order to meet the urgent
demand Tor treatment of public patients
There We're also sufficient number of cases
OF the minor infectious diseases treated by
make-Shift isolation in homes and irnpro-
vised isolated quarters furnished by the
medical charities to further enforce the ne
cessity of final and sufficient &C ton upon
this long-postponed but vital subject Con-
corning this most pressing public want, the
commissioners. Congress and the public are
already so fully informed that further rec
onimendatlon on my part for legislative
action would be superfiuous. Something
has been dCne in the course of current adj
ministraton toward mitigating the evil and
providing partial remedy in various ways,
and such action will be continued to be
taken at every opportunity pending the re-
moVal of legal obstacles or further legisa-
t1on to obviate or overpass them. Under
such clrcums tances it does not seem neces-
sary to add to the statements made on
pages p to 30 of my report of last year.
The erection of the smallpox hospital I'M
der the direction of the health officer is one
gratifying step in the work of guarding
the District against plague.
designed improvements in the adminis-
trative facilities of existing hospitals are
adequately described i'll the letters of this
ONCE TO the District Commissioners in ex-
pianatlon of the estimates which are here
ihbefore cited at length. In the medical
branch, as well as in other lines of char
liable and correctional work the present
need of the District of Columbia is for the
Improvement in and perfection of estab-
hshments already in operation or author
lied by law. and not for the creation of
new ones The only exceptions to this gem
eral sta ement known to are those spe-
officially set forth in this report and already
considered by Congress.