The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-27
TO ELECT DIsPENsARY KEEPERS.
The Present System to BE Done Away
with as Soon as Possible.

with as soon as FOSS1Dles
The keeper and assistant keeper Of the
city dlspensary will be elected at the
meeting Of the sanitary board Tuesday
afternoon. A number of applications have
been received at the office of Health Of
fcer LeHardy. The applications will not
be opened, however, until they are pre-
scented to the sanitary board.
DR.. ". w. Owens. chairman Of the pub
lie health committee of council, says that
he expects the new city dispensary at
Whitaker and Macon streets to be ready
for business about between July and Is
The building which has been leased for
the purpose at the corner named, is now
being fitted up with the necessary con-
veniences. The stock of medicines will
be purchased here. It win not be neces-
sary to carry a large stock, as supplies
can be purchased here in small quantities
as needed, and fresh material always kept
on hand
The dispensary. If properly conducted, 1t
Is claimed, ought TO be a paying invest
ment to the city. The present system of
supplying medicines to the poor by means
of contracts with drug stores in different
parts of the city has proven very expen-
sive.
The expense has increased enormously,
especially during the present year, and
at the present rate the cost of furnishing
medicines to the city poor during the year
would run up to $4,000 or more. Some
druggists have been putting in bills for 500
to $500 monthly for medicines furnished on
pauper prescriptions and the expense has
ranged close TO y, 900 month. While any
reputable physician is allowed to write a
pauper prescription, the great majority of
these prescriptions are written by the city
physicians.
AS each city physician has from fifty to
100 applications daily for prescriptions they
naturally do not take it upon themselves
to investigate the right of the applicant
to obtain such prescription. The result
has been to pauperize a large portion of
the population so far as medical preScrip-
tions are concerned. People who formerly
paid for both their prescriptions and their
medicines are now obtaining both free and
at the expense of the city. Druggists who
have contracts with the city say that prac-
tically the entire colored population be-
sides a great many white people, now OBJ
tains its medicine at public expense besides
many of whom are able to pay, are doing
the same thing.
A druggist who is in a position to know
said to a Morning News reporter that II
is the rule with colored servants who
have steady employment at fair wages to
apply to the city physicians when they
need medicine or think they need 1t, and
secure prescriptions to be filled at the
city expense. In many instances employ
ers are known to send their employees to
city physicians. Many of these people
formerly paid for their prescriptions and
medicines, and the consequence is that
both physicians and druggists are losers
No. -rrsAA AT1k. 81 49, n
pie, but many white persons, who are able
TO pay, obtain their medicines in the same
way.
ut would surprise you," said the drug
gist Ito see some Of the people who OBJ
tain their medicines in this way. One
night a few weeks back a big fellow,
dressed in broadcloth suit and a beaver
hat, with a gold-headed cane under his
arm, walked in here, threw down a city
prescription, and remarked: Just fill
that and I'll call back for 1t after the
theater is over The police and firemen
now obtain practically all their medicine
in this manner. Formerly most of them
paid for their medicines
The druggist mentioned the case of a
railroad man, earning good salary, who
had been obtaining prescriptions from the
city physicians and having them filed at
the city's expense.
These people come in here, are treated
like other customers" he said, land no
one knows that they obtain their medicine
on pauper prescriptions"
Formerly, when the old dispensary was
in operation, very few people outside of
those whose circumstances compelled
them, would go TO the dispensary to have
prescriptions filled. Now, with drug
stores conveniently located in different
parts of the city, where city prescriptions
are filled without question, many people,
who would never do so otherwise, obtain
their medicine at the city's bounty. The
re-establishment of the dispensary will put
a check to this. People who do not like to
have 1t known that they obtain medicines
on pauper prescriptions will not go there
for medicines, and the dispensary not be-
ing quite so convenient as the drug stores,
there will be less demand made upon it,
It is estimated that the dispensary can
be conducted at the rate of between &, 900
and 5000 per annum, whereas, at the
present rate. the city Is paying nearly
twice as much for furnishing medicines to